52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Weeks 6 & 7 Prompt - Surprise

2025

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Weeks 6 & 7

Prompt – Surprise

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 3^rd 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. 

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 3^rd 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.

 

Jan 7, 1928 The Ottawa Journal

 

Jan 7, 1928 The Vancouver Sun

 

 

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