An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D., The
Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL., 1893, pages 366-367
	
	JUDGE H. W. EAGAN, a prominent citizen of Walla Walla, was born in Sumner
county, Tennessee, December 17, 1822, a son of H. H. and Sarah (Bandy) Eagan,
the former born in Tennessee in 1800, and the latter in Kentucky in 1803. In
1828, when our subject was six years of age, the parents moved to Marion county,
Illinois, settling on a farm near Salem. Although the father was a carpenter by
trade, he raised his family on the farm, which in course of time they made one
of the finest places in southern Illinois. Mr. Eagan died there in 1844, aged
forty-four years. His wife survived him until 1892, dying at the home of our
subject in Walla Walla, at the good old age of eighty-nine years.
	H.W. Eagan, the eldest of eight children, remained on the home farm until
twenty-three years of age, receiving his education in the log schoolhouse of
Marion county, and also attending one term in the high school of Salem. He
afterward followed the carpenter's trade until 1850; was then elected Justice of
the Peace, held that position four years, and then served as County Clerk of
Marion county the same number of years. When a young man, Mr. Eagan became a
member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and later entered the ministry. He
was engaged in preaching in Illinois until 1867; spent the following five years
in Macon City, Missouri, and September 15, 1872, arrived in Walla Walla,
Washington, where he came in search of health. Mr. Eagan continued in the
ministry until 1888, having spent thirty years in hard labor and study, but he
was then obliged to resign that calling on account of failing health. He was
then nominated for Probate Judge, and elected by a large majority in both
parties. He served in that position two years, and then accepted the nomination
by the Democratic party to the office of County Clerk, and is now filling his
second term in that capacity, having been re-elected at the fall election of
1892.
	At the opening of the late war, Judge Eagan was offered the position as
Chaplain of the One Hundred and Eleventh Regiment, but owing to ill health he
could not pass an examination, and was compelled to stay at home. But he was
never idle during that great struggle, having assisted the poor and needy that
were left behind. He also assisted in raising the Twenty-first Regiment, which
was afterward assigned to Colonel Grant, and the One Hundred and Eleventh
Illinois Regiment. He was a lover of the Union, and, had his health permitted,
would have shouldered his gun and helped to save his country and flag.
	The Judge was married in October, 1845, to Miss Elizabeth A. White, a native
of Tennessee, who settled in Marion county, Illinois, in 1834. They had four
children, two of whom died when young. Their son, Dr. E.P. Eagan, now resides on
a fruit farm near Milton, having given up the practice of medicine. The
daughter, Hattie E., is the widow of Lieutenant Edwin H. Sheldon, late of the
First United States Cavalry, stationed at the garrison near Walla Walla, where
he died in January. 1880. They had two children: Bessie and Edwinna, the latter
now deceased. Bessie and her mother now reside with Judge Eagan. The Judge has a
beautiful cottage on Alder and Sixth streets, and also owns 160 acres of land in
Yakima county.
	
Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in September 2003 by Jeffrey L. Elmer
	
	
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