From History of Walworth County Wisconsin by Albert Clayton Beckwith, Vol. II, 
Publ. 1912 - Page 805-806
 
JAMES LEO GAVIN.  It cannot be other than interesting to note in the series of 
personal sketches appearing in this work the varying conditions that have 
compassed those whose careers are outlined, and the effort has been made in 
each case to throw well focused light onto the individual and to bring into 
proper perspective the scheme of each respective career.  The banks of 
Walworth county have ever maintained a high standing, and among the able young 
workers in this field of endeavor is J. Leo GAVIN, assistant cashier of the 
Farmers National Bank, of Lake Geneva.  With a natural predilection for this 
vocation and endowed with an analytical mind and ready faculty of 
assimilation, he was led to adopt the work and he is exemplifying in a 
significant way the value of concentration, while the future of such a career 
cannot fail to be gratifying.
 
Mr. GAVIN was born in the town of Linn, this county, March 1, 1889.  He is the 
son of John and Mary (BURNS) GAVIN.  Both John and Peter GAVIN, brothers, were 
well known residents of the town of Linn for many years.  Their parents were 
James and Ann (KENNEDY) GAVIN. She was a first cousin of Lord Chief Justice 
Russell, of England, and because she married a Catholic she lost her 
inheritance and family connections.  In 1855 James GAVIN emigrated to America 
and after spending a few months at different places he came to Lake Geneva and 
worked on the new line of railroad then building between Elkhorn and Geneva.  
After two hundred days' work at fifty cents a day the contractor suddenly 
disappeared, failing to pay his men, leaving Mr. GAVIN in very straitened 
circumstances.  He came to Linn township and worked, earning fifty dollars at 
fifty cents per day, then bought ten acres at five dollars per acre, raw 
timber land that had to be grubbed out.  He raised an ox team, worked hard, 
was economical and soon had a start.  And here he married, reared his family 
and has long since passed to his rest.
 
John GAVIN grew to manhood in Linn township and owned a farm about a mile 
north of Zenda.  He married Mary BURNS, daughter of John and Jane BURNS.  John 
BURNS was from New York, and he came to Lake Geneva in an early day and here 
became very comfortably established.  John GAVIN lived on his farm until 1897, 
when he sold out and bought a store near the Lake View Creamery, north of 
central Linn township, where there was a country postoffice called Robinson.  
He remained there fourteen years, until the fall of 1911, when he moved to 
Aurora, Illinois, where he and his family now reside.  John GAVIN was 
townships treasurer of Linn township about fifteen years.  There are four 
children in his family: Jane Elizabeth, James Leo, of this sketch; John Henry 
is in the grocery business with his father at Aurora; Charles Francis is with 
his parents, as is also the daughter.
 
J. Leo GAVIN, of this sketch, grew up on the home farm in Linn township, and 
there assisted with the general work when a boy.  He attended high school in 
Lake Geneva, from which he was graduated in 1906.  On September 24, 1907, he 
took a position with the Farmers National Bank at Lake Geneva, starting as a 
clerk.  On November 1, 1911, he was appointed assistant cashier, which 
position he still holds, discharging his duties to the eminent satisfaction of 
the stockholders and the patrons of the bank and in a manner that reflects 
much credit upon himself.
 
Mr. GAVIN was reared in the Catholic faith, from which he has not departed.
 
Submitted by Carol