The Wearin' o' the Green

In March, 1908, a local schoolteacher created a brief furor within the local Irish community when she forbade the wearing of green ribbons by Irish-American children in her classroom on St. Patrick's Day.

Green Ribbons Ordered Off
Incident in Schools at Middleboro
Parents of Pupils Will Have the Matter Investigated
Miss Wentworth Says It was Only for Discipline

The request of Miss Ethel A. Wentworth, a teacher in the sixth grade School-st school, that the pupils there remove their green ribbons yesterday has incensed the parents of the children who are of Irish descent, and they declare that they will have the matter investigated, as they believe that their children have a right to wear green ribbons on St. Patrick's day. The incident has created much discussion among the residents.

School started at 9 as usual, and as soon as the pupils were seated, it was observed that several wore green ribbons. Some wore modest bows, while some of the boys wore larger ones, which showed up conspicuously.

Miss Wentworth requested that the children remove the green ribbons and some did so. Others demurred, among them being Walter O'Hara, Ralph McQuade and Miss Mary Baker. O'Hara, however, put his ribbon under his coat lapel. McQuade refused at first to remove his long ribbon, but finally took the bow from his coat. Miss Baker declined to remove her ribbon, on first call, stating that her mother had attached it to her dress and that she intended to wear it. After discussion it was removed, but in the afternoon Miss Baker returned to school wearing the ribbon, and told Miss Wentworth that it was put on by her mother and that she was going to keep it on. She wore it during the rest of the school session.

Miss Wentworth was seen at her boarding place at 23 North st today, and admitted that she had requested all the pupils who were wearing green ribbons to take them off.

When asked why this request was made, she said it was because the green ribbons attracted the attention of the other pupils, and diverted their minds from their lessons. To preserve school discipline she thought that the ribbons should not be worn, and accordingly ordered them removed. She further stated that where she had gone to school, the wearing of the green ribbons on St. Patrick's day was not allowed, presumably because they would detract attention from studies, so she was going to run her school along those lines.

When asked if there was any other reason, or if nationality figured in her request that the green ribbons be removed, she declared that it did not enter into it at all, the reason being given above.

The parents of the children who had to remove their green ribbon, purpose that the matter be taken further. Already the attention of Supt. of Schools C. H. Bates has been called to it. He admits that there would be no objection for the children of Irish descent to show their patriotism in that manner, if they saw fit, and, in the past, he stated that such an objection had not before arisen in his school experience.

Parents say that there was no chance to see whether the school work was disturbed by the green decorations, as Miss Wentworth asked for their removal just as soon as the pupils were seated according to the stories related by the school children. They are inclined to doubt, though, if the wearing of the ribbon in honor of the memory of St. Patrick would disturb the school any more than some girl wearing a hair ribbon or a boy with a pair of new boots. They generally criticise the action taken by Miss Wentworth as entirely unwarranted and very indiscreet, especially in a place where there are so many children of Irish descent.

Among the pupils who wore the green ribbons were Everett Boucher, Ralph McQuade, Walter O'Hara, Helen Pasztor, Viola Babb, Stella Plunkett and May Baker.

A few years ago a teacher here wore a flaring yellow tie on St. Patrick's day, while children of Irish descent wore their green ribbons, but up to now no teacher in recent years has been known to request the removal of green ribbons. In many of the other schools here yesterday the pupils wore green, and no comment was offered by the instructor.

Miss Wentworth formerly lived in Cambridge. She is a graduate of Bridgewater normal school. She taught at Rochester, N. H. where her parents now live, prior to being elected a teacher in the public schools here, commencing her duites last September.

In her defense and as she herself insisted, it is unlikely that Miss Wentworth was motivated by thoughts of the children's ethnicity. Previously, children in the Middleborough schools had been permitted to wear small tokens such as colored ribbons, and little thought was given to them as national expressions. The overt anti-Irish sentiment which had been present in the community in the previous half century had largely dissipated (though more recently arrived immigrant groups, particularly the Italians, were subjected at the time to the worst ethnic stereotyping and prejudice). Miss Wentworth's principal failing, however, appears to have been her utter lack of understanding, both for the feelings of the Irish-American children or how deeply rooted was the connection between the local Irish and the green ribbons they wore.

The ban resonated deeply within the local Irish community for whom the "wearin' o' the green" was a symbolic connection with their home country. The practice of wearing green clothing, green ribbons and green shamrocks was one which had once been banned under the English administration in Ireland following the Rising of 1798, and for local Irish-Americans to hear once more that they (or at least their children) were forbidden to wear green, struck a chord within their collective historical consciousness.

O Paddy dear, and did ye hear the news that's going 'round?
The shamrock is by law forbid to grow on Irish ground!
No more Saint Patrick's Day we'll keep, his color can't be seen
For there's a cruel law against the Wearin' o' the Green.

I met with Napper Tandy, and he took me by the hand,
And he said, "How's poor old Ireland, and how does she stand?"
"She's the most distressful country that ever yet was seen,
For they're hanging men and women there for Wearin' o' the Green.

So if the color we must wear be England's cruel red
Let it remind us of the blood that Irishmen have shed;
And pull the shamrock from your hat, and throw it on the sod
But never fear, it will take root there, though underfoot 'tis trod.

When laws can stop the blades of grass from growing as they grow
And when the leaves of summer time their color dare not show,
Then I will change the color too I wear in my caubeen;
But till that day, please God, I'll stick to the Wearin' o' the Green.

While there is no subsequent record regarding the outcome of the dispute, it is noteworthy that following it Miss Wentworth was employed only a short while longer by the Middleborough school system.

Illustrations:
"The Wearing of the Green", postcard, early 20th century
"Wearing of the Green", postcard, early 20th century

Source:
Brockton Times, "Green Ribbons Ordered Off", March 18, 1908.

Click on the above to hear the incomparable John McCormack's rendition of the "Wearin' o' the Green". McCormack (1884-1945) who recorded the song in 1904 and again in 1912 has long been regarded as Ireland's finest tenor.

The Hibernians in Middleborough

A number of local institutions and organizations helped the Irish-Americans of Middleborough with their assimilation into American society, and in the process solidified the connection between Irish ethnicity and Catholicism. Among these groups, the most prominent social organization was the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

The local Ancient Order of Hibernians division was organized July 1, 1894, as Division No. 7, and appears to have been active through at least 1917. Many communities in the region supported an A. O. H. division including East Bridgewater, Brockton, Whitman, Abington, Rockland, Plymouth and Hingham, and the local Hibernian Hall became the center of Irish-American activities within these communities.

The purpose of the organization was to promote unity, friendship, and charity among its members, and in Middleborough, the A. O. H. acted as a social group, bringing Irish-Americans together. As such, it was likely the first ethnic society in the town. More substantively, the organization provided for its members. In January, 1908, when Daniel Hallisey, an emigrant from Cork and the division’s sergeant-at-arms, died, “the funeral was in charge of members of the A. O. H., in the absence of near relatives of Mr. Hallisey.”

Meetings were held twice monthly (on the first and third Thursdays) through at least 1901, but by 1904-05, the group was meeting only once monthly (on the second Wednesday of each month). In 1906, the A. O. H. was again meeting twice monthly (on the second and fourth Wednesdays), but within ten years, was once more meeting only once a month

The location of the original Hibernian Hall in Middleborough is not known, though the division in 1896 established headquarters in the American Building on South Main Street “over Middleboro Market.” “The members of the A. O. H. are occupying new quarters in the American building, using the rooms formerly occupied by the [Massachusetts Catholic Order of] Foresters”, an Irish-American mutual aid society which formed a local chapter (Sacred Heart Court 96) in May, 1893. The local A. O. H. division may have been without a home for a time, as records indicate that it used various locations, including the Thatcher Block on Center Street (from about 1897 through at least 1901), the Red Men’s Hall (1901), the Nemasket Grange Hall (before 1904 through 1905) and Cushing’s Hall (mid-1905). In September, 1905, the organization found a more permanent home in the form of Boucher’s Hall on Center Street, provided through the courtesy of Thomas F. Boucher. T. D. Creedon, Michael Sullivan, E. F. Doherty, Daniel Hallisey and Edward McQuiggan were named a committee to furnish the rooms which were to include “a lodge room, hall and ante rooms”. The location became known as “A. O. H. Hall” for a time, though the occupation of the hall by the Middleboro Catholic Club (formed in late 1913), led to the hall becoming known as the Catholic Club Hall. The A. O. H. Hall was also lent to other Catholic non-Irish groups including the local French Canadian community for the organization of their own ethnic social, cultural and charitable society. There undoubtedly existed strong connections between the local Irish and French Canadians through Sacred Heart Church.

The local A. O. H. maintained an overlapping membership with other Catholic groups in town, including the Knights of Columbus, Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters, and the Middleboro Catholic Club, which further helped define the local Irish-American community. These organizations commonly shared a mission and, not surprisingly, frequently featured similar programs. In November, 1901, the Middleborough Knights of Columbus hosted a “smoke talk” featuring entertainment including “Daniel F. McCarthy’s tenor voice [which] was heard with fine effect in ‘Come Back to Erin, Mavourneen,’ and ‘The Homestead on the Hill.’” The following year, the 16th Club, a prominent Catholic lay organization, held a concert and whist party on St. Patrick’s Day, featuring a “Songs of Ireland” program and an address on “St. Patrick and the National and Religious Observance of the Day”. Prominent among the list of attendees were Dennis D. Sullivan and Mrs. Thomas Boucher.

