"An Illustrated History of Whitman County, state of Washington." San Francisco:
W. H. Lever, 1901.  p. 269.
 
MICHAEL BYRNE

     Among the extensive realty holders and successful farmers of Whitman county
the subject of this review is to be ranked as one of the foremost, and to him no
little credit is due for the amount he has contributed toward the material
development of the country in the more than twenty years of his residence in
this section.  No apology is necessary, for introducing here a brief review of
the salient points in his long and useful life.
     Mr. Byrne was born in county Carlow, Ireland, on August 26, 1841, the son
of Edward and Julia (Bryan) Byrne. He received a common-school education in the
land of his nativity, where he remained until twenty-four years of age. Coming
then to America, he settled in Westchester county, New York, where for two years
he was a tiller of the soil. In 1867 he came west to California, located in
Bodega, Sonoma county, and engaged in dairying as his principal occupation. In
1880 he came thence to Whitman county. He filed on a homestead of one hundred
and sixty acres two miles east of Garfield, and this formed a nucleus for
further acquisition until he became the owner of a princely domain of eight
hundred and eighty acres. This mammoth farm has been greatly improved by the
erection of substantial buildings of all varieties necessary to a well-regulated
farm, such as a good, comfortable home. large, commodious barn, etc. The general
appearance of thrift and comfort proclaims Mr. Byrne one of the most skillful
and progressive of Whitman county's agriculturists.
     In local politics our subject has always taken an intelligent interest, his
broad-minded public spirit manifesting itself especially in the work he has done
for the cause of education. From the date of his arrival in his neighborhood
until the present time he has held the important office of school director
continuously. In 1892 he was the candidate of his party for the office of county
commissioner, but the party was defeated that year. In religious persuasion he
is a Roman Catholic.
     Mr. Byrne was married in Petaluma, California, on June 17, 1871, to Miss
Catherine, daughter of John and Ella (McGarey) Devine, and a native of
Roscommon, Ireland. Their union was blest by the advent of eight children:
Edward J., Ellen C., Maggie, William J., Thomas N., living, and Julia, James and
Maria, deceased.
 

*******************

Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in January 2009 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.