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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pulaski County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Michael W. Eagan, chief of the Little Rock fire department, was born in Knego County, Ireland, on March 31, 1850, and is a son of John and Catherine Eagan. The mother died shortly after Michael’s birth; and when he was at the age of three years, the father came to America with the balance of his family and located at Memphis, Tenn., where he died in 1859. Michael W. Eagan was reared in Memphis, and educated at the public schools of that city. When eighteen years of age, he moved to St. Louis, in order to better complete his education in the printer’s trade, and resided there for ten years, being employed mostly as a pressman. In 1878 he came to Little Rock, and entered into the employ of the Democrat, and later on with the Union Printing Company, in which concern he was a stockholder. He afterward returned to the Democrat, and remained with them until the year 1888, when he was elected chief of the fire department by the “boys,’’ having previously served two and one-half years as volunteer chief of the department without pay. The department now numbers about two hundred men, three engines, four hose-carts and two hook-and-ladder trucks, and during the Southwestern Firemen’s Association Tournament at Clinton, Mo., the Kramer Hose Company captured the second prize for coupling, over a great number of competitors. Since 1878, the year that Chief Eagan first became a volunteer member, the fire department has been greatly improved, horses being purchased, as well as engines, trucks, etc., and a perfect discipline being maintained. He is considered an efficient officer, a gentleman, and enjoys a widespread popularity. Mr. Eagan was married in St. Louis, in 1873, to Miss Bridget Sullivan, by whom he has had five children, two yet living, Maggie and Nellie. His wife and children are members of the Catholic Church. In secret societies Chief Eagan belongs to Missouri Lodge No. 1, A. F. & A. M., at St. Louis, the oldest lodge west of the Mississippi River.

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This family biography is one of 156 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pulaski County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Pulaski County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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