Fitzgerald enterprise. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1895-1912, 1911-10-19
Jared Irwin.


boyhood and early manhood Of Jared
Irwin is meagre. His father, Thomas
Irwin, came from Ireland about the
middle of the eighteenth century
a I'd settled in Lunenburg county.
Virginia; later the family removed
to Rowan, now Mecklenbure county
North Carolina. 1t was here, in IT.
ST, that the subject of the sketch
was born When he ] was . L
years Of age his parents moved to
Georgia and settled in the parish OF
St George, or what is now Burke
county. His subsequent career
would indicate that he was a man
of education, but it is not known
where he attended school. In fact
we hear nothing at all of him until
the outbreak of hostilities with the
mother country, when he looms W
as, an ardent patriot and nearly
halfa century serves his adopteo
State with satisfaction to his con-
stituents and with honor to HIM
s,lf. He entered the Revolution as
a cantain and rose TO the rank OF
colonel. He was active in thu
Georgia and. Carolina campaigns
At the close of the war he began
in the state legislature a long anG
honorable career in the public SER
vice which was not interrupted
by his removal, about 1887, te
Washington county, then a vas
wilderness. His services included
membership in all the leading stat
conventions, the presidency of tn.
senate, and two terms as governor
oil, the commonwealth. IL was dur
Ing the first term that he performed
the act which had he done nothin
more would have given him,a per,
manent place in. Georgia. history
He signed. the famous RescinddHlnt
Act BY, which the Yazoo, Fraud wa
wiped from the statute books.
There is no record as to whom hi
married, but he had four children
Jared, Jr., John, Isabel and Jane.
The boys were in the first class
graduated from the University OF
Georgia. &C.
Although descended from the
Presbyterian ancestry, Governor
Irwin was Congregationalist He
donated a church and several acres
of land near his place, Union Hill,
for the use of all donomations. Ii
was named Union Church in honor
of his place. This church has more
recently passed into the possession
of Baptist congregation and is nov
called Choopee. 1t is near Sanders.
vile. Governor Irwin lies buried in
this churchyard.
He has accorded the distinction
of being the only individual, up to
this time, to whom the state OF
Georgia has erected monument.
A shaft to his memory was placed
10 the street in1 front of thel scourt
house in Sandersville. When
Sherman entered the little town on
his march through Georgia. one Of
Wheeler's men fired a shot, which
left its mark on the marble where
it can still be seen. Later in re-
moving the monument to the Court
Square, the shaft was broken. but
has been cleverly mended. it bears
the following inscription; .y
Erected by the State Of Georgia
to the memory Of Governor 1Jared
Irwin, he died at his residence,
Union Hill, Washington County, on
the first day Of March, 1918. in the
68th year Of his age"
General Irwin was one of the con-
vention which met at Augusta in
1888 and ratified the Constitution
of the State of Georgia; in 1898, he
was president of the convention
which revised the Constitution of
the State of Georgia. He rendered
distinguished services to his coun-
ty commissioner in concluding sew
eral treaties with the Indians.
At the close of the war of indie
peldence he was member of the
fist legislature under our present
form of government, which he &C.
r,Diod for snvarol wars He WAS