Family Migration
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I am of English, Irish, and Scottish decent on both my mother and father’s sides of the family. My great maternal aunt Pauline did extensive research on her family’s heritage. Pauline had multiple family trees scripted in calligraphy, composing several parts of her family’s lineage, and I recently inherited the Barnes family tree. I have always been fascinated with these family trees–reading the names, dates, and children. These family trees are, in a sense, word maps of the past lacking images; bullet points of linage and heritage. I wonder if there could be a way to evolve the family tree to include images in the way that current digital photography allows for image annotation? The following migration story is transcribed from interviews with Pamela Turnes McEntire and Rufus Claude McEntire Jr., my mother and father.
My mother’s grandmother on her father’s side was named Lucy Cameron Tucker and was born in Old Church, Virginia. Lucy’s husband, one of seven brothers, migrated to Bermuda from England. Of the seven brothers, five stayed in Bermuda, and two migrated to the United States. One of those brothers, my great Grandfather Edgar Herbert Turnes moved to Virginia and the other John Tucker moved to Charleston, South Carolina. Lucy Cameron Tucker moved to Petersburg, Virginia, after marrying Edgar Herbert Turnes. Lucy and Edgar Turnes had three children: Virginia, Edgar Herbert Jr., and Jacqueline.
Alice, my maternal grandmother, came from the Dixon family, which migrated from England to America. My great maternal Grandmother, Mable Clair Barnes, from which my middle name “Barnes” comes from, married William Dorsey Dixon, and they had eight children. Of these eight children I was familiar with three. My Grandmother Alice and my great aunt Mable were the twins of the Dixon family and were born in 1915. My grandmother’s sister and twin, Mable McClellan, married Allen C. Barbee, and they adopted two children. I was very fond of Mable and the many colorful pillbox hats she always wore. Mable one of my two favorite great aunts and died from her second bout with cancer in 2008 at ninety-three years old. Mable’s sister and twin, my Grandmother Alice McClellan, married Edgar Herbert Jr., a year her junior. Alice and Edgar had two daughters, my mother Pamela Karen Turnes in 1945 and my aunt Penelope Dixon Turns in 1947. Edgar Herbert Jr. died at sixty-years-old in the hospital in Columbia, South Carolina, after suffering from a heart attack with complications from bladder cancer that metastasized to his stomach. I never met my maternal grandfather; he passed away the year before I was born in 1976. My Grandmother Alice died in 2002 at eighty-seven-years-old after she refused to eat, suffering from dementia while living in an assisted living facility. I have fond memories of Grandmother Alice painting, gardening, and getting kicked out of a previous assisted living facility where my aunt had placed her for ramming people with her wheelchair. She was not happy with her whereabouts and wanted others to know. Alice and her twin Mable were fraternal twins, and coming from differing genetic makeup, had very different personalities, one was sweet and the other wasn’t so much.
The sixth child in the Dixon family was my favorite great aunt Pauline Harrison, who married Douglas Carter France. Pauline and Douglas had two boys: Douglas Carter III in 1949 and William Wayne in 1952, who both fatally suffered an automobile accident in 1969. My great aunt Pauline died Memorial Day weekend in 2014 at ninety-seven years old.
In 1925, Mable and Dorsey Dixon welcomed their eighth and last child, Jeannette Barnes. Unfortunately, I did not know Jeannette and she died in before her three older sisters Mable, Alice, and Pauline in 1993 at sixty-eight years old. Jeanette married Ray Walton McKewon, born in 1921, and the had four children, Ray Walton Jr. in 1948, Nancy Claire in 1950, and the second set of twins in the Dixon family, Dorothy Barnes and Jeanette Dixon in 1951. I discovered this second set of twins through my research.
My Grandmother Alice and her twin Mable were born in Pembroke, North Carolina, before the family moved to Petersburg, Virginia. In high school, Grandmother Alice met my Grandfather, Edgar Turnes Jr. My grandmother and grandfather eloped and moved to Philadelphia where Edgar attempted to pursue his passion for art by working as a commercial artist. Unsuccessful in finding a job as a commercial artist, Edgar’s friend told him of a job in Columbia, South Carolina, at Eastern Airlines, where he was employed until his retirement. Both my mother Pamela and aunt Penny (nickname for Penelope) were born in Columbia, South Carolina. My mother’s family had moved a few times back to Virginia and to Florida before eventually settled in Columbia (P. McEntire, personal communication, March 14, 2016).
