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!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
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 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.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Captain Jack Sullivan - contributed by Alfred E. Turman
The following is included in its entirety, as contributed by Alfred E Turman.
From Frank H. Smith's "History of Maury County, Tennessee", p.34. Told by John F.Rainey 19 May 1906. Page 118, (Mr. Rainey evidently mistakes the name of Sullivan for Julian.)
Jack Sullivan of Maury County (brother of Wm. M.., sheriff) was in command of a squad or company of "home-made Yankees" in Civil War. He had a brother Jim Sullivan who was a member of Lt. Creecy's company of home-made Yankees o
p.47 WM. HILL McCALEB. Wm.. Hill McCaleb, now living 61/2 miles S. E. of Columbia.. Raised
on Swan Creek, near mouth of Blue Buck: ''Capt.'' A. Jack Sullivan had a squad of jayhawkers or "home-made Yankees" in Hickman in Civil War (Bro. of Wm. M.., sheriff, Maury CompanyA brother is living at Cotton Factory, Columbia, 1906.) He was killed by Dave Miller in Bink Lafferty's yard in Totty's Bend.
Sullivan being pursued jumped his horse in Lafferty's yard and ran behind the chimney corner. Miller jumped the fence with his horse and killed Sullivan there.
p.49 Dave Miller was raised by McCaleb's grandmother, Mrs. Sallie Miller, who had married Daves's father. Dave's wife was Mary Young, daughter of Nat and Betsy Anderson Young. Betsy's father was Robert Anderson, the richest man of Hickman County, owner of most of the Anderson Bend. (**.Dave Miller is buried in old Anderson Bend Cemetery. His stone reads: D. C. Miller, born 18 April 1838, died 23 August 1916.)
p.68 A. LEX COLE Interview, 25 Nov. 1906, with A.Lex Cole living 9 miles east on Bear
Creek, age 74 years: During war lived on Lick Creek, Hickman Co., Tenn. Capt. Andrew Jackson Sullivan had a small Company of Union soldiers from Hickman Company
A______ Fulks (**possibly Fowlkes) had another Company. Fulks probably became a Colonel in U. S. Army. Fulks came with Sullivan and 12 other soldiers (from Nashville ?) foraging.
Dave Miller and his crowd of rebel bushwhackers ran up on Fulks' crowd and killed eleven of them. Capt. Sullivan was one of the eleven. Sullivan was wounded, lying in the grass. Miller asked, "Are you Capt. Sullivan?" "Yes, don't shoot me, I'm Wounded.'' "I want you to know., that it's Dave Miller that shoots you and shot him dead in head. Buford and Pointer were with Miller; they were guarding the two unwounded prisoners of Fulks' thirteen. Miller killed one of these two; the other (and only) one of the thirteen escaped. Buford or Pointer took the brass buttons from Sullivan's clothes. (Gen. Marcus J. Wright's book "Tenn. in the Civil War", page 160, says Capt. A.J.Sullivan of 12th U. S. Tenn. Regt. killed by guerrillas April 20, 1864.)
Buford and Pointer a few days 1ater went to house of J. C. Bradley, near mouth Lick Creek, early to get breakfast. "Somebody" told Capt.Creasy. (Capt. Jordan Creasy, of 12th Tenn. U. S., discharged July 1, 1865.). Buford and Pointer were setting by fire waiting for breakfast. Creasy surrounded house. Killed Buford and Pointer with their own pistols, saying, "I want you to understand that it's Capt. Creasy that kills you". They had on Sullivan's buttons on which was still some of Sullivan's blood.
Creasy had received their pistols on surrendering. Creasy's men threw Buford and Pointer all bloody on the bed end rode away.
END OF BOOK ONE
p.164. Interview with Samuel Starnes Moseley, 18 Dec. 1908. Mosely born at 8 miles east of Franklin on 11 June 1840; single at enlistment. Enlisted at Franklin, about June 1861; in lst Batt. Cavalry.., Capt. Wm. Ewing.at org. 1861. Major of Balt. Frank McNairy of Nashville. lst Batt. Cavalry. later became 2d Tenn. Regt. Cavalry. With Barteau's batt. Never wounded. Taken prisoner 11 March 1865 on Amite River, La., East Feliciana Parish. Confined at N. 0. till about June 15, 1865. Paroled N.0. Was sergt. of Companyenroute to Mill Springs in winter 1861-2, discharged for ill health. After fall Fort Donelson went with Capt. Tom Perkins Company from Williamson County. In Hickman Co., Tenn., 13 independent Confed. scouts accidentally met. The 13 rode all night through Gray's Bend and on south side river. Rode all night, crossed River, got behind Sullivan. Took breakfast where Sullivan bad taken supper, Dave Miller was sent forward to report how far Sullivan was ahead of us. Dave gave signal when we came near. Yankees broke after Dave, thinking Dave was alone.
