Lettie was born on July 30, 1829, probably in Lamar County, Alabama.  She was the first girl after a string of six boys born to Hiram and Mary Rebecca.  She grew up in Lamar County and also in Itawamba County in Mississippi.  

I don't know where she is on the 1850 census.

On December 1, 1853, she married Tillman Jefferson Irvin, the brother of her sister, Narcissa Jane's husband.  He had been a soldier in the
Mexican American War.  Together they had twelve children, and all but one reached adulthood, that one being their first child.  But a surprising number of their children never had children of their own (five of the eleven that lived).  

In October of 1859, Tillman bought about 240 acres of land right next to land his brother Anthony bought at the same time.  It is mostly forested today and fairly hilly, but it was close to the Gattman community and only about four miles away from the Evans Cemetery and the Lost Creek Community over in Alabama.  In 1870, this is what the census recorded.

1870 Lamar County, Alabama Census
Township 13, Range 16, P.O. Moscow
Irvin, Tillman 40 SC Farmer $300 $450
Irvin, Letta 39 SC
Irvin, John A. 13 AL At school
Irvin, Thomas J. 11 AL At school
Irvin, Jane 9 AL At school
Irvin, Mary A. 7 AL At school
Irvin, Joana 6 AL At school
Irvin, William R. 5 AL At home
Irvin, Sarah F. 2 AL
Irvin, Joel A. 1 AL

In 1880, they were still listed as being in Lamar County, but must have lived very close to the border if not on in Mississippi actually.  

1880 Lamar County, Alabama Census
Page 566A
Irving, Tilden J. Md. M W 50 Farmer NC SC SC
Irving, Lettie Wife Md. F W 49 Keeping House TN NC NC
Irving, John A. Son Single M W 23 Works on Farm MS NC TN
Irving, Thomas Son Single M W 22 Works on Farm MS NC TN
Irving, Polly A. Dau. Single F W 17 At home AL NC TN
Irving, Josanna Dau. Single F W 15 At home AL NC TN
Irving, Robert Son Single M W 14 Works on Farm AL NC TN
Irving, Ellen Dau. Single F W 12 AL NC TN
Irving, Sarah Dau. Single F W 10 AL NC TN
Irving, Joel R. Son Single M W 9 AL NC TN
Irving, Emma Dau. Single F W 8 AL NC TN
Irving, Benton Son Single M W 6 AL NC TN

Twenty years later, the family looked like this:

1900 Lamar County, Alabama Census
Pine Springs; Household # 27
Irvin, Telliman J. Md.47 years Dec. 1866 SC SC SC Farmer
Irvin, Lettie M. July 1829 TN NC NC
Irvin, Pollie A. July 1863 AL
Irvin, Joe A. Oct. 1866 AL
Irvin, Ema T. Oct. 1872 AL
Irvin, Benton J. Sept. 1875 AL
Beachum, Leona GDau. W F July 1892 7 Single MS TN AL
Beachum, Elmer C. G.S. W M Oct. 1893 6 Single MS TN AL
Beachum, Nollie V. G.D. W F Nov. 1894 5 Single MS TN AL

But on June 12, 1906, Tillman passed away at the age of 76.  Lettie lived on for another six years.  She was the head of the home in 1910:

1910 Lamar County, Alabama Census
Pine Springs; Household #36
Irvin, Lettie 78 Widowed TN AL TN Farmer
Irvin, John 56 AL SC TN
Irvin, Pollie A. 49 AL
Irvin, Boff 40 AL SC TN
Irvin, Emma 38 AL SC TN
Irvin, Benton 35 AL

I do not know very much about her personally.  But I have been told that in her old age, she still kept the land up by hiring convicts to come and work the land.  There is a legend about a convict being killed in her house actually, but there doesn't seem to be much proof for it.  Whe she passed away on September 30, 1913, she was then buried at the Evans Cemetery in Lamar County.

If you have more information on Lettie Mahala, please contact me.

Dempsey Irvin
          Born in 1854 and died as a child.

John Anthony Irvin (md. Sarah Elizabeth Gesa)
          John Anthony was born about 1854 in Mississippi.  I am somewhat confused about the order of events in his life.  He married Sarah Elizabeth and they both are buried out in Boyd Texas, but in 1910 it looks like he was on the census as a Widower with his mother.  He never had any children known to me.