The local Hibernians were noted for their entertainments, particularly the annual St. Patrick’s night celebrations held each March 17th. Typically the event featured an address by the local priest on a topic related to St. Patrick and Ireland. In 1903 and 1904, Reverend Father Daniel C. Riordan of Sacred Heart Church spoke on “The Life of St. Patrick”, 1909 saw Reverend Father John P. Sullivan speak on “St. Patrick”, while Reverend Father James J. Murphy of the same parish presented an address concerning “Reminiscences of Ireland and St. Patrick” in 1912. Early St. Patrick’s night celebrations featured whist parties (such as that hosted in Homestead Hall in 1903), while later they became more focused upon musical entertainments and dancing. 1912’s address was followed by a musical program consisting of piano selections by Frank H. Harrington and Francis M. McCarthy; violin selections by Charles H. Boehme; songs by Mrs. William Purtell, Miss Irene McDonald, Hugh Rogers, Mrs. Walter Rice, Mrs. Robert Ward, Michael Sheehan, Miss Albena Duffany and a sextette composed of Misses May Baker, Mary Bagley, Pearl Malley, Helen McLaughlin, Eliza Benjamin and Loretta Benjamin. In 1911, “Miss May Baker, suitably costumed, sang an Irish song with pleasing effect, while Mrs. L. Walter Rice and Mrs. Robert Ward performed a vocal duet, and Miss Esther Cashon and Michael Sheehan also provided vocal selections followed by dancing. Typically, these St. Patrick’s night entertainments were popular, the 1903 event attracting 200 participants. Funds raised were often devoted to Irish Catholic charitable purposes. For instance, despite the fact that St. Patrick’s Day, 1902, “went off very quietly in town, the only attractions being a dance and the whist and concert”, sufficient funds were raised and the proceeds were “devoted to the development of St. Mary’s cemetery.”

Other entertainments featured by the Hibernians throughout the years included musical programs, minstrel shows, and a two-day bazaar in late October, 1912, which raised over $150 for the group. “The division netted a substantial return although handicapped both nights by the weather.” Dances were popular as was the annual Hibernian ball. The Hibernians first ball was held November 25, 1901, and was widely attended. John Kerrigan served as floor director, and was assisted by James H. Creedon, George Kelley and Edward Howard. Among those present were John Boucher, Michael Sullivan, Edward Howard, William Kelley, T. D. Creedon, Daniel Hallisey, Frank Murphy, T. J. Brennan, John D. Emery, Michael Mack, E. M. O’Toole, Miss Nellie Boehme, Henry Boehme, Miss Annie Cronin, Andrew Cronin, Miss Ruby Macomber, Miss Lizzie Sullivan, Miss Florence Cummings, Mr. Edgar Nevitt, Miss Nora Sullivan, Mr. John J. Sullivan, Frank H. Sullivan, Herbert Shaw, Miss Martina Callan, Miss Rose Callan, Luke Kelley, Mr. and Mrs. E. O’Donnell, Harry Belmont, George Kelley, Miss Annie Kelley, and James Norris.

The Hibernians also sponsored lectures on cultural and political topics. In September, 1909, Rev. Fr. J. F. Kelleher of Brockton spoke before the Middleborough division concerning the “good of the order”, while the following month’s lecture featured a speaker from the Catholic University at Washington. The traditional St. Patrick’s night address in 1907, presented by past state A. O. H. president E. J. Slattery of Framingham, proved unusually political in tone.

There are many who do not clearly understand the position of the A. O. H. in their alliance with German societies. It is plain, however, for its purpose is to prevent the so-called Anglo-Saxon alliance till justice is done to Ireland. One and a half millions of Germans are enrolled, and they are as anxious as the Irish to prevent the arrangement from going into effect …

We are told to avoid entangling alliances, and to keep this probable entanglement from going into effect every effort must be made.

The preservation of the Gaelic language is a work in which we have interested ourselves, and we are meeting with great success both in America and in Ireland, in the revival of the native tongue of our people. Our next work will be to get fair play in historic matters. Even though a misleading English history is to be found in almost every school, all we ask is that by its side a fair Irish history be kept, that fair play may be given in the education of the American child.

The affairs in Ireland, tending toward better condition, are more favorable now than they have been for 700 years. The reform movement in England, resulting in the election of statesmen from the masses, will have its effects, and while we would all hope for the independence of Ireland it is not yet probable that it may be accomplished, though we may progress along constitutional lines to a better condition.

The leader of the Irish people, Mr. John Redmond, is a great and unselfish leader, and under his standard and work great achievements have been accomplished.

Ironically, Redmond would be marginalized in Irish politics following 1916.

The local A. O. H. division included a ladies’ auxiliary as well which remained active in sponsoring social events. One such event was a “largely-attended dance” held in Lyric Hall on September 17, 1913, under the direction of Miss Agnes Maddigan. In 1914, Mrs. Belle Kelley was installed as the auxiliary president during the same ceremony in which her son was installed as president of the local A. O. H. division. The women also took a political role (particularly on social issues) as evidenced by a quarterly convention of the county auxiliary at Middleborough on October 12, 1913. Meeting in the Knights of Columbus hall, the ladies’ business meeting passed a number of resolutions including one against the introduction of “sex hygiene” in the public schools which it maintained was the prerogative of the parents and the church. Nonetheless, the women took a liberal stance on the matter of the minimum wage. “In view of the fact that many girls are led astray by low wages and the high cost of living, we protest against low wages and resolve that a minimum wage of no less than $8 per week may be assured.”

Given the composition of its membership, it is not surprising that the organization maintained close ties to the local church. In December, 1912, Father James J. Murphy, priest at Sacred Heart Church since October, 1911, and the local chaplain of the Middleborough, Bridgewater and East Bridgewater divisions was appointed count chaplain for the Plymouth County divisions by Cardinal O’Connell. As a whole, Division 7 was active within the county and frequent quarterly conventions of the county organization were held in Middleborough. The local division also took part in the large A. O. H. parade at Boston in 1900.

Few records remain to document the operations, let alone the existence of the local Ancient Order of Hibernians division. The following roster indicates the officers who led the division as well as documented dates of service.

President:
P. J. Crowley (1895), Michael J. Baker (1897), John H. Murphy (1899), John H. Murphy (1901), John F. Mahoney (1901-02), F. E. Doherty (1903), E. F. Doherty (1904-05), John F. Mahoney (1906), Thomas H. Kelley (1914)

Vice-President:
Daniel Keefe (1895), Edward F. Murphy (1897), John J. Sullivan (1899), John J. Sullivan (1901), James H. Creedon (1901-02), Edward Drummond (1903), Edward Drummond (1904-05), John J. Morrison (1906), W. Joseph Houlihan (1914)

Recording Secretary:
Michael Barnett (1895), William J. Houlihan (1897), James J. O’Hara (1899), Michael Broderick (1901), Timothy H. Sullivan (1901-05), M. J. Baker (1906), Edward J. Kelley (1914)

Financial Secretary:
John Houlihan (1895), Peter Kerrigan (1897), Michael J. Baker (1899), Michael J. Baker (1901), Timothy D. Creedon (1901-06, 1914)

Treasurer:
William J. Houlihan (1895), Richard T. Kilroy (1897), John J. Creedon (1899), John J. Creedon (1901), John J. Creedon (1901-02), George Kelley (1903-05), Michael Sullivan (1906, 1914)

Sergeant-at-Arms:
Daniel Hallisey (1901-03), Oscar J. Boehme (1914)

Illustrations:
John Kerrigan, photographic half-tone, Boston Daily Globe, "First Ball of Hibernians", November 26, 1901.
Kerrigan had the honor of serving as Floor Director of the first Hibernian Ball sponsored by the local division of the A. O. H. which was held November 25, 1901, in Middleborough Town Hall. Kerrigan emigrated from Ireland in the late 1800s and came to settle in Middleborough. In 1910, he was occupied as a freight handler at the local railroad station while later in life he served as the sexton of Sacred Heart Church.

Reverend Father James J. Murphy, newspaper clipping and photographic half-tone, Brockton Times, "County Chaplain, A. O. H.", December 11, 1912.
Given the large proportion of Irish who comprised the Sacred Heart parish in Middleborough, its priests (of Irish backgrounds themselves) maintained a close connection with the local A. O. H. and were frequent speakers at its events. Murphy served as pastor of the church between 1912 and 1914, and was named County Chaplain of the A. O. H. in December, 1912, by Cardinal O'Connell.

Sources:

Boston Daily Globe, April 26, 1901; June 29, 1901; July 1, 1901; September 17, 1901; November 22, 1901; November 25, 1901; “First Ball of Hibernians”, November 26, 1901; “Opening of Polo Season”, December 1, 1901; December 2, 1901; December 17, 1901; February 2, 1902; March 18, 1902; December 22, 1902.

Brockton Enterprise, “Middleboro” and “A. O. H. Well Represented”, May, 1900; “Middleboro Hibernians”, March 18, 1903; September 28, 1903

Brockton Times, April 3, 1901; August 6, 1900; December 27, 1900; December 31, 1900; February 19, 1901; “Middleboro”, January 12, 1904; March 18, 1904; March 20, 1904; “Div. 7, A. O. H., Middleboro”, March 18, 1907; “Middleboro”, March 18, 1908; “Plan for Big Reunion”, September 26, 1909; “Middleboro”, March 18, 1911; ibid., March 18, 1912; “County Chaplain, A. O. H.”, December 11, 1912; “Joint Installation”, February 3, 1913; “Middleboro”, September 18, 1913”; “Hibernian Auxiliary for Minimum Wage”, October 12, 1913; “Middleboro Catholic Club”, November 15, 1913; “Middleboro”, December 5, 1913; “Joint Installation”, January 26, 1914

Middleboro Gazette, “Middleboro”, January 20, 1905, page 4; ibid., September 25, 1905, page 4; ibid., September 8, 1905, page 4; “A. O. H. Minstrels”, May 11, 1906, page 4; "Middleboro", May 18, 1906, p. 4; “Recent Deaths” [Daniel Hallisey], January 10, 1908, page 1; “Middleboro”, March 22, 1912, page 8; “A. O. H. Convention”, October 4, 1912, page 1; “A. O. H. Bazaar”, November 1, 1912, page 1; “Appointed Chaplain of County A. O. H.”, December 13, 1912, page 1; October 1, 1915, page 1; “What the Gazette Was Saying Twenty-Five Years Ago”, April 8, 1921, page 3; ibid., July 7, 1922, page 6.

New Bedford Standard, “Middleboro”, March 18, 1902

Resident and Business Directory of Middleboro and Lakeville, Mass. For 1895. Needham, MA: A. E. Foss & Co., 1895, page 38.

Resident and Business Directory of Middleboro, Massachusetts. For 1897. Needham, MA: A. E. Foss & Co., 1897., page 127.

Resident and Business Directory of Middleboro’ and Lakeville, Massachusetts, for 1899. Needham, A. E. Foss & Co., 1899, page 41

Resident and Business Directory of Middleboro, Mass.: 1901. North Cambridge, MA: Edward A. Jones, 1901, page 152.

Resident and Business Directory of Middleboro and Lakeville, Mass.: 1904-05. Boston, MA: Edward A. Jones, 1904, page 144.

