Uncle Patrick O'Sullivan of Loughane

From the 1911 Irish Census for Lower Glanlough in the Castlecove Electoral Division, we know that my grandmother's half brother, Patrick O'Sullivan, was born about 1902.

There is no listing of Uncle Pat's baptism on www.irishgenealogy.com - there are very few baptismal records from the 1900s online.

We know that Uncle Pat cried after Ma when she left for America with Aunt Catherine. But I can find no immigration record for him. 

There is a 1930 listing in the United States Census for Brooklyn, New York for a Patrick O'Sullivan boarding at 459 Third Avenue. He is a 25 year old office clerk who immigrated in 1924. I don't know if this is our Patrick - if it is, he emigrated a year after Larry. We saw that their sister Mary paid for Catherine to come out to the United States within 6 months of Mary emigrating, and then Catherine paid for Nellie to come out within a year. So maybe it was the same with Larry and Pat.

There is also a 1930 listing for a Patrick and Michael O'Sullivan on St. Mark's Avenue in Brooklyn. They were both born in the Irish Free State. Patrick is 28 year old. He immigrated in 1925 - he has taken out papers for naturalization. He is working as a conductor for the railroad.

Michael is 21 - he immigrated in 1926 and has also taken out papers for naturalization. He is a laborer - it looks like he works in construction, but I am not sure of the first letter in that word.

The problem with this is the age difference of 7 years between Uncle Pat and Uncle Mike. According to the 1911 Irish Census, it was only a two year difference although we know that the census is not always accurate.

So we have two possibilities for 1930. But where has Pat been up to now? 

1931 and 1933 show a listing for Patrick Sullivan working as a chauffeur and living at the rear of 556 Belvidere Avenue. Below is the 1933 listing for Plainfield, New Jersey.

The 1935 directory for Plainfield lists Patrick J. O'Sullivan and now also lists Aunt Helen - so did they get married since 1933 or was Helen just not listed in the previous issues? They are living at 718 Central Street. 

Uncle Larry O'Sullivan is listed just above Patrick at 1127 Watchung Avenue. They are both chauffeurs. I wonder who was driving first? Did one get the other a job?

Patrick, Helen and their family are still living at 718 Central Street  in the 1940 U.S. Census. They own the house which is valued at $5500. Helen is the one answering the questions. Pat is 38 years old, finished the 8th grade, and was born in Eire. Interesting that Helen was born in Northern Ireland 37 years ago - she finished 6th grade. She reports they lived in the same place in 1935. She said Pat worked 50 hours the week of March 24-30, 1940 as a chauffeur for a private family.

Pat and Helen have 3 children - Laurence was born in New Jersey and is 7 years old - he attends the first grade. The other  two children were also born in New Jersey. Patricia is 6, and Jeremiah is 2. They have yet not attended school.

The O'Sullivans are living at 718 Central Street in Plainfield in 1943 and 1944, and Pat is still a chauffeur.  Then the trail goes cold.

This is Hannie Keohane, my mother's sister, and it must be Laurence below - the date on the picture is 1940. Nice picnic - I like the cast iron frying pan on the fire, the picnic basket, and it looks like a bottle of milk. What are they cooking?

Does it look like they are eating hot dogs? That must be what Hannie was cooking. Hannie, Jeremiah, Patricia, and Laurence.

Below is Uncle Pat holding Jeremiah and Hannie in the back with Laurence, Rita Keohane, and Patricia in front.  The Keohanes must be visiting the O'Sullivans in Maine.

The O'Sullivans are back in York Beach, Maine for vacation in August 1941. 

Here is Uncle Pat and his three kids. I love the pipe! And look at the big houses in the background! 

Below, this must be the house where the O'Sullivans were staying in 1941 - 91 Broadway. Uncle Pat, Patricia, and my mother, Ellen Keohane, on the top steps, and Jeremiah and Laurence below them.

