This site was created to facilitate the exchange of information and to help people with the last name Gavigan, and other names learn more about their history, their roots, who they are related to, about each other, and/or connect

Anyone listed in the Genealogy pages NOT named Gavigan or McGilligan are related to a Gavigan or a McGilligan by a marriage or an adoption
It’s a very Small World!

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Distressing Suicide
A Woman Drowns Herself in a Well

Yesterday afternoon Mrs. Johanna Janeck, a German woman some 85 years old, wife of Mr. Gustav Janeck, for more than a dozen years employed in Mr. Darwin Clark’s Cabinet and Furniture establishment, and for some time foreman of the shop, went to visit Mrs. Lang, who lives in the first ward, about a block south of Nolden’s Hall, near the edge of the flat north of the depot.

There were occasional tragedies. The first year one of the girls in Slightham’s dining hall was scalded by boiling water.

On July 26, 1900, Ellen Jane  Rupp “Jennie”, Fannie Dunn, and Nellie Dunn were being rowed back to Madison by Alexius Baas at 11 p.m. when their rowboat was struck by one of the lake steamers, the Tonyawatha, and the four were thrown into t he water. Ellen Jane “Jennie” Rupp drowned. “Lex,” the oarsman, saved both of the Dunn sisters.

He claimed he did not see any lights on the Tonyawatha; crew members insisted the lights had been on.

Thomas Gavigan son of John and Mary (Collentine) Gavigan operated the Gavigan Hotel from 1892- to 1896 at the Corner of Main and Elm in Downtown Blanchardville. Thomas was on the board of Directors for the Blanchardville Driving Association (racing, training horses)
Hotel Gavigan / Hotel Ryan

Today in History

1679 - William Gurnall, English writer (b. 1617) 1685 - Gerard Brandt, Dutch theologist, poet and historian, dies at 59 1685 - Christoph Ignaz Abele, Austrian jurist (b. 1628) 1817 [...]



 There are many mysteries to be solved in the Flanders family history line, and JANE FLANDERS is one of them!

Steven Flanders is the first Flanders listed in America. It is said that the ship that he sailed on towards America sunk before reaching land, and that his wealth and possessions were lost. However, due to him having “spektacles” (eyeglasses), he was known to be of European higher-class and educated. He married a woman named Jane, listed as ‘Sandusky Indian’, and family stories state that she was an Indian princess.

As early as the late 1500’s, the Sandusky tribe lived on the banks of the Sandusky River in Ohio. For some reason the tribe  ….  Read More here

NOT William Gavigan

William Gavigan of the township of Adams perished with Monday night’s storm. He was found yesterday afternoon frozen stiff in a field with nothing but his boots protruding from the snow. Monday he attended a grubbing bee at the home of Rube Garrison. Returning home …. read more here

Mt. Horeb, Wis. –(AP) — Victor R McKay, 38, of Madison, shot and killed Mrs. Ruby Lund Heydon, 25, of Mt. Horeb, and then fatally wounded himself while they sat in a car in a hay-field near here August 17, 1942, a coroner’s jury decided after an inquest yesterday. Testimony indicated the motive was either jealousy or McKay’s concern over the possibility he might be drafted and forced to leave Mrs. Heydon a divorcee.

Ruby Christine Lund Heydon
Ruby Christine Lund Heydon



Edward Roarig, son of Mr. and Mrs. Gus Roarig of Fayette, died April 10th, at Trinity hospital, Milwaukee, where he had been taken for an operation. As was stated in last week’s paper the young man had been working for his uncle, Robert Williams, where he was kicked on the head by a horse. How long he laid in the stall under the animal is not known but he was found by Mrs. Williams in a semi conscious state and taken to the house.

The team moved to 598379 and was going to await the helicopters or until darkness and then move out.

After waiting an hour. the VC opened up on the team again from about 10 feet away. This broke up the team. The initial burst killed LCpl DOWLING. LCpl SOLOVSKOY returned fire and killed two VC
  ….  Read More here

LCprl Jean Pierre Dowling Vietnam - KIA - USMC
LCprl Jean Pierre Dowling Vietnam - KIA - USMC

8645.47

Farm Tragedy

A tragic moment in Time regarding the Stevens family happened in 1936 on the farm of Harry and Jennie Stevens in the Skelton Township of Carlton County MN when Harry Eugene (Gene) Stevens accidentally drove over his brother James Eugene Stevens (age 2) with a tractor.