Resident and Business Directory of Middleboro, Mass. 1906-7. Boston: Boston Suburban Book Co., 1906, page 158.

Resident and Business Directory of Middleboro and Lakeville, Massachusetts: 1909. Boston, MA: Boston Suburban Book Co., 1909, page 155.

Resident and Business Directory of Middleboro, Massachusetts. 1913. Boston: Union Publishing Co., 1913, page 156.

Resident and Business Directory of Middleboro, Massachusetts. 1914. Boston: Union Publishing Co., 1914, page 158.

Resident and Business Directory of Middleboro, Massachusetts: 1916-17. Boston, MA: Union Publishing Company, 1916, page 149.

Click on the A. O. H. icon above to learn more about the organization's history.

"Paddies" No More: Success Comes for Middleborough's Famine Irish

While the first generation of Famine Irish were typically relegated to economic positions as manual laborers and domestics and frequently had little or no education to assist them in “bettering” themselves, second and particularly third-generation Irish-Americans in Middleborough availed themselves of the opportunity of free public education, and through the acquisition of new skills obtained better-paying employment which also held out the possibility of upward mobility. Through these changes, local Irish-Americans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries began to become assimilated and attain positions in fields previously closed to them including business, law, and insurance. Additionally, the Irish-American community entered into local politics, most notably through the Middleborough School Committee which proved a vehicle to further success and prominence within the larger community. All of these developments helped local Irish-Americans move away from the mid-19th century’s characterization of them as “paddies”.

Timothy F. Creedon

Among the earliest of Middleborough’s Famine Irish to achieve a level of economic success beyond laboring was Timothy F. Creedon (c. 1851-1923) who was able to parlay skills brought with him from Ireland into a successful career as a businessman and florist. The details of Creedon’s early life in Ireland, like those of many first generation Irish are conflicting and clouded. Born in County Cork, Ireland, about 1851, Creedon emigrated as a young boy, coming to America in 1856 and becoming naturalized two years later in 1858. Other sources indicate that Creedon emigrated at about the age of 14, having first worked with his father, a gardener and florist, on a large estate in Cork where he acquired his knowledge of plants, flowers and gardening.

Creedon worked in Connecticut and New York before being engaged on the estate of Judge David Allen Smalley (1809-77) at Burlington, Vermont. Probably following Smalley’s death, Creedon came to Middleborough to enter the employ of Levi P. Thatcher who hired him to tend his own gardens and greenhouses. Thatcher’s greenhouses had been erected about 1870 in the rear of Thatcher’s home facing Thatcher’s Row, and for 27 years Creedon would have charge of them.

Creedon purchased the Thatcher greenhouses in 1905 and relocated them to his home on Wareham Street at the corner of Benton Street where he established a floral business.

T. F. Creedon, the veteran florist so long in charge of the greenhouses on Thatcher’s row, has started the erection of a new greenhouse plant at his home on Wareham street. The plant comprises three houses, which are large and roomy and well adapted for his purposes.

As for most early Irish Catholics, the local Catholic parish provided Creedon with a strong sense of community and identity. Creedon’s connection with the local church was further strengthened by his marriage to Ellen Sullivan, the daughter of Patrick and Ellen (McCarthy) Sullivan in whose home on Wareham Street the first masses in Middleborough were held. At the time of his death, Creedon was one of the oldest members of Sacred Heart parish, and he had attended mass in Peirce Hall, the space above the Peirce store on North Main Street before the construction of a Catholic church in town. Creedon was also a member of the committee which acquired the site for St. Mary’s Cemetery, thereby providing a burial ground for Middleborough Catholics. Additionally, Creedon was an active member of local Irish and Catholic cultural organizations including the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters and the Knights of Columbus.

Creedon’s floral business became one of the most successful businesses in Middleborough. Following Creedon’s death, the business was operated as “Creedon, Florist” by Creedon’s son James Henry Creedon (1888-1955).

The younger Creedon’s experience, like that of many second and third generation Irish in Middleborough, demonstrated the powerful influence of public education. While most Irish immigrants recognized the value of educating their children, not all did. In April, 1902, James Houlihan was before Judge Allan in the District Court for keeping his son, Joseph, from school. “He agreed that the little fellow should go to school the rest of the term regularly, and his case was placed on file to see how well his promises will be fulfilled.” Yet whether public education was regarded as desirable or mandatory for their children by local Irish-American parents, it was a crucial factor in the improvement of their lives and their economic prospects.

James H. Creedon clearly fell into the camp which saw a public school education as indispensable. Availing himself of the opportunity of a free public education, the younger Creedon attended Middleborough public schools, graduating from Middleborough High School in 1900, and early in his career worked as a successful journalist for local newspapers throughout the region including the Boston Post, Brockton Times, Brockton Enterprise, New Bedford Evening Standard and Middleboro Gazette. Creedon was active in local Democratic party circles and in 1914 at a time when the position of local postmaster was a plum politically-determined appointment, Creedon (who passed the postal service examination in 1903) was named Middleborough Postmaster, a post he held until 1922. Creedon also served as a member of the local Public Safety Committee during the First World War, but limited his involvement in municipal affairs after that. In 1926, he declined appointment as an Overseer of the Poor in Middleborough.

Though the floral business was sold by the Creedon in 1938, for many years following it retained the “Creedon” name, an indication of the success which its immigrant founder was able to build within the community.

Thomas Boucher

Like Timothy F. Creedon, Thomas Francis Boucher was able to build a prosperous business which outlived him. “When one takes the time to look over the long list of firms which have given years of service to Middleboro, he should feel justly proud that there are stores in this town as Boucher’s paint store.”

Thomas F. Boucher (1866-1936) was born in Massachu-
setts the son of Thomas (c. 1830-1902) and Ann (Kerrigan) Boucher. The elder Boucher immigrated to America at the time of the Famine. Hampered by an inability to either read or write, he found employment as a common laborer throughout his adult life, at times working as an agricultural laborer. He appears never to have become a naturalized citizen.

Despite these disadvantages, Boucher was able to establish a comfortable life for himself and his family. Home ownership would become an important indicator of economic stability and success for Irish immigrants during the post-bellum period when many would acquire or build homes for themselves. In 1870, Boucher constructed a house on Center Street in the front of Sylvanus H. Vaughan’s livery stable, and five years later built a new house on High Street. For a century the Boucher family would be associated with this area of Middleborough near Everett Square.

Perhaps because of his lack of education, Boucher ensured that at least his sons, William, Thomas F., James and John E. attended school. [There appears no record that daughters Mary E. (1862-1939) or Katherine (1864-1934) ever did]. The eldest son, William Boucher (b. 1860), like many second generation Irish-American men followed in his father’s footsteps and worked as a laborer (1880), though he was skilled enough by 1884 to list his occupation as that of carpenter, while daughters Mary and Katherine found employment in the local shoe industry. For various social reasons, many Irish married late or never at all, and in fact neither of Boucher’s daughters ever married.

Boucher’s second son, Thomas Francis Boucher attended public school in Middleborough. It is not apparent how the younger Boucher occupied himself following his schooling, but about 1895 or prior he established a paint shop in the building which now houses Marra’s barbershop on Center Street. Boucher worked not only as a painter, but he retailed paint and wallpaper as well. He appears in a local directory for 1899-1900 as a house and sign painter as well as a dealer in “paints, oil and glass”. Working with Boucher was his brother, John E. Boucher (1873-1928), who was also engaged as a fireman, and who lived on High Street in a house near his father’s. Near the turn of the century, a new store immediately to the west of the original Boucher shop was constructed. Over this and the adjoining shoe store of Fred M. White Boucher constructed a second story which created “a fine appearing piece of property.”

Like the Creedons and other Irish-American families in Middleboro-
ugh, the Bouchers maintained close ties with and were active in both the Sacred Heart church as well as Irish Catholic fraternal and social organizations locally. For a time, the second floor space over Boucher’s shop known as Boucher’s Hall, was utilized by Catholic organizations in town such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Middleboro Catholic Club. During St. Patrick’s evening celebrations at the turn of the last century, whist was occasionally featured as an attraction and its popularity may have contributed to Boucher’s decision to use his hall as a “whist parlor” in 1905.

Second-generation Irish-Americans typically married “one of their own”, and in 1900, Boucher married Julia K. Mansfield (1864-1946), who like her husband had been born in Massachusetts of Irish immigrant parents. Their son, Thomas F. Boucher, Jr. (1906-2000) was also able to obtain an extensive education which would have been unheard of a generation before. After attending Middleborough public schools, he graduated from the New York School of Forestry in 1926 before entering his father’s business in 1927.

John Sullivan

John (1833-73) and Margaret (Hogan) Sullivan (1833-1912) were one of the several Sullivan families who came to Middleborough in the wake of the Famine. Both came from County Cork and they settled at Taunton, but came to Middleborough sometime in the late 1860s where Sullivan found employment with the Old Colony Railroad and where they settled on Vine Street. Sullivan died in 1873 of pneumonia, leaving his widow, two sons Dennis D. and John J., and two daughters Honora (“Nora”) and Mary.



Margaret Sullivan clearly understood the benefits of a public education and each of her children attended school. Later for a time, she was able to send her sons to the Eaton Family School, a prestigious Middleborough private school out of reach for most Irish-Americans. Her ability to do this is indicative in her belief in what was termed at the time as a “proper education.”

Despite this advantage, in early life Dennis D. Sullivan (1863-1941) led what was a typically Irish-American life in Middleborough. At 16 he went to work as a laborer, but in contrast to many boys at the time, he continued his studies. Education would prove the vehicle which would permit Sullivan to escape the pattern of a previous generation which had seen most Irish confined to manual jobs. Sometime after the completion of his studies, Sullivan in the late 1880s established a meat and provisions business from his home on Center Street (now 167 Center Avenue) delivering groceries and meat to local neighborhood homes through the early 1890s. It is likely that the operation was used to fund Sullivan’s higher education and help fulfill his ambition to enter the professions.

By at least 1895 if not earlier, Sullivan was able to establish a real estate and insurance business which was so successful that he was able to purchase the Middleboro Insurance Agency in 1905. While engaged in this field, he attended and graduated from Boston University Law School, being admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1898. Sullivan must have demonstrated remarkable legal ability for just two years later he was appointed as an associate justice of the Fourth District Court of Plymouth County. “Early in his years of practice, Judge Sullivan distinguished himself as a trial lawyer”, and he would enjoy an illustrious judicial career, serving for over 35 years.

