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.

In the service of the British/Commonwealth

Benjamin Sullivan, b. Berwick, Me., ca. 1738. Served as an Officer in the Royal Navy aboard a man-o-war. Was lost at sea before the American Revolution. No marriage mentioned in records. Eldest brother of U.S. Revolutionary War Major General John Sullivan.

Rear Admiral Thomas Ball Sulivan (1780-1857), had fourteen children; four of his sons were in the British navy. Admiral Sir Bartholomew James Sulivan, eldest son of the foregoing. During the Crimean War in 1854 then-Captain Sulivan, commanding the Lightning, participated in attack on the Russian fortress of Sweaborg in 1855.

Norton Allen Sulivan, Vice-Admiral, and son of TB Sulivan, took part in the battle of Jutland in 1916.

John Sullivan, V.C., b. April, 1831, Bantry, CountyCork, Ireland. During Crimean War, on 10th of April, 1855, was awarded Victoria Cross. Was created Knight of the Legion of Honour on the 16th of June, 1856, by the Emperor of the French. Received Sardinian Medal, Turkish Medal and Crimean Medal, with clasps for Inkermann and Sebastopol. Also recipient of Silver Medal of Royal Humane Society for saving the life of a drowning man in shark infested waters.
Gerald Robert O'Sullivan, V.C. - 1915; Gallipoli, Turkey.

Arthur Percy Sullivan , V.C. - 1919; Sheika River, Russia

Admiral George Lydiard Sulivan, another son of Admiral T.B. Sulivan.

Sir Charles Sulivan, Admiral of the Blue. Son of Sir Richard Sullivan, East India Company.

Thomas Hebert, d 1824, son of Colonel John Vera O Sullivan, served with British and Dutch forces.

Denis Patrick. The Following is part of the letter from The Welch Regiment Museum regarding 25728 Denis Patrick Sullivan 17th and 18th (service) Battalions,The Welsh Regiment ct Medal citations of D.P.Sullivan who was a brave and gallant soldier.His gallantry and leadership at Mory,23/24 March,1918,was such as to merit a mention in the official history of the regiment. The 18th Welsh during four days ,surrounded and fighting against great odds was virtually wiped out. Only the commanding Officer, one officer and twenty other ranks survived to tell the tale,and amongst them was D.P.Sullivan. The remainder died at their posts or being wounded were taken prisoner.

Through their and other efforts the German advance was halted,and thereafter the course of the war turned in our favour. Seargeant Sullivan medals two gallantry awards have often been on display as part of the rotation on display of a large collection of medals His other two medals The British War and Victory medals were not presented to the regiment.

The citations-
25728 Private Denis Patrick Sullivan, 17th (service)Battalion ,The Welsh Regiment, 1st Glamorgan Bantam Battalion

THE MILITARY MEDAL
For gallantry in the field and for great dash and courage during a raid on enemy trenches at La Vacquire on the night of 5th / 6th May 1917
25728 Sergeant Denis Patrick Sullivan M.M., 18th (service)Battalion.The Welsh Regiment

THE DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT MEDAL
For conspicious gallantry and devotion to duty when his company commander had been badly wounded.This N.C.O. took charge of two platoons and held on to the position for forty eight hours without food or water,keeping up fire on thr enemy until his ammunitionwas exausted.He was eventualy surrounded,but fought his way out, rejoining the battalion with the remnants of his men The action took place near Mory on the 23rd /24th March,1918. His gallantry was recorded in the official Regimental History.
Denis Patrick Sullivan was born 12.8.1897 in Cardiff Wales he died 6.6.1973. His grandfather Patrick came to Cardiff around 1854, (after the potatoes went bad my grandfather used to say) from county Cork probably Skibareen or Clonakilty. All of the brothers were under 5ft 2in and were quite colorful story tellers it is still hard to tell fact from fiction.


John O’Sullivan, age 20. 47 Lynsted Road, Liverpool, England. Crewmember of Irish-registered City of Limerick. Died when the ship was attacked by German aircraft 15 JUL 1940 off the French coast and later sank.

Early history and geography

Ireland is a crossroad on the map of the world and her people. Celtic adventurers from Northern Spain reportedly first landed at Bantry (bean-traigh, the white strand) Bay, led by Queen Scota, widow of Milesius. In Smith's History of Cork is written that "Ancient accounts differ much from each other, some making only three sons of Milesius to land in Ireland; but the landing of these, as well as of Partholanus, they all place in the Bay of Bantry, which they call ‘Inber Sceine.’

