Also with the submission was the photograph which appears at the head of this Blog showing the Sullivan Family c1908/09 and the following writeup on Philip.
Philip J. Sullivan c1840
- 1915
By Elaine McIntyre
Beaudoin, great granddaughter
October 29, 2012
Born in 1840 on the eve of the Great Irish Famine,[1],[2]
Philip Sullivan, eighth of ten known children, most likely saw inconceivable sorrow,
starvation and death during his early years in Ireland's small agricultural
townland of Dennbawn.[3]
Located in the interior of the island, County
Cavan, and in particular the civil parish of Denn where Dennbawn is located, had
good arable and pasture land in the late 1830s.[4] However, as the Famine took hold, the ability
to feed a family of 12 on a farm of only 14 acres must have been very
difficult.[5] This Irish devastation forced many to
immigrate including Philip and several of his brothers and sisters.
Philip's migration was preceded by at least five older
siblings, two of whom arrive in America as early as 1850.[6]
His parents, Patrick and Rose (Corcoran)
Soraghan remained in Dennbawn, spending the remainder of their lives on the
family farm eventually turning it over to their youngest son, Matthew Soraghan.[7],[8]
Although no passenger list has been located for Philip,
he is known to be in Chicago in 1861 and on some records it states he was in
the US as early as 1856.[9],[10]
During his early years in Chicago,
Philip lived with his brother Michael, who owned a grocery store just north of
Chicago Avenue and two blocks east of the Chicago River.[11]
During these first years in the City,
Philip earned his living as a cooper, making and repairing barrels.[12]
Prior to marriage, his living arrangements were rather itinerant, wandering
back and forth between the homes of his brother Michael and his brother Andrew.[13]
The regular move was probably not that
difficult as the two brothers lived less than 2 short blocks from each other.[14]
In 1864, he moved to Halsted and Archer,[15]
and the following year, on November 2, 1865, he married Ellen Connor of
Evanston, Illinois at Old St. John’s Church.[16]
Their first child, Mary, was born in early 1866.[17],[18] By 1869, with a second daughter, Ann, the
family moved to the first home he owned at 90 Sholto, today located at 835
Carpenter Avenue, just west of the campus of the University of Illinois,
Chicago,[19],[20]
and they remained there for nearly 30 years.[21] During this time, eight more children were
born to the Sullivans including James, Unnamed Baby, Francis, Peter, Alexander,
Michael, Charles and their youngest, Philip, who was born in 1885.[22],[23]
Like his brother Michael, Philip went into the grocery
business, opening a store at his residence on Sholto in 1871.[24]
In Chicago, just before the Great Fire there were nearly 800 retail grocers,[25]
almost all of which were family owned businesses. Although he lived within a
few blocks of the O'Leary family of "cow" fame, his home and grocery
store were spared destruction in the Great Fire unlike his brother Michael's
grocery store which was destroyed.[26]
The Sullivan's "store was very popular in the neighborhood owing to the
kindness and charity of the family."[27] The neighborhood which Philip and his family
lived in during the 1870s was mostly Irish and his grocery store was very
likely a shop that served his fellow countrymen.[28] Life as a grocer in all probability provided
the Sullivans with a regular income, at least enough to feed and clothe his
large family, and definitely a much better life than he could have ever imagined
in Ireland at that time. He remained a
grocer in the same location until the early part of the 20th century.[29]
At the time Philip moved into his home on Sholto their church,
Holy Family, was quite new. This
Victorian Gothic edifice on Roosevelt Road, founded by the Jesuits in 1857,
served mostly Irish immigrants and probably made for a good social experience
for him and his family.[30]
Philip and Ellen were active in their
church baptizing all of the Sullivan children there.[31]
Five of their sons were at one time serving as Acolytes, with one of them
eventually becoming a Jesuit priest.[32]
The Sullivans even rented a pew in Holy Family Church for their family paying $10
per year.[33]
By 1893, Philip's sights were looking north toward
Evanston, the hometown of his wife, Ellen.
In all probability Philip used the money he had earned from his grocery
business, to invest in the construction of a Victorian "double house"
which included two side-by-side apartments of 6 rooms each located at 833-835
Madison, Evanston.[34]
Philip's brother-in-law, John Connor, was
in the construction business and had already built several homes in Evanston.[35]
His firm, Connor and McCann, took on the
construction of the Madison Street home.[36] The home was built with asphalt composition
siding, an asphalt shingle roof and gas lighting at a cost of $4,500.[37]
Although the home was completed in 1894,
Philip rented it out to several professional families for nearly 15 years
before he closed his grocery store and moved to Evanston about 1909.[38],[39]
For the next six years, until his death in 1915, it is
likely he and his wife enjoyed living on the quite residential street in this suburb
of Chicago. Philip died on May 25, 1915 in
his home and was waked there as was the custom of the time.[40] A high Mass was said for him at St. Mary's
Church in Evanston and he was buried, with other family members including his
brothers Andrew and Michael, in Evanston's Calvary Cemetery.[41]
Though leaving Ireland and his family in the late 1850s
must have been enormously difficult, in America, and in particular the
Chicagoland area, Philip was able to make a new life. He eventually became a home owner, a business
proprietor and raised the next generation of Sullivans, all of whom enjoyed a
better life than would have been possible in Ireland.
[1]
Philip Sullivan, Evanston, Illinois, death certificate no. 18368 (25 May 1915),
Illinois Department of Public Health, Division of Vital Records, Springfield,
Sangamon County, Illinois.
