Gavigan Genealogy
The Gavigan, the Collentine and Daley families all emigrated from County Westmeath, Ireland and probably were acquainted there.
William Gavigan married Fanny Daley in 1870, probably in Wisconsin as her family had been in Adams as early as 1860 and Fanny; Frances was born in Chicago in 1845.
Edward Daley, an older brother of Frances married as her second husband, Elizabeth Collentine-Gavigan, the widow of Timothy.
In Wisconsin, the Gavigans established deep roots as part of the pioneering wave of Irish settlers who helped shape the state’s agricultural, industrial, and civic landscapes. Arriving largely in the mid-to-late 1800s, Wisconsin Gavigans found a welcoming, if rugged, environment in the state’s farming regions and growing lumber and manufacturing towns.
Like many Irish immigrants of the era, they frequently worked the land, contributed to the expansion of the state’s railroads, and integrated into burgeoning local communities, often anchoring their social and spiritual lives around the Roman Catholic parishes that sprouted across the Wisconsin countryside.
Over generations, the Gavigan family name became woven into the fabric of Wisconsin history, representing the perseverance, community spirit, and enduring heritage of the state’s early Irish diaspora.
Thomas Gavigan son of John and Mary (Collentine) owns and operates the Hotel Gavigan in downtown Blanchardville WI
