Eager Family

We add the following notice of the Eager family: William Eager, the progenitor of the family, came from Monaghan, ireland, about the year 1728; went into Westchester County, where he stayed thirteen years, and then removed to Neelytown. At this day very little is known of him. He married Elsa McGrada in Ireland, and had two children before emigration, and one (William) born on the passage. The McGrada family were originally Scotch, but had lived perhaps one hundred years in Ireland. He lived and died on the farm where his son William and grandson, Thomas Eager, lived and died. His children were Mary, who married William Monell; Thomas, who married Martha McNeal; William, who married Miriam Butler and Ann Bull; Elizabeth, who married James McMunn; Ann, who married John Davis; Jane, who married John Harlow.

William Eager (the second), son of the first settler of that name, was thirteen years old when the family came to Neelytown. He went to school but one quarter. He married, quite early in life, Miriam Butler, by whom he had one child, and both died early. Afterwards he married Ann, the daughter of William and Sarah Bull, of Hamptonburgh, then in the town of Goshen. Nine children were the fruits of this marriage, all of whom grew up and were married except Anthony, who died young. The descendants of the first settler are now very numerous and widely dispersed. William married Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel Watkins, Esq., of Wallkill; Thomas married Margaret, daughter of John Blake, Esq., of Neelytown; Sarah married Capt. James McBride, of Neelytown; Elsie married John Blake, Esq., of Neelytown; Mary married Charles Bodine, of Montgomery; Esther married Samuel Dunning, of Wallkill; Elinor married Mr. Philip Mowbray, of Wallkill; Ann married Elijah McMunn, of Montgomery; Anthony died young.