Michael Egan was born about 1847, during the great famine (1845-1852), when pestilence and epidemics swept through Ireland. At least one million people died due to these events and over one million emigrated to America, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, meanwhile England's Poor Laws endeavoured to initiate measures for elevating their suffering…

Michael a child aged 12, arrived in NSW, Australia as an Irish emigrant and Free settler. He later worked as an Agrarian labourer, (gold) miner, railways fettler & ganger and maintained a productive domestic farmyard.

Griffith Valuation for Ireland, 1852 - 1856 for Kilseily, - show the presence of a Patrick, John and Michael Egan, in the village of Broadford, Ardskeagh, Clare" and being in the same district they may have been related, possibly even brothers. Broadford is only 25 miles from Newport, Tipperary where his wife Bridget Lynch was born and raised.

In 1859, Bridget Lynch, widowed with six of her children, travelled assisted passage under sponsorship of Maria Egan Pollock[i] a "daughter" according to ship records. Maria Egan/Eagan must have left Ireland earlier in the 1850s, possibly arriving under provisions for orphans. Maria married Mr. A. Pollock[i] of Campbell (Campbelltown, NSW). This marriage seems to match one which occurred in Sydney and again in Brisbane in 1855, for although the names match, the stated parents do not, suggesting this Maria may be a relative rather than their daughter.Irish emigrants sent money home and nations around the world responded by sending relief packages and  immigration scheme such as under the Remittance Regulations whereby intending emigrants were sponsored by their kith and kin already in New South Wales. County Tipperary and Clare emigrant families included Bridget Egan and six of her children arrived in Sydney Cove during the Spring of 1859, a time in which the Irish exodus had tapered off and the worst of the famine and pestilence were over.Michael was the son of Patt (Patrick) Egan and Bridget (Lynch) and may have been either from:

• • ship records suggest his Native Place was the village 0f - "Broadford", in the Parish of Kilseily, Union of Limerick, County Clare, Ireland; OR

  • Irish Immigrant Record state the children's native place was Colace, Perthshire, Scotland. 

These records show that Bridget was widowed and that Patrick died before the voyage to Australia of 1859. Although their names appear on these records, the only factual information to date. which links Bridget (Lynch) and her deceased husband Pat Egan in Ireland,was the baptism record of their daughter, Bridget in 1852. 

FootNotes

1. 1. In 2017 began more indepth research of the _nli Registers (Ireland) 

   2. NEW SOUTH WALES Railway workers database has more than one “Michael Egan” and refers to great grandfather Michael Egan as one who worked out of Junee, as a fettler and ganger and also a ganger on the Harden to Junee line in 1902, earning 9 shillings a day. Michael was the first of multiple generations of the Egan family who worked on the railways for more than 130 years; his descendents have maintained a connection with the railways and participated in the family orientated culture that it engenders.

   3. A fettler lays and maintains track work and follows laying of the rails. The family movement from town to town explains registered child births in and around the state regions, namely:

      1. 1868 Hartley,

      2. 1870 Aberdeen, labourer

      3. 1871 Scone,

      4. 1872-1878 Hartley,

      5. 1883 Wagga-Wagga,

      6. 1885 Demondrille; Demondrille on the Kingsvale road between Harden (Murrumburrah) and Wombat on the way to Young. (Lat. 34°31'5.08"S long. 148°19'6.98"E).

   4. Either Michael or his son Michael may also have been a grazier on land near their home in Demondrille (and Janetown), Wallendbeen near Murrumburrah (HardenLat. 34°31'27.55"S and Long. 148° 9'36.58"E).

   5. Census records for 1891, district of Young, county of Harden show Michael, 4 males and 6 females inhabiting a Sk*Railway property (schedule 81). State records dated 1891 show Michael Egan or his son Michael, on the land and a railways worker. (https://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/country-nsw/young-area/harden).

   6. https://hardenmurrumburrahhistory.blogspot.com/2021/07/hotels-pubs-and-inns-of-harden.html

2. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Sarah M'Egan, which was dated 1226, marriage to Thomas L'Estrange, at Killaloe, Co. Clare, during the reign of King Henry III of England.

3. Read more:  

   1. Website <https://www.clanegan.org>

   2. Surnames:<https://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Egan#ixzz5yGARZrcc> ~ https://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Egan#ixzz5sBQrnL7p

   3. Michael Egan  on Google Site: https://sites.google.com/d/1WwnGof93HnW5Xc5zQor2KS0TVPzvve6l/p/1hEaWk05GuxY1TMNWW7Mh7oEf3IsqtlqE/edit

   4. Motto: Fortitudine et prudentia - Translation: With fortitude and prudence.

      1. Redwood Castle: - "Counting banks as any institution that called itself a bank and solicited public deposits, 54 of the 64 institutions operating in 1891 had closed by mid 1893; 34 of these closed permanently". Causes included an "overextension of the 1880s property boom and its unravelling led to an abrupt collapse of private investment in the pastoral industry and urban development and a sharp pullback in public infrastructure investment." <https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2001/pdf/rdp2001-07.pdf>

      2. This economic depression resulted in a real GDP fall of 17 per cent over 1892 and 1893. The accompanying financial crisis, peaked in 1893, and Bankruptcy proceedings were the most severe in Australia’s history. A fall-off in capital inflow from Britain, adverse movements in the terms of trade and drought in 1895 accentuated and prolonged the depression.