Sullivan would serve in a number of civic and municipal roles, and was a strong promoter of business and residential development locally, serving as president of the Middleboro Land Improvement Company in the late 1890s, largely due to his local expertise in the real estate field.

Sullivan’s children would demonstrate the continuing success of third generation Irish-Americans. Daughter Irene L. Sullivan became one of the first college-educated Irish-American women in Middleborough, attending Trinity College in Washington and training as a kindergarten teacher at Boston, before entering the educational field. Eventually she was named principal of the Forest Street (Flora Clark) School before marrying Theodore Stegmaier in 1920.

John V. Sullivan was educated in Middleborough Public Schools, graduating from Middleborough High School in 1907 alongside his sister, Irene. Like his father, Sullivan attended Boston University Law School, graduating in 1910 with an LL. B. Admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1911, Sullivan joined his father’s practice which was subsequently known as Sullivan & Sullivan with offices in what is now the Glidden Building on Center Street, though then known as the Sullivan Building. In 1922, Sullivan was named Assistant U. S. District Attorney for Massachusetts and between 1925 and 1933 he served in various capacities in the combined district attorney’s office in Plymouth and Norfolk County. In 1931, he was promoted to First Assistant District Attorney, a position he later resigned in order to resume his private practice. In 1938, Sullivan succeeded his father as associate justice of the Fourth District Court. Additionally, he served as Middleborough and Carver Town Counsel, and was a member of the Middleborough School Committee from 1914 through 1922.

While Dennis Sullivan had a strong entrepreneurial sensibility, it was his brother John J. Sullivan (1870-1953) who became a noted businessman in Middleborough, for years operating a newsstand near the Four Corners. Like his brother, John Sullivan attended the Eaton Family School, but he left there at the age of 15 in order to take a job in the Bay State Straw Works on Courtland Street for the sum of $3.90 a week. Along with his sister Nora, he was afterwards employed in the Hathaway, Soule & Harrington shoe manufactory on Cambridge Street. Later, he was employed at Begley’s meat market and Beckman’s provision store and it is in this latter establishment that he learned the newsdealer trade.

Beginning in 1907, Sullivan sold Sunday newspapers, having purchased the right to do so from druggist John Shaw. In August, 1908, Sullivan opened his own place of business on Center Street near the Savings Bank Building. The business, known as Sullivan’s News Stand was described by Middleborough historian Mertie E. Romaine as “probably the smallest business establishment in Middleboro … just a chink in the wall at 30 Centre Street, approximately six feet wide and thirty feet deep.” Nonetheless, the business proved profitable enough for Sullivan to purchase the former home of John C. Sullivan on Pearl Street where he resided for the remainder of his life with his sisters. At the time of his death, Sullivan left an estate of $100,000, a considerable sum at the time.

Luke Callan

Like the Sullivan family, the Callans would find successful professional lives in the legal and judicial profession despite the humble origin of their immigrant ancestor, Luke Callan.

Luke Callan was born the son of Philip and Rose (Boylan) Callan in County Cavan sometime in the 1830s, and emigrated to America in 1854, first coming to Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Later he relocated to East Taunton, Massachusetts, and became engaged in the shovel industry there.

“He rapidly learned all portions of this trade and became remarkably proficient, so much so that when the company operating the shovel shop in Middleboro, located at the Wareham street dam, in looking about for a skilled workman secured Mr. Callan and paid him a big salary for those days.” Callan produced the shovels exhibited by Brown & Sherman of Middleborough at the Philadelphia Exposition in 1876, a display which was awarded first prize. Following the destruction of the Wareham Street shovel works by fire, Callan was employed by the Star Mill and later by Hathaway, Soule & Harrington, shoe manufacturers. In these positions, Callan was required to read, though it is recorded that he could not write.

Likely through these wages and savings earned over time, Callan was able to purchase a house lot from Philander Washburn for $350 on the newly-built Clifford Street in March, 1872, upon which he constructed a house (which no longer stands).

Like the Creedons and Bouchers, Callan was actively involved with the Sacred Heart church, serving as a sexton for a considerable length of time.

Callan’s children were among the early Irish-American second generation attending Middleborough public schools, and obtaining better positions in the local shoe and woolen industries. Philip Callan (1858-1916) worked in the Star Mill before relocating to Providence and his brother, John L. Callan (b. 1862) also worked there for a time. Martina Callan (1869-1931) was engaged in the shoe industry, working as a shoe steamer, while her sister Rosetta [“Rose”] Callan (b. 1871) worked as a dress maker. Youngest son Luke F. Callan (b. 1872) also worked in the local shoe factories as a laster. By 1910, he had risen to the position of foreman and he was able to purchase the Charles Peirce house on Clifford Street at that time, thereby remaining close to his family.

Callan’s son, Luke F. Callan, Jr., who was better known as L. Francis Callan (1901-62), was educated in Middleborough public schools and Dartmouth College, graduating in 1923. He subsequently attended Boston University Law School as had Dennis and John V. Sullivan before him. Following his graduation in 1927 and admission to the Massachusetts bar, Callan was assisted in his early legal career by Dennis D. Sullivan, by whom he was employed, and Callan’s career would remain connected to that of the Sullivans. In May, 1944, when John V. Sullivan was elevated to the Superior Court, Callan succeeded him as presiding justice of the Fourth District Court. Also like both Sullivans, Callan became associated with local business circles and served as a director of and counsel for the Middleborough Co-operative Bank. Additionally, like John V. Sullivan before him, Callan served as a member of the Middleborough School Committee between 1935 and 1946. His son and granddaughter would continue the family's association with the legal profession.

Michael and Thomas Maddigan

It is not clear when the Maddigan family emigrated from County Kilkenny, Ireland, though it appears to have been about 1854-55. Arriving by way of Rhode Island, the extended family of Michael (c. 1797-1863) and Mary (Welch) Maddigan, their son Thomas (1828-1900) and his family, and probably Michael’s nephew John Welch and either Welch’s wife or sister Mary were settled at Tremont in Wareham in 1855. There the Maddigans found jobs as laborers their experience was typical of that of other Irish-Americans. Like many men of the period, Michael Maddigan’s sons, Michael and James both served as Union soldiers during the Civil War. James (c. 1824-64), served in the 58th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, and died of wounds incurred during service in 1864.

Thomas Maddigan’s son Michael J. Maddigan (1855-1931) like other second generation Irish-Americans, attended school early on, though later left to take a job to help support the family. By 1870, he was working with his father in the Tremont Iron Works and was occupied as a nailor and later a heater. By the age of 20 he had reached the rank of foreman in the “mill which smelted iron and rolled it for the Tremont Nail Company”.

The family removed to Middleborough sometime between 1886 and 1889, at which time Maddigan entered the dairy business on Rocky Meadow Street, a pursuit which would later be followed by his son, James F. (“Frank”) Maddigan . About 1889, the family moved to Middleborough center, ultimately purchasing a home at 10 Star Avenue. It was about this time that Maddigan took a position in the Four Corners grocery store of Ira Tinkham before being hired out to Everett Lincoln. Maddigan later was employed as a day laborer and fireman and nightwatchman in the Nemasket Worsted Mill.

Unlike other early Irish-American immigrants, Maddigan married a New England Protestant, Mary E. (Dunham) Maddigan, and through her influence some members of the family became associated with the Episcopal Church of Our Saviour, including the couple's son Ralph William Maddigan (1890-1973). Others, like Maddigan’s eldest surviving son Frank would adhere closely to the Catholic Irish-American pattern, remaining a lifelong communicant of Sacred Heart church and marrying Catherine M. Gibbons who had emigrated from County Roscommon to Providence where she worked as a domestic before coming to Middleborough.

Though a number of the Maddigan children would take employment in the nearby Nemasket woolen mill, Ralph W. Maddigan took a different course and would achieve the highest level of professional success. At the age of 12, Maddigan went to work for his older brother Frank who operated a dairy. “He milked cows, and, pulling a small cart, peddled milk in the neighborhood, measuring out the milk (at 5c a quart) into cans which customers brought to their door.” Maddigan attended high school for two years before leaving for employment in a shoe shop. At the time, educational opportunities still remained a luxury for many Irish-American families who needed the children to work in order to support the family. Nonetheless, like Dennis Sullivan before him, Maddigan continued his studies at night school, studying bookkeeping and mathematics.

Maddigan later said that “nearly as soon as I was 21, I left the shoe shop, because I didn’t feel that there were as great opportunities there as somewhere else.” Through an acquaintance, Maddigan became interested in insurance and took a job with the Prudential Insurance Company, having responsibility for a premium collection route in Middleborough and East Taunton. This, in turn, led him to sell insurance on a commission basis.

Like the Sullivans and Callans, Maddigan began the study of law and, upon the advice of George Fox Tucker, a lawyer residing in Lakeville, Maddigan entered the law office of Bert J. Allan. Maddigan offered to his services without pay if Allan would help him learn law. Allan, himself, had learned in a similar fashion in the office of John C. Sullivan. Through training in Allan’s office, Maddigan learned real estate, as well, while continuing to sell insurance.

In 1917, Thomas M. Ryder who operated an insurance agency founded in 1877 died, and control of the firm was assumed by his son, Charles M. Ryder. Under the management of Maddigan and later his son, Ralph Maddigan, Jr., “the company expanded until it is now (1969) regarded as one of the largest insurance agencies in the southern section of the state, handling all types of insurance.”

Though the firm, now owned by the third generation, has been associated with the Maddigan family for nearly a century, it has always retained the Ryder name, a consequence of anti-Irish prejudice which lingered as late as the 1920s.

The reason the Maddigan name was not given, lies in the shadow of one of society’s great faults: racial prejudice. In these parts, 50 years or so ago, to be Irish, and Catholic as well, was to be a member of an unpopular minority. This was particularly true of Cape Cod at that time, where the original T. M. Ryder Company had a major part of its patronage. [Ralph Maddigan], whose ancestors on his mother’s side were Yankee ships chandlers and New Bedford whalers, but whose father was of direct Irish descent, recognized the fact that in the Cape area the Ryder name had Anglo-Saxon Protestant status and acceptance.

