Robert Irwin Jr. (December 24, 1797 – July 9, 1833) was an American pioneer and territorial legislator. Robert Irwin was born in

Greensburg, Pennsylvania Greensburg is a city in and the county seat of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States, and a part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The city lies within the Laurel Highlands and the ecoregion of the Western Allegheny Plateau. The city is ...

on December 24, 1797. Irwin moved with his family to

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, in 1816. Then in 1817, he moved to Green Bay, Michigan Territory and was in the mercantile business with his brother Alexander J. Irwin, who served in the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature. He was also justice of the peace and postmaster. From 1823 to 1830, Irwin served in the Michigan Territorial Council from Brown County, Michigan Territory. In 1832, he served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

in the

Black Hawk War The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis (Fox), and Kickapoos, known as the " British Band", cros ...

. He fell ill with

bilious fever Bilious fever was a medical diagnosis of fever associated with excessive bile or bilirubin in the blood stream and tissues, causing jaundice (a yellow color in the skin or sclera of the eye). The most common cause was malaria. Viral hepatitis and b ...

in September 1832 and never fully recovered. Irwin was appointed United States Indian Agent for

Fort Winnebago Fort Winnebago was a 19th-century fortification of the United States Army located on a hill overlooking the eastern end of the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers east of present-day Portage, Wisconsin. It was the middle one of three f ...

and died there on July 9, 1833. His body was taken to Fort Howard,Jones, J. E. 1914. ''A History of Columbia County Wisconsin''. Vol. 1. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, p. 77. where he was buried on July 11, 1833.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irwin, Robert 1797 births 1833 deaths People from Greensburg, Pennsylvania Politicians from Detroit Politicians from Green Bay, Wisconsin Businesspeople from Wisconsin American people of the Black Hawk War United States Indian agents Members of the Michigan Territorial Legislature 19th-century American legislators 19th-century American businesspeople