This page is very much a work in progress. It is dedicated to trying to work out the relationships between the various Megorans in the world. A web search reveals that there are not many, so this should be possible. Searches on popular family-history database sites often turn out to be fruitless.
I (Nick Megoran) am English, and my father's family came from the Newcastle and Sunderland area. Searches in Ancestry.com show that there were many Megorans in the area in the nineteenth century, and that there continue to be a good number in the Newcastle - Durham - Chester-le-Street region to this day. There is a rumour in our family that we did in fact descend from Ireland. There is an old group photograph in our album which is labelled 'The Megorans, Ireland, 1880s. I hope to scan this in soon. However, those Megorans who knew more about the Irish connection, and are even said to have met them, have now died. 'Megoran' is a relatively rare name in Ireland: we could either be descended from them, or in fact bear an anglicized version of the more common name 'McGoran.'
I met a family of Megorans in County Down in 2002, and between us we identified most of the Megorans we could find on the web. If you are a Megoran, or have information about other Megorans, please email me at nick.megoran@ncl.ac.uk and I will include it on this site.
I will keep this site fairly open ended, and list material sent in by bona fide contributors under their names. I'll go first to show you what I mean.
Nick Megoran
My grandfather, was Arthur Winston Dale Megoran, who was always known as Winston. An uncle told me he had been puzzled by this, as it seems he was always known as Winston from his youth, although he never expressed a personal perference for that name over Arthur.
He was born in Newcastle in 1913, the son of Income Tax Inspector Edwin Dale Megoran, and was an accomplished maritime artist, as well as being an art teacher. Soon after World War 2 he moved to Weymouth, where he lived until his death in 1971.
Winston Megoran. Click here to visit a website dedicated to his work.
One of my uncles, John Megoran, is Managing Director of the Paddle Steamer Kingswear Castle Trust. The trust was commended in the South East England Tourism Awards Best Website Category 2000. Click here to see a photograph of the award presentation.
Can you identify these Megorans? (1) 'MEGORAN' TYPE HOUSES, TURKEY Troja-II (B.C. 2500-2000)
Troja II was settled on Troja I. It is one of the two important centers which were ruled by theocratic governmentals of bronze-age in Anatolia. Megoran type houses which can be seen in Troja I, can be found also in Troja II. Three golden crowns, sixty golden earrings, a lot of golden needles and golden jewelery, fifteen golden and silver vase and a lot of golden rings which were told in Homeros' epitaph as Priamos' treasures and taken by adventurer Schlieman to Germany, exhibited in Völkerkunde Museum till Second World War were found in Troja II. This is taken from the Turktravel.net website http://www.turktravel.net/sacredplaces/sacredtrusts/troya.asp, 'Sacred Places in Turkey', last accessed 7/12/02. Was Megoran perhaps the archaeologist who named them?RESONSE: I received this comment in response: The 'Megoran type' house could refer to the name given to royal palace throne rooms in Mycenean architecture in c.1200BC. These buildings were known as 'megoras'. Could it be that in actual fact our family name has connections to monarch warriors blown somewhat off course on their way to lay seige to Troy?!
(2) BRAZILIAN INDIGENOUS TRIBAL LEADER
Data Sheet Four - Optional: Is It Too Late to Find a Solution?
Many environmental activists are strongly pushing for protection of the rain forest environment and indigenous people in Brazil because they believe Brazil, of all other locations around the globe, provides the best chance to succeed in their efforts. These activists are championing the cause of the environment and the indigenous people together because they realize the strong connection between the two.
Mining and illegal timber exploration in Brazil are the two major problems that have led to the destruction of Indian preserves. Mining is done by thousands of prospectors who collectively form small enterprises which have a great impact on the environment. Dishonest timber merchants utilize Indian preserves for raw material sources without any reforestation and forest management (Luciano Pizzato, testimony before U.S. Congressional hearing). In many cases the government has taken no action against those miners and loggers who take natural resources from tribal lands.
Moreover, several people are concerned about the "traditional" knowledge, which can be useful to all of us, lost by Native Americans. Traditional knowledge is knowledge dating back hundreds, and maybe even thousands, of years that provides a base for indigenous peoples' culture. In Brazil, it promotes a life that is tied to the environment. An example of losing this traditional knowledge is the "in situ" gene banks. The "in situ" gene banks, developed and conserved by indigenous groups for over a millennia are now being exploited by foreign companies. Megoran Txucarramae, a Brazilian indigenous tribal leader testifying before a U.S. Congressional hearing, sums up the idea. "These resources are being appropriated by your scientists and businessmen, with no return or respect for our long-term labor of selection and maintenance of these genetic resources. Regional economic interests are sacrificing equally precious plants and animals that, I am sure, could serve us all, and not only the rich" (Congressional Hearing, pg.8). As development occurs, more and more indigenous people will abandon their traditions and move to the cities, and quite possibly pay for the products created through quick development of their own ancient peoples' ingenuity.
What exactly are "in situ" gene banks?
What other forms of traditional knowledge are in jeopardy? This is copied in full from an unidentified web posting at
http://ladb.unm.edu/retanet/plans/attachments/too_late_solution_handout.html, accessed 7/12/02, but it has been there for many years.(3) Bengal Baptists
This inquiry was made on a geneaological website
From: "kdegray"
Subject: Fw: Bengal Baptisms 1876 - 1884 GUISE
Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 09:10:43 +0100
-----Original Message-----
From: kdegray
To: Cameron Inglis
Date: 12 October 1999 09:09
Subject: Re: Bengal Baptisms 1876 - 1884
>Hello Cameron, My query is for my GGG grandmother MEGORAN ISHOORAN or maybe >WEGORAN ISHOORAN the old will of my GGGgrandfather (Brit Officer)William >GUISE , is almost illegible. their children were born in..ELIZA GUISE1817 -
>JOHN GUISE1820 - ALEXANDER GUISE 1822. so I guess the mother might (a long >shot) have been baptised as the children were. Any mention of the mother on >the kids baptisms in Fort William I think. ? I really want to find out more >about her, how would I go about that? sorry to be such a pain in the nether >regions. Thanks , Kay At RootsWeb.com, at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/INDIA/1999-10/0939715843(4) The Geographical Journal > Vol. 126, No. 4 (Dec., 1960), p. 554
According to this reference, a 'Margaret A. Megoran' of Chester-le-Street Grammar School was awarded a geography prize in the Durham University Schools Examination. Does anybody know who she was, or what she went on to do?
