Tuesday, August 30, 2011

The Sullivans of Kilkenny

With the rising popularity of Smithwicks, a word on the origin is in order. While dining in the Restaurant Pierre Gilbaud, Lower Baggot St., Dublin, with then-US Ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy Smith, I asked her to attempt to obtain for me a piece titled "The Sullivans of Kilkenny." She was gracious enough to put her staff to work and forwarded the piece as re-printed below. I trust I have transcribed it accurately.

“ In the Old Kilkenny Review, year unknown, Peter Smithwick, K.M., Solicitor, wrote that the tradition of Kilkenny is that Sullivan’s Brewery was founded in 1702. He was unable to trace the Sullivans with any certainty beyond William Sullivan, who died in 1818, who was at least 70. Smithwick felt sure, however, that William was the grandson of Daniel Sullivan, allegedly a Protestant, who bought property in the early eighteenth century. He purchased this in trust for Pierse Bryan of Jenkinstown, who was a Catholic but prohibited by the Penal Laws from buying land. The property was on the West side of High Street, "standing backward in James’ Street." It is believed that this was the site of Sullivan’s Brewery, the forerunner of Smithwicks.

Smithwick reported that in 1727 Daniel Sullivan bought house property and twenty years later a Protestant informer got a decree declaring himself the owner of the property.

The Liber Primus records show that in 1497 John Sullivan was received as a fellow burgess. It also refers to William and Lawrence Sullivan in the early 16th century.

The pedigree in the Kilkenny Review begins with William Sullivan, who died in March 1818. Admitted as a freeman of the city in 1812, he was one of the earliest Catholic freemen and took a leadership role agitating for Catholic emancipation. Shortly before his death he founded the Kilkenny Savings Bank. At the time of his death the Catholic Curate of Castlecomer announced his death by writing, "You are also requested to pray for the repose of the soul of Mr. William Sullivan of Kilkenny, in whom the poor have certainly lost a friend, and the pious and well disposed an ornament and an example."

William Sullivan married Margaret Renchan. Their marriage produced three sons. Their eldest, Richard, 1797-1855, lived in Castle Bamford. Elected as a freeman of the city in 1819, he was also elected a Common Councilman circa 1828. He was considered a Repealer, a man of moderate views, and fair-minded. When he was suggested as a Repealer candidate for the city in 1833, O’Connellites objected because he was a member of the City Corporation. Notwithstanding, he was returned unopposed for the city. He disputed with O’Connell in Parliament two years later and as a result, beer from the Sullivan Brewery was boycotted in Kilkenny. O’Connell later wrote Richard Sullivan: "My dear friend. I am unseated that is I will be on Monday. On Tuesday you will return me. Tell the boys of Kilkenny that it is my firm intention as long as I remain in Parliament to solicit, and I hope retain, their suffrages, and theirs alone." O’Connell was elected to the next parliament for Dublin and never represented the same constituency in two successive parliaments.

By 1837 Richard Sullivan was a Borough Magistrate and elected Mayor. There was considerable agitation against the Corporate of 36 common Councilmen. Complaints against the system went back to 1772 when ads appeared in the Leinster Journal which read, "Was not the estate of the Corporation of the City of Kilkenny granted by H.M. predecessors by H.M. to the Mayor and Citizens of the same city and not to the Mayor, Aldermen and Councilmen of the Same? Ought not the surplus to be divided amongst the landlords, i.e., the poor tradesmen, inhabitants and citizens?"

Richard Sullivan, M.P., was a owner of tanneries, flour mills and various warehouses and was a substantial landowner. His son Francis inherited considerable holdings . Richard’s brother Michael owned 4,800 acres. During the famine, in 1849, Richard set up a soup kitchen in his brewery. He also sheltered evicted tenants of the Browne-Clayton family of Browne’s Hill, who had opted against their landlord’s choice in a County Carlow election.

Richard’s first wife was Catherine Hackett, daughter of Cork’s James Hackett. They had two sons, William, who died as a young man in 1849, and Richard. Richard’s second marriage was to Miss Frances Byrne. After his death she ran the business for a while then became Benedictine nun, Dame Mary Joseph, at Rossano near Florence. The eldest son of this marriage was Francis of Castle Bamford. He married Margaret Mulhallen of Baurnafea. The eldest son of Richard’s (M.P.) second marriage was John, born in 1833. He became a Benedictine monk like so many of his family. Professed at Subiaco, Italy, he was Master of Novices there before returning to Ireland.

He next lived at the monastery and agricultural college at Leopardstown. He soon went to England as Visitor or Provincial. Three years later he set sail for New Zealand where he was superior of a community there and was in charge of a parish at Auckland. He visited America and returned to live at Buckfast Abbey. He died in 1930. One of Dom Adalbert’s (John) cousins was a monk at Leopardstown who had been a soldier in the American Civil War.