Like the Sullivans and Callan before him, Ralph Maddigan sought a place on the Middleborough School Committee. Though ultimately unsuccessful in his bid, his son, Ralph Maddigan, Jr., would serve as a Middleborough selectman from 1946 through 1955, being probably the first local Irish-American to serve in that post. By that time, however, ethnicity and religion (at least in regards to the Irish) was no longer an impediment to social or economic advancement and success within the community, thanks in large part to the second and third generations of Irish-Americans who paved a way towards a better future for their families and their descendants.

Illustrations:
T. F. Boucher, advertisement, Resident and Business Directory of Middleboro and Lakeville, Massachusetts: 1909 (Boston, MA: Boston Suburban Book Co., 1909), page 62.

"Wall Papers", advertisement, Middleboro Gazette, March 9, 1906, page 4.

Sullivan Family Outside 49 Vine Street, Middleborough, MA, photograph, 1880s. Courtesy of Chris Sullivan.
This photograph depicts the Sullivan family outside their home which was purchased in May, 1870 from William Jeffers. It was here that Dennis D. Sullivan, seen holding the bridle of the horse, first established a meat and provisions business as indicated by the "MARKET" sign on the barn. His brother John stands next to their mother, Margaret (Hogan) Sullivan, while sisters Mary and Nora are also present.

Judge Dennis D. Sullivan, photograph, mid-1930s. Courtesy of Chris Sullivan.

Sullivan Family Outside 791 Center Street, Middleborough, MA, photograph, early 20th century.
In 1890, Margaret Sullivan purchased this house on the corner of Center and Lovell Streets which she occupied with her family. The house, only recently built at that time, was a step above the Vine Street house which was both older and smaller, and the purchase demonstrates the upward mobility which local Irish-Americans began to experience at this time. Nonetheless, the Vine Street house held sentimental value for Mrs. Sullivan and it was not sold until 1913, a year following her death. John Sullivan waters the lawn, while his brother Dennis sits. Margaret Sullivan is again at the center of the picture with her daughters Mary and Nora. This is the photograph which appears on the cover of Images of America: Middleborough.

"Life Insurance", advertisement, Middleboro Gazette, July 19, 1912, page 8.
Ralph W. Maddigan was just 22 when he placed this ad in the local newspaper. He initially sold insurance from the family's Star Avenue home.

Ralph W. Maddigan, photograph by Clint Clark, newspaper half-tone, January, 1971.

"Insurance Notice", notice, Middleboro Gazette, December 28, 1917, page 8.
In part due to lingering prejudice against Irish Catholics, Ralph W. Maddigan chose to retain the Ryder name when he purchased T. M. Ryder & Son. While the firm became known as T. M. Ryder & Co., and the notice mentions Maddigan's involvement with the firm, it continues to stress the firm's origins and Ryder connections. Ironically, Maddigan was an Episcopalian.

Sources:

History and Directory of Middleboro, Mass., for 1889. Needham, MA: A. E. Foss, 1889.

History and Directory of Middleboro, Mass., 1892. Needham, MA: A. E. Foss & Co., 1892.

Lainhart, Ann S. 1855 and 1865 Massachusetts State Census for Middleborough. Boston, MA: n. pub., 1988.

Middleboro Gazette, “Middleboro”, June 9, 1905, p. 4; ibid., June 23, 1905, p. 4; ibid., July 7, 1905, p. 1; ibid., August 4, 1905, p. 4; November 10, 1905, p. 1; “Middleboro”, September 6, 1907, p. 4; ibid., June 19, 1908, p. 4; ibid., October 9, 1908, p. 4; ibid., July 2, 1909, p. 2; ibid., July 9, 1909, p. 6; July 19, 1912, p. 8; February 27, 1914, p. 5; “Recent Deaths” [Luke Callan], May 19, 1916, p. 1; December 28, 1917, p. 8; July 5, 1918, p. 1; August 30, 1918, p. 1; October 10, 1919, p. 1; January 30, 1920, p. 1; February 6, 1920, p. 1; February 27, 1920, p. 1; “What the Gazette Was Saying Fifty Years Ago”, June 25, 1920, p. 6; July 2, 1920, p. 1; December 31, 1920, p. 4; February 11, 1921, p. 3; April 8, 1921, p. 1; “What the Gazette Was Saying Fifty Years Ago”, March 10, 1922, p. 5; May 5, 1922, p. 5; June 30, 1922, p. 2; July 21, 1922, p. 5; December 15, 1922, p. 1; April 4, 1923, p. 9; June 22, 1923, p. 8; June 29, 1923, p. 5; “What the Gazette Was Saying Twenty-Five Years Ago”, August 17, 1923, p. 10; March 21, 1924, p. 1; “What the Gazette Was Saying Twenty-Five Years Ago”, April 4, 1926, p. 6; October 3, 1924, p. 8; October 31, 1924, p. 4; “What the Gazette Was Saying Fifty Years Ago”, October 9, 1925, page 8; ibid., November 27, 1925, page 6; “Middleboro”, March 19, 1926, p. 1; June 17, 1927:2; August 12, 1927, p. 8; September 16, 1927, p. 1; November 18, 1927, p. 1; “What the Gazette Was Saying Twenty-Five Years Ago”, May 11, 1928, p. 6; ibid., August 17, 1928, p. 8 December 7, 1928, p. 1; ; “Recent Deaths” [John E. Boucher], December 21, 1928, p. 1; January 9, 1931, p. 1; “Recent Deaths”, [Martina Callan], January 16, 1931:1; November 20, 1931, p. 1; December 23, 1932, p. 1; “Recent Deaths”, [William Boucher], February 17, 1933, p. 1; October 6, 1933, p. 1; January 1, 1934, p. 1; “Recent Deaths”, [Catherine Boucher], June 15, 1934, p. 1; June 8, 1934, p. 1; December 28, 1934, p. 1; January 25, 1935, p. 1; “T. F. Boucher Paint Store”, April 19, 1935, page 1; July 26, 1935, p. 12; “Recent Deaths” [Thomas F. Boucher], November 20, 1936, p. 1; “Newsstand has 44-Year History”, October 30, 1952, p. 1; “Newsdealer Sullivan is Dead”, April 30, 1953, p. 1; “How to Succeed in Business”, January 14, 1971

The Plymouth and Bristol Counties Register for 1899-1900. Boston, MA: Union Publishing Company, 1899, p. 101.

Resident and Business Directory of Middleboro and Lakeville, Mass. For 1895. Needham, MA: A. E. Foss & Co., 1895.

Resident and Business Directory of Middleboro, Massachusetts. For 1897. Needham, MA: A. E. Foss & Co., 1897.

Romaine, Mertie E. History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts. Volume II. Middleborough, MA: Town of Middleborough, 1969.

Chris Sullivan, Sullivan family photographs and information.

Seventh Census of the United States, 1850. National Archives Microfilm Publication M432. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Record Administration, n. d.

Eighth Census of the United States, 1860. NARA microfilm publication M653. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.

Ninth Census of the United States, 1870. NARA microfilm publication M593. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.

Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1880.

United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. T623. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900.

United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910. T624. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1910.

John Clark Sullivan

The first Famine Irish immigrant to gain prominence in Middleborough was John Clark Sullivan. Following 1870, Sullivan would become a noted attorney in Middleborough with an extensive practice, a respected member of the Middleborough School Committee as well as the Plymouth County Registrar of Probate, a position which he would hold for years. But while Sullivan would emerge as the first of the Famine Irish truly assimilated into Middleborough Yankee society, this acceptance into the local establishment came at a price: the abandonment of both his religion and his cultural heritage.

If you wish to seek out the poor, go to Bantry

Sullivan was born at Bantry, County Cork, Ireland, July 13, 1843, the son of Daniel and Margaret (O'Neil) Sullivan. Located in the far southwest of Ireland, Bantry was described in 1837 as “situated at the northern extremity of the bay to which it gives its name, in a small valley encircled by lofty mountains, which attract the clouds in their passage over the Atlantic, involve it in almost continual rains.”

Bantry was typical of Irish towns of the era, with great disparities between the Anglo-Irish population and that of the Native Irish. The great scenic beauty of the region contrasted sharply with the poverty of a large number of its inhabitants. English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray captured this contrast in The Irish Sketch Book of 1842. Describing Bantry a year prior to Sullivan’s birth, Thackeray wrote:

The harbour is beautiful. Small mountains in green undulations rising on the opposite side; great grey ones further back; a pretty island in the midst of the water, which is wonderfully bright and calm. A handsome yacht, and two or three vessels with their Sunday colors out, were lying in the bay. It looked like a seaport scene at a theatre, gay, cheerful, neat, and picturesque. At a little distance the town, too, is pretty. There are some smart houses on the quays, a handsome court-house as usual, a fine large hotel, and plenty of people flocking round the wonderful coach.

The town is most picturesquely situated, climbing up a wooded hill. with numbers of neat cottages here and there, an ugly church with an air of pretension, and a large grave Roman Catholic chapel the highest point of the place. The Main Street was as usual thronged with the squatting blue cloaks, carrying on their eager trade of butter-milk and green apples, and such cheap wares. With the exception of this street and the quay, with their whitewashed and slated houses, it is a town of cabins.

The wretchedness of some of them is quite curious: I tried to make a sketch of a row which lean against an old wall, and are built upon a rock that tumbles about in the oddest and most fantastic shapes, with a brawling waterfall dashing down a channel in the midst. These are, it appears, the beggars' houses: anyone may build a lodge against this wall, rent-free; and such places were never seen! As for drawing them, it was in vain to try; one might as well make a sketch of a bundle of rags. An ordinary pigsty in England is really more comfortable. Most of them were not six feet long or five feet high, built of stones huddled together, a hole being left for the people to creep in at, a ruined thatch to keep out some little portion of the rain. The occupiers of these places sat at their doors in tolerable contentment, or the children came down and washed their feet in the water. I declare I believe a Hottentot kraal has more comforts in it: even to write of the place makes one unhappy, and the words move slow. But in the midst of all this misery there is an air of actual cheerfulness; and go but a few score yards off, and these wretched hovels lying together look really picturesque and pleasing.

Despite the insensitivity of many of Thackeray's comments, they do present a relatively accurate description of Bantry at the time of Sullivan's birth. Other travellers left similar descriptions of Bantry. Temperance leader Father Mathew told an American missionary: "If you wish to seek out the poor, go to Bantry." Missionary Asenath Nicholson did just that. "I ... went to Bantry and there found a wild and dirty seaport with cabins built on the rocks and hills, having the most antiquated and forlorn appearance of any town I had seen; and the people in rags and tatters such as no country but Ireland could hang out." She, too, compared a Bantry cabin to an native African kraal.

