Andrew Sullivan, Proof of Heirship, 1881

On October 2, 1883, Michael Sullivan, brother of Andrew Sullivan (c1833-1881), provided testimony on the Proof of Heirship for Andrew. 

In the Heirship report Michael notes the following information on Andrew's heirs:

Margaret McCaffery married Andrew in 1859. She died March, 1870.
Children of the marriage:
- James P. Sullivan, b March 12, 1860
- Michael A. Sullivan, b November 19 1861
- Thomas A. Sullivan, b October 6, 1863
- Catherine A. Sullivan, b November 27, 1866
- Peter F. Sullivan, September 13, 1869

Michael married a second time to Jane Duggan, no children were born of this marriage.  Note, from a separate document, the date of their marriage is October 22, 1871.

Michael Sullivan, Proof of Heirship, 1915

On February 26, 1915, Michael Sullivan's brother, Philip J. Sullivan, age 76, gave testimony in the Probate Court of Cook County before Judge Henry Horner in the matter of Proof of Heirship.  Philip gave a 15 page statement, outlining all the next-of-kin of Michael.

In the document, Philip names their father Patrick Sullivan stating that he predeceased Michael and that he married only once to Rose who also predeceased Michael and she also was only married once.  The maiden name of his mother Rose is not stated.

The details of the testimony provided by Philip are listed in the two postings: Heirship Report and the Certificate of Mailing Petition.

Michael Sullivan, Heirship Report, 1915

The Table of Heirship for Michael Sullivan, deceased, entered May 12, 1915 and supplemented May 19, 1916 identifies all known living direct relatives of Michael.  In the next blog posting, the addresses of the living relatives are listed.

From this document, it is possible to reconstruct the family unit, including in many cases grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Patrick and Rose Sullivan.  See also the Mailing Petition which contains addresses of heirs.

To view the document pages, double click on each image to enlarge.

Michael Sullivan, Certificate of Mailing Petition, 1915

For a number of years I tried to tie Philip J. Sullivan (1840-1915) to Andrew Sullivan (c1833-1881), both of whom were buried in the same gravesite at Calvary Cemetery, Evanston.  I believed they were brothers but could not located any document that proved this assumption.  Until..........

In Philip J. Sullivan's 1915 death notice, listed among his relatives was the line "brother of the late Michael Sullivan."  Now, who was Michael Sullivan?  In searching the Cook County probate records for a Michael Sullivan deceased shortly before Philip J. (since no other brothers or sisters were listed, I guessed that Michael had recently died), I located several Michael Sullivans, but one had information that helped reconstitute the senior Sullivan family.  Michael died without any issue so the heirship report listed the entire family.

The following Certificate of Mailing Petition is one of the documents from the probate file.  It identifies all known immediate relatives and their addresses at the time the document was drawn up on March 4, 1915.

The documents can be enlarged by double clicking on each one.  The pages are quite readable once they are enlarged.

Note a brother Matthew lives in Denbawn (Dennbane) County Cavan, Ireland.  Where Michael's siblings predeceased him, his siblings children are listed.  So this document, along with other documents from his probate file, provides a wonderful treasure-trove of names and relationships.