Hi Teejay,
I'm not sure how old this post is but I'll answer it anyway in the hope you may find some of the information new and relevant.
I am a great grandson of Peter and Mary (Griffin) O'Sullivan and I live in the west of England near Bristol. My grandfather was Christopher (Christy) O'Sullivan of Casleconnell and he was the only surviving son of Peter and Mary O'Sullivan.
Peter O'Sullivan may have been born in Casleconnell in the early 1840s. This is an assumption made from his army record which gives this as his place of birth. He joined the 47th foot (the Lancashire regiment) on 27th December 1870 aged 25 and was given the rank of Coporal. This would suggest that he was given immediate responsibility for a section, possibly because of his age or alternatively his level of education. Peter O'Sullivan, unusually for that period of Irish history was literate and well educated.
He returned to Castleconnell approximately a decade later and Married Mary Griffin in Doon (East Limerick) in 1881. Peter was about 40, Mary was 20 and over the next 20 years they had 15 children of which only 6 survived, they were Christopher (known as Christie), Kathleen (known as Kitty) Annie May (known as May), Bridget (known as Breda), Clair (known as Clara) and Mary Anne. I have to admit that I had not known that May's first name was Anne but it helped to solve a mystery in my family. My mother and her five sisters were all named after family members of the previous generation, also her 2 brothers and I could identify all with the exception of my aunt Anne one of the only 2 surviving children of Christopher O'Sullivan. It now makes sense that she was named after Annie May her father's sister. It is a revelation to me that Annie married an Englishman but I have to say, not a surprise. It would appear from old family stories that the O'Sullivan family was very pro British. Kathleen (known as Kitty) married an English soldier in Limerick in 1914 just before the outbreak of the 1st WW. His name was James Henry Hatcher and they settled in Islington, North London after the war, eventually moving to the Farnham area in Surrey to be closer to James' family. They had two daughters Kathleen and Clara. Unfortunately Kitty died young aged 45 in 1935, which suggests her birth year was 1890. I am in contact with her great granddaughter.
Clara O'Sullivan also married an Englishman by the name of Cecil Norris and they had one son William (Billy Norris) who died aged 21 riddled with cancer. My mother used to regularly visit them in Romsey, Hampshire when she came to England to nurse in the London hospitals and she said that they never got over the death of their only child.
That Annie May also married an Englishman is therefore of no surprise to me but it is a surprise that Bridget also came to England. I had no idea what became of her because after the 1901 census she disappeared, but the fact that she "fled" Ireland again could have a bearing on family legend.
My aunt who was the authority on family information told me that grandfather Peter was a very heavy drinker, one might say probably an alcoholic who would spend pretty much every evening in the pub returning home often in a dark mood when he would turn physically violent on his wife and children, including his daughters. This continued throughout their childhood until Christie grew to be a well developed young man. On the final occasion of Peter's violence towards his wife and daughters Christie turned on his father and gave him such a severe beating he never raised a hand to a family member again. Maybe it was this domestic violence that Bridget was turning her back on. Peter O'Sullivan was known as the village scribe. He made a small sideline in writing letters for village folk who were largely illiterate, reading and writing letters for them in exchange for a small fee. He may have been a fisherman but I have no real evidence for that other than to say that my grandfather Christie was a keen and regular fisher on the mighty Shannon. My mother remembered him often turning up from a fishing trip with a fine Salmon tucked under his arm. His old fishing rods are still on display in the old homestead my mother grew up in, Sallymount, Lisnagry, near Castleconnell. They have been on display in the same place in the old living room for well over 80 years now. I have no interest at all in fishing but my son is mad for it. Perhaps he gets it from his Irish great grandfather. I think it quite probable that May's eldest son may have been taken fishing on the Shannon by his uncle Christie.
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Topic: Annie May O'sullivan brick wall (Read 7721 times)