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Timothy Eugene Sullivan born Kenmare, Co.
Kerry abt 1843, died Belvidere, Boone Co., IL 1910 and Rose Flynn born Ireland
1846, died Belvidere, Boone Co., IL 1930
Eugene Botious Sullivan, Jr. "Rockford Gene", who was born November 9, 1906 in Belvidere, Illinois, sent this information he had put together on the Sullivan family to HSMcK in April, 1987. At that time, he was living in Rockford, Illinois. EBS, Jr. passed away in 1991, R.I.P.
My Grandfather and Grandmother, Timothy Eugene Sullivan and Rose Flynn came over to America from Ireland about 1862. Grandpa came from Reen, Kenmare, County Kerry, near the lakes of Killarney where, as a youth, he had herded goats. Grandma came from a more central part of Ireland near the River Shannon. I'm not sure which county. They met in or near Belvidere, Illinois, where Grandma was working as a housemaid or kitchen help. I think Grandpa was working for the same people.
Grandma's mother died when Grandma was young. Later she took care of her father when he was failing. He died when she was a teenager. He was some sort of "mechanic". The term was used rather loosely at that time. It is not clear whether he was a "handy man", some sort of tradesman or just what. When she was 16, Grandma came over here alone. Some relatives had helped her. She had booked passage on a steamship, but they switched her to a sailing vessel, supposedly taking advantage of the fact that she was alone and young. As I remember the story, she sailed from Liverpool. When they were somewhere near this side of the Atlantic, they were hit by a storm that drove them most of the way back. It took something like six weeks of total elapsed time until finally reaching America. I don't know what port they finally reached in America. An older Swedish friend of mine, Floyd Swanson, told me that his mother or grandmother had the same story of the crossing by sailing vessel and being driven back to lengthen the voyage. The timing and stories agreed so well that we speculated that they may have been in the same storm, or perhaps, even on the same ship.
It seems that Mrs. Henry Brady (Aunt Bridget) was Grandma's sister. Apparently she came over before Grandma. I haven't heard of any Flynn men, or any women except Rose Flynn (Grandma) and Aunt Bridget. Vergil Brady, who lived on Ohio Parkway, was a grandson of Aunt Bridget. There are Brady's in Chicago that are part of the line, but as far as I knew, none around Belvidere or Rockford any more.
Grandpa (Timothy Sullivan) had several brothers who also came over from Ireland. Among them were Uncle Boetious and Uncle Eugene. A sister, Julia, married James Dailey and lived in Colo, Iowa. There were nine in the family, five of whom married Sullivans and one an O'Sullivan. This was not so unusual because the Sullivan name was very common in the area. In Ireland the name was O'Sullivan, but the brothers dropped the "O'" when they came to America.
"Sullivan" - My understanding is that our name is, more properly O'Sullivan, and that Grandpa Tim (and apparently his brothers) changed it by dropping the "O" when coming to this country. I have since learned that his father was Boetius Sullivan. (Note from Maryl - He may have heard that the father was Boetius based on the notes of Sr. Margaret, but per Julia Sullivan Daily's marriage certificate, the parents of the 9 children were Patrick Sullivan and Kate Darling).
"Boetious" - This name (some variations, such as Boetius) keeps popping up in the Sullivan lineage. I have never heard of anyone's having that given name unless related to me. One story is that it was the custom to name the eldest son that. While my father and I are both first sons, we have it on ly as a middle name. I do not know whether my great uncle Boetious was the first son or not. There is not a clue to the origin of the name. In the 1950s or 1960s there was a Swedish statesman or diplomat who had a similar name as a last name. At about the time of the reformation, there was a conservative theologian named "Votius." This has led me to speculate that some ancestor, or friend of one, named a son after Votius, or a variation, such as Botius. I chose Botius as a company name "Botius Engineering Service", registered with the state of Illinois, because I think that is probably closer to the original than "Boetious."
My father, Eugene Boetious Sullivan, Sr., was born in 1869 in Belvidere at about the present location of the historical museum on Whitney Street. When he was very young (he was the first child), the family moved to a farm in Spring Township, Boone County, just north of Fern Hill. The farmhouse was a log cabin, which was, I assume, quite common at the time, the early 1870's, scarcely fifty years after the coming of the first settlers to this area. My father told of waking up in the mornings, during winter, with snow on the bed clothes.
The family moved back to Belvidere and then moved again to the same farm, apparently after a relatively short time. It seems that my father spent most of his life, until grown up some time later, on the farm. Grandpa bought the farm, but I don't know whether it was when they first moved there or at some later time. The one hundred eleven acre farm was not as small for those day as it would be today. Seven children were born: Eugene, Timothy, John, Mary, Henry, Joe and little Rose, who died at the age of three. These are listed in order of age, but I'm not positive of the Tim-John-Mary sequence.
