Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-09-15

- N THE early part of the 18th CEN
fury there was almost STAN
pede-tTom the north of ireland to
the american colonies. These
streams of immigrants came mainly
to Philadelphia and to Hobbs Hole,
on the Rappahannock river, in Fir-
ginia. Whole families emigrated and
sought homes in the new counties or
Virginia. Brunswick, Nuremberg, Hail.
fax and Bedford. Among those who
settled in Nuremberg was Scotch
Irishman whose name was Alexander
Irwin. 1 am not sure, but 1 think he
was the grandfather Of Governor r.
win. l know Thomas Irwin married
the daughter of Hugh Lawson, Cen
tleman, then one of the leading men
of Nuremberg. About 1751 there was
great rush from southern Virginia to
the banks ,of the Yadl1in, in what was
then Mason, afterward Rowan, and
Thomas Irwin moved with Hugh Law
son and his family to North Carolina.
Here in 1851 Jared Irwin, son OF Thorn
as Irwin and grandson of the first
Hugh Lawson, was born. Georgia
opened wide her doors near this time
to immigrants and there was large
emigration from middle North Caro-
lima to st. George Parish, in the prov
ince of Georgia. Old Hugh Lawson
died in North Carolina, but his son
Roger and his grandsons, Hugh, Rog-
er and Thompson, his sOn-in-law,
Thomas Irwin, and his relative, VIII
liam Alexander. all moved in a body
and settled in this new parish OF st.
George, which was afterWard Burke,
then Jefferson county, and here Jared
Irwin spent his childhood. The colon
4-N- OrrnpnGh OTO- vera
two miles from Louisville, in what is
now Jefferson county. The settlement
was composed of Scotch-Irish Presby-
terians, people who had either come
direct from Ireland, or from North
Carolina and Virginia. They were
quite numerous and were remarkably
intelligent for those days. They had
but few negroes, but the families were
very large and they were an industrl-
obs, thrifty, pious people, who made
the wilderness to blossom. These peo-
pie lived close together, for being on
the western frontier they were thus
exposed to Indian forays. In this new
ly opened section Jared Irwin grew
to manhood. When the Revolution
airy war began there was quite fam
lly of sturdy Wings who were probably
all sons Of Thomas Irwin, who en-
tered the Revolutionary army. There
was Alexander, Hugh, Jared, John ana
William.
The record does not show the posi-
ton Governor Irwin held during the
war. He certainly was neither Colo
mel nor a brigadier general. as is stat
ed on the monument to his memory.
II is likely that he commanded a fort
on the frontier, as the monument
says he built a fortress. His cousins,
John, Hugh and Roger Lawson, were
all of them in the war, and Hugh was
a captain in the continental line, but
l cannot find anything satisfactory
concerning Governor Irwin. During
the Creek troubles of the Oconee war
in 1892 he was quite active and was
made a general of militia. He was in
command of the brigade when the mill
itia in 1874 was ordered to remove
General Clarke and his adventures
from the Creek nation. he had re-
ceived a grant of land in Washington
county as had his brothers John annd
Alexander, and the family removed
from Burke to Washington. He was
at once recognized as the leading man
in the new country and was chosen to
represent II in the legislature. He was
elected by the legislature brigadier
general of militia and did good work
in protecting the frontier from the
Creeks, who were on the warpath. He
was in the convention that ratified the
constitution of the United States and
was so enthusiastic in his union senu-
ments that he called his place Union