Bantry was a focal point for the poor and for the dispossessed throughout the region. In 1845, just before the Famine, a correspondent of the London Times, Foster T. Campbell, who was writing a series of articles on "the condition of the People of Ireland", made a careful analysis of the town. He noted that there were eight hundred and eighty-two people (twice as many
as there are now). Of the heads of families some 250 were supported by fishing and curing, largely sprats and herrings; 50 were shopkeepers, 20 nailers, 50 pig jobbers, hide-buyers or butchers, 50 gentry, doctors, police or craftsmen, and 50 labourers in constant employment. Of the remaining 400 heads of families, about 50 lived by begging, and the rest subsisted off their little gardens and their pig, or from the proceeds of collecting coral, sand and seaweed from the Bay, which they sold. Many of them were ejected tenants who had come to town to seek some sort of a dwelling place and to try to find work; they had settled as squatters in hovels such as Thackeray described.”

With the failure of the Irish potato crop in 1845 and, particularly again, in 1846, Bantry, already pressed with poverty, was hit hard. Hunger and disease ravaged West Cork. By 1849, 2,927 children and adults crowded into the two Bantry workhouses. Similarly, the Bantry fever hospital was packed, and conditions there were indescribable. "Language would fail to give an adequate idea of its state, it was appalling, awful, heart sickening."

Those who could afford to escape these horrors did so, and among them was seven-year-old John Sullivan.

Middleborough

Sullivan is believed to have come to Middleborough following the deaths of his parents, though the 1900 Federal census somewhat erroneously indicates that Sullivan emigrated to America only in 1860. An elder half-brother, Daniel, was employed on the Old Colony Railroad at Middleborough. Possibly, this was the same Daniel Sullivan of Berehaven, County Cork who left Ireland about 1845 and was being sought by relatives ....

Of Daniel Sullivan, of Dersey Island, [Berehaven] Co. Cork, who left home 9 yrs. ago in company with his father [who] went back to Ireland again; when last heard of he left Middleboro, Mass. about 3 months ago.

In Middleborough, John Sullivan first resided with his brother Daniel (who was engaged as a laborer), and both are listed in the 1850 Federal census. However, in 1851, Sullivan was taken in by the family of Joseph Clark, Jr., and Clark's son-in-law Edwin B. Dorrance, who resided on South Main Street, possibly because his brother had, by then, departed Middleborough.

The Clarks were a relatively prominent family in that section of Middleborough known as Mortontown which was located at and just south of the junction of Main and Grove Streets. Clark's father and grandfather had been noted doctors in the community. Clark, himself, apparently practiced veterinary medicine and, at one time, operated a public house on South Main Street. The Clarks (and later the Dorrances) owned a large tract of land on either side of South Main Street in the vicinity of Clark Street (which was named for them), and it was there that Sullivan undoubtedly was raised.

The Clarks and Dorrances were extremely influential in shaping the young Irish boy's development, more so than even his own family, and they came to take the place of the family he had lost at such a young age. Later, Sullivan adopted "Clark" as his middle name out of appreciation and respect for his benefactors. Through their generosity, he was able to attend private school and eventually college.

Also, under their influence, Sullivan was raised as a Congregationalist and became an influential member of the Central Congregational Church of Middleborough. While little is made of this momentous change in biographies and notices regarding Sullivan, it was an important one. At the time, Catholicism was very much regarded with suspicion by much of the New England Protestant community and it would have been regarded as an impediment to his advancement within Yankee society. Towns like Middleborough, as elsewhere, were very much antagonistic towards Catholicism as indicated by a number of anti-clerical items carried in the Middleboro Gazette during the era. Ultimately with the abandonment of his religion, much of Sullivan's identity as an Irishman would be jettisoned, as well.

In Middleborough, Sullivan "early displayed a strong inclination to obtain an education" and he attended Middleborough public schools before being enrolled in Middleborough's Peirce Academy, a private college preparatory institution located where the post office now stands. This was a rare opportunity for a poor Irish immigrant, again made possible through the generosity of the Clarks. Sullivan attended Peirce Academy in the 1850s during the height of its reputation. Though founded in 1808, the Academy failed to prosper until following the appointment of Professor John Whipple Potter Jenks (1819-92) as its principal in 1842. Under Jenks' leadership, the educational program was drastically improved, and a new academy building erected and, shortly thereafter, enlarged. Enrollment increased during the mid-century from 451 pupils in 1851, to just over 600 in 1859.10

Nearly a quarter of a century has elapsed since the present widely known principal, Prof. J. W. P. Jenks, assumed his post, and, during that time, under a system of prudential management
and an esprit de corps unsurpassed, Peirce Academy has steadily advanced in public favor, as well as in all those elements and bases of a first-class academical resort by which alone such favor can be obtained .

... We are gratified to learn of the continued prosperity of Peirce Academy, Middleboro, now one of the oldest, most renowned, and excellently conducted of the kind in all New England, and which is characterized by no abatement of efficiency through age, but, rather, by increased conduciveness to the objects for which it was founded.

At Peirce Academy, besides such studies as English, history, mathematics, philosophy and the classics, Sullivan would have been exposed to such scientific fields as chemistry, geology, ethnology, botany, zoology and ornithology. Sullivan's purpose in attending the Academy was to "fit for college." There is some question as to whether Sullivan ever matriculated at college prior to entering the army in 1862. Some sources indicate that he had intact enrolled at Brown University and had interrupted his coursework there in order to join the army. Still other sources, however, indicate that he enlisted directly following his stint at the Academy.

And are you going to war, brave boys?

The outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 postponed Sullivan’s plans to enter college and, instead, he joined the Army, serving in the 4th Regiment, Company C, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia.

Sullivan apparently had responded to an advertisement in the pages of The Middleborough Gazette and Old Colony Advertiser which urged “Rally! Rally! Enlist. Join Us.”

The town has authorized the raising of a new Company for the 9 month’s service …. Officers will be chosen from the ranks. Young men! This is the best chance you will ever have to enlist! Already we hear intimations that another call – and that call a peremptory draft – is upon us. Now you have one choice in the matter! You can join in with your townsmen; be officered by men in whom you have confidence; receive a generous bounty; obtain state aid; preserve your honor, and avoid the disgrace of a draft. Rest assured this 9 months enlistment is your shortest way out of the difficulty, for with the needs and wants of our government, the next draft will undoubtedly be for an indefinite, or long time. We are in for a long war! This Company is in for a short term of service in that war! Do you hear Rally then! Come on and join us!

Compensation for the nine months service for a single man like Sullivan was $267.00 or $29.66 a month. Sullivan enlisted at the Middleborough Town Clerk’s office. Sullivan is recorded as having enlisted September 19, 1862, at which time he is recorded as having been aged 22 and occupied as a student.

The new company of Middleborough men was organized as Company C and attached to the Fourth Regiment, “the first Regiment offered to the Governor under the recent call for nine months’ men.”15 It was mustered in September 23, 1862.

The men were encamped at Camp Joe Hooker in Lakeville which had recently been constructed as an army training camp on the Staples and Jenney farms. The camp consisted of twenty barracks, each housing a company of 100 men, with double bunks capable of accommodating four people. Additionally, there were twenty cookhouses, a store and guard houses, officers’ quarters, hospitals and other facilities. “Though lacking the picturesque, flowing abandon characteristic of a tented camp: and though almost barren of trees, [the camp] appears comfortable and pleasant.”

The daily routine of the camp, as established by General Order No. 1 issued September 16, 1862, consisted of Reveille at 5:30 A. M., followed by breakfast at 6:00, company drill from 7 to 8:30 and again from 9:30 to 11:30, First Sergeant’s Call at noon, roast beef lunch at 12:30, company drilling again from 1:30 until 2:30, guard mounting at 3 P. M., company drill once more from 3:30 until 4:30, Retreat at 5:30 with supper call immediately following, Tattoo at 8:30, and Taps at 8:45.

The Regiment left for the south in late December, 1862, at which time Ada A. Brewster’s poem, “To the Fourth Regiment” was probably read once more.

And are you going to war, brave boys?
And will you fight like men?
And will you get our Union back
And give us peace again?

Upon its arrival in New Orleans, the Fourth Regiment was attached to the First Brigade, Third Division, Nineteenth Army Corps under General Emery. The Regiment participated in the first attack upon Port Hudson in conjunction with the naval bombardment of Admiral Farragut. In April, 1863, the Regiment attacked Fort Bisland and on June 30 of that year, joined General Banks in the second successful attack upon Port Hudson. The Regiment was mustered out of service August 28, 1863.

He enjoyed a successful practice

Upon leaving the Army, Sullivan was able to devote himself fully to his studies which had been interrupted by the War, and he studied at Brown University in Providence. Brown traditionally had been the college of choice for Middleborough students intent upon engaging in a legal career. Both William H. Wood and Francis M. Vaughan, Middleborough’s two mid-nineteenth century practicing attorneys, were Brown graduates.

Following his graduation from Brown, Sullivan returned to Middleborough where he was engaged briefly as a school teacher. During this period, Sullivan also became a naturalized American citizen, achieving that status on November 1, 1867.

It was also at this time that he began to study law with Middleborough attorney William H. Wood (1811-83). Wood had resided next to the Clark family on Main Street, so Sullivan would have been previously familiar with the lawyer. Like Sullivan, Wood had graduated from Brown University, later studying law at Harvard Law School. In 1848 and 1850, Wood served as a Massachusetts state senator. Later, he was a delegate to the 1853 state constitutional convention and in 1857 was a representative to the Massachusetts legislature, a position which Sullivan himself would later hold. At the time of Sullivan's tutelage, Wood had already served nearly ten years as a Judge of Probate and Insolvency for Plymouth County and he was no doubt responsible for Sullivan's later expertise in this area.

[Wood] was an able judge, and those who applied to him for help without the aid of a professional advisor found him a sympathizing friend, ready to render all assistance in his power. He was remarkable for his conscientiousness, his patient industry in matters connected with his office, he was courteous and affable in his relations to all, ambitious to discharge faithfully all duties placed upon him, a man of unusual literary ability, and a lover of good books.