In addition to being a farmer, Grandpa was a peddler. After the fall farm work was finished, he would leave the operation of the farm to Grandma and the boys (mostly my father and Tim). He would then spend the winter, or at least part of it, traveling through Missouri, Wisconsin, etc., as a peddler. Uncle Henry Brady, Grandma's brother-in-law, was also a peddler, and I believe he helped Grandpa get started. Initially, at least, they were "packpeddlers". I infer (but am not sure) that this meant carrying packs on their backs. I remember that Grandma had a collection of very fine Irish linen, some of the kind that Grandpa had sold.
My father used to tell me that when he was a boy on the farm, some horsemen came through the area and camped near enough so that he and some other boys went over to their camp. The horsemen were good marksmen throwing things up in the air and shooting them with pistols (probably revolvers). From the names they called each other, the boys figured out that they were the Jesse James Gang. However the story was never believed as far as the identity of the horsemen was concerned.
In 1975 we had our 50th high school class reunion. John Pinegar, one of my classmates, had for many years been town clerk of Spring Township, and, in 1975 was working on the bicentennial project, including the Boone County history. He told me that it had been discovered that the Jesse James Gang came through Boone County on their way to the Northfield, Minnesota Bank Robbery. He said they bought provisions from a farmer near where they camped on Mosquito Creek and paid for them with gold coins. John said they did not know who the people on the farm were, but he described the location of the farm for me. I recognized it as my grandfather's, so on that information John was able to identify the people as my grandparents in the Bicentennial History of Boone County. Thus, 23 years after my father's death at the age of 84, his boyhood memory was vindicated. I do not remember whether or not my father ever told about the James Gang getting their provisions from them.
I believe that Grandpa Sullivan, with the help of Grandma and the boys, was rather successful. When he died in 1910, he left a good house in Belvidere and a farm which was mortgaged by about the value of the house in town.
A little more about the name Sullivan. When I was spending the summer of 1932 in Chicago, I heard the following from Francis J. Sullivan, a distant cousin of about my age. He had in turn heard it from "Old Country Gene" Sullivan, a cousin of some sort of my father's. It seems an Irish chieftain long ago lost an eye defending a castle. In recognition of his value, he then became known as "old one eye". This in Gaelic sounded something like "ol sula", which later evolved into "O'Sullivan", from which came Sullivan.
The label "Old Country Gene" illustrates something that frequently occurs among the Irish, perhaps because of many having the same given name. Thus, there were names such as "Long Jack", "Little Joe", "Big Joe", etc., either descriptive or identifying residence, travel or trait. I had many Gene Sullivans among my family connections: "Old Country Gene", "Lieutenant (Chicago Police) Gene", "Kansas Gene", "Big Gene" (my father) and "Little Gene" (me).
My recollection of Grandpa Sullivan is very poor. I do remember his sitting in a rocking chair by the "base burner" stove. He died when I was about four years old.
Grandma was a short woman. She was apparently good at managing money -- used to carry money in her stockings and when she wanted to give one of us kids some change, she would pull her dress up to get into her stockings -- these were, as customary, the long black cotton type.
Grandpa spoke both English and Gaelic. Apparently, his English had an Irish brogue which showed up when he gave his name and "Timothy E. Sullivan" sounded like "Timothy A. Sullivan". His middle name was Eugene.
Grandpa's family were from the highest class part of Ireland, County Kerry. If you don't believe that the Kerry Irish are the highest class, "just ask one of us", the self-appointed elite. The people who lived north of Kerry and Cork were known as "far downs". Grandma was a far-down. She had black hair, while Grandpa had sandy hair. I don't know whether this has anything to do with the Kerry and "far down" origins. I don't know about little Rose, but all Grandma's other children (except Uncle Joe) had black hair. His was brown. No doubt the Taylor side "helped" Rose Mary and me to inherit the brown from Grandpa Sullivan, although Joe got the black hair. I had only two first cousins on the Sullivan side, John Williams with black and George Williams with light brown hair. When the Kerry relatives visited with each other and talked over old times and caught up on the news of what had happened to this one or that one of relatives and friends, if the subject asked about had in Ireland, Australia or "the States" married a Kerry woman (or man), it was "Ah, the blissin' of God upon 'em." But if it was not a Kerry spouse, it was "Oh my, oh my!" Fortunately my mother had a good sense of humor, she wasn't even Irish!
Additional on my father: he was a carpenter. He was involved in local Belvidere Democratic politics, used to circulate petitions at times for Roger. Democrats were very scarce in Boone County, but it didn't keep him from being elected constable a number of times. Party affiliation was not used for local offices, because there was no point in having a primary. My father died in 1953 at the age of 84.
About me: I am a semi-retired, self-employed engineer, operating as "Botius Engineering Service. Actually, I sell my services to the company for which I worked, as an employee, for thirty-six years. I have worked almost ten years as "Botius". The company is W.F. & John Barnes & Co., a unit of the Automated Machine Division of Babcock & Wilcox Co., which in turn is owned by McDermott Co.
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