{{short description|American politician}} {{Use American English|date=April 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2026}} {{infobox officeholder | office = Member of the New York State Assembly for New York County | term_start = January 25, 1803 | term_end = April 26, 1803 | predecessor = | successor = | birth_date = {{birth date|1771|10|30}} | birth_place = New York City, Province of New York, British America | death_date = {{death date and age|1838|06|27|1771|10|30}} | death_place = New York City, New York, U.S. | education = Columbia University | party = Democratic-Republican | parents = William Irving Sr.<br>Sarah Sanders Irving | spouse = | resting_place = Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, New York | children = | relations = Washington Irving (brother)<br>William Irving (brother) }} '''Peter Irving''' (October 30, 1771 – June 27, 1838) was an American medical doctor, writer, and politician who was the brother of Washington Irving, William Irving and John T. 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,<ref name="1864WI">{{cite news |title=WASHINGTON IRVING. {{!}} SECOND ARTICLE. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1864/01/14/78715939.pdf |accessdate=21 February 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=January 14, 1864}}</ref> Ann Irving (wife of Maj. Gen. Richard Dodge),<ref name="Dodge2002">{{cite book |last1=Dodge |first1=Richard Irving |title=The Sherman Tour Journals of Colonel Richard Irving Dodge |date=2002 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=9780806134253 |page=12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n38TEfVVgqYC&pg=PA12 |accessdate=21 February 2019 |language=en}}</ref> Catherine Irving, and Sarah Irving.<ref>{{cite news|work=Historic Hudon Valley|title=Home of the Legend: Washington Irving's Sunnyside|date=October 28, 2017|author=Docent Tour}}</ref>
==Career== Irving studied medicine at Columbia College, taking his degree in 1794.<ref name="Irving1943">{{cite book |last1=Irving |first1=Peter |title=Peter Irving's Journals |date=1943 |publisher=New York Public Library |pages=10, 45, 113 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BIoNAAAAIAAJ |accessdate=21 February 2019 |language=en}}</ref> He was editor of the New York newspaper ''The Morning Chronicle'' (founded by Aaron Burr)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Early History of Newspaper Publishing in New York State |url=https://www.nysl.nysed.gov/nysnp/history |access-date=January 25, 2026 |website=New York State Library}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Burstein2008">{{cite book |last1=Burstein |first1=Andrew |title=The Original Knickerbocker: The Life of Washington Irving |date=2008 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=9780786722228 |page=33 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f9m7WP6-eF0C&pg=PA33 |accessdate=21 February 2019 |language=en}}</ref> His brother Washington Irving made his literary debut in ''The Morning Chronicle'' and later covered the Burr Trial for the newspaper.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |title=Washington Irving Trivia |url=https://hudsonvalley.org/article/10-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-washington-irving/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250322081356/https://hudsonvalley.org/article/10-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-washington-irving/ |archive-date=March 22, 2025 |access-date=January 23, 2026 |website=Historic Hudson Valley |language=en-US}}</ref>
Like his brothers William and John, Peter was a member of the Calliopean Society, a literary club for young men that sometimes met at William's house.<ref name="Burstein2008"/> He translated ''Giovanni Sbogarro: A Venetian Tale''.<ref name="Allibone1897">{{cite book |last1=Allibone |first1=Samuel Austin |title=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 |date=1897 |publisher=J. B. Lippincott |page=317 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jqs0AQAAMAAJ&pg=PT317 |accessdate=21 February 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Irving1858">{{cite book |last1=Irving |first1=Washington |last2=Allibone |first2=Samuel Austin |title=Irving Vignettes: Vignette Illustrations of the Writings of Washington Irving |date=1858 |publisher=G.P. Putnam |page=[https://archive.org/details/irvingvignettes00alligoog/page/n32 10] |url=https://archive.org/details/irvingvignettes00alligoog |accessdate=21 February 2019 |language=en}}</ref> Reportedly,<ref name="Burstein2008"/>
<blockquote>"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."<ref name="Burstein2008"/></blockquote>
In 1803, Irving served in the New York State Assembly as a member of the 26th New York State Legislature,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hough |first=Franklin Benjamin |url=http://archive.org/details/newyorkcivillis00houggoog |title=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 |date=1858 |publisher=Weed, Parsons and Co. |others= |page=[https://archive.org/details/newyorkcivillis00houggoog/page/n144 176] |language=English |access-date=13 November 2025}}</ref> 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).<ref name="Hough1858">{{cite book |last1=Hough |first1=Franklin Benjamin |url=https://archive.org/details/newyorkcivillis00houggoog |title=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 |date=1858 |publisher=Weed, Parsons and Co. |page=[https://archive.org/details/newyorkcivillis00houggoog/page/n144 118] |language=en |accessdate=21 February 2019}}</ref> He ran for reelection, and lost, as a Burrite.<ref name="Burstein2008"/> Peter also wrote the first five chapters of his brother Washington's 1809 satirical novel, ''Knickerbocker's History''.<ref name="Griswold1978">{{cite book |last1=Griswold |first1=Rufus Wilmot |title=The Prose Writers of America, 4th Edition |date=1978 |publisher=Garrett Press, Inc. |page=201 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lwB3zsrbDtkC&pg=PA201 |accessdate=21 February 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
From 1809 until 1836, Irving lived in Europe for nearly 25 years, returning just two years before his eventual death in 1838.<ref name="Allibone1897"/>
==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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jones|first=Brian Jay |date=2008 |title=Washington Irving: An American Original |url=https://archive.org/details/washingtonirving00jone|url-access=limited|location=New York |publisher=Arcade Publishing |page=[https://archive.org/details/washingtonirving00jone/page/331 331] |isbn=978-1-55970-836-4 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Peter Irving's Journals|author=Peter Irving|others= Editors: Leonard Brothwell Beach, Theodore Hornberger, Wyllis Eaton Wright|publisher=New York Public Library|date=1943}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{Find a Grave|72685253}}
{{Washington Irving|state=collapsed}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irving, Peter}} Category:1771 births Category:1838 deaths Category:American male writers Category:Members of the New York State Assembly Category:Burials at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Category:Politicians from New York City Category:Columbia University alumni Category:Editors of New York (state) newspapers Category:19th-century members of the New York State Legislature Category:Medical doctors from New York (state)