Peter J. Mulvaney - St. Gertrude Church

Peter J. Mulvaney (1868-1912), the son of  Ellen Sullivan (1830-1900 - daughter of Patrick Sullivan and Rose Corcoran) and Thomas Mulvaney (1830-1904), was influential in the creation of St. Gertrude's Parish in Chicago.  In a recent book entitled Woven Lives: One Hundred years in the Story of the St. Gertrude Faith Family, author Patrick Reardon writes:

"By 1910, Catholics living in the northern portion of St. Ita parish were chafing at the inconvenience of traveling a mile or more each Sunday for mass.  A year later, three men from the neighborhood --- Peter J. Mulvaney, P. Frank Combiths and Frank Kelley --- met with Archbishop James Quigley and made their case for a new parish.

"He agreed. And the new parish was established on January 3, 1912, with Father Peter F. Shewbridge as pastor. It was named for St. Gertrude the Great, a German mystic and theologian from the 13th century and the only female saint know as "the Great."  According to Peter M. Brost, one of the intitial group of parishioners, that name was chosen to honor Father Shewbridge's mother.

"Five days later, the parish faced its first sorrow.  Perter Mulvaney, one of the men who had met with Archbishop Quigley, died.  His funeral was at St. Ita."

The Mulvaneys lived at 1519 W. Glenlake, only a few blocks from the location of the current Church now located at 1420 W. Granville.  Peter's wife, Elizabeth, lived at the Glenlake address until 1961 when she moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, two months before she died.

Source: Patrick J. Reardon, Woven Lives: One Hundred Years in the Story of the St. Gertrude Faith Family, May, 2012, pages 15-16.

Michael Sullivan Naturalization Papers, 1851

The oldest son of Patrick Soraghan (Sullivan) and Rose Corcoran, Michael, immigrated to the US in the mid-1840s.  He is listed as living in Williams Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania in the 1850 US Census.

In 1848  he petitioned for US Citizenship from the Court of Common Pleas of Northampton County, Pennsylvania on November 3.  Two individuals who were already citizens of the US gave proof that Michael had resided within the United States of America for "one year last past within the State of Pennsylvania upwards of five years immediately preceding his application..."

Their names were Charles Smith and William Mulvaney.  Both possible relations through marriage.

Citizenship was granted to Michael Sullivan on August 20, 1851 in Easton Court, Northampton County, Pennsylvania.

Source: An original copy of Michael Sullivan's naturalization is held in the Chicago History Museum. It was a gift of Miss A. Mullen, Michael's sister-in-law, on February 12, 1923.

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.