I think my mother was helping to take care of the kids during the O'Sullivan's vacation. Look at the car - I wonder if that was Uncle Pat's?

I know my mother loved Uncle Pat - she said he and Aunt Helen were a lot of fun.

My mother, Aunt Helen, and Jerry.

1958 postcard of Derrynane Harbor, near Waterville, "Ring of Kerry", Ireland - it was sent from Sneem in July or August.

"Greetings and Salutations. We were to Waterville. The Scenery is magnificent. Having a good vacation. All here are fine. Going to Dublin and on to my home today. Best from Patrick and Helen."

Uncle Pat and Aunt Helen came up to my parents 25th wedding anniversary in 1972. I remember them staying on Marshall Street sometime with us - they were in the back bedroom on the driveway side - not sure if it was for the anniversary or not. I also remember being in our dining room after the anniversary party at the Hibernians, and Jerry O'Sullivan singing "Bad, bad Leroy Brown - baddest man in the whole damn town …" Those O'Sullivans sure were a lot of fun!! We had a great time with them.

Here are Pat and Helen at the Hibernians with Paul Navin between them - Paul was married to my mother's sister Peggy Keohane.

Here is a 1975 letter from Uncle Pat to my grandmother - he mentions Uncle Mike's daughter Eileen who came out to the U.S. and visited us in Watertown and also went to Plainfield to see Uncle Pat and Uncle Larry.

"718 Central St

12 – 18 – 75

My Dear Sister Margaret,

Just a line to let you know we are all well here. hoping you and all your family are feeling well also. I suppose you are getting ready for Christmas. It is such a busy season for everybody. We had a letter from Mike last week. They are all fine at home. They are expecting Eileen home for the holidays and are looking forward to see her. She is such a good kid. We all had a great time while she stayed with us this past summer. She said she had a great time in Watertown."

"Larry and family are very well. He is still doing a little work although he will be 76 years old in January. I am doing a little too. I am a crossing guard for the school children. I like it. Helen is feeling good and she is very busy getting ready for Christmas. We might take a trip to the old country this coming summer if all is well. I wish you could come to see us once again, maybe some one in the family could bring you. We would be delighted to have them a few days. We have plenty of room for all our own. In closing I wish you and all the family a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. With love to all, Br. Pat."

I’m always touched by the affection that comes through in the letters and pictures from Uncle Larry and Uncle Pat for Ma and her family – they were very young when Ma emigrated to Boston – and they later emigrated to New Jersey. But the bond lasted.

Uncle Pat and Aunt Helen celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1980.

"The Children of 

Patrick and Helen O'Sullivan

request the honor of your presence 

at the celebration of their parents'

Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary

on Friday, the fifth of September

Nineteen hundred and eighty

6 p.m. Mass - St. Bernard's Church

George Street, Plainfield, N.J.

7 p.m. Dinner - Snuffy's Restaurant

Park Avenue, Scotch Plains, N.J.

R.S.V.P. (201) 757-2080"

The background in the picture below does not look familiar to me - perhaps it was taken in New Jersey. Uncle Larry is on the right, Paul Navin in the pink shirt, and my father taking a puff of a cigarette on the far left. The woman and man in the middle may be O'Sullivans from new Jersey.

Below is Aunt Helen, Uncle Pat, Peggy Keohane Navin, Rita Keohane Walsh, and my mother, Ellen Keohane Manning. My grandmother and Uncle Pat's half-sister, Margaret Moriarty Keohane is seated in front. This was at my aunt Hannie Keohane Huliston's house on Marshall Street in Watertown about 1982. Pat would have been about 80, and Ma would have been 88.

I am holding my son Danno in one arm and holding onto Uncle Pat with the other. I think it was during this visit that Uncle Pat told me how tough Schoolmaster Palmer was at the Glenlough School in Sneem.

Uncle Pat with his sister and my grandmother.

