OBIT: Crawford IRWIN, 1900, Hollidaysburg, Blair County, PA

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DR. CRAWFORD IRWIN IS DEAD
He Died at His Home in Hollidaysburg at 4 o'clock on Monday Morning.
HE WAS IN HIS 77TH YEAR

Dr. Irwin Ranked High Among the Most Skillful Physicians of Central 
Pennsylvania - He is Survived by His Wife, Three Daughters and Three 
Sons. The Funeral Services Will be Held at His Late Home To-Morrow.

  Dr. Crawford Irwin, an extensively known practitioner and prominent 
and highly esteemed citizen of Hollidaysburg, died at his home, on East 
Allegheny Street, yesterday morning at 4 o'clock after an illness 
covering a period of two weeks of diseases incident to his advanced 
age.
  Crawford Irwin, the tenth child and youngest son of Robert Irwin, of 
Frankstown Township, was born April 20, 1824.  At the age of 13 he was 
sent to the academy at Hollidaysburg, at the age of 15 to the Boalsburg 
academy, in Centre County, and shortly thereafter, to Jefferson 
College, at Canonsburg, Washington County, Pa., where he remained five 
years and in September, 1844, graduated in the last class taught under 
the administration of Dr. Matthew Brown, for many years president of 
Jefferson.  The elder Irwin desired his son to undertake the study of 
law, but for that field Crawford had no inclination.  He did, however, 
incline toward medicine and surgery and accordingly soon began his 
studies with the Dr. Joseph A. Landis, then practicing in 
Hollidaysburg. 
  He attended two courses of lectures at Jefferson college, 
Philadelphia and graduated in 1847.  He began his practice in Logan 
Township, Blair County,, and after brief sojourns in Logan, Johnstown 
and Armagh, Indiana County, he returned to Frankstown in 1849, and for 
four years thereafter made his home there and divided his time in 
merchandising and practicing medicine.  On November 30, 1853, he 
married Susan F., daughter of Reverend David McKinney, formerly pastor 
of the Hollidaysburg Presbyterian church, but then of Philadelphia, and 
Editor and Publisher of the Presbyterian Banner.
  After his marriage, he took up his residence in Hollidaysburg, and 
joined as partner Dr. Alexander Johnston, who had been practicing in 
that town for forty years.  The partnership lasted two years, when Dr. 
Johnston retired. From that time forward, Dr. Irwin continued to 
practice in Hollidaysburg uninterrupted until his last illness.
  During past years, Dr. Irwin had served many years as physician to 
the county jail and ten or twelve years as physician to the alms house.  
Early in life he was prominent as school director of Frankstown 
Township, and in Hollidaysburg had long been identified with public 
educational measures as a director of the borough schools. Reared in 
the Presbyterian faith, he had been a member of the church for more 
than fifty years and had officiated as elder for thirty-two years.
  He was one of thirteen gentlemen who, when the Hollidaysburg seminary 
threatened to be a failure at the start, took hold of the project with 
their means and energies and made it a successful enterprise.  
Originally an Abolitionist, he had been a Republican from the 
foundation of Republicanism in Blair County in 1856,  and that year was 
put forward by his party as a candidate for the legislature.  With that 
solitary exception,  he had studiously refrained from taking a 
conspicuous part in the world of politics.  Since 1855 he had been a 
member of the Blair County Medical Society and had held all the various 
places therein.  He was a member of the State Medical Society of 
Pennsylvania and was its president from 1875 to 1876, and had been on 
numerous occasions a delegate from the county and state to the American 
Medical Association, and was a member of the American Academy of 
Medicine in the United States, an organization intended solely for the 
educated and experienced members of the profession.
  Dr. Irwin ranked high among the most skillful physicians, and for 
years maintained a large and lucrative practice.  He was public 
spirited to more than an ordinary degree and in measures that affect 
the promotion of local interests was never backward in showing, in a 
substantial way, the true and earnest concern of the progressive 
citizen.
  He is survived by his wife, three daughters and three sons, as 
follows: Mrs. Ella Everson, of New Brighton; Mrs. Jane Moore of 
Hollidaysburg; Miss Eliza at home; Dr. Robert C., of Hollidaysburg; Dr. 
Joseph of Allegheny county, and Isaac Irwin, Esquire, a member of the 
Blair County Bar Association, residing in Hollidaysburg, and one 
sister, Miss Susan Irwin of Hollidaysburg.
  The funeral services will be held at the house on Wednesday at 2:30 
p.m.. Interment in the Presbyterian Cemetery.

The Times, Altoona, October 9, 1900