Sullivan Genealogy from Patrick Sullivan

DEEP SULLIVAN GENEALOGY

Patrick Sullivan, 4th cousin to Sullivans Farms webmaster Sidney and brother Bill (see note), compiled the Ahnentafel Report for the ancestors of Raymond Sidney Sullivan in 2003. Patrick's son, Kyle Allen Sullivan, completed an Eagle Scout project on Harmony Cemetery that same year (Sample of Kyle's fine work). Patrick Sullivan Family: sfga11@hotmail.com | Eagle River, Alaska

Patrick's 2003 Comments on Sullivan Genealogy:

Just as a matter of ongoing discussion, my interpretation of "Old Sam's" immediate ancestors is based upon a little documentation and a great deal of conjecture. Several researchers have suggested that his father's name was Timothy, based upon the tradition of naming the first born son after the child's paternal grandfather. Documentation shows that Old Sam named his first son Tempest Timothy, which may have had to do with the weather at the time of his birth, or may have described the emotional state of his parents as they "discussed" which of their parents to name him after. On the other hand, a letter which Old Sam wrote to his brother-in-law, Stephen Mayfield, in 1842 clearly identifies his first son as Timothy Tempest, which adds at least a little conjectural evidence to the original theory.

With that assumption in mind, it has been relatively easy to document the travels of one Timothy Sulivan from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, to Rockingham County and Augusta County in Virginia, where he was enumerated along with Samuel Sulivan in the appropriate census reports. The original, rather than transcribed, census reports from Saline County, Missouri, for 1830 and 1840 show Old Sam using the single-L variation of the Sullivan surname; it didn't change until 1850.

The same Timothy Sulivan was the son of Cornelius Sulivan, and was executor of Cornelius' will in Lancaster County, PA, in 1770. Family history/legend has always suggested that Old Sam was the nephew of Revolutionary War General John Sullivan. Fortunately, that particular family line has been well documented by other researchers and, unless Old Sam was the product of some undocumented hanky-panky, he cannot be the General's nephew. However, Cornelius was the son of Dermod O'Sullivan (who is not directly related to the General's line) and a woman named McCarthy. General Sullivan was the grandson of Philip O'Sullivan and Joanne McCarthy, and the indicators are that Joanne is the sister of Cornelius' mother, and therefore Cornelius rather than Old Sam is the General's nephew. As with most family traditions, such as the General Sullivan connection, there is usually a little truth mixed in with a lot of uncertainty. Old Sam certainly appears to be related to the General, but as a maternal second cousin rather than as a paternal nephew. I've presented that particular theory to researchers from the General's family, as well as one descendant still living in Ireland, and they agree that the proposed relationship probably/possibly/perhaps/maybe suggests something worthy of further research.

Patrick's Note:

As I figure it, you and I are 4th-cousins. I descend from Augustus Coleman (A.C.) Sullivan, Sam, Jr's youngest brother. A.C. was married in Saline County, and then moved his family to Johnson County prior to the Civil War. As an avowed abolitionist living in a slave state during the Civil War A.C., naturally, named his next born son Abraham Lincoln Sullivan. Just as naturally, Abraham Lincoln spent the remainder of his life known as Fred.

Fred Sullivan married, and moved his family to the Indian Territory during the period of the Oklahoma land rush. Most of the family settled in and around Caddo County, where Fred was a police chief until his death in 1949.

Fred named his son after his father, Augustus. Unlike his father and grandfather, Augustus never obtained an education and spent his life working primarily as a laborer. He raised four children, all of whom, including my father Max, went on to receive graduate degrees in various fields.

Yours truly spent twenty-five years or so teaching critical care nursing, during which time I was stabbed three times, shot at twice (hit once), and had the snot kicked out of me by more confused little-old-ladies than I care to remember. I finally wised up though, and in 2000 I became a police officer. I still moonlight at various hospitals in the Kansas City area, but now I can shoot back.