Dave ran back to us. Yankees ran after Dave and came into our ambush. After we fired we dashed in on them. Capt. Jack Sullivan wounded, tried to rally his command. Jack got down, wounded and two of his men stopped with him. Dave Miller rode up, dismounted and killed the three. Dave then came on and rejoined the rest of us in pursuit. Dave told me he killed Capt. Jack Sullivan and two more. In the pursuit we killed one or two others dead, and wounded several others. Yankees scattered and made a break for the Northwestern railroad that had just been built.
p.165
Ed Pointer and Sam Moseley were riding side by side. Pointer fell from his horse, he either fell or was knocked off by Yankee riding big bay horse. Duval McNairy shot arm between elbow and shoulder. Flesh wound. Moseley dressed it. Only casualty among the 13..I captured Yankee riding the big bay horse. Dr. Sutton said he killed this Yankee was trying to get away after surrendering. It was probably two or three weeks after Sullivan was killed that Buford and Pointer were killed. Moseley not with Buford and Pointer.
"In the drive" Miller's horse ran against a tree, dismounted Miller. While on the ground, a Yankee jumped off horse and shot at Miller on the ground and missed. Milller rose up under the Yankee, grabbed him by throat and twisted pistol out of Yankee's hand, and shot Yankee dead. Miller immediately went through his pockets. Moseley got his brass spurs.
From Frank H. Smith's "History of Maury County, Tennessee", p.34. Told by John F.Rainey 19 May 1906. Page 118, (Mr. Rainey evidently mistakes the name of Sullivan for Julian.)
Jack Sullivan of Maury County (brother of Wm. M.., sheriff) was in command of a squad or company of "home-made Yankees" in Civil War. He had a brother Jim Sullivan who was a member of Lt. Creecy's company of home-made Yankees o
p.47 WM. HILL McCALEB. Wm.. Hill McCaleb, now living 61/2 miles S. E. of Columbia.. Raised
on Swan Creek, near mouth of Blue Buck: ''Capt.'' A. Jack Sullivan had a squad of jayhawkers or "home-made Yankees" in Hickman in Civil War (Bro. of Wm. M.., sheriff, Maury CompanyA brother is living at Cotton Factory, Columbia, 1906.) He was killed by Dave Miller in Bink Lafferty's yard in Totty's Bend.
Sullivan being pursued jumped his horse in Lafferty's yard and ran behind the chimney corner. Miller jumped the fence with his horse and killed Sullivan there.
p.49 Dave Miller was raised by McCaleb's grandmother, Mrs. Sallie Miller, who had married Daves's father. Dave's wife was Mary Young, daughter of Nat and Betsy Anderson Young. Betsy's father was Robert Anderson, the richest man of Hickman County, owner of most of the Anderson Bend. (**.Dave Miller is buried in old Anderson Bend Cemetery. His stone reads: D. C. Miller, born 18 April 1838, died 23 August 1916.)
p.68 A. LEX COLE Interview, 25 Nov. 1906, with A.Lex Cole living 9 miles east on Bear
Creek, age 74 years: During war lived on Lick Creek, Hickman Co., Tenn. Capt. Andrew Jackson Sullivan had a small Company of Union soldiers from Hickman Company
A______ Fulks (**possibly Fowlkes) had another Company. Fulks probably became a Colonel in U. S. Army. Fulks came with Sullivan and 12 other soldiers (from Nashville ?) foraging.
Dave Miller and his crowd of rebel bushwhackers ran up on Fulks' crowd and killed eleven of them. Capt. Sullivan was one of the eleven. Sullivan was wounded, lying in the grass. Miller asked, "Are you Capt. Sullivan?" "Yes, don't shoot me, I'm Wounded.'' "I want you to know., that it's Dave Miller that shoots you and shot him dead in head. Buford and Pointer were with Miller; they were guarding the two unwounded prisoners of Fulks' thirteen. Miller killed one of these two; the other (and only) one of the thirteen escaped. Buford or Pointer took the brass buttons from Sullivan's clothes. (Gen. Marcus J. Wright's book "Tenn. in the Civil War", page 160, says Capt. A.J.Sullivan of 12th U. S. Tenn. Regt. killed by guerrillas April 20, 1864.)
