Jared Irwin, a statesman and twice Governor of Georgia, moved from Mecklenburg Country, N.C to Burke County, Ga. as a child. Commissioned a brigadier general during the Revolutionary War, he distinguished himself following the war as an Indian fighter. In 1788 he served as a representative to the U.S. Constitutional Convention. In 1789 and 1798, he attended conventions that revised the state constitution, serving as president of the 1798 convention. He was Governor of Georgia from 1796 to 1798 and from 1806 to 1809. Among his first official actions was signing the act that rescinded the Yazoo Law. Irwin also served several times as president of the state senate and was a state senator at the time of his death on March 1, 1818. Irwin County, Irwinton, and Irwinville were named for him, and the site of his home and burial place is near here.