Peter Irving

Peter Irving (October 30, 1771 - June 27, 1838) was an American physician, author, and politician who was the brother of Washington Irving, William Irving and John T. Irving.

Peter Irving
Member of the New York State Assembly for New York County
In office
July 1, 1802 – June 30, 1803
Personal details
Born(1771-10-30)October 30, 1771
New York City, Province of New York, British America
DiedJune 27, 1838(1838-06-27) (aged 66)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic-Republican
RelationsWashington Irving (brother)
William Irving (brother)
ParentsWilliam Irving Sr.
Sarah Sanders Irving

Early life

Irving was born in New York City on October 30, 1771. He was one of eleven children born to William Irving Sr. (1731–1807), originally of Quholm, Shapinsay, Orkney, Scotland, and Sarah (née Sanders) Irving (1738–1817). Among his surviving siblings were four brothers and three sisters, including: U.S. Representative William Irving, Ebenezer Irving, John Treat Irving, diplomat and author Washington Irving,[1] Ann Irving (wife of Maj. Gen. Richard Dodge),[2] Catherine Irving, and Sarah Irving.[3]

Career

Irving, a trained physician and "man of science",[4] was editor of the Democratic paper The Morning Herald, and the weekly Corrector, to which his friend William Alexander Duer contributed and which supported Aaron Burr in his contest with Morgan Lewis for New York Governor.[5] He translated Giovanni Sbogarro: A Venetian Tale.[6][7] Reportedly,[5]

"Peter was atypical of the partisan editors of the period. He was too reserved to print obvious lies, or to pass on ugly rumors and pitch abusive words at Burr's enemies. Cheetham derided him by calling him 'Miss' Irving, a direct allusion to his sexual identity. Civil Peter knew whom he could turn to for help: Washington resented Cheetham's unprovoked assaults on his brother, including the suggestion (with clear homosexual overtones) that he was merely the slavish follower of a known libertine."[5]

From 1802 to 1803, Irving served in the New York State Assembly as a member of the 26th New York State Legislature,[8] representing New York County alongside John Burger, William Few (later a U.S. Senator from Georgia), Speaker Thomas Storm, and Daniel D. Tompkins (later Governor of New York and Vice President of the United States).[9] He ran for reelection, and lost, as a Burrite.[5] Peter also wrote the first five chapters of his brother Washington's 1809 satirical novel, Knickerbocker's History.[10]

From 1809 until 1836, Irving lived in Europe for nearly 25 years, returning just two years before his eventual death in 1838.[6]

Personal life

Peter, a bachelor like his brother Washington, spent his final days in New York City with Washington, who came to visit from his cottage Sunnyside in Tarrytown.[11] Peter died on June 27, 1838. He is buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

Legacy

His papers are held variously at the Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University, The Miriam Lutcher Stark Library, the University of Texas and The New York Public Library. A selection of his writings are published in a slim volume.[12]

References
  1. "WASHINGTON IRVING. | SECOND ARTICLE" (PDF). The New York Times. January 14, 1864. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  2. Dodge, Richard Irving (2002). The Sherman Tour Journals of Colonel Richard Irving Dodge. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 12. ISBN 9780806134253. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  3. Docent Tour (October 28, 2017). "Home of the Legend: Washington Irving's Sunnyside". Historic Hudon Valley.
  4. Irving, Peter (1943). Peter Irving's Journals. New York Public Library. pp. 10, 45, 113. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  5. Burstein, Andrew (2008). The Original Knickerbocker: The Life of Washington Irving. Basic Books. p. 33. ISBN 9780786722228. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  6. Allibone, Samuel Austin (1897). A Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors: Living and Deceased, from the Earliest Accounts to the Latter Half of the Nineteenth Century. Containing Over Forty-six Thousand Articles (authors), with Forty Indexes of Subjects. J. B. Lippincott. p. 317. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  7. Irving, Washington; Allibone, Samuel Austin (1858). Irving Vignettes: Vignette Illustrations of the Writings of Washington Irving. G.P. Putnam. p. 10. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  8. Kestenbaum, Lawrence. "Irving family of New York". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  9. Hough, Franklin Benjamin (1858). The New York Civil List: Containing the names and origin of the civil divisions, and the names and dates of election or appointment of the principal state and county officers from the Revolution to the present time. Weed, Parsons and Co. p. 118. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  10. Griswold, Rufus Wilmot (1978). The Prose Writers of America, 4th Edition. Garrett Press, Inc. p. 201. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  11. Jones, Brian Jay (2008). Washington Irving: An American Original. New York: Arcade Publishing. p. 331. ISBN 978-1-55970-836-4.
  12. Peter Irving (1943). Peter Irving's Journals. Editors: Leonard Brothwell Beach, Theodore Hornberger, Wyllis Eaton Wright. New York Public Library.
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