What little is known of McIntyre's life comes from a manuscript biography written by her daughter, Lois Darling.
She was a native of Staten Island who moved with her family to Nebraska, where her father was one of the founders of the first beet-sugar business in the United States.
By 1893 she was back in New York City at the Veltin School for Girls on the Upper West Side.
In 1899 she traveled to Europe with her neighbors, the Fabers; on her return she painted miniatures on commission from family and friends.
She married Malcolm McIntyre, a mechanical engineer, in 1910, and ceased painting after Lois, the couple's only child, was born in 1917.