Buford and Pointer a few days 1ater went to house of J. C. Bradley, near mouth Lick Creek, early to get breakfast. "Somebody" told Capt.Creasy. (Capt. Jordan Creasy, of 12th Tenn. U. S., discharged July 1, 1865.). Buford and Pointer were setting by fire waiting for breakfast. Creasy surrounded house. Killed Buford and Pointer with their own pistols, saying, "I want you to understand that it's Capt. Creasy that kills you". They had on Sullivan's buttons on which was still some of Sullivan's blood.
Creasy had received their pistols on surrendering. Creasy's men threw Buford and Pointer all bloody on the bed end rode away.
END OF BOOK ONE
p.164. Interview with Samuel Starnes Moseley, 18 Dec. 1908. Mosely born at 8 miles east of Franklin on 11 June 1840; single at enlistment. Enlisted at Franklin, about June 1861; in lst Batt. Cavalry.., Capt. Wm. Ewing.at org. 1861. Major of Balt. Frank McNairy of Nashville. lst Batt. Cavalry. later became 2d Tenn. Regt. Cavalry. With Barteau's batt. Never wounded. Taken prisoner 11 March 1865 on Amite River, La., East Feliciana Parish. Confined at N. 0. till about June 15, 1865. Paroled N.0. Was sergt. of Companyenroute to Mill Springs in winter 1861-2, discharged for ill health. After fall Fort Donelson went with Capt. Tom Perkins Company from Williamson County. In Hickman Co., Tenn., 13 independent Confed. scouts accidentally met. The 13 rode all night through Gray's Bend and on south side river. Rode all night, crossed River, got behind Sullivan. Took breakfast where Sullivan bad taken supper, Dave Miller was sent forward to report how far Sullivan was ahead of us. Dave gave signal when we came near. Yankees broke after Dave, thinking Dave was alone.
Dave ran back to us. Yankees ran after Dave and came into our ambush. After we fired we dashed in on them. Capt. Jack Sullivan wounded, tried to rally his command. Jack got down, wounded and two of his men stopped with him. Dave Miller rode up, dismounted and killed the three. Dave then came on and rejoined the rest of us in pursuit. Dave told me he killed Capt. Jack Sullivan and two more. In the pursuit we killed one or two others dead, and wounded several others. Yankees scattered and made a break for the Northwestern railroad that had just been built.
p.165
Ed Pointer and Sam Moseley were riding side by side. Pointer fell from his horse, he either fell or was knocked off by Yankee riding big bay horse. Duval McNairy shot arm between elbow and shoulder. Flesh wound. Moseley dressed it. Only casualty among the 13..I captured Yankee riding the big bay horse. Dr. Sutton said he killed this Yankee was trying to get away after surrendering. It was probably two or three weeks after Sullivan was killed that Buford and Pointer were killed. Moseley not with Buford and Pointer.
"In the drive" Miller's horse ran against a tree, dismounted Miller. While on the ground, a Yankee jumped off horse and shot at Miller on the ground and missed. Milller rose up under the Yankee, grabbed him by throat and twisted pistol out of Yankee's hand, and shot Yankee dead. Miller immediately went through his pockets. Moseley got his brass spurs.
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.
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.
Jean Baptiste O'Sullivan
In France at the time of their revolution were two O Sullivan brothers, Charles and John. Both were the grandsons of an Irish royalist who had settled at Nantes.
Charles, according to Irish Families, "saved his brother, John, an ardent revolutionary, from the militant Vendeans. Later, John, a former fencing master, became notorious. With the cruel pro-consul, Carrier, he organized the sinking of barges filled with priests and other citizens - a diabolical way of bypassing the guillotine or the expense of gunfire. John even betrayed his own royalist brother, Charles, who was guillotined. When the inevitable revulsion against the horror set in, John O Sullivan came before the Revolutionary Tribunal, which found him guilty of many atrocities and murders, but set him free ‘because he did not act with criminal revolutiona
John is evidently Jean Baptiste O Sullivan who "conscientiously inflicted his own reign of terror on Nantes."
Charles, according to Irish Families, "saved his brother, John, an ardent revolutionary, from the militant Vendeans. Later, John, a former fencing master, became notorious. With the cruel pro-consul, Carrier, he organized the sinking of barges filled with priests and other citizens - a diabolical way of bypassing the guillotine or the expense of gunfire. John even betrayed his own royalist brother, Charles, who was guillotined. When the inevitable revulsion against the horror set in, John O Sullivan came before the Revolutionary Tribunal, which found him guilty of many atrocities and murders, but set him free ‘because he did not act with criminal revolutiona
John is evidently Jean Baptiste O Sullivan who "conscientiously inflicted his own reign of terror on Nantes."