[2] Philip
Sullivan household, 1880 U. S. Census, Illinois, Cook County, Chicago,
population schedule, Washington, DC, National Archives, T9, ED 82, p. 28D.
[3]
Also spelled Dennbane.
[4]
Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary
of Ireland. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co.,1995. Originally published 1837. Vol. 1, page 450.
[5]
Richard Griffith, General Valuation of
Rateable Property in Ireland, Union of Denn, County of Cavan (Dublin: Her
Majesty's Stationery Office, 1861), page 266.
[6] Michael
Sullivan household, 1850 U. S. Census, Pennsylvania, Northampton, Williams Township;
population schedule, Washington, DC, National Archives M432, Roll 802, p. 31A,
[7] Rose
Soraghan, Ballinanagh, County Cavan, Ireland, death certificate no. 410 (July
29 1874), Ireland, Civil Registration Office, Dublin.
[8] Matthew
Soroghan (Sullivan) household, 1901 Irish Census, County Cavan, Dennbane;
Dublin City, County Dublin, Ireland, D.E.D. 40/18; p. 19, Public Record
Office. Of note, the family spelled the
last name variously as Soraghan, Sorahan and Sorohan in Ireland but all assumed
the Sullivan spelling when they came to the US.
[9]
1861-62 Chicago City directory. Chicago: Halpin & Bailey, 1861, page 338.
[10] Philip
Sullivan Household, 1900 US Census, Illinois, Cook County, Chicago; population
schedule, Washington, DC, National Archives T623, roll 269; ED 604, Sheet 13A,
Line 20, Ward 19. 1900 U.S. Census
states Philip Sullivan immigrated 1856.
[11] Chicago
City Directory, T. M. Halpin, compiler, 1861-62, page 338
[12] Ibid.
[13] Chicago
City Directories 1861-62, page 338; 1862-63, pages 388-389.
[14] Ibid.
[15]
Chicago City Directory, 1865, page 618.
[16]
James Sullivan-Anastasia Connor marriage, November 2, 1865, (Chicago),
Marriages 1859-1911, page 55b, Old St. John's Church, Chicago, Illinois
[17] Philip Sullivan Household, 1870 US Census, Illinois,
Cook County, Chicago; population schedule, Washington, DC, National Archives
M593, roll 204, page 270.
[18] Mary
Sullivan, Baptismal Entry, April 12, 1866, "Holy Family Church Baptism
Register," Baptismal Book 1, Page 468, MF# 10704691/4, FamilySearch.org.
[19] Street and Avenue Directory of the City of
Chicago, complied May 1, 1859; Smith & DuMoulin, Clerk's Office of the
District Court of the U. S., For the Northern District of Illinois.
[20] Plan of Re-Numbering, City of Chicago: Table
Showing New and Old House Numbers.
August, 1909. Chicago: The
Chicago Directory Company, 1909.
[21] Chicago
City Directories 1869-1909
[22] Holy
Family Church Baptism Register, Baptismal Records: Mary (12 Apr 1866); Ann (14
Apr 1869); James, (02 Apr 1874); Francis (10 Sep 1876 ); Peter (04 Aug 1878);
Alexander (28 Mar 1880 ); Michael (30 Oct 1881); Charles (07 Oct 1883); and
Philip M. (29 Nov 1885), MF# 10704691/4, Family History Library, Salt Lake
City, Utah
[23]
Male Sullivan, Birth Certificate D-68-19 (September 20, 1875), Bureau of Vital
Statistics, Cook County Clerk's Office, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.
[24] Richard
Edwards, compiler, Merchants' Chicago Census Report 1871, Chicago,
Illinois: Edwards and Company, 1871,
page 1079.
[25] Ibid.,
page 1239
[26] Tom
Cook. Chicago Irish Families, 1875-1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT,
USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2000.
Chicago Citizen: Obituaries
and Marriage Notices, May 28, 1904.
[27] Mulkerins,
Bro. Thomas M., Holy Family Parish: Priest and People 1857-1923, Chicago,
1923, pages 736-737
[28]
Ibid.
[29] Ibid.
[30]
Ibid, page 948
[31] Holy
Family Church Baptism Register, Baptismal Records.
[32]
Mulkerins, pages 736-737
[33] Mulkerins,
pages 189-193.
[34]
Philip Sullivan, Building Permit Application, February 23, 1893, No. 152,
Evanston Historical Society, Evanston, Illinois
[35] Industrial
Chicago: The Building Interests, Chicago: The Goodspeed Publishing Company,
Vol. 1, 1891, page 746-747.
[36] Philip
Sullivan, Building Permit Application, February 23, 1893, No. 152.
[37] Ibid.
[38] Bumstead’s
Evanston City and North Shore Directory, 1909-1910, Evanston Press Co.
Printers, Evanston, Illinois, page 592.
[39] Philip
Sullivan, Certificate and Record of Death No. 18368 (26 May 1915), County
Clerk, Cook County, Illinois.
[40] Philip
Sullivan obituary, Evanston News-Index, Evanston, Illinois, May 26, 1915,
page 3.
[41] James
Sullivan Cemetery Record, Lot 37, Block 16, Section N, Calvary Cemetery,
Evanston, Cook County, Illinois, USA; Reader: Elaine M. Beaudoin, 04 November
2002.
I have been informed the historical biography and the photo will appear in a future issue of the Chicago Genealogical Society Quarterly.
