Tag Archives: James Vincent Egan

Margaret Egan (Nanna) – her beginnings in Argentina

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I never expected to be able to locate much in the way of birth records for my maternal grandmother, Margaret Molloy nee Egan. Known to me as Nanna and to her family as Maggie, she was born in Argentina in 1893.  Four other siblings were also born there.  Luckily, I have found some records which help to shed some light on where her family lived at the time.

Her parents, Patrick Egan and Mary Coyne, both from Ireland – Patrick from Roscommon and Mary from Westmeath – had married in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1884. 

Their first child, John Patrick Egan, was born in Philadelphia in April 1885. Sometime between then and September the following year when their next child Thomas was born, they had migrated to Argentina.

The documentary evidence is the 1886 baptismal record for Thomas and those for the following siblings – Mary Lucy, born 1889, James Vincent, born 1892 and Margaret in 1893.[1]  Another child, Ellen Josephine, was born in 1894 but I have not been able to locate her record.

Margaret’s date of birth in the family bible is recorded as 15th May 1893.  The date of baptism was 12th September 1893, at the church of San Francisco de Asís (St Francis of Assisi) in Rojas, in Buenos Aires Province.

This was a bit of a tough find, as the record was listed in the indexes under the name Margarita Egan Cogna, presumably in the Spanish format of including maternal names as part of the surname, except that “Coyne” had been mis-transcribed as “Cogna”.

The extract from the parish record reads:

 En doce de septiembre del año del Señor de mil ochocientos [noventa y tres], el __ infrascripto Cura Vicario de esta Parroquia de San Francisco de Asis bautizó ___ puso oleo y crisma a Margarita que nació quince de mayo _ hija legítima de Patricio Egan natural de Irlanda et cuarenta años de edad, y Maria Coyne natural de Irlanda de treinta años de edad, domiciliados en Colón _ siendo sus padrinos Guillermo Cavanaugh natural Norteamérica once años de edad, domiciliado en Colon y Marianna O’Connor natural de Pais?? de veintiséis años de edad, domiciliado en Colón a quienes advirtió el parentesco espiritual con el ahijado y con sus padres, y la obligación de ensenarle las doctrina cristiana, y por señal de verdad lo firmaron.

[1] Baptismal records sourced from Family Search. “Argentina, Buenos Aires, registros parroquiales, 1635-1981,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org /ark:/61903/1:1:QGT2-X9CV : 9 September 2021), Margarita Egan Cogna, ; citing Birth, San Francisco de Asís, Rojas, Rojas, Buenos Aires, Argentina, parroquias Católicas (Catholic Church parishes), Buenos Aires Province, FHL microfilm

Roughly in English (per Google Translate), this states:

On the twelfth of September of the year of the Lord of one thousand eight hundred [ninety-three], the __ undersigned Vicar Priest of this Parish of St. Francis of Assisi baptised ___ put oil and chrism to Margaret who was born fifteen of May _ legitimate daughter of Patrick Egan native of Ireland and forty years of age, and Maria Coyne native of Ireland of thirty years of age, domiciled in Colon _

being his (sic) godparents William Cavanaugh native of North America eleven years of age, domiciled in Colon and Marianna O’Connor native of the country twenty-six years of age, domiciled in Colon to whom he warned the spiritual kinship with the godson (sic) and with his (sic) parents, and the obligation to teach him (sic) the Christian doctrines, and by sign of truth they signed it.

The signatures of the parish priest Silvestre Marugo (an Italian) and godmother Marianna O’Connor follow.

Rojas is a small town about 200 kilometres north west of Buenos Aires.  The current satellite map shows a compact town surrounded by agricultural fields.

Colon is one of the main streets running through the town, and I assume that this is where the Egan’s residence, as referred to in the baptismal record,  was located.

Margaret’s godfather was her cousin William Cavanaugh, then 10 years old, one of the orphaned children of Mary’s sister Annie and her husband Thomas Cavanaugh (sometimes spelt Kavanaugh).  He and his sister Honoria were informally adopted by Patrick and Mary Egan.

The first of the Egan baptisms in Argentina was that of Thomas.  This took place on 31st October 1886 in Suipacha in Buenos Aires province, a town about 145 kilometres west of Buenos Aires. 

According to the baptismal document, the family were then resident in Suipacha, along with the two godparents.  These were Michael (Miguel) Coyne, 19 years old and a native of Ireland, and Marcella Connor, 12 years old and born in Argentina.

Suipacha: Church of Nuestra Senora del Rosario. Photo by Jose Luis Viedma on Flikr Creative Commons

By the time of the next baptism, that of Mary Lucy (Maria Luisa) three years later in 1889, the family were living in Rojas.

