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by Bill Irvin
Farmington Hills, MI
Although I was 11 when my father died, he did not speak of his
childhood. What I know of my paternal great-grandfather, James
Irvin, comes almost exclusively from research.
A great part of that research was done by John Birkholz for the Great
Falls Genealogy Society. I owe John a great debt for his efforts.
The bio-facts for the people named here are at the end of this article.
James Irvin, a native of Scotland,
moved to the Great Falls
area from
Schuylkill County Pennsylvania in or shortly after 1890. In
Pennsylvania
he was a coal miner, and later "boss". He married Ida
C. Westervelt and had four children.
After having made a will in Pennsylvania
(crucial to the information
I have) James set off to Montana
on his own to establish himself on
the two farms that he had purchased and to prepare for the arrival of
his family.
He may have some connection to the establishment of the mines in
Stockett, according to his obituary. In Great Falls he
established the
James Irvin & Company business that delt in
real estate and
insurance.
James died in Great Falls
on September 17, 1912. Ida died in Great
Falls on August 26, 1933. James and Ida were
certainly Catholic.
Their son's were baptized in St. Ann's
Cathedral in Great Falls,
and
James and Ida were buried from there.
Ida and all four children where in Great
Falls by 1900.
James' children were:
William Francis, my grandfather. In 1900 he was a laborer on his
paternal Aunt Maggie's farm in White Sulphur
Springs. He married
in 1902 to Helen Jane Bartleman, who was living in Wapheton, ND
at the time. Helen's father, at the time, was a traveling auditor for
the Great Northern Railway. William's job around that time was a
"railway postal clerk". This may be how they meet. My
grandparents lived in Great Falls
until about 1909 and had three sons
there. Joseph William (my father), James Francis and Frederick
John. By 1909 they had a daughter, Ellen Grace, and were living in
Butte. In 1913
Helen took the children to live with her parents to
Sandwich (now part of Windsor), Ontario. I believe
this was due to
William's abuse of alcohol and Helen's strict Baptist upbringing.
Although Helen predeceased William she listed herself as a widow
in the Sandwich city directories, and it
seems she did not allow
William any visits with the children after the split. William died in
Butte, and was
a laborer with the railroad at the time. He is buried
in Great Falls.
Anne (Annie) Elisabeth Irvin married William Charles Woods in
1899. They lived in Great Falls for a time,
but lived resided in
different Montana
locations. Annie died in White Sulpher Springs in
1917.
Annie and William had at least seven children (from the 1920)
census. The eldest born in 1899, the youngest in 1910.
Jennie Cecila Irvin married Reazin
(aka Robert) Matthews around
1898. They lived in Great Falls
in 1900. By 1910 they were in the
Seattle/Tacoma area of Washington
state.
They had seven children, six of whom are known to be born in
Montana. The
eldest born in 1899, the youngest 1910.
May (born Margaret May Irvin) took over her father's business
until she retired. She remained a life long spinster. Her obituary
stated that she was Great Falls
only woman Real Estate agent.
Montana also
drew James' sister Maggie and Ida's sister Annie.
Maggie Irvin married John Jenkins in 1883 in Schuylkill County
Pennsylvania. He died in 1924 from a 60 foot fall, while driving a
horse drawn wagon. He lived in While Sulphur
Springs at the time.
Maggie died in White Sulphur Springs in 1938. They had
a son,
William, born in Meagher
County in 1888 and died
in 1912. My
grandfather, William Francis, is found in the 1900 census as a "farm
laborer" on their farm.
Annie McNamee (nee Westervelt), the wife of Emery
McNamee,
died in Red Lodge in 1942. She had been a resident of Red Lodge
for the last 12 years of her life. She was survived by her husband,
son Henry McKeone, and three daughters. Only one
daughter was
living in Montana
at the time of Annie's death.
So, if would seem that my father had quite a few cousins in or near
Great Falls
when he was a child. I wonder if they would be
playmates.
BIO-FACTS
James Irvin (b. Scotland,
7-24-1848, d. Great Falls, 7-17-1912,
buried Calvary Cemetery
(Catholic), Great Falls)
married around 1876 in Schuylkill County, PA)
Ida C. Westervelt (b. Brooklyn, NY,
4-1-1854, d. Great Falls, 8-26-
1933, buried Calvary Cemetery (Catholic), Great Falls)
William Francis Irvin (b. Shenandoah, PA, 1-7-1875, d. Butte, 10-
22-1935, buried Calvary Cemetery (Catholic), Great Falls)
married 8-21-1902 in Great Falls
Helen Jane Bartleman (b. Leith,
Scotland, 8-21-1877, d. Sandwich,
ON, 4-9- 1934)
Four Children.
Anne E. Irvin (b. Mahony Plane, PA, 8-10-1878, d.
White Sulphur
Springs, 4-25-1917)
marred 4-21-1899 in Great Falls
William Charles Woods (b. Pickering, ON, 4-12-1868, d. Great
Falls, 12-29-1947)
Seven Children.
Jennie Cecilia Irvin (b. Schuylkill County, PA, 2-24-1880, d.
Seattle, WA
7-24-1958)
married about 1898
Reazin Matthews (b. Canada, 7-1877, d. unknown)
Seven Children.
May M. Irvin (b. Schuylkill County,
PA, 12-24-1894, d. Great
Falls, 4-8-1949, buried Calvary Cemetery (Catholic), Great Falls)
Maggie Irvin (b. PA, about 1861, d. White Sulphur
Springs, 6-2-
1938)
married unknown
John Jenkins (b. Wales, 4-10-1850, d. Brewer, 4-17-1924)
William Jenkins (b. MT, 4-1888, d. Meagher County, 2-2-1912)
Annie Westervelt (b. Harlem, NY, 9-14-1857, d. Red
Lodge, 4-8-
1942)
married unknown
Emery McNamee (b. unknown, d. after 1942)
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