History of Langlade County, Wisconsin, 
from U. S. Gov't Survey to Present Time, with Biographical Sketches
Dessureau. Antigo, WI: Berner Brothers, 1922, p 303
Submitted by Cathy Kubly

The trials of the pioneers of Langlade County [Wisconsin] were discouraging, thus only settlers of a courageous spirit weathered the storms and hardships of the new settlers' life.  Among the early settlers of Antigo Township was the Edward CAVANAUGH family.  Thomas E. CAVANAUGH, the subject of this sketch, was born in Appleton, Outagamie County, Wisconsin, on 30 August 1866, the son of Edward and Margaret (KEVIN) CAVANAUGH, and was the oldest child of the family.  When a boy of fourteen years, he moved to the Town of Antigo with his parents, arriving in that township on 01 November 1881.  Previously, in 1879, Edward CAVANAUGH had purchased a farm in Section 6 of Antigo Township, then called Springbrook Township.  For eight years young Thomas lived on the farm, clearing the forests, cutting wood, cultivating the crops and doing other work necessary.

The CAVANAUGH family then moved into Antigo, a growing little city.  Thomas had but a meagre education, having attended the Third Ward School, Appleton [Outagamie County], Wisconsin, and spent one year in an Ackley Township [Langlade County] rural school.  He worked in the woods, on farms, sawmills, one winter with Val. P. RATH, veteran [Langlade] County Clerk, and was employed on a Milwaukee, Lake Shore & & Western work train in 1885.  In 1886 he began his career as a railroad brakeman, beginning that work in November 1886.  Three years later, 1889, he was promoted to Night Yard Master, and in June 1891 received another promotion, being transferred to Milwaukee, where he was until 02 February 1906, when he was returned to Antigo to assume full charge as Yard Master of the Antigo yards of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company, which position he has maintained as a reward for responsibility and service.

[The Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western Railway was founded in 1872, and reached New London [Outagamie or Waupaca County?], Wisconsin, in 1876.  The first passenger train pulled into the village of Antigo, Langlade County, Wisconsin, in 1881, and by 1888 the road was extended to Ashland, Ashland County, Wisconsin.  The M., L. S. & W. R. R. was, according to schedules published in old newspaper and directory advertisements, providing daily passenger service from Milwaukee, bordering on Lake Michigan, to Ashland, on the southern shore of Lake Superior, and running through communities such as Two Rivers in Manitowoc County, Oshkosh in Winnebago County, Oconto in Oconto County, and Rhinelander in Oneida County, as well as other places along the road's Milwaukee-Ashland route.  The M., L. S. & W. R. R. was purchased by the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company in 1893.]

Mr. [Thomas E.] CAVANAUGH was married on 20 February 1895 to Ellen BUCKLEY, then of Milwaukee, but a native of Canada.  Six children were born , four of whom are now living; Marie and Been [Ben?] are deceased.  The other children are Edward, James, Alice, and Kathleen.  [The Index to Delayed Birth Registrations in Wisconsin has a ---- CAVANAUGH, born 21 August 1907 in Langlade County, which may be one of these children.  Census records for this family may also show a Thomas CAVANAUGH, son of James, and a nephew of the subject.]  The devoted wife of Mr. CAVANAUGH [Ellen, Mrs. Thomas E. CAVANAUGH] passed away on 04 February 1912.  The CAVANAUGH residence is at 622 Lincoln Street [Antigo, Langlade County, Wisconsin].

Fraternally Mr. CAVANAUGH is a member of Antigo Council, No. 1002, Knights of Columbus, the Brotherhood of Railroad Engineers, and the Mystic Workers of the World; he is also a member of the Yardmasters' Association of America.  The family attends St. John's Catholic Church.  During the [First] World War, Thomas CAVANAUGH was an active war worker, taking a leading part in the Red Cross, Liberty Loan Drives, and in the success of the Victory Fund.

Edward and Margaret CAVANAUGH, his parents, and pioneers of Langlade County, lived to see Antigo and the county at large grow into a thriving and progressive community.  Edward CAVANAUGH died in 1913, two years after the death of his wife, Margaret.  Both are at rest in Appleton [Outagamie County], Wisconsin.

James CAVANAUGH, a brother of Thomas CAVANAUGH, came to Antigo at the same time the rest of the family did, in 1881.  He is now deceased, as is his wife.  One son [of James], Paul, a student of the University of Wisconsin, survives, and makes his home with Thomas CAVANAUGH.