Finding Aid to the Irwin Letters

JONES MEMORIAL LIBRARY
2311 MEMORIAL AVENUE
LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA 24501
(434) 846-0501
IRWIN LETTERS
The collection includes letters to and from James Madison Irwin, Jr. and his family, as
well as letters from Kitty B. Owings of Asheville, North Carolina and St. Augustine,
Florida, and from Cecil Clyde Rosen to Virginia Files, later Mrs. James Madison Irwin,
Jr. Also included are the U.S. Army discharge papers for Mr. Irwin, photographs, and
cards.
[Detailed finding guide available with collection.]

MS1246

JONES MEMORIAL LIBRARY
2311 MEMORIAL AVENUE
LYNCHBURG, VA 24501
(434) 846-0501
IRWIN LETTERS
The collection includes letters to and from James Madison Irwin, Jr. and his family, as
well as letters from Kitty B. Owings of Asheville, North Carolina and St. Augustine,
Florida, and from Cecil Clyde Rosen to Virginia Eulalia Files, later Mrs. James Madison
Irwin, Jr. Also included are the U.S. Army discharge papers for Mr. Irwin, photographs,
and cards.
BOX 1 1-1
1-2
1-3
1-4
1-5
1-6
1-6a
1-7
1-8

James Madison Irwin, Jr. to Ida Irwin (1917-1918)
James Madison Irwin, Jr. from his sisters and mother (1918)
US Army discharge papers for James Madison Irwin, Jr. (30 June 1919)
Pictures of Virginia Files
YMCA correspondence with James Madison Irwin, Jr. (1923)
Miscellaneous cards and photographs
Roster, Second Battalion, Second Regiment, Air Service Mechanics
Kitty Owings to James Madison Irwin, Jr. (1917)
Florence (???) to James Madison Irwin, Jr. regarding the death of Kitty
Owings (1918)
1-9 Miscellaneous Irwin correspondence (1917-1918, 1935-1936)
1-10 Miscellaneous letters to Virginia Files (1919)
1-11 Thomas S. Ewers to James Madison Irwin, Jr. (1917-1919, 1925)
1-12 Virginia Files from James Madison Irwin, Jr. (1920-Mar 1921)
1-12a Virginia Files from James Madison Irwin, Jr. (Apr 1921)
1-12b Virginia Files from James Madison Irwin, Jr. (Jun 1921-Nov 1921)

BOX 2 2-1
2-2
2-3
2-4
2-5
2-6
2-7

Virginia Files to James Madison Irwin, Jr. (1920)
Clyde Rosen to Virginia Files (1914-1915)
Clyde Rosen to Virginia Files (1916)
Clyde Rosen to Virginia Files (1917)
Clyde Rosen to Virginia Files (1918)
Clyde Rosen to Virginia Files (1919)
Miscellaneous genealogical data on the EWERS, FILES, FORTUNE,
IRWIN, KEFFER, & ROSEN families

BOX 3

Miscellaneous Stamped Envelopes

MS1246

JONES MEMORIAL LIBRARY
2311 MEMORIAL AVENUE
LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA 24501
(434) 846-0501
IRWIN LETTERS
JAMES MADISON IRWIN, JR. (1891-1948)
James Madison Irwin, Jr. was born 20 March 1891 in Lynchburg, Virginia, the son of
James Madison Irwin and Ida Clay Ewers.[ The News, Lynchburg, Va., 5 July 1948, p. 4, col. 2]
His father served as Chief of Police in Lynchburg from 1882 until his death on 17 March
1903. James Irwin, Jr. served in the U.S. Army during World War I in France as a
member of the 7th Company of the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Regiment, Air Service Mechanics.
He was discharged on 30 June 1919 with the rank of Sergeant. Upon his return to his
home in Lynchburg, he became a salesman for the Quinn-Marshall Company, 910-916
Commerce Street in Lynchburg. Letters written in those years to his future wife, Virginia
Files, show that his sales contacts included counties in Southside Virginia, as well as
Georgia. He married Virginia Eulalia Files (1895-1985), who for 40 years was the
bookkeeper for the Marshall Lodge Memorial Hospital in Lynchburg. James Madison
Irwin died on 4 July 1948 and was buried in Spring Hill Cemetery, Lynchburg.

VIRGINIA EULALIA FILES (1895-1985)
Virginia Eulalia Files was born 24 October 1895, in New Haven, Mason County, West
Virginia.[Irwin Letters, MSS 1246, Jones Memorial Library, Lynchburg, Va.] She was the daughter
of the Rev. Mr. David William Files and Eulalia Mae Keffer. Her father was a Lutheran
minister and served churches in West Virginia and for many years in Augusta County,
Virginia. Virginia came to Lynchburg about 1920 and served as head bookkeeper for the
Marshall Lodge Memorial Hospital for 40 years. She married James Madison Irwin, Jr.
about 1920. [1930 Census, Lynchburg, VA; T-626, Roll 2468, page 114.] They had no children.
Virginia died in Lynchburg, Va. on 13 September 1985. [ The News & Daily Advance,
Lynchburg, Va., 14 Sept. 1985, page A-4.]

CECIL CLYDE ROSEN (1893-1969)
Cecil Clyde Rosen was the son of James J. Rosen. He was born 2 March 1893,
probably in Augusta County, Virginia. [1900 Census, Augusta Co., VA; T-623, Roll 1700, page
254B.] His letters to Virginia Files span the period November 1914 through September
1919. During the period 1914 through 1916, he was working on farms in Kansas and
Nebraska. During the period following that, he was writing from Augusta County,
Virginia. He died in February 1969, in Rockingham County, Va. [Cecil Rosen, no. 223-424935, Social Security Death Index, FamilySearch, www.familysearch.org]

(Continued)
MS1246

IRWIN LETTERS, Cont’d.
KITTY B. OWINGS (1890-1918)
Kitty B. Owings, the daughter of Frank J. and Sume E. Owings of Laurens, South
Carolina, was born in April 1890 in South Carolina [ 1900 Census, Laurens Co., SC; T-623, Roll
1533, page 199]. She was a registered nurse working at the Merewether Hospital, Asheville,
North Carolina at the time of her letters to James M. Irwin, Jr. She also did nursing in St.
Augustine, Florida during the winters, as indicated by many of her letters. The 1910 US
Census shows that she was nursing at the Roper Hospital in Charleston, SC [ 1910 Census,
Charleston, SC; T-624, Roll 1452, page 199]. She died of influenza on 18 October 1918 in
Asheville, NC. [Obituary from unknown Asheville, NC newspaper, 19 Oct. 1918, Irwin Letters,
MSS1246, Jones Memorial Library, Lynchburg, VA.]

MS1246