Eugene Vincent Merrigan was born at Wadsworth, Lyon County, Nevada, January 27th, 1891. When he was seven years old his mother moved to Austin, in Lander County, which was her former home and where she herself was born, taking her boy with her. There he attended the public schools until his thirtieth year, when he entered the office of the Nevada Central Railroad Company at Austin, and took up the study of telegraphy. In his sixteenth year he obtained a position as night operator at Rosecreek, Humboldt County, from which position he gradually climbed up the ladder until he was considered one of the best of the telegraph operators. During the later years of his life he also followed other vocations, but when his country called for telegraph operators he gave her his services, and letters from his commanding officer show that he was an expert telegrapher and performed all duties connected with his detail in the telegraph office most satisfactorily.

At the time of the call for men, he was in the State of Oklahoma where he is known in different cities, and there he enlisted, in Oklahoma City, September 4, 1917, claiming Austin, Nevada, as his home.

That he was proficient in his duties is shown by the fact that he rose to the rank of Sergeant in the Signal Corps, and by letters from comrades stating that while he was stationed at Bordeaux, France, he and the operator at Tours were considered the two best in the A. E. F. His career was cut short by pneumonia which resulted in his death at St. Nazaire, France, February 20, 1919. He was buried in the U. S. Base Cemetery No. 21, St. Nazaire, Grave No. 1540, Plot O. He was the son of Mrs. Ella Moss of Austin, Nevada, and a brother of Mrs. Alice James, Grass Valley, California, Louis A. Merrigan, Sparks, Nevada, and Walter D. Merrigan, San Francisco, California.