Thomas Jefferson Irvin (md. Mary Alfetta "Molly" Malloy)
          Thomas Jefferson Irvin was born on July 26, 1858 in Monroe County and remained there his whole life as a farmer as far as we can tell.  He died there in 1927.  He married Mary Alfetta Malloy "Molly", who was from Alabama and born November 1862, but they never had any children.  When he died, Molly moved in with Benton, who bought their old homeplace.

Narcissa Jane Irvin (md. Horace Benton Sandlin)
          Named for her aunt, Narcissa Jane and Benton together had twelve children.  She moved west and died in Hartford, Sebastian County, Arkansas.  You can find more information about her at the link.

Mary Pollyanna Irvin (md. John T. Davis)
          Mary Pollyanna was born on July 4, 1862.  She married John on May 20, 1896 but he died before 1900.  She lived near the homeplace her whole life.  In 1930, she was living with her sister Emma and her husband, Nathaniel Edgeworth on the census, but she died shortly after on September 29, 1930, and was buried in the Center Hill Cemetery near Hamilton, Monroe County, Mississippi.  They had no children.

Jo Anna Irvin (md. W. E. "Jim" Beachum)
          Josanna was born on October 5 of either 1864 or 1865.  She married Jim Beachum on October 1, 1891 in Lamar County but on the 1900 census she was back with her parents.  She died young, at the age of 48, on October 14, 1912 at Gattman in 1912.  Jim had run off and was never heard from again, and she raised the three children they had together: Leona, Elmer, and Nollie.

Lucinda Ellen Irvin (md. James W. Watford and David George Irvin)
          Ellen was born on March 11, 1866.  She married James Watford in 1892, at the age of 26, and they moved out to Texas, to Gonzales County.  They raised a German girl, though they had no children of their own.  He died in 1901 and a year later she married David George Irvin out there in Gonzales County.  David owned quite a lot of land at one point in Texas.  Together they had four children.  Mr. Irvin died in 1925, at the age of 93.  Ellen lived until 1953, when she passed away at the age of 87.  She and both her husbands were buried at the Floyd Chapel Cemetery in Gonzales County, Texas.

William Robert "Bob" Irvin
          Bob was born on August 22, 1866.  He was the Circuit Clerk for Monroe County for a while, but never married and had no children.  He lived to be 85 years old and passed away on April 26, 1952.  He is buried at the  Centery Hill Cemetery in Hamilton, Monroe County, Mississippi.  I was told that Bob was partially crippled and that one of his legs got really bad but he wouldn't let the doctors amputate.  It became worse and almost fell off!  But it looks like Bob lived to a ripe old age!

Sarah Frances Irvin (md. K.C. Jones)
          Frances was born on November 22, 1869 in Lamar County.  She married K.C. on January 22, 1897 and they had four sons, but K.C. died around 1926, in his mid 50's, from an infected tooth.  She lived with her son Tillman when she was older.  She passed away in August of 1960, at the age of 90.  She and K.C. are buried at the Wesley Chapel Cemetery in Lamar County, Alabama.

Joel Acker Irvin (md. Alice Sanders)
          Joel went to Texas in 1898 and lived with his brother, John and [John's] wife Sarah.  They bought a 160 acre farm together.  He was married to Alice Sanders in 1906.  He lived in Texas until 1932.  Then he sold the farm and moved back to Mississippi with his wife and five children.  He died in 1950 and his wife died in 1969.  They are buried in Center Hill Cemetery, in Monroe County, MS, near Hamilton.

Emma T. Irvin (md. Nathaniel Edgeworth)
          Emma was born on February 14, 1871 and married Nathaniel about 1907 in Monroe County, Mississippi.  They had no children, though they raised Alonzo, Nat's son by a previous marriage.  She died on Christmas Day of 1963, in Lamar County, Alabama, and is buried at Center Hill Cemetery in Monroe County, Mississippi.  Emma and Nate were asleep in bed once when a tornado hit and when they woke up in the middle of it, they were afraid to get out of the bed so they just pulled the covers up!  When it stopped and they pulled the covers down, they were still in bed, but the bed was laying in the middle of a tree that had blown down into their yard.  They swore that they never had any sensation of being moved!

James Benton Irvin (md. Tezzie Thompson)
          James Benton was born on September 4, 1874 and married Tezzie on August 21, 1910, standing in the middle of the Buttahatchie River Bridge north of Sulligent.  Together they had four children, some of whom are still living.  He lived till Christmas Day of 1952 when he died in Hamilton at the age of 78.  Tezzie passed away in 1959, at the age of 77.  Both of them were buried in the Center Hill Cemetery in Hamilton.

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