O'Sullivan Beare (Beara)
The O Sullivan Beare line is extensive and its’ genealogy quite well documented. However, successive O Sullivan Beare leaders don’t necessarily directly equate as blood heirs. Oh yes, an O Sullivan succeeded an O Sullivan but not necessarily as father and son. This clan’s motto is Lamh Foistenach Abu ‘ The open hand defying.’
Resistance to English rule has always been a hallmark of the clan. We were also notable for our patronage of the Franciscan Order. Dermot O Sullivan, in 1540, had founded Bantry Abbey. Both are reflected in a letter from Sir Warham Sentleger to Mr. Secretary Fenton, written at Cork, March 24, 1582, wherein he describes an encounter.
"Good Mr. Secretary, - The best news I have to advertise you is that your brother James escaped of late, a very narrow escape of being taken by the western traitors; he now knowing of the defeat of his soldiers, nor yet of the abandoning of the Abbey of Bantry, sent certain boats from Bearhaven thither with provisions for the soldiers, who, mistrusting nothing, came to the Abbey, thinking to unload their provision, and the men being landed, the traitors lying close in the Abbey issued suddenly out and took the men and boats with the victuals, and hanged the men. Your brother coming after in another boat, not knowing the traitors to be in the Abbey, was unawares until pursued with four boats full of traitors, who had taken him if night had not favored him, which being dark, he entered in among the rocks where he was forced to hide himself three days and three nights without any sustenance; and so with great oil the fourth day he reached the Castle of Bearhaven, where he remaineth sick, by the great toll he had upon the sea and the cold entertainment he had upon the rocks". The former site of this Abbey is now topped with a large granite cross, erected to the memory of famine victims, by brothers Tim and Maurice Healy.
The fate of history fell particularly hard on Donal Cam O Sullivan Beare (1560 - 1618) during the reign of Elizabeth. Headquartered at Dunboy (prounounced Dun-bwee) Castle, he "marched with O’Neill to an Irish battlefield" and stood with another Chieftain, Aodh Ruadh (Red Hugh) O’Donnell in 1602. O’Neill and O’Donnell had marched South with their armies from Tyrone to relieve Ireland’s Spanish allies who were under the command of Don Juan de Aquila and besieged at Kinsale by an English army superior in number. Sullivan brought our clansmen to join the national ranks. On the night of December 23, 1601, the Irish forces and Spaniards attacked. We were defeated and thrown into disorder. Our Spanish ally closed shop and surrendered the town.
De Aquila delivered the forts of Dunboy, Baltimore and Castlehaven into hands of the besiegers. Donal learned of this and decided to act. He secretly had some of his men inside Dunboy Castle loosen a wall stone into which he would re-take the castle. Eighty of his followers entered the breach at night and seized it, as he alleged, for the king of Spain. Three of the intruders were killed. In a letter to King Philip of Spain he explained his actions:
"My Lord and King,
...upon the landing in Castlehaven of your generals with a fleet and men from your Greatness, I came to their presence tendering my obeisance unto them in the name of your Highness...and yielded out of my mere love and good will, without compulsion or composition, into their hands, in the name of your Majesty, not only my castle and haven called Berehaven, but also my wife, my children, my country, lordships and all my possessions for ever, to be disposed of at your pleasure...Notwithstanding, my gracious lord, conclusions of peace were assuredly agreed upon betwixt Don Juan de Aquila and the English - a fact pitiful, and (according to my judgment) against all right and humane conscience. Amongst other places whereof your Greatness was dispossessed in that manner - which were neither yielded or taken to the end they should be delivered to the English - Don Juan tied himself to deliver my castle and haven, the only key of mine inheritance, whereupon the living of many thousand persons doth rest that live some twenty leagues upon the sea coast, into the hands of my cruel, cursed, misbelieving enemies, - a thing I fear in respect of the execrebleness, inhumanity, and ungratefulness of the fact, if it take effect as it was plotted, that will give cause to other men not to trust any Spaniard hereafter with their bodies or goods upon these causes...My lord, in that I judge this dishonourable act to be against your honour and pleasure, considering the harm that might ensue to the service of your majesty, and the everlasting overthrow that might happen to me and my poor people, such as might escape the sword (if any should). I have taken upon me with the help of God - to offer to keep my castle and haven from the hands of mine enemies until further news and order from your highness."