Where these baptisms took place in Rojas during this period is uncertain.  The second church building to be constructed on the San Francisco de Asís church site was completed in 1879 but in 1888 the church tower collapsed, leaving the building partially destroyed. By the time the third version of the church was completed in 1896, the Egan family had departed Argentina. The records for the other Egan children baptised in Rojas carry the same information about the Egan parents.

Mary Lucy’s godparents were

  • Juan Dunigan a native of Ireland, 30 years old living in Junin (south of Rojas), and
  • Maria Thompson (although she signed her name Adela Mary), ten years old, a native of Argentina, living in Rojas.

James Vincent’s godparents were Andres Gray, aged 35 and Juana McGarry, aged 27, both Irish and living in Rojas.

I have wondered how the Egans came to choose Argentina as a home.  They may have known of relatives already there – Michael Coyne as a godparent for Thomas suggests a possible family connection.

According to Edmundo Murray[2]:

In the 1860s almost all the young people of the townlands around Ballymore, Ballynacarrigy and Drumraney, in County Westmeath, emigrated to the River Plate (at that time comprising the Argentine and Uruguay republics).

These are townlands in the general area where Mary Coyne’s family was living in Westmeath.  There was a wave of emigration from Westmeath to Argentina for 60 years from the 1830s, coordinated by Catholic priests.  The Irish in Argentina became the biggest expatriate Irish community in a non-English speaking country.

Our Egans arrived at the tail end of the major immigration period and most likely were travelling from North America, rather than from Ireland via Liverpool.

By 1896 they had moved on to Paraguay, but fortune did not favour them. 

In June 1897 they boarded the ship Orellana in Montevideo, Uruguay on a journey to Liverpool and then onwards to Longford, for a brief return to Ireland before making their way eventually to Australia in 1900.

Nanna was just over 4 years old when they arrived in Ireland, and 6 years 8 months old when the family disembarked in Townsville, Queensland.

In my memory, she had a strong Irish identity but little trace of an Argentinian one.

[2] https://www.historyireland.com/the-irish-road-to-argentina/

Published in 18th-19th Century Social Perspectives, 18th–19th – Century History, Features, Issue 3 (Autumn 2004), Volume 12

Mareeba memoirs – the Egans & two lost sons

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The Historical Society of Mareeba publishes a quarterly newsletter on their website (at http://www.mbahistsoc.org.au/index.html) highlighting memorable events and people of the town in times past.  The No. 62 May 2014 Newsletter carried the following item, reproducing a news article from the Cairns Post published on 28 August 1942.  This is extracted below courtesy of the Trove website.

A Tribute

Two worthy citizens who had known Mareeba over a long period of years passed away recently within a few hours of each other. They were Mrs. Mary Egan, at Mareeba, on Saturday August 22, and Mrs. Minnie Wallace, at Coogee, Sydney, on August 23. By a coincidence the paths of each had much in common. Both were possessed of those sterling traits that are features of exemplary character.  Into the life of each had long ago come a great sorrow brought about by the loss of a loved husband. Mrs. Egan’s son, Jim, soldiered through the horror of 1914-18 until peace came. Returning to Australia, he met with an accident at the Granite Sawmills, Mareeba, and from its effects he died an hour or two later. Jim Wallace, also of the First A.I.F., was killed in action at Mont St Quentin in September, 1918. His battalion was the 26th. Jim Egan and Jim Wallace had been mates in Mareeba. 

Mrs. Egan was born in Ireland 84 years ago. With her husband she went across to the United States, living there for a while. But as Australia seemed to offer better opportunities the Egan family came to Queensland, where Patrick Egan took up railway work and made his home on the Barron at Mareeba.

Mrs. Wallace was bom near Glasgow 79 years back, and, in time, sailed to Queensland, residing in various centres. About 1905 the Wallace family went to live in Mareeba, which town Mr. Charlie Wallace, an inspector serving the old Chillagoe Railway Company, made his headquarters.

Mrs. Egan’s loss is mourned by three daughters, Mary, Agnes and Mrs. Molloy, and three sons, Jack, Tom and Joe. All members are well-known in the district and made frequent visits to the home in Mareeba. Their father has been dead many years.

The death of Charlie Wallace in 1916 broke up the Mareeba home of the Wallaces, as Mrs. Wallace decided to live in Sydney, taking up residence near her daughter, Mrs. M. Gaughan, at Coogee. There were six sons left, some of whom took up railway work. Bob is at present in Gladstone high up in the service. Charlie is a guard on the Cairns district railways. He is also Councillor Wallace, of the Wookathata Shire Council. Tom Wallace, in the Postal Department, lived in Sydney with his mother until his death in recent years. William is somewhere in the West, Jack is at Mackay, and Watty is an energetic personality in industrial matters in Cairns.