According to Hugh W.L. Weir, our clan name has been spelled Sulivan, Sellevan, Sullavan, Sulevan, O’Sowlywaine, Ossulevan, Solivan, O’Suiliban, Osulevan, Soolivan, Solywaine, Soolavan and Solahan. We are bearers of the third most numerous Irish family name today and " claim, with some justification, that their ancestry can be traced back almost 37 centuries to the son of a Spanish King.

About 1699 BC, Milesius (Miled), a Spanish Celt, settled in Ireland. Historians relate that the O Sullivans are descended from his son, Heber. The family became Princes of Eoghanacht Mor, a territory in the present-day barony of Middlethird in County Tipperary. A member of the Tipperary clan, Suilebhan, descendant of Fingin, King of Munster and Son of Aodh Dubh, provided the name for our well-known family. Suilebhan’s third great grandson, Buadhach, was the first person to assume the surname of O Sullivan, which is derived from ‘Suilebhan’, meaning ‘One Eye’ in Gaelic." There are also accounts the name means ‘black-eyed.’ Some have intrepreted the meaning as "Seeing with the eye of one (unity)."

Weir reports that Buadhach’s great grandsons were probably the first to leave the area of Tipperary and travel to the Southwest of Ireland in the 12th century, the time of the Norman Conquest. Noted genealogist Sir Bernard Burke says "The family of O Sullivan deduces its descent from Olioll Ollum, King of Munster, who reigned AD 125. The town of Bearhaven in Cork is said to have been named because an Irish chief named Owen (Eoghan) the Splendid, having been defeated in a great engagement by "Conn of the Hundred Battles," fled to Spain, where he married the King’s daughter, Beara. Returning after the lapse of some time at the head of a powerful force, his vessels put into a commodious harbour on the south-west coast of Ireland which he was so pleased that in honour of his wife he called it Bearhaven. The haven in later years gave the name to the surrounding area that became known as the barony of Beara, or Beare.

About 28 miles in length, the northern shore has three harbors, Berehaven, Adrigole and Glengarriffe, with Bantry harbor on the eastern or landward end. T.D. Sullivan called this area ‘Sullivan’s Country.’

In the area of Knockgraffon, Tipperary, we were lords of the land. Hugh W.L. Weir fixes the districts of Cahir, Clonmel, Fethard, Carrick-on-Suir and Cashel, as our principalities in the fifth and sixth centuries. However, at the time of the Anglo Norman invasion in the 12th century, we were driven westward and south, joining our Milesian cousins who were in Cork and Kerry. From there we divided by geography; on the northern or Kerry side of the line were the O Sullivan Mor (greater), the chieftain holding Dunkerron Castle in Kenmare. On the Southern line, or Cork side, along the shores of Bantry Bay, were the O Sullivan Beare, holding Dunboy (Dun-bwee) Castle. Other branches, discussed here later, were the Mac Finin Duibh O Sullivans of Tuosist and Bearehaven and the Vera-O’Sullivans (No Surrender) of Cappanacusha Castle in Kerry, whose castle was abandoned in 1652 by Owen O Sullivan.

Weir locates other Clan strongholds in the Bantry Bay area at Reenadisert, near Glengarriff; Whiddy Island; Reenabanny; and on Dursey Island. In 1320 we established a Franciscan monastery at Bantry which became a final resting place for the family. The O Sullivan Mor chose a burial place in another Franciscan monastery founded by the Mac Carthy Mor, on a site near the lower lake of Killarney, which an old legend relates to have been miraculously pointed out.

The traditional seat of power of the kings of Meath and eventually of the high kings of Ireland was Tara, an ancient religious site by the time the Celtic gaels took it over. In the third century AD, High King Cormac MacArt built an enormous palace at Tara, complete with a banquet hall 700 feet long. We were governed at this time by the Brehons, called the West’s First Lawgivers, judges of Celtic Ireland. These were a sophisticated code of conduct that was both fair and efficient and was in usage a thousand years before the English devised common law. During the Irish rebellion of 1798 thousands of rebels spontaneously gathered at Tara, as if they were drawn by a spiritual power. Later, in 1843, it was the site of one of the largest public gatherings in Irish history. Three quarters of a million people gathered to hear Daniel O’Connel, the Liberator, the man who had won Catholic emancipation.

The overlord of this district was the MacCarthy Mor. The O Sullivans paid tribute to him, providing him with fighting men and supplies for them whenever he had occasion to come through the territory. Foreign writers referred to these tributes as ‘cuttings and closherings’ of the Irish chiefs.