My father’s heritage is lesser known but through his own research I have learned that the McEntire name originates from Scotland and through deoxyribonucleic acid, known as DNA testing, he discovered that he is of Scandinavian, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, and Finnish decent. Through his research, my father also discovered that the McEntire name fled from an oppressive king in England to Ireland before heading to Scotland and ultimately, America. Entering America through Cape Fear, North Carolina the McEntire clan, carpenters by trade, moved west to Scotland and Mecklenburg counties in North Carolina. My father also conducted extensive research in graveyards and through old documentation and censuses trying to trace his lineage. The oldest documentation my father was able to discover was that of William B. McEntire who was born in 1818 in Rutherfordton, North Carolina, and died in 1902 at eight-four years old. William B. had a son, Rufus Marion, in 1850. Rufus Marion apparently stayed in Rutherfordton where his son Harrison Edward was in1875. Harrison Edward lived in both Rutherfordton and Asheville, North Carolina. Harrison Edward my great paternal grandfather died of malaria in 1920 at forty-five years old. Harrison Edward died when my Grandfather Rufus Claude (nicknamed Pawpaw) was nine years old. I amazingly remember my Grandfather Pawpaw although he passed away when I was four-years-old in 1981. I did not discover until recently that he was the oldest grandparent, born November 11, 1911 in Irmo, South Carolina (R. McEntire, personal communication, March 14, 2016).
I am unsure when my grandfather met and married my grandmother, Connie Ruth Wessinger, and I have little information from her side of the family. The McEntire grandparents had five children: Patsy (Tata) was the eldest girl; my father, Rufus Claude Jr. who was born in 1943 was the oldest boy; Robert (Bobby), Linda, and Cheryl.
My mother met my father at Dreher high school, which was segregated at the time, in the early1960’s. My mother was attempting to play Powder Puff football and met my father on the field where he was coaching. My parents began to date, and I’ve heard stories from my mother that her parents did not like my father; possibly because he took her to see James Brown and did other things with her she was not allowed or supposed to do (but wanted to). After my mother graduated high school in 1963 with an ambition to be a librarian, her parents sent her to live with my great aunt Pauline and her family in Germany in an effort to keep mother away from my father. My grandparents’ attempt to break up the relationship by sending my mother overseas was unsuccessful. My father attended the University of South Carolina and then joined the Army. My parents got married in December of 1966. (http://www.richlandonline.com/OnlineServices/MarriageLicense.aspx). Fortunately, my father did not have to serve in the Vietnam War, but became an officer and worked in the transportation division of the Army. After he left the Army, my father purchased his father’s tomato business at the local farmers market and named it R.C. McEntire Produce. My mother was a homemaker and gave birth to Carter Harrison McEntire in 1970, the first grandchild of both sets of grandparents. Four years later, Ashley Tucker McEntire was born in 1974 and two years after that in 1977, I, Suzannah Barnes McEntire, was born on May twenty-fifth, two days before my father’s birthday.
My mother’s grandmother on her father’s side was named Lucy Cameron Tucker and was born in Old Church, Virginia. Lucy’s husband, one of seven brothers, migrated to Bermuda from England. Of the seven brothers, five stayed in Bermuda, and two migrated to the United States. One of those brothers, my great Grandfather Edgar Herbert Turnes moved to Virginia and the other John Tucker moved to Charleston, South Carolina. Lucy Cameron Tucker moved to Petersburg, Virginia, after marrying Edgar Herbert Turnes. Lucy and Edgar Turnes had three children: Virginia, Edgar Herbert Jr., and Jacqueline.
Alice, my maternal grandmother, came from the Dixon family, which migrated from England to America. My great maternal Grandmother, Mable Clair Barnes, from which my middle name “Barnes” comes from, married William Dorsey Dixon, and they had eight children. Of these eight children I was familiar with three. My Grandmother Alice and my great aunt Mable were the twins of the Dixon family and were born in 1915. My grandmother’s sister and twin, Mable McClellan, married Allen C. Barbee, and they adopted two children. I was very fond of Mable and the many colorful pillbox hats she always wore. Mable one of my two favorite great aunts and died from her second bout with cancer in 2008 at ninety-three years old. Mable’s sister and twin, my Grandmother Alice McClellan, married Edgar Herbert Jr., a year her junior. Alice and Edgar had two daughters, my mother Pamela Karen Turnes in 1945 and my aunt Penelope Dixon Turns in 1947. Edgar Herbert Jr. died at sixty-years-old in the hospital in Columbia, South Carolina, after suffering from a heart attack with complications from bladder cancer that metastasized to his stomach. I never met my maternal grandfather; he passed away the year before I was born in 1976. My Grandmother Alice died in 2002 at eighty-seven-years-old after she refused to eat, suffering from dementia while living in an assisted living facility. I have fond memories of Grandmother Alice painting, gardening, and getting kicked out of a previous assisted living facility where my aunt had placed her for ramming people with her wheelchair. She was not happy with her whereabouts and wanted others to know. Alice and her twin Mable were fraternal twins, and coming from differing genetic makeup, had very different personalities, one was sweet and the other wasn’t so much.