When Francis of Castle Bamford died in 1880, his widow Margaret and children went to live at Orchardton. One son, Richard, moved to Canada and worked as a confectioner. He died unmarried in 1956. The other son Edward also died unmarried in London, 1950. The only daughter married a Canadian and her mother accompanied the married couple back to Canada. The daughter died giving birth to a child, which also died. Both her husband and mother died shortly after.

Another son of Richard Sullivan, M.P., was James, of Lacken hall, which he inherited from his uncle Michael. He revived the old Kilkenny Races at Danesfort. In 1869 he married Ms. Elizabeth O’Connell, daughter of John O’Connell, M.P. and grand-daughter of the Liberator. Their children were James Sullivan, Dublin, Mrs. Burden of Bellevue and Miss Adelaide Sullivan.

After James passed on, the brewery was sold to E. Smithwick and Sons Ltd. The last male descendant of this family was Mr. James O’Connell-Sullivan, who lived in Sandymount. There are descendants in New Zealand and New Caledonia and the female line is represented by Mrs. Anne Smithwick of Birhfield. Most will recognize the Smithwick (prounounced Smithick) as a tasty and best-selling beer in Ireland and England.

Richard’s brother Michael lived at Lacken Hall and was an M..P. from 1847 to 1865. He married Margaret Sabina Cormac of the family of brewers and barristers. The marriage was childless. Richard’s youngest brother James was mayor in 1870 and never married.

The eldest son, Richard, emigrated to New Zealand and re-assumed the O in the surname. He ran a school there and became Clerk to the Provincial Legislature of Auckland and was later Secretary of the New Zealand Board of Education.”

So, as you lift your glass of Smithwicks, toast to the Sullivans of Kilkenny!

Bits of O'Sullivan ancient history

Editor's note- I have left some spellings and syntax as originally written.

In D'Alton's King James' Irish Army List, Parker's Horse, there is a section dealing exclusively with the Sullivans and O Sullivans. I am including that section in its entirety here for reference.

" Quarter-Master Cormick O'Sullivan. This noble Sept was possessed of the ancient territory of Beara, comprising the modern Baronies of Beare and Bantry in the County of Cork, whence their Chiefs took their respective designations of the O'Sullivan Beare and the O'Sullivan Bantry; while another branch, styled O'Sullivan More (sic), lorded over Dunkerrin and part of Iveragh in the County of Kerry, and a third were chiefs of Knockgraffon in Tipperary until expelled thence by the Anglo-Norman de Burgos. At the close of the twelfth century they sought settlements in South Muster.

At that time Laurence O'Sullivan succeeded to the See of Cloyne; as did Alan O'Sullivan thereto in 1240; in some years after which he was promoted to Lismore, where he died in 1253.

In 1320 the monastery of Bantry, on the estate of the O'Sullivan, was founded by the Chief for Franciscan friars, at which time it was established as the burial place of the Sept, and of many other noble families.'

In 1376 the King, at the instance of "his faithful liege, MacCarty of Desmond, Captain of his Nation," granted to Thomas O'Soulevan, and Mac Creagh O'Soulevan, liberty to pass over to the Court of Rome, provided they carried or did nothing prejudicial to the English king, and in 1380 'Nennas O'Sculeghan,' Clerk, was presented by the King to the Vicarage of St. Patrick of Granard.

The Four Masters relate that in 1398, Mac Cartie of Carberry, in Cork, gave the O'Sullivan a complete overthrow, when two of his sons, Owen and Connor, with many others, were slain. They give melancholy importance to an annal of 1404, where it is said, "A contest arose between MacCarty and O'Sullivan buidhe (yellow); and Turlogh meith (fat) Mac Mahon was Mac Carty's admiral at that time, who overtook O'Sullivan at sea; and also the sons of Dermod Mac Carty, were aiding O'Sullivan against Mac Carthy; he drowned O'Sullivan on that occasion, and took Donal, son of Dermod Mac Carthy, prisoner."

