Peter Irving (October 30, 1771 - June 27, 1838) was an American physician, author, and politician who was the brother of

Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legen ...

, William Irving and John T. Irving.

Early life

Irving was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

on October 30, 1771. He was one of eleven children born to William Irving Sr. (1731–1807), originally of Quholm,

Shapinsay Shapinsay (, sco, Shapinsee) is one of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland. There is one village on the island, Balfour, from which roll-on/roll-off car ferries sail to Kirkwall on the Orkney Mainland. Balfour Castle ...

, Orkney, Scotland, and Sarah ( née Sanders) Irving (1738–1817). Among his surviving siblings were four brothers and three sisters, including:

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

William Irving, Ebenezer Irving, John Treat Irving, diplomat and author

, Ann Irving (wife of Maj. Gen. Richard Dodge), Catherine Irving, and Sarah Irving.

Career

Irving studied medicine at Columbia College, taking his degree in 1794. He was editor of the Democratic paper ''

The Morning Herald The ''Morning Herald'' was an early daily newspaper in the United Kingdom. The newspaper was founded in 1780 by the Reverend Sir Henry Bate Dudley, former editor of ''The Morning Post''. It was initially a liberal paper aligned with the Prince ...

'', and the weekly ''Corrector'', to which his friend

William Alexander Duer William Alexander Duer (September 8, 1780 – May 30, 1858) was an American lawyer, jurist, and educator from New York City who served as the President of Columbia University from 1829 to 1842. He was also a slaveholder, owning numerous enslave ...

contributed and which supported Aaron Burr in his contest with Morgan Lewis for

New York Governor The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor ha ...

. Like his brothers William and John, Peter was a member of the Calliopean Society, a literary club for young men that sometimes met at William's house. He translated ''Giovanni Sbogarro: A Venetian Tale''. Reportedly,

"Peter was atypical of the partisan editors of the period. He was too reserved to print obvious lies, or to pass on ugly rumors and pitch abusive words at Burr's enemies. Cheetham derided him by calling him 'Miss' Irving, a direct allusion to his sexual identity. Civil Peter knew whom he could turn to for help: Washington resented
Cheetham Cheetham may refer to: People * Cheetham (surname) Places * Cheetham and Altona Important Bird Area, Melbourne, Australia * Cheetham Close, a megalith and scheduled ancient monument located in Lancashire, very close to the boundary with Greater ...
's unprovoked assaults on his brother, including the suggestion (with clear homosexual overtones) that he was merely the slavish follower of a known libertine."

From 1802 to 1803, Irving served in the New York State Assembly as a member of the 26th New York State Legislature, representing

New York County Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

alongside John Burger,

William Few William Few Jr. (June 8, 1748 – July 16, 1828) was an American Founding Father, lawyer, politician and jurist. He represented the U.S. state of Georgia at the Constitutional Convention and signed the U.S. Constitution. Few and James Gunn ...

(later a U.S. Senator from Georgia),

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

Thomas Storm Thomas Storm (September 8, 1748 – August 4, 1833) was an American Revolutionary war officer and state legislator, rising to Speaker of the New York State Assembly in 1802. Early life Thomas was born in Hopewell, Dutchess County, New York ...

, and

Daniel D. Tompkins Daniel D. Tompkins (June 21, 1774 – June 11, 1825) was an American politician. He was the fifth governor of New York from 1807 to 1817, and the sixth vice president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. Born in Scarsdale, New York, Tompkins ...

(later Governor of New York and

Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice ...

). He ran for reelection, and lost, as a Burrite. Peter also wrote the first five chapters of his brother Washington's 1809 satirical novel, '' Knickerbocker's History''. From 1809 until 1836, Irving lived in Europe for nearly 25 years, returning just two years before his eventual death in 1838.

Personal life

Peter, a bachelor like his brother Washington, spent his final days in New York City with Washington, who came to visit from his cottage Sunnyside in

Tarrytown Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North Hu ...

. Peter died on June 27, 1838. He is buried at

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York, is the final resting place of numerous famous figures, including Washington Irving, whose 1820 short story " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is set in the adjacent burying ground at the Old Dutch ...

Legacy

His papers are held variously at the

Sterling Memorial Library Sterling Memorial Library (SML) is the main library building of the Yale University Library system in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Opened in 1931, the library was designed by James Gamble Rogers as the centerpiece of Yale's Gothic Revi ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, The Miriam Lutcher Stark Library, the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

and

The New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

. A selection of his writings are published in a slim volume.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Irving, Peter 1771 births 1838 deaths American male writers Members of the New York State Assembly Burials at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery People from New York City Columbia University alumni Editors of New York (state) newspapers