This page is dedicated to the Irish ancestors of the O'Regan, Regan and Reagan families
of Central New York.

Our story begins with my GGGrandparents Thomas O'Regan and Margaret Sheehan who emigrated from County Cork Ireland in the mid 1800's and settled in the Marcellus and Skaneateles, New York area. Six of their children also came to this area: Jeremiah, Thomas, Daniel, Patrick, Mary and Catherine. Thomas and Patrick were farmers and settled in the towns of Navarino and Marcellus respectively. Jeremiah was a cattle feeder for a distillery in Skaneateles, New York. Catherine Regan married James Reagan, lived in Skaneateles Junction and bore 10 children. Mary married John Radford and was found living in the City of Syracuse. Little is known yet about Daniel. They most likely settled here because the rich farmlands available to them. There may have been a similiarity to the rolling hills of their homeland in Cork. Also, there may have been family and friends from the old sod here prior to them. The surnames Sheehan, Cronin, McCarthy and Purcell are often linked with the Regan name.

My line comes to me through Patrick who married Bridget Gilvie February 15, 1863 The record of this marriage at St. Francis Xavier Church, Marcellus, New York states Patrick's last name as O'Regan. His death certificate in 1899 however, lists his name to be Reagan. How or why this change came about we do not know. There is some confusion as to the spelling as other siblings carried the name on as Regan for some time.

A special thanks to my daughter Sarah for all her hard work in helping me put this site together.

3-16-98.

3-4-1999.