Our immigrant ancestor, Michael Deegan/Deagan was born before the Church records were kept for the Burgesbeg Catholic Parish but luckily, we knew the name of his younger brother, Patrick who was born in 1835, and the names of some of Patrick's children when the records were available. From this, we were able to determine that Michael's parents were Patrick and Judith (Ryan) Deegan from the Catholic Parish of Youghalarra, Burgess,in the Townland of Burgesbeg, North Tipperary County, Ireland.

Patrick Deegan, Sr. died before 1850 when records show that Judith Deegan was the lessee on approx. 16 acres in Burgesbeg on the 1850 Griffith's Valuation for Burgesbeg. She paid 9 .12.0 on the land and 1.5.0 for the buildings in taxes. There were only about 20 families living in this townland in 1851 and only 9 families in 1901. There are only 619 acres in the townland of Burgesbeg and most of it is hilly. The Deegan property was fertile bottomland. In June, 2000, we visited the area and took pictures of the land where the Deegan family lived. The last Deegan who lived on that land was Rody Deegan, nephew of Michael.

We also know from family records that Michael had other siblings born before 1831 when the church records were first available. Therefore, the family of Patrick and Judith (Ryan) Deegan consisted of: [Sponsors at baptisms were very often relatives].

1. Michael Deagan, b. abt. 1820. Married Mary Maher about 1850/1851. ( Family of Michael Deagan).
   
   
2. Johanna Deegan. Married [John?] Reedy.
   
   
3. John Deegan. Said to have come to the United States but died after being here a few years.
   
   
4. Mary Deegan. Married [James?] Minogue.
   
   
5. Owney Deegan. Married [Patrick?] Kennedy.
   
   
6. Catherine Deegan. Baptised 3 January 1831. Sponsors were Michael Hogan and Mary Dwyer.
   
   
7. Patrick Deegan. Baptised 21 February 1832. Sponsors were Matt. Brien and Honorio Hogan. Probably died young.
   
   
8. Winefred Deegan. Baptised 25 May 1833. Sponsors were John Sheedy and Catherine Hogan.
   
   
9. Patrick Deegan (2). Baptised 1 January 1835. Sponsors were Timothy Brien and Mary Kerby. Married Judy Gleeson 17 Feb 1863 in Parish of Ballinahinch. Had a second marriage to Johanna Gleeson. ( Family of Patrick Deegan )
   
   

The Youghalarra-Burgess parish records also revealed that a Malachy and Bridget Cleary Deegan had a daughter, Catherine, baptized in August 1829. Their residence was shown as Burgess, the same as both Patricks.

The earliest record available was the Tithe Applotment Book of 1825 (Tax Roll) shows Patrick "Digan", Michael Hogan and Dan Mulcahy sharing 19 acres of land. Later in "Griffith's Valuation" of land in 1850, Judith "Duigan" and partner, John Bunfield were leasing 31 acres of land from a Francis Spaight, Esq. This leads us to believe that Patrick, father of our Michael had died before 1850.