Ventura County
Biographies
JOHN
IRWIN
John
Irwin, whose name is inseparably interwoven with the history of oil development
in southern California and who became one of the most widely known oil men in
the United States, had attained the age of four score years when he passed away
in Santa Paula on the 12th of March, 1921. He was born in Cherry Tree, Venango County,
Pennsylvania, May 4, 18741, a son of William and Eliza (Stewart) Irwin. The paternal great-grandfather, Richard
Irwin, was born in County Armagh, Ireland, in 1740, and immigrated to the
United States and Pennsylvania in 1761, at the age of twenty-one years. The paternal grandfather was one of the early
settlers of Venango County, and lived to be eighty-seven years of age. In 1809 one of his brothers, John Irwin,
built the first grist-mill at Cherry Tree, and the first sawmill in the
township was built by another brother, Ninian, in
1823. John and Ninian
Irwin were appointed justices of the peace and held office for many years.
When
John Irwin, our subject, was yet a small lad, his father kept a dairy and he
became interested in stock at a time when the average boy knows little outside
of his rudimentary studies. At the age
of eleven he bought and sold cows and was as familiar with their good and bad
points as are many men of mature years.
By practical experience he also became familiar with the arduous work
around the farm, and thus no royal road led to the success of later years. The death of his father when the son was but
nineteen years added to his responsibilities, for his mother, six children, and
the management of the farm, practically devolved upon his none too strong
shoulders. In connection with his other
interests had ever been that of oil production, of which he was incessantly
reminded by its close proximity to his home, and during the few intervals of
leisure allowed between his farm duties he worked for wages at the oil
wells. In time he picked up quite a bit
of knowledge of the oil business, and eventually had an outfit and took
contracts to sink wells, the owner of the wells furnishing the boiler engine
and wood rig, the other material being furnished by the driller. Gradually working his way up, he in time
became the owner of wells, and among the wells with which he became connected
by right of purchase or development was the Old Sherman, which was drilled to a
depth of six hundred feet by himself and an older brother. This famous old spouter
had an industrious career of over twenty years, and when its days of usefulness
were at an end it was established it had flowed one million and nine hundred
barrels, or about twelve hundred barrels a day.
In
1880 Mr. Irwin spent six months on the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad,
and among other undertakings drilled a water well at Tower City, In April, 1883, he came to southern
California on a prospecting tour in company with Lyman Stewart and immediately
recognized the hidden possibilities of Ventura County. He ventured upon what is known in the west as
“wild-catting,” but which settled into a fine substantial business after roads
were made, machinery brought from the east, and the general preparations
perfected for oil development in this part of the state. For assistance Mr. Stewart telegraphed for W.
L. Hardinson, whose interest became vital as his own,
and in July, 1883, was formed the Hardinson-Stewart
Oil Company, of which Mr. Irwin became field superintendent, and continued in
this capacity until 1887. He then went
to Tar Creek, in the Sespe district, and there was
formed the Sespe Oil Company, Hon. Thomas R. Bard
being a member of the same. In the
producing of wells with a pipe line to the field, Mr. Irwin acted as
superintendent of the field work, having complete supervision of the business of sinking the wells, of
their production, and of the roads leading to them. Thomas R. Bard was president and W. L. Hardinson general manager.
After the consolidation of several of the oil companies into the Union
Oil Company of California, Mr. Irwin became identified with the concern as
general superintendent, and was thus employed up to January of 1900, when he
retired from active business life. His
years of experience contributed to rend him one of the most widely known oil
men in the country, and his advice was often sought where the soil produced
evidences of its existence. Nor must it
be supposed that his field of activity was limited to oil production, for he
was variously interested in the general development of his county and was one
of the organizers of the Santa Paula Hardware Company and of the Santa Paula
Refinery. “John Irwin,” said one who
knew him well, “was known as one of the keenest and best judges of oil
territory, and also had the faculty of being able to handle a big job as he could
get more out of a crew of men than anyone else in the territory. His men loved and respected him, knowing he
never asked what he could not do himself.”
He cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln and always voted
the straight Republican ticket.
In
1868 Mr. Irwin married Caroline B. Canfield, a native of Niagara County, New
York, who was eighty-nine years of age when she passed away on the 25th
of October, 1931, and would have been a nonagenarian had she lived until the
following March. She was buried beside
her husband in the family plot in the cemetery at Santa Paula. Ralph M. Irwin, son of John and Caroline
Irwin and the only surviving member of this honored pioneer family, was born at
Cherry Tree, Venango County, Pennsylvania, September
9, 1874. He has never married but
remained the devoted companion of his mother until her death. He has manifested marked business ability in
carrying forward his father’s various interests and has acquired valuable oil
land.
Transcribed
by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 591-593,
Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V.
Gerald Iaquinta.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S VENTURA BIOGRAPHIES