In 1563 "O'Sullivan Beare, i.e. Donal, the son of Dermod, son of Donal, son of Donal, son of M'Donough O'Swellivan, late of Cahirdonellmore, both sides in rebellion." In 1632, when the sea at the south of Ireland was invested with Algerine Rovers, the Lord President of that Province, in a letter to the Lords Justices, in reference to the precautions he had taken to secure the coast of Cork, writes:--"Mr. Daniel O'Sullivan has a house of reasonable strength at Berehaven, and takes upon him to defend it and Ballygobbin; he promises to erect five beacons upon the Dorseys (editor's note - Dursey Islands), and four upon the great island. I have directed O'Sullivan More, who lives on the river of Kenmare, to take warning from the beacon erected on the promontory over the Dorseys, and by one of his own, to assemble his tenants and servants at this strong and defensible castle; but I think this caution needless, as the inhabitants on both sides of that river are but few, till as far up as Glaneraught, where the pirates dare not venture.
At this time flourished Philip O'Sullivan, 'a gentleman,' says Ware, 'of an ancient Irish family in that part of Cork called Bear, where he was born. His ancestors, 'the historian reproachfully adds, 'were noted for their disaffection to the English government, and they part they took in the great rebellion in Munster, about the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when the Spaniards landed at Kinsale. Philip inherited the hatred of his family to the English, which he discovered in his Catholic History. For want of employment at home himself went abroad and lived altogether in Portugal and Spain, where he was a sea captain under King Philip the Fourth. He was one of seventeen children, thirteen of whom died young, before the battle of Kinsale; his parents and the four remaining children went into banishment in Spain, after the surrender of that town. His brother, Daniel, was slain in a sea engagement against the Turks; his sister Helen was lost by shipwreck attempting to return to Ireland; and his other sister Lenora took the veil in Spain. His father died at Corunna, nearly 100 years old, and his mother died soon after. Philip was educated at Compostella; and was the author of several works. His principal, Historae Catholicae Hiberniae Compendium, was published at Lisben in 1621, quarto. This work he divided into four parts. In the first he treated of the names by which Ireland was known, the nature of the soil, the commodities of the country, and the manners and religion of the people. The second gave an account of the early invasion of the English thereon; and their doings to the middle of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The third contains the 'Bellum quindecim annorum,' as he terms the annals from 1588 to 1603; and, in the fourth, which closes with 1618, he complains of the severities used to the Irish under the government of King James, 'especially in matters of religon.'

In the Attainders of 1642 were Philip O'Sullivan of Lough-Andy, Donnell O'Sullivan Beare of Berehaven, Owen of Inchiclough and Drimdavane, Donell Mac Owen of Drumgarvan, John Mac Dermody of Derryne, Gillicuddy O'Sullivan of Traghprashy, Connor O'Sullivan of Loughane, and Owen Neagh O'Sullivan of Drumgowlane, all in the County of Cork. --This Sept was represented at the supreme Council of Kilkenny by O'Sullivan More of Dunkeiran, and Daniel O'Sullivan of Culmagort; while the Declaration of Royal Gratitude, in the Act of Settlement, preserves the names of Captain Dermot O'Sullivan of Kilmeloe, Lieutenant O'Sullivan of Fermoyle, and Ensign Owen O'Sullivan, all in the County of Cork.
The only other officers of this great family, who appear herein commissioned for King James, was Daniel Sullivan, an Ensign in Colonel Charles O'More's Infantry, with another of the name in Colonel Owen Mac Cartie's. Of those outlawed in 1691 were Daniel O'Sullivan of Rosmacone, (probably the last mentioned Daniel) Mc Dermott Cnogher Sullivan and Cornelius Sullivan of Shiskeen; Owen Mac Murtough Sullivan of Berehaven, John Mac Murtough Sullivan of Lanlaurence, Thady Sullivan of Killiebane, Clerk, all in the County of Cork;j with Dermot Mac Donell 'Soolevane' of Litton, and Florence 'Soolevane' of Nodden, in the County of Kerry.

In 1696 Henry Lord Shelburne passed patent for lands of the O'Sullivan More in the Barony of Dunkerron, County of Kerry, his widow Mary receiving jointure off part thereof.---At the Court of Claims, however, Daniel O' 'Sullevane,' styled - 'More,' claimed and was allowed a fee by descent from Daniel O'Sullivan, his grandfather, in the romantic district of Thomies at Killarney, forfeited by the Earl of Clancarty. Teigue Sullevane sought a freehold near Killarney, also forfeited by Nicholas Browne, but his petition was dismist; William Sullevane claimed and was allowed a freehold in Kerry lands, forfeited by Valentine Browne; and Daniel Sullevane and Henrietta his wife, for themselves and their children, petitioned (but were dismist) for freeholds and remainders in the Counties of Wicklow, Kildare and Kilkenny,--the confiscations of Sir Edward Scott.
Of the outlaws of this surname in 1642, recorded as aforesaid, one, Owen O'Sullivan married Mary, daughter Colonel Owen MacSweeney, by whom he had a son, also then attained, Philip O'Sullivan; who, still adhering to the Stuart cause, rose to be a Major in King James' service, and continued a Jacobite to the close of the war, when he retired with Sarsfield into France, where he was soon after killed in a duel with a French officer. He had married Joanna, daughter of Daniel McCarthy of Killowen, by a daughter of McCarthy reagh of Carberry. His wife's siser subsequently married Dermod, eldest son of Daniel O'Sullivan More, Lord of Dunkerrin; and the son of this last marrige, Colonel O'Sullivan, was in 1745 the companion of Prince Charles Edward, on the occasin of his expedition into Scotland, and the partner of all his perilous days in that country. A son of his uncle (the before-mentioned Major Philip,) born in 1692, passed over to America in 1723, where, settling in Mayne, he married Margery Browne, and became the father of five sons; 1. Benjamin, who was lost at sea; 2. Daniel, who perished during the American war, in consequence of privations and exposures while a prisoner in the Jersey hulks (New York prison ships); 3. John, born in 1740, was a member of the first Congress of American patriotism, which met in September, 1744, at Philadelphia.