The writer of this has known the Egan and Wallace families for a long time and has herein endeavoured to pay a deserved tribute to the memory of two warm-hearted, loyal-natured citizens. For them the long day of toil is through. May they rest in peace. H.A.B.

Jim (James Vincent) Egan was my grand uncle, and Mrs Mary Egan, my great-grandmother. While the Egan family did live in the United States – Patrick Egan and Mary (Maria) Coyne were married in Philadelphia in 1883 – they also spent time in South America before returning to Ireland briefly and then migrating to North Queensland.

James Vincent Egan was one of the five children born in South America in the ten years between 1886 and 1896. He was born in Rojas, now a suburban area of Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1892. He was one year older than my grandmother, Margaret (“Mrs Molloy”).  Other children were born in the USA, Ireland and Australia, bringing the total of children born to Patrick and Mary to eight (in addition to the children of the Cavanaugh cousins, Honoria and William, who they cared for after their parents Thomas and Anna Cavanaugh died in Philadelphia).

Children of Patrick Egan & Mary Coyne (click to view in another window)

Jim or James was 7 when the family arrived in Townsville, Queensland as remittance passengers on the ship Duke of Portland, which left London on December 15th, 1899, arriving on 5th February 1900.  Jim was working as a railway porter when he enlisted in the army in July 1916.

He embarked from Melbourne as part of the 10 Machine Gun Company on 25 October 1916, and after time in England was transferred to Camiers in France in April 1917.  He was wounded in France in September 1917, receiving gunshot wounds to head, shoulders and arms while his then company, 4th Machine Gun Co., participated in an attack at West Lock Ridge, near Ypres.  The unit war diary for the day he was wounded notes at 5.57 am: Artillery fire deafening.  One continuous thunder.  The day was September 26th, the first day of the battle of Polygon Wood.

James was evacuated to hospital in England, and recovered sufficiently to return to France in May 1918.  After the war ended, he was shipped back to Australia and discharged in September 1919.  Less than a year later he was killed in the sawmill accident in Mareeba, as detailed in the following news reports.

Cairns Post  (Qld) Thursday 22  July 1920

MAREEBA FATALITY. PINNED BY A LOG. A TERRIBLE DEATH.

A sad accident, with fatal consequences, occurred at the Jamieson Estate Sawmills, (wires our Mareeba correspondent) on Wednesday afternoon, resulting in the death of James Egan, a highly respectable member of a well-known Mareeba family. At the time the accident occurred Egan was unloading a truck-load of logs at the mill siding, and by some misadventure, one of the logs on the truck suddenly rolled and pinned the unfortunate man against a log that had previously been removed. Various mill employees were present at the time, and quick action was taken to remove the unfortunate young man from his serious position. Dr. Perkins was quickly in attendance, and the injured man was conveyed to the Mareeba district hospital, where every effort was made by the doctor and the nursing staff to alleviate his sufferings, but death took place within a short time of the disaster.

Deceased was an employee of Jamieson’s mill of long standing, and during the late European war served for a considerable time with the forces. He was wounded in action, and subsequently returned to his old employment where he met his untimely death.  The remains will, to-day, be accorded a military funeral by the Mareeba branch of the Returned Soldiers’ League.

The Brisbane Courier (Qld.) Friday 23 July 1920

KILLED BY A FALLING LOG. CAIRNS, July 22.

James Egan, a returned soldier, was killed whilst working at the sawmills at Mareeba owing to a log suddenly falling on him. He was well known throughout the district, and his funeral, which took place this afternoon, was one of the biggest military funerals witnessed in Mareeba.

Cairns Post (Qld.) 21 July 1924

EGAN.  – ln loving memory of  James Vincent, who was accidentally killed at Jamieson’s Estate Mill, Mareeba, July 21st, 1920.

I who love  you  sadly miss you as it dawns this fourth sad year.

In the lonely hours of thinking of you are ever near.

Never can my heart forget the sorrow and  grief.

The pain must always last

(Inserted by  his mother)

He is buried in the Mareeba cemetery, with a headstone commemorating his life.

As for his mate, Jim Wallace, who died in France in September 1918, he is buried in Peronne Communal Cemetery, Peronne, Picardie, France, a Commonwealth War Graves site, a long way from home.

More on Mary Coyne Egan in a later post …