Hardin County's People
(C. Avis Catalog entry #888)
p. 70
Newspaper articles from Hardin Co., TN
October 22. 1885
Obituary - Nancy Sevier Irwin, daughter of John Sevier and Susannan Conway, was born on Chucky River, near Warrensburg, Greene County, East Tennessee, Oct. 30, 1810.
Her father was a nephew of John Sevier, the first Governor of Tennessee, and gave his life to his country in the war of 1814-15.
Her paternal grandfather was Valentine Sevier, a Colonel in the Revolutionary War. His wife was Naomi Douglass. Her maternal grandfather was Harry Conway, a Colonel in the Revolutionary War. His wife was Sarah Hundley of Virginia.
She had three brothers and three sisters. Her sister Mrs. Sallie Smith, and her half-brother William Maloney, died in Green County, East Tennessee. Her sisters Mrs. Narcissa Herring and Mrs. Mariah Broyles died in Hardin County, Tenn. Her brother Henry Sevier settled in Missouri and died there a number of years ago. Her brother Ambrose Hundley Sevier, was for a number of years United States Senator from Arkansas, and was sent to Mexico by President Polk as peace commissioner after the war in 1846.
Mrs. Irwin professed religion and joined the Methodist Church in East Tennessee, when a little girl fourteen years of age, and connected herself with the Methodist Church at old Turkey Creek Campground in Hardin County, Tennessee about 1826.
She married James Irwin of Murfreesboro, Tenn., Dec. 18, 1828 at the residence of her sister Mrs. L.H. Broyles, in Hardinsville, now known as Old town, then the county seat of Hardin County, Tennessee. They moved from Murfreesboro to McMinnville about 1830 and from McMinnville to Savannah about 1831.
She lived an honored and consistent member of the Methodist Church to the end of her life, and after an illness of about two and a half days, died at her home in Savannah, Tenn., on Wednesday, October 7, at 3 p.m., 1885, aged 74 years, 11 months, and 7 days. She died in the midst of her children and friends, and in the same room in which her husband died twenty-seven years before.
Her home was home for the preachers, and Methodist Circuit riders for fifty years have here found a welcome and hospitable entertainment.
She had ten children all of whom except her youngest Hundley Sevier lived to be grown. Her fourth daughter Juliet, died March 22, 1864. Her remaining children all living are Mrs. W.H. Cherry and Mrs. Dr. Hardin, Nashville; Mrs. Edgar Cherry, Mrs. D.A. Welch, Miss Sue Irwin, John S. Irwin, and Dr. L.B. Irwin, Savannah, Tenn. and Capt. James W. Irwin, McMinnville.
The burial service was conducted by Dr. L.E. Covey, assisted by Mr. Milton Smith and Mr. J.W. Cherry. All the business houses and shops in town were closed, the school suspended and the largest concourse of people ever seen in this Cemetery, followed her to the grave.
