The journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Vol. V, 1905Various
History
The journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Vol. V, 1905
Various
American-Irish Historical Society -- Periodicals; Ethnology -- United States -- Periodicals; Irish Americans -- Periodicals
All this condensed into a paragraph is that in Master Sullivan’s veins
flowed the blood of the Norman Butlers and Fitzgeralds who went over
from England to Ireland, when the Irish were first conquered by the
English, and in time they became more Irish than the original race; that
is, they fought the English government more fiercely than the Irish
themselves did. Master Sullivan’s sons won in America what many
generations of their brave ancestors had failed to win in Ireland.
As has already been stated, Master Sullivan was born in Limerick during
the siege in 1691. Limerick, however, was not captured; a truce took
place, and a treaty was formed. This treaty did not last long, and a
large number of Irish were compelled to take refuge in France. Among
these were Maj. Philip O’Sullivan and his family.
This family remained in France several years. Major Sullivan died there,
as has been stated; his wife and children remained till peace reigned in
Ireland to the extent that she was allowed to return and take possession
of her large estates. While in France she carefully educated her son
John, and, unwittingly, prepared him to be the future schoolmaster of
New Hampshire. It was there that Master Sullivan learned his French so
thoroughly that when he was past ninety years of age he wrote a letter
in excellent French to his son, the general.
When his mother returned to Ireland her son was a young man, and I
suppose passed his time as other young Irishmen did who were in the
front rank of society in the city of Limerick. At length a difference of
opinion arose between Madam O’Sullivan and her son; he fell in love with
a young woman, who probably could not tell who her grandmother was. This
displeased his mother very much. Madam was very haughty and
aristocratic; she was proud of her ancestry and of her son’s ancestry.
She could not endure the thought of his marrying a girl of low ancestry;
she opposed the match.
I suppose that made Master Sullivan’s love burn more fiercely. After the
affair had drifted along quite a while Madam forbid her son,
peremptorily, to have anything more to do with the girl, and gave him
two weeks in which to break the engagement; if he did not do it inside
of that time, she would disinherit him. Per contra, Master Sullivan told
his mother he would give _her_ two weeks in which to consent to the
marriage; if she did not consent inside of that time, he would leave
Ireland forever, and neither she or the girl should ever hear more of
him. They were both of the same grit; neither would yield, and the
result was he sailed for America and in due time landed in York, Me. But
the thought of that girl he had left behind him in Ireland haunted him
for many years, and it was not till he was forty-four years old that he
again entertained the thought of marriage. His mother afterwards
repented of her stern act and made search for years for her runaway son,
but she never found any trace of him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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