In 1869, Sullivan completed his legal studies (which may have included a period at the Albany Law School), and was admitted to the bar of Plymouth County in that year where after he established a practice in Middleborough which over the subsequent 36 years developed into "a large legal business." Through this practice, Sullivan would achieve for himself "an enviable reputation for ability and integrity."

At the time Sullivan established his practice, there were only three other attorneys in Middleborough: Wood, Francis M. Vaughan (1836-91) and Everett Robinson (1816-97). Sullivan and Wood appeared to share a practice for a time. In 1879, the two attorneys shared a two-room office on the second floor of the Doane Block on South Main Street.

Though Sullivan handled numerous legal matters for Middleborough residents, few have been left on public record. His most notable case was as a member of the defense team for accused murderer Samuel Besse in what became a notorious Plymouth County case.

His name is especially associated with the Besse murder case, a sensational criminal trial, in which he was engaged with the late Hosea Kingman as counsel for the defence, and which is still spoken of with interest on the Cape and in the southern end of this county, where the events took place.

Sullivan’s more typical cases, however, were more mundane:

F. T. Wilcox v. Alpha Crossman (1872)
This was an action of contract for services rendered, which was brought before justice of the peace C. B. Wood [of Middleborough]. F. T. Wilcox claimed that he was hired by Mr. Crossman at regular wages, which he claimed as $3 per day. Mr. Crossman claimed that he did not own the house being built, but that he was hired by his sisters, who claimed they had specific bargain at wages not to exceed $2.75 per day, which amount they tendered him but he refused. The action of the court was upon the question if he was hired by Mr. Crossman. The court saw no cause for action against Mr. Crossman and discharged him. J. C. Sullivan for Wilcox, E. Robinson for Crossman.

Commonwealth v. George H. Baxter (1875)
Officer Rich arrested one George H. Baxter of Hyannis for over-driving and drunkenness. Fined $3 and costs for drunkenness, and $7 for over-driving, about $22. His lawyer, J. C. Sullivan, Esq., paid his fine and held his team for security.

Otis Briggs v. Singer Sewing Machine Co. (1905)
This civil case was heard in the Fourth District Court with Briggs represented by William S. Woods of Taunton, though “J. C. Sullivan appeared for Mr. Briggs”. Briggs alleged that he had boarded a horse used by the Singer Sewing Machine Company in the spring of 1904 and was due $12 for its keep. The Company refused to pay, arguing that “the keeping of the animal which was employed in their business did not fall on them because of an arrangement they have with their agents.” The case was taken under advisement by the Court.

Shortly after establishing his Middleborough practice, Sullivan was appointed a justice of the peace for Plymouth County by Governor William Claflin in October, 1870. Nearly six years later, Governor Rice appointed Sullivan a notary public for Plymouth County. “We are glad this appointment has been made”. Opined the Middleboro Gazette, “as it will accommodate the business men. There has not been a notary public in town for some time.”

Another marked and merited recognition

With the establishment of a law office in Middleborough, Sullivan apparently felt ready to engage in local Republican party politics.

In October, 1870, Sullivan was chosen at a caucus of Middleborough Republicans to form the Republican town committee along with George H. Shaw, a varnish manufacturer, and George Brayton, treasurer of the Star Mill.

At the Middleborough Republican caucus held two years later in October, 1872, in the American Hall, Sullivan served as secretary and was the only man named a delegate to each of the four upcoming conventions: county congressional convention, counsellor convention, county convention and senatorial convention, an indication of the growing esteem in which he was held by the local Republican establishment.

During 1873, Sullivan was active in petitioning for a judicial district system, a campaign which was ultimately successful.

It will be remembered that an effort was made last winter to have the town of Middleborough set off as a judicial district, and which failed of being accomplished. J. C. Sullivan, Esq., has started a petition again this winter, and has a long list of names, some influential, and others not so much, and there is every prospect of success. When this is accomplished we expect we shall have to open a court record, employ a reporter, etc., as already our trial justice has a court sitting every few days. However let us have the district system established, as we believe it will be a great accommodation.

The following year, the district court system was inaugurated. Middleborough became the seat of the Plymouth County Fourth District Court which was housed in a room in the recently-completed Middleborough Town Hall. Francis M. Vaughan of Middleborough was commissioned as justice and W. L. Chipman as clerk.

In October 1873 and 1874, Sullivan was once again named by the town Republican caucus to be a delegate to the senatorial conventions of those years. In 1876 he was named to the district convention to be held at New Bedford, May 17, 1876.

Sullivan's dutiful attendance at the numerous Republican conventions and the obvious confidence which his fellow Middleborough Republicans placed in him resulted in his being named to the Republican State Central Committee in 1875, a position which he held for three years.

During the 1870s, besides fostering his professional and political careers, Sullivan was active in veterans' affairs through his membership in E. W. Peirce Post 8 of the Grand Army of the Republic (G. A. R.). In September, 1870, the local post named Sullivan along with A. T. Wales and Frederick Wood as a committee to institute a course of lectures for the public. In January, 1873, Sullivan and J. M. Staples were elected delegates from the post to the department convention. The following December, Sullivan was elected Commander of the post and served the traditional one-year term through December 26, 1874. In 1879, Sullivan was noted as taking part in the installation of the post's officers.

Sullivan was also active in educational and cultural affairs. He continued to organize lectures locally, and in September, 1872, he was named with Reverend Brainerd and Louis Harlow "a committee with full powers to make arrangements for a lecture course the coming season." The following year Sullivan headed a movement to establish a Lyceum Association which would sponsor public talks and lectures. At a meeting held at the close of 1873, "a company of young men met at Judge Wood's office ... and formed a temporary organization for the nucleus of a Lyceum Association. J. C. Sullivan, Esq., was chosen temporary chairman, and J. A. Burgess, Joseph E. Beals and James M. Coombs were appointed a committee to draft by-laws."

Socially, Sullivan was a close friend of James H. Willoughby (1848-1926), principal of Middleborough High School from 1873 through 1886, and through him Sullivan undoubtedly further strengthened his interest in educational matters. Sullivan's only child, Olive, born in 1882 would bear "Willoughby" as her middle name.

Willoughby arrived in Middleborough in late 1873, taking charge of the high school at that time. He "was the first principal to remain any considerable length of time" and it is due to him that the school became successful after a number of years of floundering and disorganization. The first class to graduate from the school was under Willoughby's direction in June, 1876.

Willoughby was prominent in town politics and it is through them that he and Sullivan first met. Willoughby was "a strong adherent of the republican party, and for a time was chairman of the republican town committee." He also served as a trustee of the Middleborough Public Library, a position later held by Sullivan.

In August, 1876, Sullivan and Willoughby travelled to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, returning by way of an extended journey to Washington, D. C. The following summer, the two embarked upon a tour of New England:

J. C. Sullivan and J. H. Willoughby, the lawyer and the schoolmaster, have left trials, scholars and perplexities behind and are now enjoying themselves cruising among the lakes and mountains of New England.

Later that September, 1877, the Middleborough Republican caucus chose Sullivan as a delegate to the state Republican convention along with John Shaw, Albert T. Savery and Horatio Barrows.

Sullivan gained invaluable experience in legislative matters when, in 1878, he represented the Town of Middleborough before "the legislative committee who have in charge the subject of the petition of New Bedford to take water from the ponds in this vicinity."

Sullivan ultimately served two terms as representative to the Massachusetts legislature in 1881 and 1882. As a legislator, Sullivan was primarily concerned with legal matters and the further refinement of probate law. Among the the committees on which he served was the Committee of Probate and Chancery, and in the House he "presented an order in the legislature for inquiry relative to the publication of notice of sale under a power of sale in mortgage."

Shaking off the coils of bachelorhood

In 1881, Sullivan wed Miss Myra Stacy of Waterville, Maine.

Our genial friend, Representative Sullivan, of Middleboro, has shaken off the coils of bachelorhood and taken to himself a sweet maiden from the Pine Tree State for a wife. No card and no particulars. We make the happy pair our best bow and wait an introduction.

The newly-wed couple was surprised in mid-January, 1882, by friends "who presented them with a fine French clock in testimonial of esteem and welcome."

In the spring of 1884, the Sullivans purchased 30 School Street, a relatively large house situated on the west side of the street in Middleborough center for $4,000 from druggust Jacob B. Shaw. The house which was the Sullivans' home until 1887 was transferred two months later into Myra Sullivan's name.

The couple would have one child, Olive Willoughby Sullivan born October 7, 1882. Olive attended Middleborough public schools, and upon her graduation from Middleborough High School in 1899 was named valedictorian of her class. She later studied at Wellesley College, graduating in 1903 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. On January 2, 1915, in "one of the prominent social events of the year", she wed Charles Edward Hollinrake of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, a lawyer in that city where they resided following the wedding.

At the Plymouth County Republican convention held at Bridgewater, September 27, 1883, Sullivan's name was put forward as a candidate for the post of Registrar of Probate and Insolvency for Plymouth Coubty, largely due to dissatisfaction with the present holder of the office, Plymouth attorney Daniel E. Damon who had held the position for an unprecedented period of twenty-five years.

"For Register [sic] of Probate, after some discussion, there were three ballots, the first being informal, in which opposition to Hon. D. E. Damon, the present incumbent, was developed. On the second formal ballot J. C. Sullivan, Esq., of Middleboro, was nominated, receiving sixty votes to fifty-one for W. H. Osborne, Esq., of East Bridgewater, and five for Mr. Damon."

Rebuffed by the county convention, Damon chose to run as an Independent Prohibition Republican candidate against both Sullivan and Democratic challenger Edward E. Hobart, a young Harvard-educated lawyer from Bridgewater who had read law with Hosea Kingman and who had been admitted to the bar only five years earlier in 1878. Sullivan found the race for the five-year term heated, with a strong challenge being mounted by Damon. "Stickers and tickets with substituted names were freely circulated, and for Mr. Damon ... the most effective work we have ever seen at the polls was performed by a personal friend in the solicitation of votes and alteration of tickets."

Sullivan's hopes for office were seemingly dashed when it was revealed that he proposed relocating the probate registry from Plymouth to Brockton and consolidating the county probate courts in that city as well. "A little slip from the Brockton Enterprise stating that Mr. Sullivan had said he should use his best endeavors to remove the registry, and have all probate courts held at Brockton told heavily against him, and hundreds who never before voted other than the straight [Republican] seeing this, at once decided to vote for Mr. Damon."

