John J. Irvine (born August 3, 1852) was an American railroad worker, engineer, and politician in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
John J. Irvine was born near Clarksville, Virginia in Mecklenburgh County the slave of R. M. Scott on August 3, 1852.
After three months, the family moved on and took work as sharecroppers on a farm owned by W. N. Seldon near Faunsdale, Alabama.
After a year, Irvine found the employment condition unacceptable and moved on to Carthage, Tennessee where he took work on the Alabama & Chattanooga Railroad, which failed after six months.
[2] In August 1888, a large oak tree had fallen across the tracks of a Cincinnati Southern Railway near Oakdale, Tennessee, 90 miles from Chattanooga.
The group included Irvine, fellow politician S. L. Hutchins, newspaper editor Randolph Miller, John E. Patton, Joseph Berry, and R. L. Booth.