At this time the Province of Munster was besieged by the English commanders. They ‘harried, ravaged and devastated all the rest of the province.’ The historian Leland wrote, "The southern province seemed to be totally depopulated and, except within the cities, exhibited as hideous scene of famine and desolation." An English poet, Edmund Spenser, a private secretary in the employ of one of Elizabeth’s chief governors of Ireland, recommended the policy of starvation to be employed against the Irish. In his View of the Present State of Ireland he wrote, "Notwithstanding that the same was a most rich and plentiful country, full of corn and cattle, yet, ere one year and a half they were brought to such wretchedness as that any stone heart would rue the same. Out of every corner of the woods and glens they came creeping forth upon their hands, for their legs could not bear them; they looked like anatomies of death; they spake like ghosts crying out of their graves; they did eat the dead carrious, happy where they could find them...in a short space there was almost none left and a most populous and plentiful country suddenly left void of man and beast." His words sound as if he were writing of the period of the ‘Great Hunger’ that was to take place 250 years later.
With the Spaniards in capitulation, Lord Mountjoy marched as far as the Abbey of Bantry and discovered Donal still continued his works about the castle. One of Sullivan’s captains, Tyrell, had a considerable force prepared to dispute the passage of his army through the territory between Bantry and Berehaven.
Dunboy Castle was besieged beginning on June 6, 1602 and lasted until the 18th. The garrison of 143 men defended against a larger force of over 2,000. At long last the besiegers were able to gain entrance into the ruins of the castle where hand-to-hand fighting ensued, the defenders being gradually driven to the cellar for their last stand. Those who got outside were cut down. Armed men in three boats in the water shot or speared those attempting to swim across to Bere island. The final scene was recorded in the Pacata Hibernia:
"The eighteenth (June) in the morning three and twenty more likewise rendered themselves simply to Captain Blundell, who the night before had the guard, and after their cannoniers, being two Spaniards and an Italian (for the rest were slain) likewise yielded themselves; then (Richard) MacGeohagan, chief commander of the place, being mortally wounded with divers shot in his body, the rest made choice of one Thomas Taylor, an Englishman’s son (the dearest and inwardest man with Tyrell and married to his niece) to be their chief, who, having nine barrels of powder, drew himself and it into the vault and there sat down by it, with a light match in his hand, vowing and protesting to set it on fire, and blow up the castle, himself, and all the rest, except they might have promise of life, which being by the Lord President refused, his lordship gave direction for a new battery upon the vault, intending to bury them in the ruins thereof; and after a few times discharged, and the bullets entering amongst them into the cellar, the rest that were with Taylor, partly by intercession, but chiefly by compulsion (threatening to deliver him up if he were obstinate), about ten of the clock in the morning of the same day constrained him to render simply....Sir George Thornton, the sergeant major, Captain Roger Harvie, Captain Power, and others entering the vault to receive them, Captain Power found the said Richard lying there mortally wounded (as before mentioned), who, perceiving Taylor and the rest ready to render themselves, raised himself from the ground, snatching a light candle, and staggering therewith to a barrel of powder (which for that purpose was unleaded), offering to cast it into the same, Captain Power took and held him in his arms with intent to make him prisoner, until he was by our men (who perceived his intent) instantly killed; and then Taylor and the rest were brought prisoners to the camp....The same day fifty-eight were executed in the market place...The whole number of the ward consisted of one hundred and forty-three selected fighting men, being the best choice of all their forces, of which no one man escaped, but were either slain, executed, or buried in the ruins, and so obstinate and resolved a defence had not been seen within this Kingdom."
Donal O Sullivan’s trek to O’Rourke’s land in Breffney is an epic tale, most recently told in novel form in Morgan Llywelyn’s The Last Prince of Ireland. About one thousand followers left Glengarriffe when they started out, only 400 being fighting men. By the time they entered O’Rourke’s castle there were only 18 fighting men and sixteen non combatants; only one woman survived the hardships. A bitter sidenote to this epic tale concerns ‘the Queen’s O Sullivan,’ referring to Sir Owen O Sullivan, an uncle of Donal’s. Prior to 1602 he had been a claimant to the chieftaincy and to Donal O Sullivan’s Berehaven territory. The dispute went to trial before the high courts of England where Sir Owen lost. Afterwards he was a bitter enemy of Donal and took part with the English in the above-mentioned operations against Dunboy and Dursey Island. After Donal fled he secured possession of Carriganass Castle. It is now a picturesque ruin on the banks of the Ovane River, within a few miles of Bantry.
