2025
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Weeks 6 & 7
Prompt – Surprise
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| Robert and Mary Sullivan - 11 Apr 1921 |
Twenty some years ago I started genealogy
to find out who my biological maternal grandfather was. At the time
my siblings and I knew him as “Pat Sullivan”. And various other
derogatory names. My mother and indeed my grandmother chose never to
speak of him. We knew he was of Irish descent. Mary and Pat had two
children – my mother (born 1922) and a boy who died in infancy in
January of 1927. Actually I did not know about the boy who died
in infancy until my sister told me about him.
Sometime after their infant died they
parted. The family folk lore was that he was a bigamist while
married to my grandmother. They charged him and he was sent to Stony
Mountain Penitentiary. The lore went on to say that while he worked as a chef
on a train that travelled between Winnipeg (where Pat and Mary
lived) and Saskatoon, he had a wife at each end. It was an interesting
story. And for my first 10 years I found no evidence to support this
story. I was speaking to my grandmother's daughter-in-law lamenting
how I could not find anything to prove this story and told her I
surmised that it was just family folk lore. She was more than
adamant that it was true and I should continue to look.
In 2007 I ordered a genealogical copy
of Mary and Pat's Wedding from Manitoba. I learned from this
certificate that he was “Bob Windsworth Sullivan” and was 29
years old in 1921 when they married. Thus his birth-date would be
circa 1892. The certificate said he was born in Pittsburgh, PA. His
father was William Sullivan born in Dublin, Ireland and his mother
was Mathilda Olteri. That was all new information and yet in my
searches I never found a family with their names and Pat as a son.
His second name, Windsworth was new to me but because it was so
different I was sure it would help find him.
In 2010 my aunt Phyllis sent me all of
the papers, photographs and certificates of grandmother for me to keep. The only
thing I found was the church certificate of their marriage and it had
been ripped in half. Again information on the church certificate was
slightly different from the genealogical copy I had. It listed him
as Robert Windsworth Sollivan (with an O) and my grandmother was
listed as Mary Krikow instead of Krikau.
A year or two later I found a Robert
Wentworth Sullivan in a British Columbia on-line death index. I
decided to order it. When I got it I could not determine whether it
was my grandfather or someone else. Some of the information was the
same and some was not. His birth-date was listed as May 29, 1887 and
that he was born in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada. I put it aside and it
wasn't until 2015 or so that I looked at it again and I was still not
sure that he was my biological grandfather.
In 2017 I was working on my mother's
genealogy I decided to order her birth certificate from Manitoba.
When I received it I was in for quite a surprise. On my mother's
official notice of birth her father was listed as Patrick Sullivan
and his residence was listed as “Stony Mountain Penitentiary”.
His profession is listed as “prisoner”. It also said he was born
in Los Angeles, California – his 3rd place of birth.
However the stunning surprise was that he was in jail. The family
legend or folk lore was true. What the heck! I was so sure that it
was not true.
Fast forward to spring of 2020. I had
subscribed to Newspaper.com. It is a compilation of newspapers from
around the world. It is a very fascinating read even if you are not
looking for some specific article. In the search I entered Pat
Sullivan and was surprised with an article dated 10 Apr 1922 in The
Winnipeg Tribune. Another piece of his puzzle came up.
The Winnipeg Tribune wrote all about
Patrick Sullivan and his excuse for marrying a second women while
still married to my grandmother. He was given a 2 year sentence.
As the family story goes on,
grandmother forgave him and took him back and they relocated to
Saskatoon. In the fall of 1924 they had their second child and this
son only lived a few months. Sometime after that they parted ways. At
the time I could not find a divorce record for them but just put it
down to the times and no need for divorces. My grandmother remarried
1 Apr 1932.
This made we wonder if Robert W
Windsworth ever remarried.
In 1921 while I was perusing my
newspaper.com which I do from time to time I put in a search for
Robert W Sullivan. What I discovered was an announcement of his
wedding to a “Jean Walker” in Saskatoon on 7 Aug 1930. The first
thing was the name of Jean Walker because as it turns out that is the
name of his spouse mentioned on his 1952 death certificate. And
secondly this proves without a doubt that the Robert W Sullivan who
died in Chilliwack is indeed my biological grandfather. One more
piece of the puzzle was solved.
Since then I had decided that this was
all that I would ever find for him. I have been looking into his life
pre-marriage to my grandmother. Things such as, where exactly was he born
and exactly when. When did he come to Canada?
A few weeks ago I had been notified by
Artificial Intelligence (AI) that Robert Sullivan had another hint to
check out. This was in my Ancestry family tree. I quickly looked at
it and saw the words “bigamist” and thought 'oh yes I know about
this already.' A day or two later I decided to look at the
newspaper's articles to check it out. The Saskatoon newspaper date
was Jan 1928. Wait a minute, I thought, that is not the same as the
Winnipeg newspaper article of April 1922.
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| 5 Jan 1928 - Saskatoon Daily Star |
This is about my grandmother and
grandfather, Mary and Robert Windsworth Sollivan. He also had an alias –
Paddy Southland!
Mrs. Mary Sollivan accused him of
marrying another women in March of the previous year, in 1927. And
her name was Jean Walker. Oh my how the plot thickens. This is the woman
that he eventually marries in 1930. And I guess in March of 1927.
They remanded him in the Saskatoon Cells until Friday morning.
The next article was written on 6 Jan
1928 – Friday.
On the 3rd page and across
the top in bold enlarged type
In this article we learn so much more
information. The second marriage to Jean Walker was 8 Mar 1927. His
first incarceration in Winnipeg was 10 Apr 1922 when he bigamously
married a Pearl Tuson. We learned that he was an American who has
been in Canada about 20 years. Mr Sullivan offered an excuse for his
1
st bigamous marriage that he was intoxicated, doped and
robbed. His excuse for his 2
nd bigamous marriage that he
understood his wife had gone to America, married another man and had
a child. Thus he didn't expect to see him again.
It was picked up by no less than 4
newspapers across Canada. It was newsworthy. No wonder my grandmother
never wanted to talk about him and her marriage to him.
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| Jan 7, 1928 The Ottawa Journal | |
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| Jan 7, 1928 The Vancouver Sun | |
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| Jan 7 1928 - The Edmonton Journal |
The last newspaper article I had was
the announcement of Grandmother's divorce. Dated 6 Oct 1928 from
Saskatoon Star where it says Mrs. Sollivan was granted a “decree
nisi”.
Wikipedia explains this way: “A decree nisi or
rule nisi (from Latin nisi 'unless') is a
court order that will come into force at a future date unless a
particular condition is met. Unless the
condition is met, the ruling becomes a decree absolute (rule
absolute), and is binding.”
In my opinion I believe
this was her divorce from Robert Sullivan. These articles provided
surprising information I had never heard of. It provided some clarification on the
time line of Mary and Robert Sullivan after parting ways in 1925
until Robert Sullivan remarries in 1930. I now know he was an
American and that as of 1928 had lived in Canada for 20 years. I can
start looking for immigration / border crossings around this time.
Piece by surprising
piece I am learning about my maternal biological grandfather –
Robert Wentworth Sullivan. By the time I hang up my genealogy laptop
I hope to find out where he was born and when his real birth-date was
and when did he come into Canada. Who were his parents and did he
have siblings? It would be a bonus to find out more details of his
time during these years.
Call me surprised!!!!
Wendy
