James Callender Irvine
b. 7 July 1807 - d. 28 January 1881
m. Martha Nevin Bartlett 17 December 1829
b. 22 February 1803 - d. 1 February 1881

JAMES CALLENDER IRVINE, 3rd child and 2nd son of Thomas Irvine and Tabitha Meridith Clark, was born in Tomica, Pa. on 12th July 1807.

Jim, as he was known to family and friends, had acquired the middle name Callender as an acknowledgement by his father of respect and admiration of the fur trapper - Indian fighter - survivor of Braddock’s Defeat-Revolutionary soldier, promoted to Captain in action, father of General William Irvine’s Wife - Robert Callender. (q.v. page 27)

Some vagueness hovers over the tales recited years ago by his 1st daughter Martha Elizabeth Irvine - Aunt Matt to family and community when known to me - and it seems only the ones corroborated by a grand-son and father-to-me have lingered. Of his youth Jim was reported to have been a harum-scarum character, more found of dogs and horses and hunting than books and schooling. In young manhood he displayed what Aunt Matt described as "wild Irish Blood", averse neither to drinking nor a good fight - but did utilize his spare time and energies to dedicate himself tin the ways becoming a gentleman of the times. Perhaps a ‘gentleman in the rough’ for he went to trade, becoming a wholesale and retail dealer in the produce of the farm. That he finally settled down is evidenced by his marriage, 17th Dec.., 1829, to Martha Nevin Bartlett - one of the several children of Bartholomew Bartlett and Elizabeth Howard Webb, from Salem, N.Y., and by 1835 was to build an elegant home at 110 East Gambier St., Mt. Vernon, for his wire and already 4 children. His business continued to thrive and he was to play a prominent part in the public affairs of the town. Early in the Civil War excitement he was to raise a company but his age prevented continuation in service.

Possibly this recounting should terminate here but the full picture of our ancestor is not revealed. The as recounted in the obituaries appended Jim was to become an important citizen and his family socially prominent - there appeared reports from a daughter and a grand-son that the youthful bent for hell raising persisted or recurred later in life, apparently under the cloak of his daytime activities. One such escapade was carried on as near to legal residence as the north east corner of the same block. Known to the family and neighbors - though taboo for table conversation - the issue was a beautiful and pleasing young lady known to all as Lillian. She was cared for in every way and was generally liked by her many cousins. Aunt Matt described her as " a charming girl", and her father as "an old rapscallion". Lillian removed to Cincinnati and later contracted a handsome marriage. As lately as 1918 she was visited there by a cousin - a legal grandson of her father - who reported her to be still a very charming woman and in very happy circumstances. this identity died with my father.

Discrepancies appear between the birth dates recorded by Angelina and the recordings of the 1850 Knox Co. Census :-

House 343 Family 363

James C. Irvine 45 Male, Brother, Penn. $14000.

Martha N. Irvine 45 Female, New York

James Clarke Irvine 18 Male, Law Student, Knox Co.(1830)

Martha C. Irvine 16 Female, Knox Co. (1832)

Ellen Amelia Irvine 14 Female, Knox Co. (1834)

Rebecca Belle Harrison Irvine 12 Female, Knox Co.(1837)

Mary Bartlett Irvine 10 Female, Knox Co. (1839)

Jefferson Jay Irvine 6 Male, Knox Co. (1843)

Austin Washington 30 M-M (Mulatte) Laborer Pa.

John Washington 28 M-M Laborer Pa.

Elias Washington 25 M-M Laborer Pa.

Uncertainty existed too relative to Martha’s true middle name. first known as ‘Nye’ from the 1904 letter of Lizzie (Thompson) Rowe - as she stated a relationship to her own mother Sarah Nye. The appended obituary came to light some years ago and has it as ‘Nevin’. The derivation of either is unknown.

In the will of Thommas Irvine, father, Jim is mentioned as having received previous settlements, and is there bequeathed $1.00 - the same condition and amount being left to Jane, Thomas W. and the heirs of Julia Ann deceased.

Obituary

Mr. and Mrs. James C. Irvine

We are called upon this week to chronicle the death of one of our most estimable citizens - made doubly sad from the fact that his devoted wife survived him but 4 days, both having died from the same disease - pneumonia.