Donal O Sullivan, one of Ireland’s wild geese, fled Ireland to Corunna, Spain. There, in July, 1608, he was murdered by John Bath, an Anglo-Irishman. At a monastery not far from Madrid, Don Philip O Sullivan, cousin of Donal, had argued with Bath, apparently over a matter of a loan given to Bath. When the latter insulted the O Sullivan family, Don Philip and Bath fought with swords. Don Philip apparently could have slain Bath but did not because of men sent by Donal and two Spanish Knights protected him. When Donal arrived, clasping a rosary in his left hand, Bath, unobserved, caught Donal looking the other way. Bath pierced him twice, through the left shoulder and through the throat.
Don Philip’s father, Dermot, uncle of Donal, died at the age of 100 and is buried in the Franciscan Church at Corunna; his mother, who died afterwards, is interred in the same tomb. A sister Helena was lost at sea on a return voyage to Ireland. Another sister became a nun of St. Ursula in Spain. Don Philip, a native of Dursey Island, was a talented writer. He rose to the level of Commander in the Spanish Navy. His history of the family can still be found under the title "Ireland under Elizabeth." by Don Philip O'Sullivan Bear, translanted from the original Latin by M.J. Byrne.
When the Cromwellian confiscations began, their lands in Kerry passed to Sir William Petty, physician-general to the army and director of the famous Down Survey. ‘Following the Restoration, Petty managed to get into good graces of Charles II and had his acquisitions in Kerry confirmed to him even in the teeth of a petition from the O Sullivan Beare of the day, Donal Cron, the loyalist. ’O Sullivan never recovered an acre of his lands and in 1699 his successor was described by a visitor to Bearehaven as residing ‘in a cabin at the foot of the hill.’ According to Lyne, O Sullivan Beare was one of the last to quit the field against the Cromwellians and, as late as 1653, was still holding out on Dursey Island. He apparently got away to the Continent that year.
Lyne also reports the harpist Arthur O’Neil, who was a friend of the famous Turlough O’Carolan, recounted a visit to the Rossmackowen branch of the family:
"I spent one Christmas with a gentleman that lived in Berehaven named Murtagh Mac Owen O Sullivan, who lived in a princely style. My boy came to me one morning when in bed, who desired me to bless myself: I asked him why so. ‘Och, Sir! There is a pipe of wine and two hogsheads of some other liquor standing up in the hall with the heads out of them and a wooden cup swimming in each of them for anyone that pleases to drink their skinful.’ I mention this merely to record the hospitality of the gentlemen of the province of Munster."
Visitors to the lakes of Killarney in County Kerry will find a stretch of water known as O Sullivan’s Punch Bowl. The tombs of many distinguished family members are interred at Muckross Abbey.
Resistance to English rule has always been a hallmark of the clan. We were also notable for our patronage of the Franciscan Order. Dermot O Sullivan, in 1540, had founded Bantry Abbey. Both are reflected in a letter from Sir Warham Sentleger to Mr. Secretary Fenton, written at Cork, March 24, 1582, wherein he describes an encounter.
"Good Mr. Secretary, - The best news I have to advertise you is that your brother James escaped of late, a very narrow escape of being taken by the western traitors; he now knowing of the defeat of his soldiers, nor yet of the abandoning of the Abbey of Bantry, sent certain boats from Bearhaven thither with provisions for the soldiers, who, mistrusting nothing, came to the Abbey, thinking to unload their provision, and the men being landed, the traitors lying close in the Abbey issued suddenly out and took the men and boats with the victuals, and hanged the men. Your brother coming after in another boat, not knowing the traitors to be in the Abbey, was unawares until pursued with four boats full of traitors, who had taken him if night had not favored him, which being dark, he entered in among the rocks where he was forced to hide himself three days and three nights without any sustenance; and so with great oil the fourth day he reached the Castle of Bearhaven, where he remaineth sick, by the great toll he had upon the sea and the cold entertainment he had upon the rocks". The former site of this Abbey is now topped with a large granite cross, erected to the memory of famine victims, by brothers Tim and Maurice Healy.
The fate of history fell particularly hard on Donal Cam O Sullivan Beare (1560 - 1618) during the reign of Elizabeth. Headquartered at Dunboy (prounounced Dun-bwee) Castle, he "marched with O’Neill to an Irish battlefield" and stood with another Chieftain, Aodh Ruadh (Red Hugh) O’Donnell in 1602. O’Neill and O’Donnell had marched South with their armies from Tyrone to relieve Ireland’s Spanish allies who were under the command of Don Juan de Aquila and besieged at Kinsale by an English army superior in number. Sullivan brought our clansmen to join the national ranks. On the night of December 23, 1601, the Irish forces and Spaniards attacked. We were defeated and thrown into disorder. Our Spanish ally closed shop and surrendered the town.
