William W. Irwin

William Wallace Irwin (1803 – September 15, 1856) was Mayor of Pittsburgh and a Whig member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

Early life William Irwin was born in Pittsburgh in 1803, and as a boy earned the lifelong nickname "pony Irwin" because of his habit of riding a pony everywhere he went. He graduated from the Western University of Pennsylvania, now known as the University of Pittsburgh, in 1824. He was also a graduate of Allegheny College. He became a member of the Allegheny County bar on May 6, 1828, and by 1835 was serving as the president of the Western University's alumni association. He ran successfully for Allegheny County District Attorney in 1838.

Marriage and family

Irwins first wife was Frances Everallyn Rose Irwin, the niece of Illinois Supreme Court justice Theophilus W. Smith and aunt of bridge engineer Charles Shaler Smith. They were the parents of four children, including United States Navy Rear Admiral John Irwin.

After his first wifes death, Irwin married again on February 28, 1839, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His second wife was Sophia Arabella Bache, born November 14, 1815, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and died on March 24, 1904. She was the daughter of Richard Bache, Jr., who served in the Republic of Texas Navy and was elected as a Representative to the Second Texas Legislature in 1847, and Sophia Burrell Dallas, the daughter of Arabella Maria Smith and Alexander J. Dallas, an American statesman who served as the U.S. Treasury Secretary under President James Madison. She was also granddaughter of Sarah Franklin Bache and Richard Bache, the great-granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin, and a niece of George Mifflin Dallas, the 11th Vice President of the United States, serving under James K. Polk.

Irwin had five children with Bache, including educator Agnes Irwin and American businessman and the Kingdom of Hawaii's Minister to Japan, Robert Walker Irwin.

Pittsburgh politics Upon being elected mayor in 1840 Irwin oversaw the expansion of infrastructure and government in the city to catch up with the region's rapid expansion. Under his administration four additional wards were added to the city.

United States House of Representatives Irwin used his term as mayor as a touchstone for his race as a representative for U.S. Congress. He was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-seventh Congress. He was not a candidate for reelection in 1842.

Later life After his term in Congress, Irwin was United States Ambassador to Denmark 1843-1847. He died in Pittsburgh in 1856. Interment in Allegheny Cemetery.