James Egan

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Rosie Drysdale on 31st August 2013

James Egan was the son of James Snr ( a Bootmaker from Dublin) and his wife Mary nee Harman. There is no record of James' birth in 1826, but a baptism can be found for his brother Thomas in 1830 at St Catherines, Dublin with father James and Mary nee Harman. Tasmanian archives record James Jnr's family as father, James; mother Mary; brother Thomas and sister, Mary Anne, although no records of baptism can be found for Mary Anne. James was only 14 years old when he was arrested for 'stealing shoes and an apron' appearing in the Dublin Court in 1843. He was transported to VDL, arriving in 1844 on the 'Constant'. He was granted a Conditional Pardon in 1853, and made his way to the Victorian mainland by joining the crew on a boat. The earliest record of James in Victoria can be found of him working as a labourer and shearer at Geelong, followed then by the record of his marriage to a young Irish lass from Armagh, Ireland by the name of Sarah McVeigh. The two were married at St Frances church in Melbourne on Dec 11 1854. The couple then travelled to southern NSW where their first daughter Mary Anne was born in 1855 at Murrumbidgee; then James Christopher born 1857; Catherine 1859 at Strathboggie Vic; Edward Arthur 1861 Violetown, Vic; Peter 1863 at Longwood; and Frances 1864 at Violetown Vic. Sadly, Sarah died in 1865 after the death of her two last baby sons, and unable to cope with the children, James farmed them out to kind families in the Euroa/Maryborough area. All of the children grew up not knowing much of their siblings, and some of their names were changed by their new families. James Christopher 1857 died in 1884 at Sydney, aged 27, and Edward Arthur 1861 grew up in Queensland. Although it cannot be confirmed, I believe that James Snr returned to the Maryborough region that he new well and worked as a labourer and shearer most of his life, including a little gold prospecting. There is a death record for a 'James Egan recorded on 27 Feb 1897; miner; born Dublin; 42 years in the Colony; family not known; single; buried March 1 Maryborough Cemetery, aged 70' which I believe is the death our James. Descendants of three of his children; Catherine, Mary Anne and Edward Arthur have spent years researching his story and have joyfully found each other, reuniting the family.