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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Offaly (Kings) => Topic started by: kintree on Friday 24 October 14 10:29 BST (UK)

Title: Egan of Shannon Harbour
Post by: kintree on Friday 24 October 14 10:29 BST (UK)
Various Australian records have led me to the family of William Egan and Catherine Egan (appears to have been her maiden surname as well as her married surname) of Shannon Harbour, who appear to have had children in the period 1840-1862. In particular I have found the following in the RC parish registers of Gallen & Reynagh:

bapt
11 Jun 1854  Sara
17 Aug 1856  Patrick
21 Aug 1859  Frances
21 Jul 1862  Honora

I am keen to find earlier children of this family. Does this family ring any bells with anyone?
Title: Re: Egan of Shannon Harbour
Post by: taramcdsmall on Friday 24 October 14 11:11 BST (UK)
Hi There

Can you give us more information on this family ?!

Did William & Catherine emmigrate to Australia OR just one of their children ?

Is one of their children your ancestor ?

Tara
Title: Re: Egan of Shannon Harbour
Post by: taramcdsmall on Friday 24 October 14 11:19 BST (UK)
The records for that parish go back to the very early 1800's !

http://www.from-ireland.net/roman-catholic-parish-records-offaly/

IF your family stayed in the same parish then the records you have found must be the only children that they had.

Sometimes there are mistranscriptions or illegible records which may account for missing records.

Tara
Title: Re: Egan of Shannon Harbour
Post by: taramcdsmall on Friday 24 October 14 11:22 BST (UK)
The name William Egan in Gallen !

http://www.failteromhat.com/griffiths/offaly/gallen.htm

Tara
Title: Re: Egan of Shannon Harbour
Post by: taramcdsmall on Friday 24 October 14 11:25 BST (UK)
I take it that you have this !

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/correction/13515038

Do the IRISH records that you have say SHANNON HARBOUR on them ?

I ask this because Shannon Harbour is a very tricky place to pinpoint records for.

Tara
Title: Re: Egan of Shannon Harbour
Post by: kintree on Saturday 25 October 14 15:13 BST (UK)
Tara

Thank you for your input - I am indeed aware of the Cunningham-Egan marriage, which took place in my great-granduncle's house.

I have transcribed the baptisms myself from the filmed registers. It may be that I shall ferret out earlier baptisms in the parish of Gallen & Reynagh (which is the parish containing Shannon Harbour, in the townland of Clonony Beg), but as yet I have not deciphered any.

I'm really looking for anyone who recognises these individuals and can point me towards earlier children, or perhaps towards the marriage of William to Catherine, or perhaps knows William's occupation.

Thank you for your interest
Title: Re: Egan of Shannon Harbour
Post by: taramcdsmall on Saturday 25 October 14 15:29 BST (UK)
Hi There

Well, the marriage is a great article to have as it's so specific as to where William had lived (Shannon Harbour),

. . . the fact that William was an Esq,

. . . the fact that William was deceased by the time (1882),

. . . the fact that Sarah was William's fourth daughter,

. . . the fact that Sarah had a cousin called Rev Father Kennedy, SJ

SO

How sure are you that the baptism for Sarah that you found IS in fact the correct one ?

Again, that parish records go back to the very early 1810's SO if Willam was from that parish then the other children should be there too - yet they don't appear to be.

Have you worked on the Rev to see if leads can be found that way ?

Was the Rev from the Shannon Harbour region too and then went to Australia ?

Is he related to Sarah's Mum OR Dad ?

Did you ever find ships records for Sarah emmigrating ?

Tara
Title: Re: Egan of Shannon Harbour
Post by: taramcdsmall on Saturday 25 October 14 15:39 BST (UK)
Re William and his occupation !

Most Irish Catholic Esquires of the time were actually farmers.

They would have been well respected in the area and were usually elected by the locals to Justice of The Peace.

As we were under British Rule at the time, the title of Esq was then passed on to these men.

I had a look on findmypast.ie and USUALLY most Esq feature at some point in the newspapers BUT I can't see any mention at all.

Of course it's very possible that the above theory does not apply to William.

Also, USUALLY Esq feature on the Irish Wills but I can find no trace of William there either.

Was it ever mentioned WHERE he died or WHEN he died ?

Again, Shannon Harbour is an address that I find tricky to work with.

Does the article refer to Shannon Harbour, which a small townland OR is it referring to 'A' Harbour on the River Shannon HUM  ???

The River Shannon itself runs through a lot of counties. The article refers to Shannon Harbour, King's County (which is Offaly now, just so you know) BUT I have found records, given it's border lines in Offaly, Roscommon, Westmeath, Leitrim & Galway.

Lots of questions and theories I know But 'thinking outside the box' here MAY help get leads.

Tara
Title: Re: Egan of Shannon Harbour
Post by: taramcdsmall on Saturday 25 October 14 15:41 BST (UK)
Have you tried these guys ?

https://www.facebook.com/ShannonHarbour

Tara
Title: Re: Egan of Shannon Harbour
Post by: taramcdsmall on Saturday 25 October 14 15:47 BST (UK)
OOOOH

Did you see this article from 1880

 EGAN.-At Shannon Harbour, King's County, Ireland,

the wife of William Egan, and eldest daughter of Patrick Egan, Esq., of Cloneymore, and sister-in law to the late Madame Angela Egan, Sacred Heart Convent, of Roscrea, County Tipperary, Ireland. R.I.P. Sydney papers please copy.

Tara
Title: Re: Egan of Shannon Harbour
Post by: taramcdsmall on Saturday 25 October 14 15:54 BST (UK)
So,

Catherine was the daughter of Patrick Egan of Cloneymore.

Here he is on the GV !

http://www.failteromhat.com/griffiths/offaly/gallen.htm

Tara
Title: Re: Egan of Shannon Harbour
Post by: taramcdsmall on Saturday 25 October 14 15:55 BST (UK)
We can hope then that William is one or both of these entries

Egan             William            Clononybeg                      Gallen     Offaly
Egan             William            Minus Island                    Gallen     Offaly

Tara

Title: Re: Egan of Shannon Harbour
Post by: kintree on Saturday 25 October 14 18:17 BST (UK)
Tara

Thank you again for further input, none of which is new to me. No, that's not right, I hadn't seen the Facebook reference before, so I shall investigate that, thanks.

It is clear that the family referred to in the Australian records is from Shannon Harbour, not from a harbour on the Shannon. Shannon Harbour is not a townland, it is a canal settlement in the townland of Clonony Beg. Clonony Beg is immediately west of Clonony More, which is (most likely) the name represented by Cloneymore in the Australian newspaper article you have quoted from: The Australasian, 8 May 1880, p 26, from http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper (http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper).

My enquiry is whether anyone recognises the family from the records I originally posted (from the registers of Gallen & Reynagh RC parish), which I now repeat, for clarity. Parents William Egan and Catherine Egan (apparently her maiden surname as well as her married surname). Children:

bapt
11 Jun 1854  Sara
17 Aug 1856  Patrick
21 Aug 1859  Frances
21 Jul 1862  Honora