History of the Upper Ohio Valley Brant & Fuller, 1890; Vol. I, pages 338-339
Clarence E. Irwin, secretary of the LaBelle Iron works of Wheeling,
was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, in 1843. Mr. Irwin is a
representative of one of the pioneer families of the city of
Wheeling, his father, R. S. Irwin, being one of the early pioneer
merchants and manufacturers. The latter was a native of Wheeling but
in early manhood resided in Ohio, where the subject of this mention
was born. Soon afterward he returned to Wheeling, and became
subsequently connected with the firm of Morton, Bailey & Co., in the
Belmont Iron company, and in 1852 he became a member of the firm of
Bailey, Woodward & Co., who were the founders of the LaBelle Iron
works, and afterward purchased the Jefferson Iron works of
Steubenville. With both firms he was connected until his death in
1872, in his sixty-third year. The wife of R. S. Irwin was Zoraida
Zane Fawcett, who was connected with the pioneer Zane family. She
died in 1860. Clarence E. Irwin was reared at Wheeling, and educated
in the schools of the city and the academy at Morgantown. At the
outbreak of the war he enlisted in May, 1861, in Company E, of the
First Virginia volunteer infantry in the Union service, and after
serving his term of three months he re-enlisted for three years. At
the end of that period he entered the veteran service, as captain of
Company G of the Second West Virginia V. V. I., and served until
July, 1865. At the completion of this extended period of patriotic
service, Mr. Irwin returned to Wheeling and was engaged in the office
of Bailey, Woodward & Co. until 1876, when he embarked in the
wholesale grocery business under the firm style of C. E. Irwin & Co.
In the following December he went west with the intention of finding
a new location, but not being satisfied he returned to Wheeling in
the fall of 1877, and became a resident of Martin's Ferry, and a
clerk in the Benwood Blast furnace. Subsequently he took the
position of book-keeper in the office of the Standard Iron company at
Bridgeport, and in i887 resigned that position to accept the one he
holds at present. Mr. Irwin is a member of the Masonic fraternity
and a comrade of the G. A. R. In 1868 he was married to Hannah B.
Woodward, daughter of Simpson N. Woodward, of the firm of Bailey,
Woodward &, Co., and they have two children. He is a member of the
board of education from Madison sub-district for the school district
of Wheeling.
