Archibald Irwin House Mercersburg, Pennsylvania

Archibald Irwin House Mercersburg PA is where John's father William Irwin was born. Archibald died in Mercersburg Franklin County Pennsylvania on January 23, 1798. 

William Irwin was born 1766 Mercersburg PA and died July 16 1824 Cincinnati Ohio. He is buried in the historic Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum and was husband to Mary "Polly" Smith and father to John Irwin born 1801 in Mercersburg.

This building belonged to and was built by Archibald Irwin, the son of James Irwin. Archibald was also known as Ensign Archibald Irwin of the Reverend John Steele's Company of Armstrong's Battalion in 1756 during the French and Indian War.

They had a place that became known as "Irwinton Mills" out on the West Branch of the Conococheague. 
Today the same place is known as "Anderson Mill." 

A log house there that still stands and is in good condition, and was built in 1732. A wonderful stone house was completed around 1768. This Irwin family was connected with both Presidents Harrisons. 

James Irwin, Archibald's father was born @ 1700,  and was a Scotch-Irish immigrant who came to Pennsylvania in 1729 with seven other Irwins from the Glencoe County Antrim Northern Ireland area. The Irwins operated mills, a bleaching plant and a smith shop back in Ireland. James Irwin in 1748 owned 540 acres in Peters Twp. just north of present day Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. By 1766 he owned a mill valued at three pounds 12 shillings and by 1769 the value of the mill was 10 pounds six shillings.

During the Revolutionary War, Archibald Irwin's oldest son, James, began to do commissary duty for the Western Army at Irwinton's Mills. James Irwin organized pack horse trains to carry flour, meat and other provisions to Pittsburgh for the Western Army. James Irwin acted as an assistant commissary under the appointment of Col. George Morgan, who was Commissary General for the Western Army, whose headquarters were at Pittsburgh.

Large quantities of flour were made at Irwinton's Mill, packed in kegs, each weighing about one hundred pounds, to be sent west. Flour was brought in from Washington County, Maryland. Large numbers of beef cattle were driven to Irwinton's plantation to be purchased, slaughtered and processed in a recently erected slaughter house, and sent to the Western Armies. James Irwin stated that the Pittsburgh Quarter Master Department had four brigades of pack horses each containing about one hundred horses, with one horse master and twelve riders to each brigade, to carry provisions west for the Army. The mill must have been busy and crowded, with one hundred pack horses being loaded, and with their drivers and horse master preparing for a trip over the mountains to Pittsburgh.

Archibald Irwin died in 1798 and the plantation was given to his youngest son, Archibald Irwin II.

Archibald Irwin's oldest daughter, Jane, married William Henry Harrison, Jr., son of the General and President William Henry Harrison, at Irwinton Mills in 1824. Jane Irwin Harrison was mistress of the White House during the brief administration of the first President Harrison in 1841. Archibald Irwin's daughter, Elizabeth, married John Scott Harrison.
In 1889 Benjamin Harrison, the oldest son of Elizabeth Irwin Harrison, became President of the United States.

Anderson's Mill / Irwinton Mill

Franklin Co. | Pennsylvania | USA | Orig. mill 1760, rebuilt 1856

Township: Montgomery Twp. | Watersource: West Branch Conococheague Creek.

The old grist mill is located at 9717 Anderson Road along-side the West Branch of the Conococheague Creek. The Irwinton Homestead is near the mill as are the "Hays Fording" Double Arch Stone Bridge and the Witherspoon s "Red" Covered Bridge.

A Driving Tour Of Irwin County In Southern Franklin County PA French And Indian War Era

http://www.explorefranklincountypa.com

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Father James Irwin And Son Archibald Irwin Support The Revolutionary War

Final Resting Place For James Irwin