US Congressman. He was born one of two children (his brother George Henry Irion was born in 1843), to Robert R. Irion and Ann Bernard Audebert Irion in Evergreen, Louisiana. He was educated locally in common public schools and attended the prestigious Franklin College in Opelousas, Louisiana, and later attended and graduated from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 1855. He then studied law privately, was admitted to the bar in 1857, and commenced his practice of law in Marksville, Louisiana. On February 23, 1859, he married Caroline King in Opelousas, Louisiana, and the couple would have seven children together (Annie Winn Irion was born in 1860, Clifford Hill Irion was born in 1861, Valentine K. Irion, was born in 1862, Robert Richardson was born in 1866, Percy Irion was born in 1867, Emma Irion was born in 1870, and Henry A. Irion was born in 1871). He then decided to enter politics and he served as a Delegate to the Louisiana State Secession Convention in 1860, but he was opposed to the secession of the southern states. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, he decided to put his law and political career on hold to fight for his country. His allegiance was the Confederate States of America and he enlisted as a Private with the Confederate States Army and served with the 28th Texas Cavalry Unit (Randal's 1st Texas Lancers) and served under General John George Walker's division under Colonel Horace Randal. Following his military service during the Civil War, he resumed his practice of law and political career. During this time he had also served as a City Alderman for Marksville, Louisiana, in 1860, and was the Mayor of Marksville, in 1863. He then served as a Member of the Louisiana State House of Representatives in 1864 and again in 1865. He then became interested in journalism and editorial pursuits and he was editor of the local newspaper the Marksville Villager (later The Weekly News) in Marksville, Louisiana, from 1866 to 1874, and a contributing writer for a newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1874, he published the humourous work, "Boaz," which tells the tribulations of a Southern planter. During this time he had relocated to his hometown of Evergreen, Louisiana, and began planting in about 1870. He also became involved in literary pursuits while still continuing with his practice of law. He also served another term as a City Alderman for Marksville, Louisiana, in 1875, and another term as the Mayor of Marksville, Louisiana, in 1878. On January 9, 1878, his wife Caroline passed away at the age of 42, in Evergreen, Louisiana. He married for a second time to Alice Mort in 1879 and they had a daughter (Edith Irion who was born in 1883). He also served as a Member of the Louisiana Constitutional Convention in 1879 and was a Judge of the Louisiana Court of Appeal for the Third Circuit from 1880 to 1884. He then decided to run for a seat in the United States Congress and was elected. A Member of the Democratic Party, he then served Louisiana's 6th District (Forty-Ninth Congress) in the United States House of Representatives from 1885 to 1887. He was an unsuccessful Candidate for renomination. After his term in the United States Congress expired on March 3, 1887, he was succeeded in office by United States Representative Edward White Robertson. He then again resumed his practice of law for a few years. On November 8, 1893, tragedy struck when at the age of 9, his daughter Edith was killed in a horrible accident at the Southern Pacific Railroad in Aeola Station, Louisiana. She was sent to a ginhouse to see her brother, and it being showery weather, a shawl was thrown over her head and fastened under her chin. She walked near the fly-wheel, which caught her shawl and clothing, taking her around several revolutions, mangling her body and even cutting off her head. He passed away almost ten years later on May 21, 1903, at the age of 70, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and he was buried in the Bayou Rouge Baptist Cemetery in Evergreen, Louisiana, near his first wife Caroline and his daughter Edith. His second wife Alice passed away on December 28, 1928, at the age of 84, and she was buried with her husband and daughter. His daughter Annie Winn Irion (1860 to 1890), married newspaper proprietor and politician Adolphe John Lafargue (1855 to 1917). His grandson was Alvan Lafargue (1883 to 1963), a prominent physician and the Mayor of Sulphur, Louisiana, from 1926 to 1938, and his great-grandson was Malcolm Emmett Lafargue (1908 to 1963), a lawyer and who served as United States Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana from 1945 to 1950.