Husband Judge Richard Irwin 1 2 3 4
Born: 6 May 1798 - White Deer Twp, Northumberland (later Union) Co, PA 1 3 4 5
Christened:
Died: 18 Nov 1882 - Franklin, Venango Co, PA 4 6
Buried:
Father: Samuel Irwin (1765-1847) 7
Mother: Jane Miller (Abt 1777-1865) 7 8
Marriage: 5 Mar 1834 4 9 10
Other Spouse: Mary Ann Lamberton ( -1887) 10 - 20 Feb 1855 1 10
Wife Hannah White May 4 9 11
Born: Abt 1805
Christened:
Died: 27 Aug 1845 9 11
Buried:
Father: Rev. Hezekiah May (1773-1843) 12 13 14 15
Mother: Margaret White ( -1868) 14 15 16
Children
1 M Samuel Dale Irwin 3 4 9 11 17
Born: 12 Mar 1835 - Franklin, Venango Co, PA 3 4 17
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Mary Thomas ( - ) 4
Marr: 13 Mar 1871 4 18
2 F Frances Helen Irwin 4 9 11 19
Born: 23 Jan 1837 - Franklin, Venango Co, PA 4
Christened:
Died: Aft 1919
Buried:
Spouse: Judge Christopher Heydrick, LL. D. (1830-1914) 4 20 21
Marr: 20 Jun 1860 4 19 22
3 M H. May Irwin 4 9 23
Born: 25 Sep 1838 - Franklin, Venango Co, PA 4 23
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Mary Louise Leech ( - ) 4 24
Marr: 11 Sep 1879 - Washington, D. C. 4 24
4 F Margaret Jane "Jennie" Irwin 9 11 25 26
Born: 21 Oct 1840 26
Christened:
Died: 14 Apr 1877 9 11 26
Buried:
Spouse: Willis B. Benedict (1838- ) 9 26 27 28
Marr: 18 Jun 1874 25 26
5 F Hannah Gertrude Irwin 9 11 26
Born: 17 Sep 1842 26
Christened:
Died: Aft 1899
Buried:
6 M Richard Lovell Irwin 9 11 26
Born: 27 Aug 1845 26
Christened:
Died: 13 Mar 1878 - Olean, Cattaraugus Co, NY 9 11 26
Buried:
Spouse: Nancy B. "Nannie" Eaton ( - ) 26
Marr: 23 Jun 1870 - Carrollton, Carroll Co, OH 29
General Notes: Husband - Judge Richard Irwin
He was born near Lewisburg, in Buffalo Valley, White Deer Twp, Union County, Pennsylvania. The part of Union County where he was born was at that time Northumberland County.
He was chosen associate judge in 1838, and was remembered as one of the early settlers and leading politicians of Venango county. He was for many years county surveyor, and was a man of intelligence and sound judgment. [HVC 1890, 170]
He had the advantage of a home teacher in the person of his uncle, John Irwin, who subsequently filled the office of associate judge in Venango county for thirty years, and was also deputy surveyor for six years-a gentleman well versed in the sound literature of his day, and proficient in the science of civil engineering and land surveying. Under his correct tutelage his nephew acquired the elements of a fair English education, and mastered the principles and practice of surveying. The pupil's first work in that line was to assist his uncle, in 1818, in locating and grading that portion of the Susquehanna and Waterford turnpike lying between Frank-lin and Meadville.
In July, 1824, he succeeded his uncle as deputy surveyor of the county, and held the office continuously for fifteen years. His first official survey was that of the Foster farm on the Allegheny river below Franklin, Sep-tember 9, 1824, and his last official survey was for Silas Watson, in same township, July 6, 1839. In the meantime he served a term as county com-missioner, from October, 1828, to October, 1831. In September, 1834, he settled in Franklin, where he thenceforth resided.
In December, 1838, he was appointed by Governor Bitner an associate judge, serving until February, 1843. In 1848 he was chosen a presidential elector on the Whig ticket, and cast his vote in the college for Taylor and Fillmore. In 1851 he was appointed by Governor Johnston a member of the board of revenue commissioners which convened at Harrisburg in Feb-ruary of that year. Judge Irwin was a stanch and active adherent of the Whig party, and he gave his voice and vote for the Republican party up to 1872, when he supported Horace Greeley for president.
