Muhlenberg County Kentucky


Biographies I

Dr. William E. Irvin

Dr. William E. Irvin was born November 23, 1855, in Muhlenberg County, Ky., and is the eldest of two boys and two girls, born to William and Maria M. (Earle) Irvin, who were respectively natives of Muhlenberg and Hopkins Counties, Ky., and or Irish and Scotch descent. William Irvin was a son of James Irvin, who was born and reared in Pennsylvania; was a farmer, and came to the State of Kentucky about 1815, and settled in Muhlenberg County; was elected Sheriff several terms. The mother of our subject was a daughter of John B. Earle, who married a Miss Woodson; she was born in Madisonville; her parents came to Hopkins County in a very early day and settled in Hopkins County about five miles east of Madisonville.

Dr. Irvin was reared on a farm until eleven years of age, when his father was elected sheriff and moved his family to Greenville; after his term of office expired he engaged in mercantile business until his death 1883. Dr. Irvin received his education in Greenville College, and at the age of eighteen years commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Yost. In the spring of 1878 he graduated from the medical department of the Vanderbilt University; in April, of the same year, located in South Carrollton, where he has been successfully engaged in practice ever since. He is a member of the County Board of Health and County Medical Society.

He was married in February, 1882, to Lillian B. Mayes, of Simpson County, Ky., a daughter of John B. and Maria L. (Maddox) Mayes; her parents moved from Louisville to Bowling Green; thence to Franklin, where her father was engaged in carriage manufacturing. The Doctor is the father of one child: Gaillard M. Dr. Irvin is a member of the K. of H. and a Mason.

Source: Battle, J.H., W.H. Perrin, and G.C. Kniffen. Kentucky: A History of the State. Louisville, KY: F.A. Battey, 1885. Page 909.

Updated July 9, 2018