03/17/2024
In the 1840's John Mc Govern immigrated to the United States from Ireland with his brothers Tom and Hugh. He married Elizabeth Mc Caffery in Ohio and settled in the Territory of Wisconsin, Town of Portland with his two brothers. There they raised seven children. Of John and Elizabeth Mc Govern's seven children, only John Jr., their third child, married and had children who went on to have families. John Jr. is the father of Van Allen Mc Govern. Frank had two children but had no grand children. John Jr. survived losing his left hand in a dynamite explosion removing boulders from a field. The family stopped the bleeding using stove ash while waiting for a doctor to arrive. If John Jr. had died, the Mc Govern family linage from John and Elizabeth would have ended. John Jr.(Jack) Mc Govern Married Elizabeth Hilker and had four Children, Emma Zeda, Wilbur, Ruth, and Van Allen. The youngest sibling Van Allen or Al Mc Govern bought a bar covered only in tar paper from the Chase Lumber Co. and established Mc Govern's in Sun Prairie in 1935.
John Jr(Jack) Mc Govern Married Elizabeth Hilker and had four Children. Emma Zeda moved to Appleton, WI and died of heart disease from pneumonia perhaps brought upon from ice-skating at the age of 20. Wilbur married Emma Prietz and had two children Norma and Harold (Red) Mc Govern. Wilbur died after a brief illness at age of 34. However, according to Gerald Mc Govern from his grand mother Elizabeth, death may have been caused by poisoning. Ruth moved to New York City, married Orville Smith who work as a railroad conductor, and lived in the Bronx. Orville fell on hard times and the youngest sibling Van Allen brought Ruth and Orville back to Wisconsin. Al Mc Govern then leased his first Wisconsin bar in Madison on Atwood Avenue.
Allen married Lucelia Blaska and had four children Gerald, Wayne, John, and Jeannette. Al was a successful wildcat beer bootlegger during prohibition. It was a hugely popular beer and the family was producing 200 barrels a month and distributing it mostly throughout South Eastern Wisconsin. He purchased two more 80 acre farms next to the original homestead. A lilac bush from the original farm still grows on the Eastern side of Mc Govern's Club. Orville operated a bar Allen leased on Atwood Avenue. In 1933, Allen then bought the Tar Paper Shack Bar leased by Hienie and Dick Nordness Sr. in Sun Prairie from the Chase Lumber Co. and had Orville manage it. Orvile Smith called it Smitty's High Life Garden Bar. Today The High Life Garden sign still hangs outside. Allen also owned a Miller beer distributorship after prohibition. Both Wayne and his brother Jerry think their wildcat beer tastes like Miller Beer and Allen gave the recipe to his friend Harry John who married Fred Miller’s daughter..
Smitty's was nicknamed the Bloody Dagger Bar because of the number of fights occurring between the locals and those from surrounding communities and Native Americans. When WWII started, Orvillie and his family moved back to New York to work for Pullman in the railroad industry. Jeannette moved to California and the three sons fought in WWII. Allen then had Ross (Woody) Woodhead from Springfield managed the bar and it become known as Woody's Bar. Allen also owned a bar in Portland called Mc Govern's Inn. After WWII, Jerry along with the youngest brother John, came to work at Woody's Bar in Sun Prairie. A year later it was renamed Mc Govern's Club.
Wayne worked for the Schroeder Funeral Home for a short time and then ran Mc Govern's Inn in Portland along with his wife Marge. Later Wayne and his family left Portland to move to Sun Prairie and help Jerry run Mc Govern's Club. A lilac tree was transplanted on the east side of the bar from the original homestead and still grows there today. Mc Govern's Inn was then ran for years by Van Allen's nephew Harold (Red) Mc Govern and has remained operating under various names. John married Joyce Strasburg and went to work managing a bowling alley across the street from Mc Govern's owned by his in-laws. After a fire destroyed the bowling alley, John worked for the Strasburg Gas Co. Wayne and Jerry then ran Mc Govern's along with their children and grandchildren. Over the past 88 years, four generations of Mc Governs have run Mc Govern's Club and Restaurant and over the past 170 years seven generations of Mc Governs have been celebrating St. Patrick's Day.
