Thomas Kilshaw Irwin

Thomas Kilshaw (T.K.) Irwin was a second generation owner of Oakleigh House.

T.K. was the son of Alfred Irwin, treasurer of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad who purchased Oakleigh in 1851, and Margaret Kilshaw Irwin. T.K. and Lee Fearn Irwin, their sons, were both veterans of the Civil War and gained local prominence in the late 1800s. Lee served as Mobile's assistant postmaster, president of the Cherokee Cotton Mills, and manager of the Mobile Oil Mills.

T.K. was once aide to Confederate president Jefferson Davis. He went on to establish the Mobile Cotton Exchange and later became its president. In 1877, future-U.S. President James Garfield was a guest of the T.K. Irwins at Oakleigh. T.K. married Mary Anna Ketchum.