Here’s what the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has to say:
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Also igad, egod. [prob. representing earlier A God! from a interjection: but in later times perhaps associated with asseverations, like i’faith, or possibly with by God.]Used as a softened oath.
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The kind folks at the OED have even added this convenient and helpful timeline to illustrate when egad was in usage amongst the commoners.

1673 [R. Leigh] Transp. Reh. 4. Which is very civil I gad.
1751 Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) III. lxxxv. 323 An exclamation of ‘Humbugged egad!’
1791 ‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsem. xviii. (1809) 140 Egod, off we set, and never stopt till I got to the bottom.
1823 Byron Island II.xxi, Egad! she seem’d a wicked-looking craft.
1868-9 M. E. Braddon Charlotte’s Inher. IV.ii 93 Yes, egad, and such a fortune as few girls drop into now-a-days.
So there you have it - all you wanted to know about egad and more.
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