Up to the time when the infirmities of age retired him from active work, Judge Irwin devoted himself mainly to his regular business of surveyor land agent, and scrivener. Land surveying was to him a congenial pursuit, and to this fact may be attributed his accuracy and proficiency in it. His field notes, carefully kept and methodically arranged, extending over a space of more than fifty years, covering a large portion of our county, and reaching into the counties adjacent, attest the fidelity and thoroughness with which he pursued his calling. It was largely from his notes and drafts of survey that a map of Venango county was compiled in 1857, which in accuracy and excellence still remains the standard map of the county. Concerning his aptitude for his calling, as well as his remarkable memory for the details of it, we quote a paragraph written four years before his death by one who knew him intimately:
Those who know Judge Irwin, or for whom he has done business in his line, do not need to be informed of his scrupulous exactness and remarkable accuracy of detail in matters of surveying. These peculiarities are supplemented by a memory which, while it is unusually retentive of general literature and passing events, is strangely tenacious of all the dry details of work done by compass and chain. He can recall those details and perplexing minutiae as if they were passages of eloquence. He has often been heard to give from memory day and date, and even courses and distances, of surveys made more than a generation ago. This singular faculty, which in his eighty-first year he still retains, has been repeatedly put to the test in courts of law, and the result has generally been to establish his correctness and to excite surprise at so striking an evidence of devotion to all the requirements of his calling.
At a meeting of the members of the bar of Venango county, held a few days after his death, at which due tribute was paid to Judge Irwin's unimpeachable integrity and moral worth, the chairman, John S. McCalmont, thus referred to his work as a surveyor: "He was an excellent surveyor, often called into courts of justice to assist, by his evidence, in settling land titles. He was consulted by the old lawyers and judges, such as Shippen, Thompson, Eldred, Banks, and Pearson, in determining the correctness of surveys; and his opinions and deductions, in conflicting claims, from the 'marks on the ground' were eagerly sought."
Judge Irwin died at his home in Franklin. With no special disease, he yielded to the weight of years. His mind was clear to the last, realizing his oft expressed wish that his "mental faculties might be spared the last of all."
In his daily life, conversation, and practice, Judge Irwin was the soul of honor, truth, and rectitude. He was singularly pure in life and speech. At the funeral services, held in the Presbyterian church, his old friend, Doctor Eaton, in a feeling tribute declared that in all the thirty years of his friendship he "had never known Judge Irwin to utter a harsh criticism of a neighbor, or to speak a word that savored in the slightest of impurity or impiety." While Mr. Irwin talked little of the mysteries of religion, he had a profound respect for Christian practice. The corner-stones of his creed were the Golden Rule and the Sermon on the Mount. [HVC 1890, 757]
He gave way in 1824 to Richard Irwin, his nephew, who held the office for fifteen years. He was perhaps the most careful, methodical, and correct surveyor the county has ever had. Beyond a doubt he was the most useful man, in cases of land litigation, that the courts have found, as his memory of surveys, locations, lines, and even corners of tracts seemed never to fail him. Richard Irwin was born in Buffalo Valley, Northumberland county, not far from Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, May 6, 1798. He came with his parents to Venango county in May, 1802. He had the advantages of some school privileges-none of the best, however. But instead, he was carefully instructed by his uncle, John Irwin, the surveyor. His first practical train-ing was in the laying out of the Susquehanna and Waterford turnpike.
He became deputy surveyor when twenty-six years of age, doing his first work on the Porter farm, below Franklin. His work shows for itself and manifests his patience, skill, and neatness in detail. He always wrote with a quill pen, and was careful in his manuscript, so that it could be read like printed matter. He was in great demand in the courts in land trials, and his judgment was generally accepted as final. He was an associate judge from 1838 to 1843. In 1848 he was a presidential elector, casting his vote for Taylor and Fillmore. On the 5th of March, 1834, he was united in marriage to Hannah White, daughter of Reverend Hezekiah May. After the death of his first wife, he was married again in February, 1855, to Mary A. Lamberton, of Erie, who survived him until July, 1887.
Judge Irwin was a most estimable man. His judgment was sound, his intuitions clear, and his conclusions just. Whilst slow to act, his mind was logical and his conscience active. He was one of the most valuable of our citizens, and his advice and counsel much missed when he was called away. [HVC 1890, 353]