James C. Irvine was born at or near an old border point called Tomica, in Pennsylvania, on 12 July, 1807, and died on Friday 28 Jan. 1881. Deceased was the son of Thomas Irvine, of Irvinestown, Ireland, who came to this country at a very early date with two brothers - one of whom was a minister, the other a physician, descendents of whom are living today in Pa. and elsewhere. The father of James C. Irvine married Miss Tabitha Meridith Clark near Huntington, Pa., removed to the west and finally settled in 1810 in Mt. Vernon. In early life James C. Irvine was apprenticed to learn the printing business, in the office of the Ohio Register, then published by James McArdle - the first newspaper printed in Knox County. He was prompt, energetic, and deliberate, and by economy succeeded in acquiring considerable property. He followed the trade for several years, and then engaged in mercantile pursuits, and has resided in Mt. Vernon continuously since that time. when the war of the rebellion broke out, he raised the first company of volunteers that was sent out from Knox County - Co. A, 4th O.V.I. under call for three months men, and commanded the company until mustered out of the service. During his life time he held positions of trust - having several times been appointed on Boards of Equalization, and at the time of his death was a member of Council from the First Ward.

The wife’s maiden name was Martha N. Bartlett. She was born at Salem N.Y., Feb. 22, 1803, and died on Tuesday Feb. 1st, 1881. Her father was Bartholomew Bartlett, and her mother was Elizabeth Howard Webb, both being descended from old Puritan stock who originally located at Salem, Mass. She was united to Mr. Irvine Dec. 17, 1829. Thus these old people who were among the very few children of the early settlers of central Ohio living to this date, and connecting links between the Old and the New have "gone to take the places with the innumerable multitude" living beyond the span accorded by the Mosaic writer of mortal life. They certainly illustrated in their daily lives the solid, sterling qualities, that can alone form enduring states, and they largely reaped the fruits thereof in ‘honor, love, obedience, troops of friends", and when the great summons came, "as they had been lowly and pleasant in their lives, so in death they were not divided".

By this union there were six children, named respectively - Clarke, Martha, Rebecca B., Ellen A., Mary B., Jefferson J., all of whom are living and present except Mary B. who died in San Diego, Calif. several years ago. M.J. Becker and Chas. F. Baldwin, sons-in-law of deceased are also present. The funeral takes place at 2 p.m. today (Thursday) from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Rev. W. Thompson officiating. So closely allied in life, they are only separated in death by the walls of their own coffins.

Obituary No. 2

James Callender Irvine and Martha Nevin Bartlett

It is rarely the province of a newspaper to chronicle in one issue the demise of so large number of old and well-known citizens as we are called upon to do this week.

The subjects of this notice now lie dead at their late residence on Gambier Street. The former dying Friday evening, Jan. 28, and the latter Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 1st, at 2 o’clock, the hour such had been set for the funeral of her late husband.

James C. Irvine, so well known to all our old citizens, died after suffering about one week. He was on the streets of Mt. Vernon, and drove to his farm near this city, the Sunday before his death. Upon his return he was taken with a chill, afterwards developing into pneumonia which proved fatal upon the aforesaid date.

Mr. Irvine was born in Tomica, Western Pa., July 12, 1807, and died in his 74th year. He came to Mt. Vernon in 1810, where he has since resided. He began life as a printer in the office of the Ohio Register, published here. In the year 1835 he commenced business on Main Street, continuing therein until 1861, when he responded to the first call for troops to suppress the late rebellion, and to Mr. Irvine belongs the honor of organizing the first company of soldiers in Knox County. As Captain of Co., he went out with Col. Lorin Andrews, in the 4th O.V.I. On account of his then somewhat advanced age, Mr. Irvine did not re-enlist. After the expiration of 3 months - the term designated in the first call - he resumed his business, in which occupation he continued until quite recently.

At the date of his death, Mr. Irvine represented his Ward in the Common Council of this city, to which position he was elected in 1880, and which body, at its regular meeting on Monday evening last, took fitting cognizance of his demise, a report of which appears elsewhere in this paper. As evidence of the high esteem in which deceased’s sound judgment, integrity, and through business capacity was held, may be found in the fact that he had been elected almost innumerable times a member of the City Board of Equalization. One of his last official acts in the City Council was the starting of a movement in the direction of economy and reform in our city government. Mr. Irvine was not a man of pronounced religious views, but his openness and decision of character, strict business integrity, and parental indulgence, were matters of proverb in this community.

Martha Nevin nee Bartlett Irvine, his wife, was born on the 22 of Feb., 1803, at Salem N.Y. She came to Knox County at an early date with her father, Bartholomew Bartlett, and settled at Clinton, Just north of this city. Subsequently she removed to this city, where she was married to Mr. Irvine, in 1829. They had by this union six children, five of whom survive them - three daughters and 2 sons - Mrs. M.J. Becker, of Pittsburgh, Pa., Mrs. C.F. Baldwin and Martha Irvine, of this city, who are all at home today. But few instances of family bereavement and social sorrow as is presented in the subjects of this double obituary has it been our experience to chronicle, and not less vain is our mourning of the dead than would be our attempts to depict the sadness and distress of this most afflicted household, bereft as it is almost in a breath, not only of the support, the strength, the manhood, of an ever kind and indulgent father, but the gentleness, love, and sympathy of a much beloved and respected mother.

