JAMES F. EGAN.
In Greeley township, this county, there live two brothers, the Egans, James F. and George, a biographical sketch of the latter of whom the reader will find presented elsewhere in these pages. Few men in that part of the county are better known or more deservedly popular than these brothers and it is a pleasure for the biographer to set out here the biography of the first named, a progressive and industrious farmer of Greeley township.
James F. Egan was born on a farm just west of Iowa City, in Johnson county, Iowa, January 28, 1868, the son of Thomas and Catherine (McTyge) Egan, natives of Ireland, the former of whom was born in County Cork and the latter in County Mayo. Thomas Egan was a mere lad when he came to America and he grew up to the life of a farmer in the state of New Jersey, where he married Catherine McTyge, and in the year i860 came to Iowa, locating in Johnson county, where he bought land and where he remained until 1880, in which year he sold out and moved to Shelby county, and in 1883, to Audubon county, where for a year he rented land, at the end of which time he moved to Holt county, Nebraska, where he entered a claim on which he lived for six years. Selling out there in 1889, he came back to Audubon county and bought eighty acres in section 10, of Greeley township, spending his last days there, his death occurring on April 7, 1906. Thomas and Catherine (McTyge) Egan were the parents of seven children, whose names are set out in the sketch of George Egan, presented elsewhere in this volume.
James F. Egan received a district-school education and remained on the parental farm until he reached his majority, after which, for two years, he "worked out" on neighboring farms, at the end of which time he rented a farm in Guthrie county, on the Audubon-Guthrie county line, on which he remained for twelve years. In the spring of 1902 he bought one hundred and twenty acres in section 11, of Greeley township, this county, on which he since has made his home. He remodeled the dwelling house on this farm and has built two large barns and other outbuildings to correspond, his place being very well kept.
On September 12, 1892, James F. Egan was united in marriage to Cevilia Snyder, of Exira, who was born in Crawford county, Pennsylvania, January 12, 1870, the daughter of William and Sarah (Adams) Snyder, also natives of Pennsylvania, the former of whom was born in Lehigh county and the latter in Berks county, who located in Polk county, Iowa, in 1877, and moved from there to Audubon county in 1885.
To James F. and Cevilia (Snyder) Egan have been born three children, namely: Eva, born on June 10, 1893, who married Charles Kopeska and has three children, Violet, Olive and Albert; Julia, November 8, 1898; and James F., Jr., March 18, 1904. Mr. Egan is a member of the Catholic church and Mrs. Egan is a member of the Evangelical church. He is a Democrat, was constable for two terms and has been school director for seven terms. The Egans are well known and popular in their home community and are held in high esteem by a large circle of acquaintances.
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Transcribed from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 803-804.
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