52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
2019
Week 14
Prompt – Brick Wall
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| Robert and Mary Sullivan on Wedding Day |
A brick wall is just like it sounds.
It is that point in your genealogy tree where it is seemingly
impossible to go any further back on that branch. It is that point
where a person seems to have been transplanted into your tree without
any ancestors. How can that be? Everyone comes from someone!
My brick wall appears in my blogs
frequently. It is my mother's father – Robert Windsworth Sullivan.
Grandfather Sullivan married my grandmother – Mary Krikau. They
married April 11, 1921 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Their wedding
certificate is one of the few official documents that I have for Mr.
Sullivan.
Grandfather Sullivan was rarely spoke
of and if he was it was certainly in hushed and secretive voices. My
grandmother made a good go of trying to erase him from the family.
Mr. Sullivan comes with much family lore. Mary's parents despised
him for her and according to my Aunt Phyllis they “disowned” her
because she married him.
According to my sister who had a
conversation with Grandma - this marriage was rocky from the start.
The story is that Mr. Sullivan married a second women while married to grandma and was found
out and was sent to jail for bigamy. I can not prove that story.
However I do know that he did spend time in jail when mom, Vivian,
was born. On Vivian's birth registration her father is listed as
Patrick Sullivan and his address at the time of her birth is listed
as Stony Penitentiary – Winnipeg.
Mary did forgive and they got back
together. They had another child – George Windsworth Sullivan who
died at a few months of age. On George's Burial Report Mr. Sullivan's name
is Patrick W Sullivan and on George's Interment Order he is listed as
P. Sullivan.
His name is not the same on any
document I have. In their marriage document his name is listed as;
Bob Windsworth Sullivan. In the 1921 Canada Census taken shortly
after they were married he is listed as; Robt Wentworth Sullivan.
Searching through Saskatoon Henderson's Books I find him as follows;
1924 – Patrick Sullivan, Chef at
Barry Hotel, r (renting) 525 20th Str. W ( Colonial
Apartments)
1925 – Patrick Sullivan, Chef at
YMCA, r 309 Ave B North
1931 – Patrick Sullivan, emp.
Commodore Cafe
1933 – Robert W Sullivan, chef, HBCO,
1435 Ave B North
1934 – Same as above
1935 – Robert W Sullivan, chef, 220
31st Street W
1936 – Same as above
1938 – Robert Sullivan, emp, Elmer
Ball, r 1218 Temperance
There is other
conflicting information besides his name. On the marriage
certificate he lists his age as 29 and birth in Philadelphia, USA.
One year later, on Vivian's birth certificate his birth place is
listed as Los Angeles, Cal. and he is 32 years old.
The family lore has him moving to
British Columbia and remarrying. I decided to look for a death
certificate from the province of British Columbia. I found the
following; I am sorry that it is so blurry. The original is packed away for now.
This Robert Wentworth Sullivan died
November 25, 1952 in Chilliwack, BC. The first thing that struck me
is the middle name which is close to Windsworth. I have not seen
that name in my tree or any other tree. It is such an unusual name.
This death certificate states he died in an "unemployment line" He is
listed as Canadian Citizen of Irish Origin. He has lived in
Chilliwack, British Columbia for 10 years. That makes him as
arriving in 1942 which is only 4 years after the last Henderson
directory entry. The death certificate states his birth date as May
29, 1887 and his birth place as Truro, Nova Scotia. It is a little
off of the date I figured out and is yet another place of birth. He
is married to Jean Alice Walker and at the time of his death he lived
at 519 Nowell Street Chilliwack, BC. He is listed as a cook working
at a cafe and has been at this job as noted on the certificate for
“life”. He last worked in July 1952, just months before his death
which may be why he was in the unemployment line when he died. He
died of Atherosclerotic Heart Disease which he had for at least 10
years. Well that is in line with the heart history of mom and my
siblings. It runs in the family. He was buried November 27, 1952 at
the Canadian Legion Cemetery in Chilliwack. The funny thing is that I can't
find this gentleman on any British Columbia cemetery index for this
cemetery or in Find a Grave index. How do we keep losing our dead people?
I want to believe this is my maternal
grandfather but I have nothing connecting him from Saskatoon to BC
other than a family story. The unusual middle name seems too much of
a coincidence. His employment as a cook is consistent with what we
know of him while with Mary. He is of Irish origin which we have
been told he was. Keep in mind that the person giving this
information for his death certificate is his brother – in – law
who may not of known many details of Robert W. Sullivan. This could
account for the differences in date of birth and place of birth. His
cause of death is in keeping with family medical history being bad
heart health. Dying in an unemployment line is a bit dramatic but it
seems to fit with the way Mary's family thought of him as a
“unemployed low life”!
Robert Sullivan, my maternal
grandfather is my brick wall. It was a frustrating obsession when I
first started genealogy and I have been tempted many times to hire a researcher. However as I keep working on the family branches that seem
to have lots of information I continue to gather experience in how to
look for family records and go back to Robert Sullivan from time to
time looking at what might be new from Ancestry or other on line sites.
Wendy
