Howard Ransom Egan

Howard Ransom Egan was born April 12, 1840 in Salem, Massachusetts to Howard and Tamson Parshely Egan. Howard is a Pioneer of Richmond.

Early Life

Soon after Howard was born, the Egan family was converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, moving to Nauvoo, Illinois in 1842.

"I will start by saying, 'I was born in Salem Mass.' although I was there I don't recall the event, but I do remember of Mother leading me by the hand up to the Nauvoo Temple and showing me the large baptismal font that was supported on the backs of twelve stone oxen.... I remember the house we lived in...

"Father had a rope factory down close to the river where Mother used to go with his dinner and often took me with her."1

After the assassination of Joseph Smith in 1846, the Egan went to go find refuge in Winter Quarters. While there, Howard's father enlisted in the Mormon Battalion and was left in the care of his mother.1

In 1848, Howard's father returned to Winter Quarters and helped his family move west. They joined the Heber C. Kimball Company and left on June 7, 1848, and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on Sep 24. He tells of an experience while on the trail:

"One day we had camped for noon. I was playing near the end of the wagon tongue. Mother caught up her boys and before I knew anything more we had landed in the wagon and she followed, and just in time, for a stampede herd of buffaloes was coming straight for the camp. They divided just a little way from camp. Some of them passed over the end of our wagon tongue, doing no damage."2

Life in the Salt Lake Valley

Because the Egan family were some of the first settlers in the Salt Lake Valley, they were among some of only a few to live in the Salt Lake Fort, and see the groundbreaking of the Salt Lake Temple.2

"The Old Fort had been commenced when Father was at Salt Lake on the first trip and was built on the square now called Pioneer Park.

"I remember the rainy season, when the sun was not seen for nearly a month. The roof of our house was a shed roof, covered with inch lumber, plastered with clay on the outside. The roof had sagged so that there was quite a depression on the center. This had filled with water and was leaking through the room below.1

Howard's father participated in the creation of the Pony Express in Utah along with his brother-in-law William F. Fisher. Sometime in the year 1856, Howard was able to send the first mail coach from Salt Lake City to California.1 The Pony Express went on for only a year from 1860-1861. Howard helped his father's business in Deep Creek, Utah, near the Nevada-Utah border.3 

Howard Ransom Egan married Amanda Ann Andrus on Oct 10, 1863 in Salt Lake City, Utah. They stayed in the Salt Lake Valley until their second child was born in 1866, then returned to Deep Creek. In 1870, Howard closed up business with his father and moved up to Richmond where Amanda's family had settled.1

Life in Richmond

The Egan family moved on the south east part of town on a tall and steep hill. They built a home along with a lime kiln and a molasis mill. While in Richmond, he also had a sawmill in High Creek Canyon.1

Epilogue