Christmas card from the O'Sullivans

                               '83

To the Mannion Family

To wish you a

blessed Christmas

and a New year 

of happiness

"Happy Holidays"

Aunt Helen and Uncle Patrick

Dear Ellen & John

Well it's Christmas time again. Hope you'll all have a "merrie" one and a very, very peaceful & happy New Year -

Remember us to Peg & Rita.

Hope we'll see you soon. Jerry's daughter Karen who graduates from Notre Dame in June gets Wed Dec 84 &

will be wed & live near Boston. He's a Michael Flynn. Pat & all are fine - 12 of the family will be here Christmas Day.

Hope Mom is pretty good. God bless you all. Love, Aunt Helen

"and she brought forth her firstborn son,

and wrapped him in swaddling clothes,

and laid him in a manger …

Luke 2:7"

Uncle Pat died just after Christmas on December 28, 1983, and Helen died eight years later on May 30, 1991.

The Social Security Index on www.ancestry.com listed Patrick O'Sullivan who died in 1983 in Plainfield, New Jersey. His birthdate is given as 23 August 1901. His Social Security number is 148-16-4051. With this information, we can look up his social security application, and we can get his birth certificate from Killarney.

So we have seen that Pat and Helen had Laurence and Jeremiah - both are dead - and Patricia. There was also Gene - I presume Eugene. I wonder why the name Eugene? Uncle Mike had a Larry and a Jerry so they must be O'Sullivan family names. Maybe Eugene was on Helen's side. I don't remember if Uncle Pat had any more children.

I do know that I wish I had known Uncle Larry and Uncle Pat better.

Uncle Larry O'Sullivan of Loughane Part 2

Uncle Mike O'Sullivan told me that Uncle Larry, being the oldest son, returned to Sneem when their parents and sister Bridget were ill. I know nothing about this poor young Bridget except for this battered memorial card that Ma had. She died 24 November 1926 – she was only 17. This was 3 years after Uncle Larry had left Loughane.  Notice that the memorial card was made in the USA - I wonder if her brothers had it made.

If you are a fan of Downton Abbey, you will remember Lady Sybil dying of the Spanish Flu.

The website - http://www.flu.gov/pandemic/history/index.html - gives us some information:
"Illness from the 1918 flu pandemic, also known as the Spanish flu, came on quickly. Some people felt fine in the morning but died by nightfall. People who caught the Spanish Flu but did not die from it often died from complications caused by bacteria, such as pneumonia.

During the 1918 pandemic:

• Approximately 20% to 40% of the worldwide population became ill
• An estimated 50 million people died
• Nearly 675,000 people died in the United States

Unlike earlier pandemics and seasonal flu outbreaks, the 1918 pandemic flu saw high mortality rates among healthy adults. In fact, the illness and mortality rates were highest among adults 20 to 50 years old. The reasons for this remain unknown."

There was another outbreak of the flu in 1926 - it was a milder form. I heard that Bridget died of the flu - I think it was either Larry or Hannah that told me.

Michael "John L" O’Sullivan wanted Uncle Larry, his oldest son,  to stay in Loughane and take over the farm, but, according to Uncle Mike, Larry would not stay. He left without saying good-bye and returned to New Jersey. He then sent Uncle Mike, the youngest son, back to Loughane. I suppose the following manifest for 23 October 1927 is when Uncle Larry was returning to New Jersey. This is almost a year after his sister Bridget died. I wonder if he had made it home before she died?  He is 27 and still single; he continues to work as a laborer.


His visa # 130 is issued in Cobh on 20 October 1927 – 3 days before the S. S. Andania sails for New York. Did he go to Cobh and apply for a visa? If so, did he wait in Cobh to get a ticket on a ship to America, or did he already have a ticket and went to Cobh a couple of days early to get a visa?

