Patrick Gavin

GAVIN, MULLEN, THURSTON, MCCRODEN

Posted By: Peter Gausmann (email)
Date: 1/24/2010 at 05:35:54

PATRICK GAVIN

Among those actively engaged in the real estate business in Forest City is numbered Patrick Gavin, who throughout his entire business life has manifested industry, determination and perseverance, wisely and carefully utilizing each opportunity that has come to him until he is now numbered among the substantial citizens of Winnebago county. Having retired from active farm life, he is now engaged in the purchase and sale of property and has negotiated many important realty transfers.

As the name indicates, Mr. Gavin is of Irish birth. He was born in County Mayo, Ireland, December 24, 1855, a son of Thomas and Mary (Mullen) Gavin. The father came to America in the '40s, soon after the death of his first wife, but a few years later returned to Ireland and there wedded Mary Mullen. In the spring of 1857 he again came to the United States, establishing his home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he engaged in the livery and feed business, continuing a resident of that city until his demise.

Patrick Gavin was but one year of age when brought by his parents to the new world, and the schools of Scranton, Pennsylvania, afforded him his educational opportunities, yet his chance of attending school was limited owing to the fact that it was necessary for him to begin to earn his livelihood when but a young lad. In 1877 he left home and went to Palestine, Texas, where he worked in a sawmill for a short time. Later he located at Fort Scott, Kansas, where he was employed in the coal mines, and later he went to St. Louis, where he took a grading contract on the building of the West End Narrow Gauge Railway. He was afterward in the coal mines in Monroe county, Iowa, during the winter of 1879-80 and then went to Wisconsin, where he worked on the construction of the Wisconsin Central Railroad. He was subsequently at Albert Lea, Minnesota, and thence came to Winnebago county, where he secured a contract on the grading of the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad. When that work was completed he removed to Des Moines and was made foreman in charge of the construction of some of the first sewers of that city. He continued a resident of Des Moines until 1885, when he again came to Winnebago county and here purchased a farm of one hundred and ninety acres a quarter of a mile north of the corporate limits of Forest City. For thirty years he was continuously engaged in general agricultural pursuits and converted his land into a richly productive farm, adding to it many modern improvements and equipping it with all of the accessories of a model farm property of the twentieth century. In 1915, however, he retired from farm life and removed to Forest City, where he has since been engaged in dealing in real estate. The only time he has been away from Winnebago county since 1885 was when in 1898 he went to Alaska, attracted by gold discoveries in that country. There he remained for sixteen months but did not meet with the success that he anticipated and, much disgusted with conditions there, he returned.

Mr. Gavin was united in marriage while living in Des Moines to Miss Jennie Thurston, a native of Wisconsin and of Norwegian descent. The five surviving members of their family of seven children are as follows: Mary B., who is employed as bookkeeper in a butter and egg house of Minneapolis; Thomas F., an agriculturist of Winnebago county, Iowa; Rose, who is the wife of James McCroden, of Danube, Renville county, Minnesota; William G., who operates the home farm; and Lillian A., a trained nurse in the State Hospital at Lincoln, Nebraska.

The religious faith of the family is that of the Catholic church. In politics Mr. Gavin is a republican and has filled various local offices, serving as township trustee, as road supervisor for a number of years and as school director. He is ever interested in matters of public moment and cooperates in many plans for the upbuilding and further development of his county. His own career illustrates what may be accomplished when energy and determination point out the way. He has achieved success through close application and has steadily worked his way upward until now he has considerable means at his command, all won through persistent and indefatigable energy.

Source: History of Winnebago County and Hancock County, Iowa: A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, Vol. II. Pioneer Publishing Company (Chicago), 1917. pp. 204-205.