De Aquila delivered the forts of Dunboy, Baltimore and Castlehaven into hands of the besiegers. Donal learned of this and decided to act. He secretly had some of his men inside Dunboy Castle loosen a wall stone into which he would re-take the castle. Eighty of his followers entered the breach at night and seized it, as he alleged, for the king of Spain. Three of the intruders were killed. In a letter to King Philip of Spain he explained his actions:
"My Lord and King,
...upon the landing in Castlehaven of your generals with a fleet and men from your Greatness, I came to their presence tendering my obeisance unto them in the name of your Highness...and yielded out of my mere love and good will, without compulsion or composition, into their hands, in the name of your Majesty, not only my castle and haven called Berehaven, but also my wife, my children, my country, lordships and all my possessions for ever, to be disposed of at your pleasure...Notwithstanding, my gracious lord, conclusions of peace were assuredly agreed upon betwixt Don Juan de Aquila and the English - a fact pitiful, and (according to my judgment) against all right and humane conscience. Amongst other places whereof your Greatness was dispossessed in that manner - which were neither yielded or taken to the end they should be delivered to the English - Don Juan tied himself to deliver my castle and haven, the only key of mine inheritance, whereupon the living of many thousand persons doth rest that live some twenty leagues upon the sea coast, into the hands of my cruel, cursed, misbelieving enemies, - a thing I fear in respect of the execrebleness, inhumanity, and ungratefulness of the fact, if it take effect as it was plotted, that will give cause to other men not to trust any Spaniard hereafter with their bodies or goods upon these causes...My lord, in that I judge this dishonourable act to be against your honour and pleasure, considering the harm that might ensue to the service of your majesty, and the everlasting overthrow that might happen to me and my poor people, such as might escape the sword (if any should). I have taken upon me with the help of God - to offer to keep my castle and haven from the hands of mine enemies until further news and order from your highness."
At this time the Province of Munster was besieged by the English commanders. They ‘harried, ravaged and devastated all the rest of the province.’ The historian Leland wrote, "The southern province seemed to be totally depopulated and, except within the cities, exhibited as hideous scene of famine and desolation." An English poet, Edmund Spenser, a private secretary in the employ of one of Elizabeth’s chief governors of Ireland, recommended the policy of starvation to be employed against the Irish. In his View of the Present State of Ireland he wrote, "Notwithstanding that the same was a most rich and plentiful country, full of corn and cattle, yet, ere one year and a half they were brought to such wretchedness as that any stone heart would rue the same. Out of every corner of the woods and glens they came creeping forth upon their hands, for their legs could not bear them; they looked like anatomies of death; they spake like ghosts crying out of their graves; they did eat the dead carrious, happy where they could find them...in a short space there was almost none left and a most populous and plentiful country suddenly left void of man and beast." His words sound as if he were writing of the period of the ‘Great Hunger’ that was to take place 250 years later.
With the Spaniards in capitulation, Lord Mountjoy marched as far as the Abbey of Bantry and discovered Donal still continued his works about the castle. One of Sullivan’s captains, Tyrell, had a considerable force prepared to dispute the passage of his army through the territory between Bantry and Berehaven.
Dunboy Castle was besieged beginning on June 6, 1602 and lasted until the 18th. The garrison of 143 men defended against a larger force of over 2,000. At long last the besiegers were able to gain entrance into the ruins of the castle where hand-to-hand fighting ensued, the defenders being gradually driven to the cellar for their last stand. Those who got outside were cut down. Armed men in three boats in the water shot or speared those attempting to swim across to Bere island. The final scene was recorded in the Pacata Hibernia:
"The eighteenth (June) in the morning three and twenty more likewise rendered themselves simply to Captain Blundell, who the night before had the guard, and after their cannoniers, being two Spaniards and an Italian (for the rest were slain) likewise yielded themselves; then (Richard) MacGeohagan, chief commander of the place, being mortally wounded with divers shot in his body, the rest made choice of one Thomas Taylor, an Englishman’s son (the dearest and inwardest man with Tyrell and married to his niece) to be their chief, who, having nine barrels of powder, drew himself and it into the vault and there sat down by it, with a light match in his hand, vowing and protesting to set it on fire, and blow up the castle, himself, and all the rest, except they might have promise of life, which being by the Lord President refused, his lordship gave direction for a new battery upon the vault, intending to bury them in the ruins thereof; and after a few times discharged, and the bullets entering amongst them into the cellar, the rest that were with Taylor, partly by intercession, but chiefly by compulsion (threatening to deliver him up if he were obstinate), about ten of the clock in the morning of the same day constrained him to render simply....Sir George Thornton, the sergeant major, Captain Roger Harvie, Captain Power, and others entering the vault to receive them, Captain Power found the said Richard lying there mortally wounded (as before mentioned), who, perceiving Taylor and the rest ready to render themselves, raised himself from the ground, snatching a light candle, and staggering therewith to a barrel of powder (which for that purpose was unleaded), offering to cast it into the same, Captain Power took and held him in his arms with intent to make him prisoner, until he was by our men (who perceived his intent) instantly killed; and then Taylor and the rest were brought prisoners to the camp....The same day fifty-eight were executed in the market place...The whole number of the ward consisted of one hundred and forty-three selected fighting men, being the best choice of all their forces, of which no one man escaped, but were either slain, executed, or buried in the ruins, and so obstinate and resolved a defence had not been seen within this Kingdom."