James Earl Stevens Died age 2
James Earl Stevens Died age 2

Wagon Accident

Another tragedy for the Stevens happened on a steep grade in Colorado where Ida May Slawson Stevens died at age 49 when a wagon she was riding in overturned and she was killed.

Image NOT Ida May Slawson Stevens

1983: Madison West Goes 18-2 to Win the State Hockey Championship

1983 Madison West Regent State Champion Hockey Team
1983 Madison West Regent State Champion Hockey Team



Q: Where did the original Statue of Liberty on Lake Mendota end up?
Answer: The Bill Weege farm near Barneveld Wisconsin
Joe Gavigan & Peter Weege Barneveld WI
Joe Gavigan & Peter Weege Barneveld WI - 1980's Before Tornado
Rev. Edward L. Buckner Dies After Being Shot Near His Home

Rev. Edward L. Buckner, of Zalma, died last Friday morning at the Cape hospital where he had been taken for an operation after being shot by an unknown person near his home Thanksgiving morning.
He was but a short distance from his home when the shots were fired at him with a shot gun.





Upcoming Birthdays
Edward Fletcher MCGINLEY12 OCT
Michael COLLENTINE12 OCT
Edward SCHWARTZ12 OCT
Catherine DUNLAVY12 OCT
Earl J GAVIGAN13 OCT
Jennifer Lynn LARSON13 OCT
William R CROWLEY14 OCT
Charles Thomas HENDERSON14 OCT
Mary Theresa RUPP15 OCT
Robert Gordon HEYDON15 OCT
Gulbrand GULBRANDSON16 OCT
Adeleida Johanna STEVENS16 OCT
Upcoming Anniversaries
Milan Leroy HOLTON and
Ruth Annette DORAN
13 OCT
Lawrence Taylor MCCONNELL and
Mary Elizabeth HARRISON
19 OCT
Merchant MANN and
Mary B. CHAPIN
20 OCT
Richard KUBLY and
Kelly FULTON
22
Thomas FLANAGAN and
Bridget C DALY
23 OCT
Patrick Francis GALWAY and
Mary GAVIGAN
26 OCT
Charles DORAN and
Alza Althea MEYER
26 OCT
In Memoriam
Sarah BARTLETT13 OCT 1905
John Henry WOOD13 OCT 1958
Roy M CONWAY13 OCT 1972
Raymond Francis KEEGAN13 OCT 1976
Richard John REINHOLD13 OCT 2022
Persis BREWER14 OCT 1842
Mary B. CHAPIN14 OCT 1891
Theresa STARY14 OCT 1914
John S STEVENS14 OCT 1943
Aletta LUND14 OCT 1954
Elizabeth ELISABETHA DOROTHEA15 OCT 1882
Michael Thomas SULLIVAN15 OCT 1893
Bridget CLEARY15 OCT 1908
Susan Permelia DODGE15 OCT 1916
Robert James COLLENTINE15 OCT 1937
X

Sarah BARTLETT

Birth: SEP 1857
Death: 13 OCT 1905
X

John Henry WOOD

Birth: 21 JAN 1879
Death: 13 OCT 1958
X

Roy M CONWAY

Birth: 22 JAN 1903
Death: 13 OCT 1972
X

Raymond Francis KEEGAN

Birth: 10 JUL 1895
Death: 13 OCT 1976
X

Richard John REINHOLD

Birth: 01 JAN 1945
Death: 13 OCT 2022
X

Persis BREWER

Birth: 22 JUL 1771
Death: 14 OCT 1842
X

Mary B. CHAPIN

Birth: 30 JUN 1824
Death: 14 OCT 1891
X

Theresa STARY

Birth: 06 AUG 1825
Death: 14 OCT 1914
X

John S STEVENS

Birth: 26 OCT 1872
Death: 14 OCT 1943
X

Aletta LUND

Birth: 15 JUL 1876
Death: 14 OCT 1954
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