In the following year he was selected by that Body, as one of their Generals, and headed a Brigade at the siege of Boston. In the spring of 1776 he succeeded General Thomas in the command of the American army in Canada; and, in the August of that year, was taken prisoner at the battle of Long Island, but soon afterwards exchanged. He distinguished himself at Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine and Germantown. In 1778 he led an expedition against the Six Nations of Indians in the State of New York; but, six years having undermined his health, he resigned his command at the close of the last year. In 1786, 1787 and 1789 he was Governor of New Hampshire; and in the latter year was appointed by Washington, Judge of the Federal Court, which office he filled to the time of his death in 1796, at the remarkable age of 105. (editor's note - this is incorrect. General Sullivan's father Owen lived to 105.)

The other grandsons of Major Phillip were 4th, James and 5th Eban, an officer in the American Army. James, who was born in 1744, his Life and Times have been happily commemorated in a late publication by his grandson, Mr. Thomas C. Amory of Boston. His work affords most interesting pictures and portraits of Transatlantic men, manners and vicissitudes; a stirring summary of the American revolution, the fever, the crisis, and the ultimate recovery, compiled with much research and honest zeal.

From this book it appears that the above James Sullivan, who followed the profession of the bar, was in 1776 appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court of the Judicature, and in the following year was chosen on the Convention for framing a State Constitution, which, under his paramount guidance was finally adopted in 1780. He subsequently laboured to put an end to the traffic in slaves, as far as it came within the legitimate action of the State. He was afterwards, in 1808, Governor of Massachusetts, in which station that year died. He had married twice; by his first wife, Hetty Odiorne he had a daughter, who as above suggested became the wife of Mr. Amory, then a settler in America, but those ancestors, the de Amorys of a Norman stock, had been, at the time of the Conquest or soon after, established in the Counties of Somerset and Dorset, and were frequently summoned thence to do military service during the wars of Edward the First.

In the sixteenth century a branch of this family settled in Kerry, where they were much respected and infuential. Thomas Amory, the great grand-uncle of the aforsaid American settler, was on of the Representatives of Dingle in the Parliament of 1656. He had married Elizabeth Fitz-Maurice, daughter of the nineteenth Lord of Kerry, who after his death became the wife of Charles roe O'Connor-Kerry of Carrickfoyle, the last acknowledged Chief of that ancient Royal Sept, as mentioned hereinafter."

On 10 April, 1690, King James taxed specific estates L20,000, to be gathered over a three month period. In County Cork this was levied against Daniel O Sullivan Bear.
Sullivan, Daniel, commissioned a Lieutenant of Foot.
Sullivan, Cormick, John Parker's Regiment of Horse
O'Sullivan, Dermott, Quartermaster, Col. Daniel O'Bryan's (Lord Clare) Regiment of Dragoons.
Sullivan, John, Lt. in Col. Justin Macarty's (now Lord Mountcasel) Regiment of Infantry.
Sullivan, Lt., Sir John Fitzgerald's Regiment of Infantry,
Sullivan, Daniel, Ensign, Col. Charles Moore's Regiment of Infantry
Sullivan, Lt., in Col. Owen MacCartie's Regiment of Infantry.

"In the Attainders of 1642 were Donell O Sullivan Beare, of Berehaven; Philip O Sullivan of Loughandy; Owen of Inchiclough and Drumivane; Donell Mac Owen of Drumgarvan; John Mac Dermody, Derryne; Gillicuddy O Sullivan, Traghprashy; Connor O Sullivan, Loughane and Owen Neagh O Sullivan, Drumsgowlane, all in Cork." Nodden is now Nedeen, a former name of the town of Kenmare; Lanlaurence is Clanlaurence; Rosmacone is Rossmacowen; Derryne is Derreen and Traghprashy is Trafrask.