Irvine, Thomas 1783 – 1871
From The Howard County Times, June 22, 1871:
With details added 2013 by James Doore, a descendant.
DIED - THOMAS IRVINE--At his residence, two miles east of Lime Springs, Howard, Iowa, Thomas Irvine, June 10, 1871, in the 88th year of his age.
Mr. Irvine was born son of an Irish Squire, in Tyrone, North of Ireland on the 21st of August 1783. At the age of 21 he left his father's home and enlisted in the service of his country; served in the British army ten years and eight months, during which time he became convinced of the error of the religious belief under which he had been raised, and joined the Wesleyan Methodist Church.
At about the age of 33 he came to America (settling near Sandusky, Ohio about 1816), shortly after which he married a lady by the name of Betsy Rose, by whom he had three children. one of whom is now living, Susan Simpson Irvine (b: 1824), the wife of Rev. John Hopkins Gurney, in Maine. A son William J. Irvine (b: 1821) married John H. Gurney's youngest sister Ellen Marie Gurney. The third child is yet to be identified.
He again married in 1827 Polly Pattee, the wife who is now his aged widow, by whom he had seven children:
the eldest Sarah (b: 1830), the wife of Lewis Eldredge Webster, was buried last January;
the next , Sheldon T. (b: March 1832), living in Indiana with wife Delilah E.;
the third Serena (b: 1840), wife of Calvin Filmore Webster;
fourth, Horatie W., went to California in 1854, supposed to be now dead;
fifth , James (b: April 5, 1837), married to Charlotte L. Preston;
sixth, died in infancy;
seventh Jane E. (b: 1841), wife of Benjamin F. Stone.
In 1835 he removed to La Porte in the then very new State of Indiana, and from exposure and severe physical labor was deprived of his sight, which great affliction he bore with Christian patience and fortitude until his death.
He removed to this county in 1858, where he has since resided.
Thomas Irvine is buried in the Howard Center Township Cemetery, Howard, Iowa.