Eugene Sullivan

SULLIVAN, SMITH, FLEMING, RIORDAN

Posted By: Anne Hermann (email)
Date: 1/2/2010 at 11:18:35

J. W. Ellis, History of Jackson County, Iowa, 1910

EUGENE SULLIVAN.

Eugene Sullivan, whose demise occurred on the 10th of August, 1900, was actively and successfully identified with the agricultural interests of Jackson county for about a third of a century and at the time of his death owned a well improved farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres in Fairfield township. He was a native of County Cork, Ireland, but emigrated to the United
States in 1849, locating at Bedford, Massachusetts, where he was employed in the gas works for some time. Removing westward, he worked in the mines of Michigan for a year, on the expiration of which period he returned to the east. In 1867 he came to Jackson county, Iowa, and took up his abode on a farm of eighty acres which he purchased in Fairfield township and which was his place of residence throughout the remainder of his life. As time passed and his financial resources increased, owing to his untiring industry and capable management, he extended the boundaries of his farm by additional purchase until it embraced one hundred and twenty-five acres of rich and productive land. He won a gratifying and well merited degree of prosperity in the conduct of his agricultural interests and was widely recognized as one of the substantial and respected citizens of the community.
In 1857, at Bedford, Massachusetts, Mr. Sullivan was united in marriage to Miss Dora Sullivan, likewise a native of the Emerald Isle. Their family numbered ten children, five of whom are still living, namely: Joseph M.; Hanna, the wife of Rodney L. Smith, of Wolbach, Nebraska; Sarah, who is the wife of William Fleming and resides in Amboy, Illinois; and Dorothy and Elizabeth, who make their home with their brother, Joseph M. The mother of these children was called to her final rest on the 23d of April, 1883, while the father passed away on the 10th of August, 1900.
Joseph M. Sullivan was born on the old homestead farm in this county on the 17th of September, 1880. He early became familiar with the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist and has always devoted his time and energies to the work of farming. In 1903 he purchased one hundred and fifty-five acres of land adjoining the home place and the following year took up his abode thereon. He has since given his attention to its further cultivation and improvement and the well tilled fields annually yield golden harvests in return for the care and labor which he bestows upon them.
On the I7th of February, 1909, Mr. Sullivan wedded Miss Anna Riordan, of Chicago, who passed away on the 23d of March, 1909. He gives unfaltering allegiance to the men and measures of the republican party, and is a Catholic in religious faith. As he has spent his entire life in Jackson county, he has a wide acquaintance here and his friends know him as an enterprising agriculturist and a young man of genuine worth.