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Margaret (Truby) Irwin
MRS. MARGARET (TRUBY) IRWIN, of Freeport, Armstrong county, is the widow of
John R. Irwin, a notably successful construction engineer, and a descendant of
the Truby and Murphy families, whose connection with the early history of this
section may well be a matter of pride to their posterity.John Truby, Mrs. Irwin’s paternal grandfather, was a son of Col.
Christopher Truby. He married Magdalena Reymer, and we have the following
record of their children: (1) Henry, a leading man of his day, was captain of
a packet on the old canal, and Charles Dickens was once a passenger on his
boat. He married Alvina Hill, daughter of Jacob Hill, a pioneer of this county
who resided in the vicinity of Leechburg, and they had five children. (2)
Simon married Elizabeth Hill, sister of his brother Henry’s wife, and they had
eight children. (3) William was the ancestor of Mrs. Irwin.William Truby was a prominent citizen of Freeport, and well and favorably
known all over Armstrong county. He built the first canal packet that plied
between Freeport and Pittsburgh, the “John Karns,” so named for one
of his Freeport friends. It is said of William Truby that “if his heart
had been gold he would have given it to the poor.” For many years he
served as a justice of the peace in Freeport, and as such benefited many in
the community, sparing litigation whenever possible. He married Susan Murphy,
of near Freeport, daughter of Capt. Samuel Murphy, who gave distinguished
service to the Colonies during the Revolutionary war. Samuel Murphy married
Elizabeth Powers, a beautiful woman, a native of Virginia and member of one of
the oldest families of that State. She refused a title to marry Captain
Murphy, who according to family tradition was a very homely man, but of noble
character. They had a large family, namely: William, Thomas, Mary, James,
Elizabeth, Margaret, Samuel, Benjamin, Nancy, Susan, John and George. Of this
family Susan married William Truby. To William and Susan (Murphy) Truby were
born ten children, of whom Mary Elizabeth died in childhood. James Henry, who
resides at Clinton, Pa., married Mary Jane Ewing; they had no children. Nancy
died in infancy. Margaret is mentioned more fully below. Julia married John G.
Wolf, of Painesville, Ohio, and had eight children, six of who survived.
William married Maria Patton and (second) Margaret McMillan, having two
children by the first union and five by the second. Samuel J. died when four
years old. George W. Died in infancy. Clarissa died in infancy. One child died
unnamed.Mrs. Susan (Murphy) Truby, the mother of this family, and her sister
Margaret, who never married and lived to be ninety-nine years old, were real
daughters of the Revolution, and the Pennsylvania Society of the Daughters of
the American Revolution presented them gold spoons in recognition of the fact.Margaret Truby, daughter of William and Susan (Murphy) Truby, was first
married Dec. 29, 1859, to John Burns, a native of Wilmington, Del. He was
killed at the battle of Fredericksburg, in December, 1862, while serving as a
member of Company A, 121st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, in which command
he had enlisted in Venango county. Mr. Burns came to Armstrong county in 1859
from Philadelphia. He was a cooper by trade, and became foreman in a barrel
factory at Oil City, Pa. He was the father of two children, Susan Adelaide and
William John, the former of whom is unmarried and resides with her mother at
Freeport. The son, born April 29, 1863, several months after his father’s
untimely death, was killed Jan. 17, 1886, by an engine at Newark, Ohio, where
he was chief of telegraphy. He was a man of unusual ability. He had married
Louise Bingaman, of Myersdale, Pa., and they had one daughter, Margaret S.,
now the wife of Elliott Matthews, Huntsville, Ala., and mother of four
children, John Irwin, Margaret S., Ada Burns and Frances Elliott.On Sept. 16, 1869, Mrs. Burns became the wife of John R. Irwin, of
Livermore, Pa., and they made their home at Freeport and Clinton. No children
were born to this union, but Mr. and Mrs. Irwin adopted a son, Edwin Burns
Irwin, who is now engaged in managing his mother’s farm at Clinton, this
county. He is married to Jessie I. Ayers, of Schenley, Pa., and they have two
children, Margaret Truby and John R.Eliphalet Irwin, of Westmoreland county, grandfather of John R. Irwin, had
the following sons, all of whom became farmers in Indiana county, PA.: James,
John, Joseph, Samuel, Marshall and Benjamin.John Irwin, son of Eliphalet, married Catherine Banks.
John R. Irwin was a soldier in the Civil war, enlisting in an infantry
company recruited at Saltsburg, Indiana county, which had the distinction of
capturing Colonel Mosby. As superintendent of the western division of the
Baltimore & Ohio railroad Mr. Irwin was regarded by railroad men as a
genius in the line of construction work. His ambition led him to give up that
connection to establish a company, the American Transportation Company, whose
ore boats plied between Duluth and Painesville, Ohio. Two of the most noted
vessels of this concern, the “Alex Nimick” and “John
Harper,” were in their day the largest ore boats afloat. Mr. Irwin was at
the head of the company, and his associates were Harry Oliver and George E.
Tener, of Pittsburgh, who writes thus of their association:“I first became acquainted with Mr. Irwin in May, 1886, when he was
sent to Painesville, Ohio, by Mr. Thomas M. King, president of the Pittsburgh
& Western Railroad, Mr. Solon Humphries and John T. Terry, of New York. He
was given charge of the construction work on the narrow gauge road from
Youngstown (Ohio) to Lake Erie, Fairport, Ohio, being the lake terminal. The
work was done with remarkable rapidity and thoroughness and was turned over
completed the middle of August, two weeks ahead of the most sanguine
expectations of the promoters.“During the winter of 1886-87 Mr. Irwin was sent out by the Baltimore
& Ohio Company to Newark, Ohio, and Chicago Junction, to raise a freight
blockade, which he cleaned up in a most satisfactory manner, and in the
following spring he took charge of the docks at Fairport Harbor for the
various Pittsburgh interests represented there in the Consumers’ Forwarding
& Storage Company and the Pittsburgh & Northwestern Dock Company. This
position he held until his death.“During all these years I was most intimately associated with him and
with his work on the railroad and dock management, and this association was
most delightful in every respect. Never have I seen him faced up against a
situation, no matter how hard and difficult, that he could not overcome, and
through good and evil repute I always found him thoroughly business-like and
reliable in every way, and with wonderful tact and ability in handling men and
securing the best possible results, and always the same whole-souled, genial
companion, no matter how hard or how strenuous the conditions might be.“He was elected mayor of Painesville in 1894.”
Mr. Irwin’s personal character was as remarkable as his intellect. He was a
man of generous nature, and his friend, Dr. Jessop, of Kittanning, speaks of
him as one of the noblest men who ever lived. He died beloved by all Aug. 13,
1895. He took an active interest in the welfare of Painesville throughout the
period of his residence there, and served as mayor of that place with his
customary regard for his duty toward his fellow men. He was holding the office
at the time of his death.Mr. Irwin was a Scottish Rite Mason, member of the Knights Templars, a
Shriner, and had attained the thirty-second degree, passing all the chairs. He
was a member of the Episcopal Church, and his wife belongs to the church of
that denomination at Freeport.Source: Pages Pages 958-959, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past
and Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed November 1998 by Joyce Sherry for the Armstrong County Beers
Project
Contributed for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
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