Donal O Sullivan’s trek to O’Rourke’s land in Breffney is an epic tale, most recently told in novel form in Morgan Llywelyn’s The Last Prince of Ireland. About one thousand followers left Glengarriffe when they started out, only 400 being fighting men. By the time they entered O’Rourke’s castle there were only 18 fighting men and sixteen non combatants; only one woman survived the hardships. A bitter sidenote to this epic tale concerns ‘the Queen’s O Sullivan,’ referring to Sir Owen O Sullivan, an uncle of Donal’s. Prior to 1602 he had been a claimant to the chieftaincy and to Donal O Sullivan’s Berehaven territory. The dispute went to trial before the high courts of England where Sir Owen lost. Afterwards he was a bitter enemy of Donal and took part with the English in the above-mentioned operations against Dunboy and Dursey Island. After Donal fled he secured possession of Carriganass Castle. It is now a picturesque ruin on the banks of the Ovane River, within a few miles of Bantry.
Donal O Sullivan, one of Ireland’s wild geese, fled Ireland to Corunna, Spain. There, in July, 1608, he was murdered by John Bath, an Anglo-Irishman. At a monastery not far from Madrid, Don Philip O Sullivan, cousin of Donal, had argued with Bath, apparently over a matter of a loan given to Bath. When the latter insulted the O Sullivan family, Don Philip and Bath fought with swords. Don Philip apparently could have slain Bath but did not because of men sent by Donal and two Spanish Knights protected him. When Donal arrived, clasping a rosary in his left hand, Bath, unobserved, caught Donal looking the other way. Bath pierced him twice, through the left shoulder and through the throat.
Don Philip’s father, Dermot, uncle of Donal, died at the age of 100 and is buried in the Franciscan Church at Corunna; his mother, who died afterwards, is interred in the same tomb. A sister Helena was lost at sea on a return voyage to Ireland. Another sister became a nun of St. Ursula in Spain. Don Philip, a native of Dursey Island, was a talented writer. He rose to the level of Commander in the Spanish Navy. His history of the family can still be found under the title "Ireland under Elizabeth." by Don Philip O'Sullivan Bear, translanted from the original Latin by M.J. Byrne.
When the Cromwellian confiscations began, their lands in Kerry passed to Sir William Petty, physician-general to the army and director of the famous Down Survey. ‘Following the Restoration, Petty managed to get into good graces of Charles II and had his acquisitions in Kerry confirmed to him even in the teeth of a petition from the O Sullivan Beare of the day, Donal Cron, the loyalist. ’O Sullivan never recovered an acre of his lands and in 1699 his successor was described by a visitor to Bearehaven as residing ‘in a cabin at the foot of the hill.’ According to Lyne, O Sullivan Beare was one of the last to quit the field against the Cromwellians and, as late as 1653, was still holding out on Dursey Island. He apparently got away to the Continent that year.
Lyne also reports the harpist Arthur O’Neil, who was a friend of the famous Turlough O’Carolan, recounted a visit to the Rossmackowen branch of the family:
"I spent one Christmas with a gentleman that lived in Berehaven named Murtagh Mac Owen O Sullivan, who lived in a princely style. My boy came to me one morning when in bed, who desired me to bless myself: I asked him why so. ‘Och, Sir! There is a pipe of wine and two hogsheads of some other liquor standing up in the hall with the heads out of them and a wooden cup swimming in each of them for anyone that pleases to drink their skinful.’ I mention this merely to record the hospitality of the gentlemen of the province of Munster."
Visitors to the lakes of Killarney in County Kerry will find a stretch of water known as O Sullivan’s Punch Bowl. The tombs of many distinguished family members are interred at Muckross Abbey.
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.
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.
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