Rev. James Perry Irwin    

REVEREND JAMES PERRY IRWIN, a retired minister of the Presbyterian church, one of the oldest and best-known men of Erie in religious circles, is a native of Pennsylvania, and was born in Northumberland county, November 13, 1839. He is the son of William Merrill and Rachel Patton (Tipton) Irwin, both natives of the state of New Jersey, the former of Scotch-Irish and the latter of English descent. James Irwin’s grandfather, William Henry Irwin, came to America from England about 1779, settled in New Jersey, and married Elizabeth Perry, first cousin to Commodore Perry, and from this connection James Perry Irwin received part of his name. His maternal grandfather, Thomas Tipton, a native of Yorkshire, England, came to America during the Revolutionary war. William Merrill Irwin, father of Rev. Mr. Irwin, in early life was a shoe merchant, but after settling in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, he became a farmer, and died there in 1857; his widow died in Sac county, Iowa, several years later, at an advanced age. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. William Merrill and Rachel Patton (Tipton) Irwin had the following children: Richard Merrill, born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, January 23, 1818, married Rebecca Alexander, of Mercer county, and died in Sac county, Iowa, in 1899; Thomas Tipton, born in 1824, in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, and died in 1890; he married first Elizabeth Alexander, who died in 1859, and then married for his second wife Matilda Hood; Sarah, died unmarried, in 1859; Eliza, died unmarried, in 1858; Jane D., born in 1828, in Lycoming county, married B. Croy, and now resides at Strothers, Pennsylvania; William Henry, born in 1830 in Northumberland county, married Mary Waugh, and resides in Sac county, Iowa; Robert H., born in 1837, in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, married Harriet Means, and died in 1903; and Reverend James Perry.

James Perry Irwin was reared in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, where he attended the common and high schools, and in 1861 entered Washington and Jefferson College, from which he graduated in 1864. Three years later he graduated from the Western Theological Seminary, and was ordained and installed at Canfield, Ohio, as pastor of the Presbyterian church, in 1868; he remained in that city until 1880, when he was installed pastor of the church at Pulaski, Pennsylvania, and remained there until the fall of 1887. He then officiated a year and a half as pastor of the Presbyterian church at Jamestown, Pennsylvania, and in 1888 became connected with the church at Bell Valley, Erie county, Pennsylvania, where he remained until the fall of 1895 and then located at Erie, where he has since resided. Since locating in Erie he has been an evangelist, preaching the gospel in various places; he has preached in every Presbyterian, every Baptist, Christian and Disciple church in Erie, and every Methodist church save one. Probably no other minister of the gospel is so well-known, so highly respected or highly honored by so large a number of people as this soldier of the cross, who has spent forty years in spreading religion, and who has never faltered in his duty in the great work to which he dedicated his life and talent. As an orator he is fluent and convincing, as well as earnest and eloquent, and his sincerity is always impressed on his audiences. In his declining years he has the satisfaction of feeling that his life has been lived for the benefit of his fellow-men, that in all the years of his ministerial career he has been actuated not by thought of gain, but in the hope of discharging his duty to humanity and to his Maker.

Reverend Irwin was united in marriage, December 22, 1868, with Nannie Baird Jewell, who was born at Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, November 8, 1840, the daughter of James and Martha (French) Jewell. Her father was a native of near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he was engaged in farming, and he served many years as elder of the Old Millers Run Congregation at Cannonsburg, which was one of the oldest Presbyterian Congregations of Western Pennsylvania. To Reverend and Mrs. Irwin but one child has been born, Edgar Willis.

Edgar Willis Irwin was born at Canfield, Ohio, October 20, 1869, was educated in the common schools of the various places where his father had a pastorate, and spent one year in college at Grove City, Pennsylvania, after which he graduated from the Erie Business College. He then became employed as bookkeeper for the Boston Store, of Erie, and later learned railroad telegraphy at Langdon Station on the Pennsylvania & Eastern Railroad. He was first employed as night operator at Ludlow, Pennsylvania, which position he filled about two years and then entered the employ of the P. S. & L. E. Railway, now the Bessemer Railway, where he spent five years as operator and bill clerk. He then embarked in business on his own account, in the line of draying and carting, and in 1906, in partnership with parties from Buffalo, incorporated as the Erie Storage & Carting Company, of which he is President and General Manager. This company is the only one of its kind in Erie, and does an extensive and constantly growing business. Mr. Irwin is recognized as one of Erie’s leading and enterprising business men, and he stands high in the respect and esteem of the community. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of its Encampment, Canton and Daughters of Rebekah, of Perry Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and of the Royal Arcanum. He is also a member of Erie Chamber of Commerce and Erie Business Men’s Exchange. He married Linnie Lavine Anderson, daughter of William and Emeline Anderson, of Jamestown, Pennsylvania, and to them have been born two children, Perry Anderson and Roy Lavine.

A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1909, pages 480-482. More Erie County History Books   Search Hundreds of 1880s-1890s Pennsylvania County History Books for biographies and historical information on your ancestors.  View the book page images on line and print them out for your genealogy file!   Free Access to the old history books - plus birth & death records, census images and ALL other records at ancestry.com.