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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- 1869
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.
- 1900
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.
- 1892 - 1896
Today in History
1112 - Sigebert of Gembloux, French chronicler 1564 - Pierre de Manchicourt, Flemish composer, dies at about 54 [birth date uncertain] 1950 - Frederic Lewy, German neurologist (b. 1885) 1960 [...]
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
- 1895

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
- 1942
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.
- 1920
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


- Today's Lucky Number is...
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.

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.

1983: Madison West Goes 18-2 to Win the State Hockey Championship
The only State Hockey Championship in School History!
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
Thomas CROWLEY | 06 OCT |
Camillus J MURPHY | 06 OCT |
Gus Roemine WILLIAMS | 06 OCT |
Margaret Elizabeth ALM | 06 OCT |
Lewis Merchant MANN | 07 OCT |
Robert Raymond CUMMINGS | 07 OCT |
John F DOYLE | 07 OCT |
George Roger CUNNINGHAM | 08 OCT |
Lois Ruth SPEICH | 08 OCT |
Elizabeth J TORGESON | 09 OCT |
Kathryn RUPP | 09 OCT |
Albert R SHOWER | 10 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
Randolph Thomas GAVIGAN | 1 OCT 1949 |
Andrew T. KUBIAK | 1 OCT 1956 |
Elizabeth | 10 OCT 1871 |
Catherine CULLEN | 10 OCT 1931 |
Stella Mary CASE | 10 OCT 1981 |
Martha Gunhild PETERSON | 11 OCT 1914 |
Elizabeth KADING | 11 OCT 1960 |
Sarah BARTLETT | 13 OCT 1905 |
John Henry WOOD | 13 OCT 1958 |
Roy M CONWAY | 13 OCT 1972 |
Raymond Francis KEEGAN | 13 OCT 1976 |
Richard John REINHOLD | 13 OCT 2022 |
Persis BREWER | 14 OCT 1842 |
Mary B. CHAPIN | 14 OCT 1891 |
Theresa STARY | 14 OCT 1914 |