Both will be buried this (Thursday) afternoon at 2 o’clock, from their late residence in Gambier Street. Interment in Mound View Cemetery, Mt. Vernon, Ohio.

MARTHA NEVIN BARTLETT, wife of above, born at Salem N.Y. on 22nd Feb., 1803. Information within the circle of descendents is woefully absent. The obituary tells us of Clinton, Knox Co. as the place of residence prior to marriage in 1829. Irvine T. Holloway recollected that the family had lived for years in Trumbull County, Ohio.

Additionally to the mite contained in the above obituaries - because the roots of each of us has sucked sustenance from the blood of all our antecedents - some accounting of our maternal great grand-mother is needed to complete the story of our full inheritance.

Martha’s father was Bartholomew Bartlett, a nephew of Josiah Bartlett - one of the sages and organizing heroes of genius proportions of pre- and Revolutionary era. Josiah was born in Amesbury, Mass., on Nov., 1729. He studied medicine and began its practice in Kingston NH. in 1750. In 1754, at 25 years of age, he greatly augmented his reputation by writing a paper on "angina maligna" (septic sore throat), recommending Peruvian bark in its treatment - with much opposition from other practitioners. He received several appointments from the Royal Governor, John Wentworth. Lost then 1775 for being a zealous Whig. Was chosen Delegate to the Continental Congress. Was first to vote after its President in signing the Declaration of Independence - for 2 reasons :- first called alphabetically and he being representative of the most easterly Province. (Family lore says due to ‘eagerness and sincerity’.)

1777 - Accompanied Starke to Bennington.

1779 - Appointed Chief Justice of Common Pleas Court.

1784 - Appointed Justice of Supreme Court.

Was an active and energetic Member of Constitutional Convention - and did yeoman-like service in urging its adoption.

1790 - Elected President of New Hampshire.

1791 - President of a medical society established through his own efforts.

1793 - Chosen first Governor of New Hampshire under its new Constitution.

1794 - Resigned all his offices - to rest: Died at 66 years of age, 19th May, 1795

Perhaps as proof of the ultimate smallness of the World and more than suggestive of universal relationship among mortals a rare experience occurred in the spring of 1949 as we returned homeward from a long trailer jaunt which had carried us from Ohio to Florida and California. Having been in contact with a cousin, Mac Irvine, and involved in engineering a completion to an examination into the causes that were soon to prove a final illness, the subject of remoteness among relatives was much in mind.

After marveling over the yawning gap in the earth S.W. of Salt Lake City called the Bingham copper Nine we had journeyed eastward into the Wasach Mountain Range to visit "the richest silver mine in America". As the nearest town, Park City, was at 6000 ft. we unhitched our trailer at a fork of the road, beside a small beer-countered country store, and went on ‘light’ through Park City and up hair-raising mountain trails another 2500 ft. to the mine entrance. Only to find work was at 2000 ft. down a shaft - and if we returned by 7 a.m. equipped with southwesters and hip boots we could descend with the crew who operated under 2000 gal. of water an hour. Finally back to the road fork - hitched up but wanted a look at the mine samples on display in the store.

Sitting at the counter sipping a short beer was a flurried faced short and well-dressed man. Hearing our predicament he introduced himself as "Sam Bartlett" - seller of creosoted timbers that had shorn up the tunnel into the Bingham mine - from which tunnel more than enough gold and silver had been salvaged to defray construction costs. queried ‘IF’ a Bartholomew was in his lineage a torrent was let loose. Confessed this his favorite topic. "Yes sir, Bartholomew was my great grand-father - and his Uncle was Josiah Bartlett, the first signer of the Declaration of Independence".

A regrettable fact is that I was unprepared to take notes - an outline of what came forth entailed an account of the ancient prominence of the family in Holland, Normandy, and England. His ancestors had entered the islands with William the Conqueror in 1066. Josiah’s great great grand-father had emigrated with the Massachusetts Colony and many members of the family were mentioned as having played prominent roles during Colonial and Revolutionary times. He knew that his great grand-father was the 6th child of Bartholomew and Elizabeth Howard Webb (of whom our great grand-mother Martha Nevin Bartlett was a daughter), and that Elizabeth Webb’s mother was Elizabeth Howard (former page 1st paragraph).

So - four generations after cousinship, high in the Wasach Range, Sam’s acquaintance was made!!!

Bartholomew had departed from Salem N.Y. headed for an unknown destination in what then was "Connecticut's Western Reserve". After tarrying in Trumble, Bartholomew had pushed on into Knox County. Sam’s grand-father had wandered northwestward into Ceauga County, finally taking up large land holding around Chardon - some 50 miles east of Cleveland. A rolling hill country noted for its prosperity from producing maple sugar, grapes, apples, pears, and general farming.