Joel Acker Irvin was one of the youngest children born to Tillman Jefferson Irvin and Lettie Mahala Webb Irvin.  He was born on May 13, 1870, in either Monroe County, Mississippi or Lamar County, Alabama.  He was named for the captain that his father served under in the Mexican War.  He grew up in Monroe County with many brothers and sisters.

He used to tell his daughters that he could remember going across a field as a child to visit his "Granny Paschall" as she lay on her dying bed.

Joel went to Texas in 1898 and lived there for eight years, and then he married out there.  He married Alice Lucinda Sanders in 1906.  Her father was Wylie Jackson Sanders and her mother was Olevie Cooper Sanders.  She was born on October 7, 1879, in Keeter, Wise County, Texas.

Joel had gone out there to follow his oldest brother.  John had gone out and bought land and told Joel to come and farm with him.  Joel and Alice had six children, all out there in Wise County, Texas.  They are listed below.  When both John and his wife died without children, Joel's family back in Mississippi (his siblings and cousins) kept writing to him about moving back and eventually he got homesick enough that he did move back to Mississippi.  But the rest of the family, including Joel's wife and the kids, had mixed feelings when they moved.  It almost killed the kids to move and leave their friends.  Joel was in his 60's and Alice was in her 50's when they moved.  The kids hated it and said they never would stay long in Mississippi, but they did!

Joel signed up for the Spanish-American War, but it ended before he was sent off.

Joel passed away from old age basically on July 22, 1950, in Hamilton, Monroe County, Mississippi.  Technically it was the hardening of the arteries.  He is buried in the Center Hill Cemetery there.  Alice died on March 15, 1969, in Hatley.  She is buried in the same cemetery, beside Joel Acker.

Ila Von Irvin (md. Atwell Logan)
    Ila Von Irvin had one son.  After Atwell died, she moved with her son to Downey, California, where she passed away in 1999, at the age of 89.

Ruby Dare Irvin (died at the age of 2 of diptheria)

Robert Bently Irvin (md. Reba Brewer)
    Robert Bently had four children.  He lived in the Hamilton area and died there in 1985, at the age of 71.

Living Irvin (md. private)
    

Living Irvin (md. private)
    

Delma Joel Irvin (md. Mary Evelyn Jones)
    Delma Joel was a Staff Sergeant in New Guniea during World War II.  He lived in Louisiana for a long time.  He died at the age of 60 in 1981, in Jackson, Mississippi.