      3. IN BANKRUPTCY News - circa 1893

4. Re Michael Egan, of Demondrille Junction, near Murrumburrah, ganger.

   1. TAKE NOTICE that Michael Egan intends to apply to His Honor the Judge in Bankruptcy, at the Court, Chancery square, Sydney, on Tuesday, the 25th day of July, 1893, at 11 o'clock in the forenoon, or as soon afterward* as the course of business will admit, that a certificate of discharge be granted to him, under and according to the provisions of the Act 61 Victoria No. 19.—Dated this 5th day of July, A D. 1893.

      1. GORDON & MORIARTY, Solicitors for the Bankrupt, By their Agents,—Cape, Krnt, & Gaden, Young. 9 ja, Pitt-street, Sydney. 5192 6s. 6d.

4. 2. The following certificate applications were dealt with in Bankruptcy to-day by the Acting-Registrar : — Michael Egan, ganger, Young, read an affidavit in answer to the report of the official assignee. The Acting-Registrar suspended the certificate for six months from to-day, holding that the bankrupt had not been justified in contracting further debts when indebted to a certain creditor mentioned in the report.

   3. Referenced source: A History of Last-Resort Lending and Other Support for Troubled Financial Institutions in Australia.Chapter 6. The 1890s Depression. by Bryan Fitz-Gibbon and Marianne Gizycki. October 2001 ~ Download the Paper 369KB

5. Many Irish families in the period 1844 - 1852 chose to send family members overseas; Bridget may have agreed to her daughter/relative, Maria, going to Australia and Maria's report, would determine whether Bridget and her children would follow. It is possible Maria's father, probably Patrick, accompanied her and they came as a group of villagers seeking a better way of life, and bringing more of their family over here, after demonstrating the value of settling Australia.

   1. [i] There is also a Campbell Town in Tasmania (Van Diemens land) and there was a George Pollock, Captain I.L.Pollock and a Mary Ann Pollock resident in Hobart.

   2. [ii] An Alexander Pollock was born to Thomas and Mary Ann Gollen in 1835; One Alexander Pollock was a seaman in 1856, who voyaged from Launceston to Melbourne aboard the Yarra Yarra.

   3. (Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Saturday 9 February 1878, page 24: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/70615944 - John Egan, the locomotive driver fatally injured on the night of 30 January 1878 in a head-on collision between two goods trains. The drivers and firemen of both trains, together with a guard riding in the cab of the up train, were killed.[4] The primitive system of working the trains was found to be responsible.

      1. BDM NSW: EGAN  JOHN Registration number 8995/1878; Father's Given Name(s) PATRICK; Mother's Given Name(s) BRIDGET; District PENRIT

      2. KB discovered relationship in respect of Gympie Times and Mary River Mining Gazette (Qld. : 1868 - 1919), Saturday 9 March 1878, page 2

         1. DEATH. EGAN.—On the 30th of January last, in consequence of the fatal collision of two goods trains on the Great Western Railway, Sydney, John Egan, engineer, eldest and beloved brother of Mrs. Alexander Pollock, Lady Mary Terrace, Gympie.

         2. Refer: Harden-Murrumburrah Cemetery.
            non corresponding BIRTH: 1864 DEATH: 28 Dec 1921 (aged 56–57). Sydney, City of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. (BDM#. 7/1922). BURIAL - Murrumburrah, Hilltops Council, New South Wales, Australia 

6. Irish variations: Mac Aodháin · Mac Aodhgáin · Mac Aogáin · Ó Caodháin · Ó Catháin · Ó Hágáin · Ó Haodhgáin · Ó Haogáin · Ó hAoidhgin · 

7. Ó hEagáin · "This surname, of Irish origin, is the Anglicized form of the Gaelic "Mac Aodhagain", "Mac" meaning "son of" and "Aodhagain", from Aodha, which is a patronymic from the personal name "Aodh" meaning "fire", originally the name of a pagan god. The surname is really "Mac Egan", though the prefix Mac is rarely used in modern times, falling into disuse with the prefix "O" (male descendant of) during the period of Gaelic submergence, except by the family which claims to be the head of the sept. The Mac Egans were hereditary lawyers, that is, lawyers to ruling families originally a Brehon family of the Ui Maine (an ancient population group comprising mid-Galway and south Roscommon and Offaly (Ormond)). Following the destruction of the Old Gaelic order they held high office in the church, and the name became Anglicized as Keegan in Counties Dublin and Wicklow. Redwood Castle Lorrha, County Tipperary is the setting for clan Mac Egan rallies." Translation

8. Redwood Castle (also known as Egan Castle or Caislean Choillte Rua in Irish) is a Norman castle near Lorrha in County Tipperary, Ireland.[1] built by the Normans around 1200 AD, and was occupied by them until c. 1350, when the Mac Aodhagáin (MacEgan, Egan, Keegan) were installed on the lands. As hereditary Brehons or lawyers, the Mac Aodhagáin clan established a school of learning here, which was patronised by the family for several hundred years.[1]

9. ......https://flic.kr/p/2iyfQES......Redwood Castle: With fortitude and prudence.

10.  "Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous" quote Confucius (551-479 BC) ~reformer.

[iii] Charles William Carver and family had emigrated from the Caribbean, and also married into the Mayne family in Goulburn. Carvers trace back to London and possible relations to Ben Carver who arrived in Australia in 1792 and appears elsewhere in these pages. The Mayne and Maynes surname indicate different families.

Egan in Irish is Mac Aodhagáin, from a diminutive of the personal name Aodh, meaning ‘fire’. Source (Grenham, 1993: 106- 107). 

Mac Aodhagáin / Egan CLANN Motto: "Fortitudine et prudentia"

Translation: With fortitude and prudence.

Egan ancestral motto: "With fortitude and prudence"