Thomas Ryan was born in Toronto, Canada on February 15, 1857. His Irish parents, Edward and Catharine (Monahan) Ryan, found it easier to migrate to North America through Canada than go directly to the United States. According to his daughter, Agnes, he was unsure as to his citizenship status and found it easier to say he was born in New York. He did tell the 1920 census taker that he had been born in Canada and was brought to the U.S. as an infant but did not know if he was naturalized or not. Per census records, both he and his brother were born in Canada, making him about four when he was brought to New York.
By the age of 12, he and his parents had moved to Center, near Kokomo, Howard County, Indiana.
A member of St. Patrick's Church in Kokomo, he married Anna Horoho there in 1879. Their first home was in Taylor Township in the town of Tampico. He was working on the railroad when their first child, Catherine, was born in 1880. His thirteen-year-old sister-in-law, Margaret Horoho, was living with them. For a time after their wedding, Mr. and Mrs. Ryan made their home at Center. They had lived at other points for short periods but always regarded Kokomo as their home.
Grandpa Ryan played his fiddle at dances and after he no longer had his violin, he would go to his granddaughter Elizabeth Beaver and borrow her violin to play. His grandson John recalled that once his grandpa climbed out his bedroom window to go play at a square dance. He was about 85 years old and the Ford dealer had a big opening for the new V8 engine. Aunt Kate and her friend Bill Sullivan were there, came home and told Grandma Ryan, who removed the box under the window that he needed to climb in and out! Grandma was there at the door to say hello when he came home.
Thomas was employed for 45 years at the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company. He was in the sales room and one of the company's most faithful employees. It was with difficulty that members of his family could persuade him to take the day off from work on a Tuesday to observe his 50th wedding anniversary in 1929!
Thomas and Anna were married 68 years and had eleven children, all in Howard County. They also raised their nephew, Bernard Horoho, after the death of his parents. His daughter Agnes remembers her thirteen year old sister Florence dying in her father's arms of typhoid fever. Thomas lost his son Edward to the flu epidemic of 1918. Grandson John Beaver recalls that as cars reached 40 miles per hour in speed, his grandfather stated that anyone driving that fast would be taking their life in their own hands!
Thomas lived to be 91 years old. He died March 5, 1948. He is buried at Crown Point Cemetery in Kokomo next to Anna.