Larry reads, writes and speaks English. He is still a citizen of the Irish Free State. He paid his own passage and has $50 – that was a lot of money even in those days. He was in the U.S. previously from October 1923 to April 1927. So he was not at home when his sister died in November 1926 - he went home about 5 months afterwards and stayed about 6 months. I suppose his father or mother wrote telling him that he was needed at home.

Larry is a resident returning to 219 Prescott Place in Plainfield, New Jersey. He intends to stay permanently in the U.S. and become an American citizen. He still has that fresh complexion, dark hair, and brown eyes. This time Larry is not going steerage - he is a second class cabin passenger. The S. S. Andania docked in New York on Halloween – 31 October 1927.

The S.S. Andania was the second ship of this name built for the Cunard Line. The first ship made her maiden voyage from Southampton, England to Quebec and Montreal. She was requisitioned to transport troops in WWI. She carried the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and the Royal Dublin Fusiliers to Suvla Bay for the battle of Gallipolli which was a British failure with high British casualties. She later sunk in 1918 after being torpedoed by a German submarine.

The second Andania was built in 1922 by Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. Ltd. at Hepburn-on-Tyne, England. She could carry more than 1700 passengers and required 270 crew members. She was requisitioned in 1939 as an armed merchant ship. She was  torpedoed by the Germans in June 1940 near Iceland and sunk.

There is a gap from the time Uncle Larry returns to 219 Prescott Place in 1927 to a listing in the 1929 Plainfield Directory when Larry is working as a chauffeur and resides at the rear of 1127 Watchung Avenue. So where was he when he first arrived? And when did he learn to drive? 

The 1930 United States Census tells us that Laurence O'Sullivan is still living in the house on Watchung Avenue - he is listed as a lodger. He is 30 years old and is not married. He reads and writes. He and his parents were born in the Irish Free State. He emigrated in 1924 and is a naturalized citizen. Larry is working as a chauffeur for a private house.

The owner of this house is 63 year old widow Mary Ginna. 35 year old servant Mary Lowrey is also living here - she is a waitress for a private house.  So is this the private home?

The map below shows Watchung avenue - look toward the left - there is a large area with a lot of white just above the middle of the map. That is showing the Isaac Brown estate and Harriet Myers et al. Above the right upper corner of this white space are two Ginna homes in 1906 - they seem to have  lot of land attached to them. Daniel Ginna is at 1127 on the right - the address where Larry lives, and Mrs Stephen Ginna is at 1107 Watchung Avenue on the left.

Stephen and Daniel Ginna worked at Ginna and Company at 53 Beach Street in New York - they produced cans - Stephen is also listed as the vice president at 284 Pearl Street, New York - they both have homes in Plainfield in 1897.

I found the following information on the Plainfield Garden Club website. 

http://andyswebtools.com/cgi-bin/p/awtp-pa.cgi?d=plainfield-garden-club&type=4491 tells us the following.

Plainfield City of Homes

1127 Watchung Avenue, Plainfield Horse chestnuts, Aesculus hippocastanum, make a spectacular display of huge, white flowers at this time of year. The large horse chestnut pictured in flower above is on the front lawn at 1127 Watchung Avenue. from 2008 Gregory Palermo's Plainfield Tree Blog

