Biographies: I

Biographies of Peoria County People

(I)

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WILLIAM TRAVIS IRWIN. Throughout the greater part of his professional career, which had its beginnings in his admission to the bar in 1881, William Travis Irwin had practiced in Peoria and had gained recognition as one of the able and learned lawyers of this city.
The careful preparation of his cases has been one of the strong and salient features of his success, together with the recognition of the responsibility which devolves upon the lawyer in his efforts to protect life, liberty, right and property. Mr. Irwin was born in Dayton, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, June 1, 1856, his parents being Joseph T. and Mary J. (Travis) Irwin. The family is of Scotch-Irish lineage on the paternal side, the ancestry being traced back to Benjamin Irwin, the great-grandfather who was born in the north of Ireland. He became the leader of the family to America, settling in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, where his son and namesake, Benjamin Irwin, was born and reared. There the latter married Miss Margaret Marshall, a native of Armstrong county, Pennsylvania. Although born under the British flag Benjamin Irwin, Sr., became a soldier in the Revolutionary war and rendered valiant aid to the cause of independence. The maternal grandparents of William Irwin were William and Jane Travis, both of whom were natives of Indiana county, Pennsylvania.
Spending his youthful days in his parents' home William T. Irwin began his education in the public schools of his native town and afterward entered the Glade Run Academy from which he was graduated with the class of 1878. During vacation periods he assisted his father in the work of the home farm, and when his educational training was sufficient to enable him to win a certificate he took up the profession of teaching in the graded schools of Dayton, and in 1879 came to Illinois, where he began the study of law with Judge Alfred Sample, at Paxton, Ford county. His preliminary reading was thorough and comprehensive and enabled him to successfully pass examination which won him admission to the bar at Springfield, Illinois, in May, 1881. In the succeeding autumn he came to Peoria, and for more than thirty years has practiced in the courts of this city and district. He entered into partnership here with Judge J. W. Cochran, and the association was maintained until Judge Cochran removed to Fargo, North Dakota. Mr. Irwin then practiced alone until 1896, when he formed a partnership with W. I. Slemmons. His preparation of his cases is thorough and exhaustive, his presentation of his cause clear, forcible and logical. He is seldom if ever at fault in the citation of principle or precedent, and the strength of his defense is found in his correct application of legal principles to the point at issue. In 1891 he was elected city attorney of Peoria and was reelected two years later, notwithstanding that he was a republican candidate in a city which usually gives a strong democratic majority. The vote given him was indeed complimentary to his popularity and to the confidence reposed in his ability, and his record in office is one which gained for him high encomiums. (Peoria, City and County, Illinois (1912) by James M. Rice, page 180, submitted by Janine Crandell)

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