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Thomas Egan

EGAN, GODFREY, REARDON, KRYNBORG, LLOYD

Posted By: Sharyl Ferrall (email)
Date: 7/15/2009 at 07:58:38

Thomas Egan is proprietor of the Egan Hotel at Thompson but is, perhaps best known as an auctioneer, as he is in demand for the crying of sales throughout a large part of the states of Iowa and Minnesota.

He was born in Jo Daviess county, Illinois, January 27, 1851, of the marriage of Thomas and Catherine (Godfrey) Egan, the former a native of Kings county, Ireland, and the latter of County Tipperarry, Ireland. In 1828 the father crossed the Atlantic to America and for a short time lived in Halifax. He next removed to St. Louis, Missouri, whence in 1846 he went to Chicago, where he was engaged in railroad contracting. Still later he lived for a time in Galena, Illinois, and while there went to Chicago and return by stage, as there was then no railroad connection between the two places. On leaving Galena he removed to Jo Daviess county. He was engaged in grading on the Mineral Point Railroad in Lafayette county, Wisconsin, until the completion of that road and then purchased fifty-three acres of land in that county, on which he resided until his death in March, 1910, when he had reached the advanced age of ninety-three years. He had long survived his wife as her death occurred on the 8th of January, 1886.

Thomas Egan was largely reared and educated in Lafayette county, Wisconsin, and remained with his parents until he was twenty-five years old. He then purchased a farm in that county but after operating his place for two years turned his attention to railroad contracting, which he followed off and on until 1891, although during three years of that period he devoted practically his entire time to agricultural pursuits. In October, 1891, he went to Mason City, Iowa, where he engaged in teaming for a short time. He also did some county grading at Clear Lake that fall and later in the year came to Thompson, Winnebago county, at which time there was only one store in the town. He purchased three quarter sections of land in this locality, but during the panic of 1893 lost his farm holdings. He then took up his residence upon land in the vicinity of Lake Mills and for two years engaged in farming and stock raising there. At the end of that time he became a resident of, Thompson and for four years served as postmaster under appointment of President Cleveland. Since his removal to Thompson he has also done some railroad grading, including the work which he did in 1900 for the Rock Island on their line from Armstrong to Estherville. In 1909 he went into the hotel business and the Egan Hotel at Thompson has a reputation of being one of the best hotels to be found in the small towns of Iowa. For the past twenty-six years, however, a great deal of his time and attention has been devoted to auctioneering and he has cried sales all over Iowa and Minnesota, the demand for his service indicating his unusual efficiency in that business. He owns land in Sheridan county, North Dakota, and is in excellent financial circumstanced.

Mr. Egan was married on the 24th of November, 1874, to Miss Catherine Reardon, and they have become the parents of ten children as follows: Mary, the wife of Luke Krynborg of Kincaid, Nebraska; Thomas and George, both of whom are residents of Des Moines, Iowa; James, who was killed in a railroad wreck; Ellen, who is a trained nurse and a resident of Thompson; Agnes, the wife of John Lloyd of Des Moines; Robert, who is living in Omaha; Joseph S., of Des Moines; and Clara and Vera, both of whom died in 1901.

Mr. Egan has supported the democratic party since age conferred upon him the right of franchise and four times he has been his party's nominee for the office of county sheriff. In religious faith he is a Roman Catholic and in his conduct he has measured up to high ethical standards. He has a wide acquaintance and his dominant qualities are such that his personal friends are many.

~History of Winnebago and Hancock Counties, Iowa, Vol. II, 1917, pg 71-72


 

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