From Plainfield, New Jersey's History & Architecture by John Grady and Dorothe Pollard Culling photographs for approbriate illustrations is the most enjoyable part of preparing a book like this. It can also leave one in a quandry. Does a particular dwelling qualify as a farm house or a town house? In the case of the Ginna residence, the choice could go either way. The house was erected for Daniel Ginna in 1902 on part of the property once the site of the circa 1862 Stephen Ginna "farm." The tract was once part of Cedar Brook Farm before the plantation was divided into residential lots. Across the street stand the stone pillars marking the lane to Senator Martine's homestead, just a block away. Daniel Ginna did not need to provide credentials as a country squire. He already owned Woodbrook Farms, a large dairy operation in the Oak Tree section of Raritan Township.now Edison. The home erected on Watchung Avenue was not farmland per se, but its link to horticulture was undeniable. The earliest photograph extant of the Ginna mansion, pre-1910, seems to show greenhouses west of the residence. Despite a lack of any other visual or verbal confirmation of that fact, Ginna was widely known as a grower of championship chrysanthemums. A greenhouse for his prized plants would not have been beyond the realm of possibility. In 1910, the Ginnas built an extension to the west front, later attaching a pillared, screened conservatory to its facade. A 1926 photography displays the new construction. Courtesy of Courier News – Bridgewater, New Jersey In 1948, the Monday Afternoon Club purchased the mansion and, between 1949 and 1961, removed the open-air conservatory and altered the west wing to provide auditorium facilities. So it appears in a recent photograph and so it stands today, after conversion back into a family residence (2008) The history of this gracious home has come full circle.

From Plainfield, New Jersey's History & Architecture by John Grady and Dorothe Pollard A Courier News article once headlined "Carlton Mews" as "Plainfield's most elegant hayloft." No one would ever argue the point. The carriage house of the Ginna estate was converted by the Lare family between 1921 - 1924 and beautifully renovated by Lucy and Raymond Rose in 1961. Many original features including the G-for-Ginna weathervane and tiles unearthed from a three-hundred-foot rose arbor along Carlton Avenue were preserved and recycled. Throughout the Roses' tenure, Carlton Mews contributed its incomparable charm to the city's many charitable functions through architectural tours, a designer show house, and summer garden parties. That tradition continues today in a setting of floral abundance. Our camera catches a view rarely seen in present-day Plainfield – the entrance to an old, brick-walled stable yard. Preserved by the Roses to provided a dining terrace outside the kitchen door, its narrow dimensions originally helped steady the horses during daily grooming sessions. 1905 American Homes & Gardens 1905 American Homes & Gardens 1905 American Homes & Gardens 1905 American Homes & Gardens 1905 American Homes & Gardens 1905 American Homes & Gardens 1905 American Homes & Gardens November 1905 American Homes and Gardens page 315 The House of Daniel F. Ginna, Esq. Plainfield, New Jersey The house built for Daniel F. Ginna, Esq., at Plainfield, N.J., is designed and carried out in a simple type of the New England Colonial Architecture of the Georgian period and its tall, stately columns and portico at the front form the principal characteristic of this particular style. The entire outside is covered with clapboards and painted white. The roof, covered with metal, is painted red. The blinds are painted green. The red brick which is used for the underpinning is also used in the chimneys, and both are laid in red mortar. The front of the home is supplanted by a grassed terrace, and the building has a very pleasing setting among a clump of pines and poplars. The house has been designed and planned, in every sense of the word, as a home; the arrangement of the rooms shows this conclusively, for they are large and commodious, and yet perfectly simple and dignified in their treatment and form. The family and private piazza at the side of the house is so designed and located as to afford ample shelter from the sun, and at the same time be swept by the prevailing breezes. At the other side of the house, and as a necessary adjunct, is the porte-cochere, while at the front there is a portico and entrance to the main hall. This hall forms a very interesting entree to the entire general scheme, for, upon entering, a vista is obtained of all the principal rooms of the first floor. It is of considerable length, and in order to break its elongated effect massive beams have been placed in the ceiling at certain distances apart, and the whole supported on Colonial columns and pilasters, forming a colonaded effect. The typical Colonial staircase built in at the end of the hall, and rising from either side to a broad platform, is the principal feature of the hall. The risers, treads and balusters, over the newel posts, which formed of a cluster of balusters. Underneath the landing there is an open fireplace, built with pressed brick facings, tiled hearth and mantel-shelf. To the right of the entrance is the reception-room, which is treated in the Empire style, pink, green and white in color, the walls being paneled in silk. The library is treated with white enamel paint, and the walls are covered with a soft green texture. The fireplace has a green tile facing and hearth, and a mantel. The billiard-room, which is placed beyond the library, is trimmed with cypress, and is treated with stain in the forest-green effect. it has an open fireplace, built of field stone, with facings of the same, and summounted by a massive stone shelf. The den at the rear of the library is finished in a Flemish brown, and it has a lavatory and an open fireplace. The dining room is placed on the opposite side of the house, is treated in white, while the walls are covered with Japanese leather. This room is oval in form, and it makes a very attractive apartment. The fireplace has tiled facings and hearth and mantel. The butler's pantry is fitted with dressers, drawers, cupboards, sink, etc. The kitchen is fitted with a pantry, which is quite unusual for the modern house, and contains the ice-box, which has an outside entrance. The kitchen has an open fireplace, pot closet, sink and counter, and is fitted with all the best modern conveniences. The second floor throughout is trimmed with pine and treated with white enamel paint, while doors are finished in mahogany. This floor contains a large, open hall, the front of which is devoted to a sitting-room and five bedrooms with large closets, and three bathrooms, the latter having tiled floors and wainscoting, and porcelain fixtures and exposed nickel plated plumbing. There is also on this floor a linen closet of large dimensions, well fitted with shelves and drawers, and a cedar closet. The third floor contains the servant quarters and bath and trunk rooms. A cemented cellar contains the laundry, the heating apparatus, fuel rooms, cold storage, etc. Messrs. Tracy & Swartwout, architects, 244 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y.