The sixth child in the Dixon family was my favorite great aunt Pauline Harrison, who married Douglas Carter France. Pauline and Douglas had two boys: Douglas Carter III in 1949 and William Wayne in 1952, who both fatally suffered an automobile accident in 1969. My great aunt Pauline died Memorial Day weekend in 2014 at ninety-seven years old.
In 1925, Mable and Dorsey Dixon welcomed their eighth and last child, Jeannette Barnes. Unfortunately, I did not know Jeannette and she died in before her three older sisters Mable, Alice, and Pauline in 1993 at sixty-eight years old. Jeanette married Ray Walton McKewon, born in 1921, and the had four children, Ray Walton Jr. in 1948, Nancy Claire in 1950, and the second set of twins in the Dixon family, Dorothy Barnes and Jeanette Dixon in 1951. I discovered this second set of twins through my research.
My Grandmother Alice and her twin Mable were born in Pembroke, North Carolina, before the family moved to Petersburg, Virginia. In high school, Grandmother Alice met my Grandfather, Edgar Turnes Jr. My grandmother and grandfather eloped and moved to Philadelphia where Edgar attempted to pursue his passion for art by working as a commercial artist. Unsuccessful in finding a job as a commercial artist, Edgar’s friend told him of a job in Columbia, South Carolina, at Eastern Airlines, where he was employed until his retirement. Both my mother Pamela and aunt Penny (nickname for Penelope) were born in Columbia, South Carolina. My mother’s family had moved a few times back to Virginia and to Florida before eventually settled in Columbia (P. McEntire, personal communication, March 14, 2016).
My father’s heritage is lesser known but through his own research I have learned that the McEntire name originates from Scotland and through deoxyribonucleic acid, known as DNA testing, he discovered that he is of Scandinavian, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, and Finnish decent. Through his research, my father also discovered that the McEntire name fled from an oppressive king in England to Ireland before heading to Scotland and ultimately, America. Entering America through Cape Fear, North Carolina the McEntire clan, carpenters by trade, moved west to Scotland and Mecklenburg counties in North Carolina. My father also conducted extensive research in graveyards and through old documentation and censuses trying to trace his lineage. The oldest documentation my father was able to discover was that of William B. McEntire who was born in 1818 in Rutherfordton, North Carolina, and died in 1902 at eight-four years old. William B. had a son, Rufus Marion, in 1850. Rufus Marion apparently stayed in Rutherfordton where his son Harrison Edward was in1875. Harrison Edward lived in both Rutherfordton and Asheville, North Carolina. Harrison Edward my great paternal grandfather died of malaria in 1920 at forty-five years old. Harrison Edward died when my Grandfather Rufus Claude (nicknamed Pawpaw) was nine years old. I amazingly remember my Grandfather Pawpaw although he passed away when I was four-years-old in 1981. I did not discover until recently that he was the oldest grandparent, born November 11, 1911 in Irmo, South Carolina (R. McEntire, personal communication, March 14, 2016).
I am unsure when my grandfather met and married my grandmother, Connie Ruth Wessinger, and I have little information from her side of the family. The McEntire grandparents had five children: Patsy (Tata) was the eldest girl; my father, Rufus Claude Jr. who was born in 1943 was the oldest boy; Robert (Bobby), Linda, and Cheryl.
My mother met my father at Dreher high school, which was segregated at the time, in the early1960’s. My mother was attempting to play Powder Puff football and met my father on the field where he was coaching. My parents began to date, and I’ve heard stories from my mother that her parents did not like my father; possibly because he took her to see James Brown and did other things with her she was not allowed or supposed to do (but wanted to). After my mother graduated high school in 1963 with an ambition to be a librarian, her parents sent her to live with my great aunt Pauline and her family in Germany in an effort to keep mother away from my father. My grandparents’ attempt to break up the relationship by sending my mother overseas was unsuccessful. My father attended the University of South Carolina and then joined the Army. My parents got married in December of 1966. (http://www.richlandonline.com/OnlineServices/MarriageLicense.aspx). Fortunately, my father did not have to serve in the Vietnam War, but became an officer and worked in the transportation division of the Army. After he left the Army, my father purchased his father’s tomato business at the local farmers market and named it R.C. McEntire Produce. My mother was a homemaker and gave birth to Carter Harrison McEntire in 1970, the first grandchild of both sets of grandparents. Four years later, Ashley Tucker McEntire was born in 1974 and two years after that in 1977, I, Suzannah Barnes McEntire, was born on May twenty-fifth, two days before my father’s birthday.