M. W. Brother William W. Irvin was born in Albemarle County, Virginia on the April 5, 1779. Little is known of Brother Irvin’s parents, although his father was a Presbyterian minister, under whose tutelage young Irvin received most of his education and moral training that was to prepare him to serve with honor before the bar, in the legislature and in the Grand Lodge of Ohio.
Following many years of diligent study, Brother Irvin was admitted to the bar in the state of Virginia, and came to Ohio in 1803, settling at Lancaster in Fairfield County.
In 1806 he was elected representative of Fairfield County in the Ohio Legislature. He was subsequently re-elected in 1807, 1808, 1825, 1826 and 1827. On the February 17, 1811 he was commissioned a judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, a position he held for seven years. He resigned for reasons unknown on September 15, 1818.
He was a member of the Congress of the United States from the 9th District of Ohio in the 21st and 22nd sessions and was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Ohio in 1823. He served as the Prosecuting Attorney of Fairfield County from 1826 to 1828.
Brother Irvin was known for his ability, his patriotism, his honesty and his integrity.
Unfortunately, little is known of the early Masonic history of M. W. Brother Irvin. It is known that he participated in the meetings of Lancaster Lodge No. 57 while Under Dispensation. He first appeared in the record of Lancaster Lodge No. 57 in the year 1822; he served as Lancaster Lodge’s third Worshipful Master in 1825-1826. The first elective office he held in the Grand Lodge of Ohio was that of M. W. Grand Master, having been elected at the Annual Communication in January 1825.
In 1840 he was stricken with paralysis, probably the result of a stroke, that destroyed not only his physical, but also his mental power and he died in Lancaster on March 27, 1842 at the age of 63.
Interred in Elmwood Cemetery, Section B, Row 25, Lancaster, Ohio.