I found it fascinating reading about this family and the house where Uncle Larry worked! I wish I could find this kind of information for my other relatives! I also read that the house was used in 1990 in the movie Basket Case 2.

The 1935 Plainfield Directory below shows that Larry is still chauffeuring on Watchung Avenue.

Mrs. Katherine Ginna returned to 1127 Watchung Avenue from  trips to Europe in September 1934,  March 1936, August 1937. She was very active it seems from the minutes of the Plainfield Garden Club. I am thinking of Uncle Larry driving her to all her engagements throughout Plainfield and perhaps beyond!

1938 shows 2 changes - Larry is now married - he and Mary are named in the listing - and he has moved to 1219 Putnam Avenue - he is still a chauffeur.

Larry and Mary Ambrose O'Sullivan

1940 shows even more changes. Larry has changed jobs and has moved again. The Plainfield directory lists "Lawrence (Mary A) assembler h 705 Kensington av apt B."

The 1940 U.S. Census of Plainfield City's Ward Two was taken on April 8 by Richard Goodrich. The O'Sullivans were the 8th family visited. They are renting an apartment at 701 Kensington Avenue. Mary told the census taker that they are paying $43 a month rent. She said that Larry is 40 years old while she is 30. They both finished high school. Mary reports that they lived in the same place on April 1, 1935. This is interesting since the 1938 directory listed them living at 1219 Putnam Avenue!

Mary states that Larry was born in Ireland and is a naturalized citizen; she was born in New Jersey. She reports Larry works 40 hours weekly as an assembler at Int. Motors - I wonder if that would be International Motors?

I am puzzled why Larry would go to work in an assembly plant when Mrs. Ginna is still living on Watchung Avenue until at least 1944.

Uncle Larry and his grandson in 1978.

So this is all I know about Uncle Larry. As we discussed much earlier in the introduction to this blog, I saw him in Sneem in 1978 for his niece Eileen O'Sullivan's wedding.  I know that Larry and Mary had 2 daughters – Mollie and Anne.  I've met each of them a couple of times.

Kate and Pat O'Sullivan (Uncle Mike's son) with Uncle Larry, me, and Dick Boland (nephew of Uncle Larry's wife) at Eileen O'Sullivan's wedding in 1978.

Lena Nash O'Sullivan - Uncle Mike's wife, Uncle Larry, me, Eileen Murphy, Dick, and Uncle Mike at Sacre Coeur Cafe in Sneem in 1978.