Vol 1, p 67 -
... Caroline Colgin was the most beautiful of the daughters of Tuskaloosa - a belle of undisputed sway. For the hand of this accomplished and bewitching girl, John H. Jones was a worthy aspirant. But he found a formidable and successful rival in the person of John T. Irby, a sprightly and captivating young merchant, who bore off the lovely prize in triumph, greatly to the mortification and chagrin of the elegant young barrister.
That such an event should be recalled by me after a lapse of sixty years (as fresh as if of yesterday) is evidence of the fact that the town at that time was all agog with the notable occurrence. Perhaps the singular denouement of this affair served to make its history more memorable. Irby lived but a few months to enjoy his connubial bliss ; and such was Jones's attachment, that he married the young widow, with whom he removed to the city of Mobile, where he practiced his profession with such energy as to achieve a fair fame and to accumulate a handsome fortune. ... Caroline Colgin was the daughter of Col. W.R. Colgin, and a niece of the late lamented Col. Robert Ellyson. ...
Vol 1, p 130 -
... It was in this house [George Morgan's one-story frame store near or upon the spot where the brick storehouse of the late Daniel Clark is now located] that I first remember to have seen the sprightly and brilliant young man, John Tyler Irby, to whom I have heretofore referred. Irby was a clerk in the establishment, and was brother to Mr. Morgan's wife. He was connected by blood with the Tylers of Virginia. He has the credit of having established the first book-store in Tuskaloosa. This was begun as a branch of Mr. Morgan's business, and was continued afterward under Mr. Irby's own name, as I learn from an advertisement in the Mirror of 1824. ...
