Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/385

Rh invited him several times to take a seat in his cabi- net, but he declined. He was elected to the senate in 1873, but took no active part in politics. Under President Errazuriz he was councillor of state, but at present (1887) lives in retirement on his estate at Quilpue. His poems include " Al Sol de Setiem- bre," " A San Martin," and " La Mujer Adiiltera." IRONS, Martin, labor-agitator, fj. in Dundee, Scotland, 7 Oct., 1832. He emigrated to the United States with his parents when he was fourteen years of age, and was placed as an apprentice in a machine-shop in New York city. Here he volun- teered his small means to enable sewing-girls to recover wages that were illegally withheld. He subsequently worked at his trade in Carrollton, La., then opened a grocery-store, but, failing in this business, again became a mechanic, and headed a strike for ten hours' labor a day in a machine-shop in Lexington, Ky. He joined the grangers, be- came master of the largest grange in the state, and established a wagon-factory. He embarked again in business, without success, returned to Kansas City and found work again as a machinist. Removing to Sedalia, Mo., he became a member of the Knights of labor. As chairman of the execu- tive board of District assembly 101 he sought to adjust grievances against a railroad company, and, failing in that, ordered a strike, which spread to all the railroad employes of the southwest, causing misery in thousands of families and disturbance of business throughout the country.

IRVIN, James, manufacturer, b. in Centre county, Pa., 18 Feb., 1800; d. there, 28 Nov., 1862. He was trained from the age of fourteen in his father's mercantile business. He became the chief manufacturer of Centre county, supervising the operation of twelve charcoal blast-furnaces, be- sides rolling-mills, forges, and grist-mills. He rep- resented his district in congress from 31 May, 1841, to 3 March, 1845, and in 1847 was the Whig can- didate for governor of Pennsylvania, but was de- feated by the temperance vote, though he was an advocate of temperance principles. He joined the Republican party when it was first organized, and, having lost his fortune in the crisis of 1857, ac- cepted about 1861 the appointment of naval store- keeper in Philadelphia, which he held at the time of his death. He was one of the founders of the Pennsylvania agricultural college, for which he gave 200 acres of land. — His brother, William, Shysician, b. in Centre county, Pa., 15 Nov., 1805: in Amoy, China, 9 Sept., 1865, studied at Dickinson college, Carlisle, Pa., and was graduated M. D. at Jefferson medical college, Philadelphia, in 1828. He did not practise his profession long, but became a partner of his brother in the iron business at Milesburg, Pa., about 1833. In later life he studied homoeopathy, and in 1851 was graduated at the Homoeopathic medical college of Philadelphia. After practising two or three years in Bellefonte, Pa., he resumed iron manufacturing in Clinton county. He held a clerkship in the treasury department at Washington from 1862 till 1864, when he was appointed U. S. consul at Amoy. He employed his professional skill for the benefit of the natives and treated many cases of Asiatic cholera, but finally fell a victim to the disease.

IRVIN, William W., jurist, b. in Albemarle county, Va., in 1778; d. in Lancaster, Ohio, 19 April, 1842. He studied law, practised in Lancaster, Ohio, held various local offices, was sent several times to the legislature, and was judge of the Ohio supreme court in 1809-'15. He was elected as a Jackson Democrat to congress in 1828, and re-elected in 1830, but defeated in 1832.

IRVINE, James, soldier, b. in Philadelphia, 4 Aug., 1735 ; d. there, 28 April, 1819. His father, George Irvine, was an emigrant from the north of Ireland. In 1760 he was ensign in Capt. Atlee's company of the provincial regiment. He was pro- moted to captain, 30 Dec, 1763, and the year fol- lowing served under Col. Henry Bouquet on his expedition against the Indians northwest of the Ohio. He was a delegate to the Provincial con- ference at Philadelphia, 23 Jan., 1775, at the be- ginning of the Revolution was chosen a captain in the 1st Pennsylvania battalion, and on 25 Nov., 1775, was commissioned its lieutenant-colonel. He served in the Canada campaign of 1776, was com- missioned colonel of the 9th regiment of the Penn- sylvania line on 25 Oct., 1776, and was subse- quently transferred to the command of the 2d regiment. He resigned, 1 June, 1777, owing to a question of rank, but on 26 Aug., 1777, was made a brigadier-general of the militia. On 5 Sept. his command, the 2d brigade of Pennsylvania troops, was at Wilmington, Del., where it remained until after the action of Brandy wine on the 11th. At the battle of Germantown he was with Gen. Armstrong on the extreme right of the American army. On 5 Dec, in the skirmish at Chestnut Hill, he was wounded and made prisoner. He was taken to Philadelphia, thence to New York, and after- ward to Flushing, L. I., where he remained until his exchange, 1 June, 1781. In the following Sep- tember, when it was thought that the British in- tended to move against Philadelphia, he was active in organizing the troops to oppose them. Congress appointed him commander at Fort Pitt, 11 Oct., 1781, and on 27 May, 1782, he was commissioned major-general of the Pennsylvania militia, which office he held until 1793. He was a member of the supreme executive council from 1782, and held the office of vice-president of the state from 6 Nov., 1784, till 10 Oct., 1785. During the session of 1785- ? 6 he served in the general assembly, and was state senator from 1795 till 1799. He was one of the original trustees of Dickinson college, and a firm friend of popular education.

'''IRVINE. James''', Canadian statesman, b. in England, 3 Jan., 1766 ; d. in Quebec, 27 Sept., 1829. He was the son of Adam Irvine, who emigrated from Scotland to Canada soon after the conquest. James was a member of the firm of Irvine, McNaught and Co., merchants of Quebec While on his way to England in 1797 he was captured by the French, and was held as a prisoner of war until 13 Sept., 1798. He was appointed in 1805, by letters patent, a warden of the Trinity house, and was a member of the legislative council, and of the executive council of Lower Canada. In 1822 he was commissioned president of the court of appeal of the executive council, during the absence of the chief justices of Montreal and Quebec, and in 1824 he was appointed arbitrator for Lower Canada, to adjust the duties between that province and Upper Canada. He served in the militia ol the province, was on duty with his regiment in the war of 1812, and retired with the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1822.-James's son, John George, Canadian soldier, b. in Quebec, 31 Dec, 1802 ; d. there, 1 Nov., 1871, passed his early life in business in Quebec In 1837 at the beginning of the rebellion in Canada he was appointed a captain in the Royal Quebec volunteers; in 1838 was gazetted a lieutenant-colonel and deputy quartermaster-general ; in November, 1851, provincial aide-de-camp to the governor-general, and principal aide-de-camp 2 Oct., 1868. He was acting adjutant-general to attend on the Prince of Wales during his visit to