The gaffe dearly cost Sullivan the vote in Plymouth which envisioned itself the loser if the probate registry were removed from that place. The result of the November contest was the election of Hobart "in consequence of the division of the Republican vote." Nonetheless, Sullivan had placed a strong second, only a few hundred votes behind Hobart which left him in a strong posiiton from which to contest the next election. Sullivan's second run for the office of Plymouth County Registrar of Probate and Inslovency, though successful, would prove no less controversial than his maiden run in 1883.

In the interim, however, Sullivan taken what appears to have been an unchracteristically hasty decision to relocate his family to Kansas City, Missouri, in late 1887 where he entered into a legal partnership with a Brown classmate in that city. The classmate may have been James Scammon (1844-1900) who practiced law in Kansas City in the late 19th century, working primarily for the Kansas City and Eastern Railway Company. Scammon was an 1868 graduate of Brown and received his LL. B. in 1870 from the Albany Law School where it is believed Sullivan studied as well.

While Sullivan is reported as not having departed for Missouri until December 2, 1887, Myra Sullivan must have gone ahead, reaching Kansas City prior to November 10, 1887, when she appeared in the office of Jeremiah T. Drew to have her signature on the deed transfering ownership of the Sullivan's School Street house to Abbie S. Simmons notarized. Sullivan followed shortly afterwards, but for whatever reason concluded "not to remain West". The couple with their young daughter Olive returned to Middleborough in March, 1888, at which time they had a large Queen Anne-style house constructed for their home on the corner of Pearl and High Streets.

With Sullivan's return to Middleborough and county Republican politics, the Plymouth County Republican Convention nominated Sullivan once more to run for the office of Registrar of Probate at its convention in late September, 1888, at Bridgewater. Sullivan's principal opponent was Democratic incumbent Edward E. Hobart who had narrowly defeated Sullivan in 1883, largely due to the split in the Republican ranks, and who had since removed to Plymouth.

The Plymouth Old Colony Memorial initially reported Sullivan's victory with a plurality of 700 votes. However, the official count placed Sullivan ahead by only 69 votes. A recount reduced Sullivan's margin of victory to only 24 votes, "the errors discovered on the recount being mostly in Mr. Hobart's favor." A second recount seems to have been conducted at the state level, for the Memorial reported on December 6, 1888: "the votes for office of Register of probate counted at the State House, Boston, give Sullivan 35 plurality over Hobart."

Hobart apparently ultimately conceded Sullivan's greater number of votes, but tried a new tact, calling into question Sullivan's legal eligibility to hold the office to which he was elected. The question focused upon whether Sullivan had forfeited his legal voting rights in Massachusetts by removing to Kansas, albeit temporarily, and, if so, whether he was therefore eligible to hold an office for which he was ineligible to vote.

The late Register of Probate, Edward E. Hobart, Esq., has addressed to J. C. Sullivan, Esq., the present incumbent, the interesting query as to whether the latter is legally elected; and he may under quo warranto proceeding - although no steps have yet been taken - bring the matter before the May sitting of the Supreme Court for decision. Mr. Sullivan removed to Kansas with his family December 2, 1887, having sold his property at Middleboro, but concluding not to remain West, returned March 5, 1888, and resumed his former relations at Middleboro. The question now comes, did he lose his residence here and fail to regain it in time to become a qualified voter in every respect in this -state? And further, if such failure resulted, can he legally hold an office for which as an individual he was not qualified to vote? Mr. Sullivan has "nine points of the law" in his favor, - actual possession of the office; but it is a matter of speculation on the part of those who know nothing about law, as well as among those versed in legal lore, what decision the court might arrive at should the inquiry be made in proper form. Mr. Hobart could not be declared elected in case Mr. Sullivan had to vacate, although he received nearly as many votes. It would simply be a non-election, and the parties would have a chance to try it over again. In this view of the matter Mr. Hobart may not care to institute proceedings; otherwise simply furnishing a topic over which would-be wise ones may wag their beards.

Hobart, however, seems not to have forced this issue and seemingly was mollified when he was appointed Plymouth County Clerk of Courts following the August, 1889, death of the occupant of that office, William H. Whitman. Sullivan's election to the post of Registrar (which he would hold until his death in 1906), was "another marked and merited recognition of his energy, industry and ability."

His business-like and careful conduct of [the Probate Registry's] affairs won for him the admiration of his associates, and his exceptional qualifications for the office made his repeated elections a foregone conclusion. His duties brought him in contact with all the lawyers of the county, but still more with private individuals, most of whom were entirely ignorant of the intricacies of probate law. To such, he was especially helpful, drawing freely upon his wide knowledge of the subject to aid them in their difficulties, and his uniform kindness in
speech and manner will be long remembered.

Interested in educational matters, in 1886, Sullivan was elected to the Middleborough School Committee, a position he held until 1895, serving as Chairman for three years. During his tenure on the Committee, Sullivan had sole charge of the High School building as a member of the prudential committee. Additionally, he served as a member of the building committees in charge of the erection of the High and West Side Schools. Additionally, Sullivan served as a member of a three-man committee charged with securing plans and estimates for a proposed two-room schoolhouse at Peaseville (what later was the Forest Street/Flora Clark School).

Sullivan represented the School Committee before the Railroad Commissioners at Boston "at the hearing in which Rock [Village] people were interested, in reference to the matter of stopping the Cape express trains at Rock station for the convenience of the school children. Supt. Allen and J. H. French appeared in opposition, but finally stated that they would consider the petition favorably if the people of Rock would do away with the opposition of residents down the Cape."

During this time, Sullivan's contests to retain the office of Registrar were relatively easy affairs.

"At the Republican County Convention held at Brockton last Tuesday, J. C. Sullivan, of Middleboro, was nominated for register of Probate and Insolvency, and Wm. Rankin, of Brockton, for County Commissioner. The nominations were made by acclamation, and the convention was in session but thirty-five minutes." Sullivan's opponents in the contest were Democrat William F. Kane of Brockton, a young attorney admitted to the bar only that year, and George W. Severance, the Prohibition candidate. Sullivan took the race handily, winning with a tally of 9,038 votes to his closest competitor, Kane, who finished with 5,491 - a plurality of
4,547.

Five years later, at the Plymouth County Republican Convention held at the Red Men's Hall in Brockton,• the first week of October, 1898, Sullivan was again nominated to run. "Senator Chamberlain said it was a custom of the county to reward faithful service and the conventions were more like ratification meetings. He believed John C. Sullivan as register of probate had been faithful and he moved his renomination by acclamation. This motion was carried." In that year's race, Sullivan defeated John G. Owens (Democrat) of Whitman, 7,142 to 3,080, a plurality of 4, 062 votes.

Sullivan, at the time, also oversaw the legal tutelage of Bert. J. Allan, principal of the Pratt Free School at North Middleborough. It was reported in 1897 that Allan "who has been reading Blackstone in his leisure hours at the office of J. C. Sullivan, Esq., in Middleboro, will be formally admitted to the bar next Monday afternoon." Allan later had a successful legal career, attaining the position of Special Justice of the Fourth District Court, a partial testament to the legal training acquired under Sullivan.

Civic and Fraternal Affairs

Throughout the late 19th century, John C. Sullivan was active in local municipal, civic and fraternal affairs. In November, 1899, Sullivan, along with Albert T. Savery and Joseph E. Beals, were elected to serve as directors of the Plymouth & Middleboro Railroad at the annual stockholders meeting held at Plymouth.

Sullivan at this time also became prominent in the promotion of Middleborough's business interests. He served as attorney and director of the Middleborough Co-operative Bank, and trustee of the Middleborough Savings Bank. In 1902, Sullivan became a promoter of the LeBaron Foundry Company of Middleborough which had then just been recently incorporated. "He was a prominent member of the Middleboro Business Men's Club from its inception." The club was organized in July, 1903, at which time Sullivan was named to its Board of Management as well as its Committee on Bylaws. He was noteworthy in efforts to attract new business and industry to Middleborough and was a prominent speaker at the 1906 dedication of the George E. Keith Company's branch plant in Middleborough.

John C. Sullivan, Esq., drew a most interesting contrast between the little shoe shop of olden times and the great plants of the present day with their modern appliances. He spoke of the great benefits to the community arising from the location of a plant like the Keith factory, and esteemed it a far greater blessing to the people than the gift of a Cernegie library. Mr. Sullivan concluded by assuring Mr. Keith and his associates the best wishes of the Middleboro people, with the hope that the plant would long stand as a monument to the energy, courage and business capacity of its founder.

Sullivan was equally noteworthy in the promotion of veterans' issues. On Memorial Day, 1895, Sullivan delivered an oration at Wareham. The "fine address ... found great favor with [his] auditors." He served as chairman of the committee charged with the erection of Middleborough's Soldiers' and Sailros' Monument on the Town Hall lawn, "aiding materially in the conclusion of the preliminary steps of raising funds and other work of like nature, and relinquishing his task onlu with the completion of the monument itself in 1896."

In 1899, Sullivan, Alvin . Howes and Walter H. Smith represented E. W. Peirce Post 8, G. A. R., at the state encampment at Boston in February. In April, Sullivan took addressed a meeting at the local G. A. R. Hall to honor Middleborough members of the Massachusetts Fifth Regiment. Besides his membership in the G. A. R., Sullivan was also a member of the Massachusetts Union Veterans' Union (U. V. U.). In 1902-03, he served as colonel of the Stephen Thomas Regiment, and as lieutenant-colonel in 1904-05. Additionally (and not surprisingly given his legal background), he held the position of judge advocate general of the Massachusetts department of the U. V. U. from 1902 until his death. Sullivan was also active as a Mason, being a member of the Mayflower Lodge, A. F. & A. M. of Middleborough and the Social Harmony Chapter, Royal Arch Masons of Bridgewater.

The community was profoundly shocked

John C. Sullivan died unexpectedly and tragically when struck by a trolley car on Plymouth Street in North Middleborough, Sunday, October 21, 1906.

Mr. Sullivan had been calling at the residence of James S. Blenkinsop, and hurried out to board the car, which was approaching rapidly. A large bush which grows in front of the house partially cut off the view, and the motorman in charge did not see his signal until about ten feet away. Mr. Sullivan’s eyesight had become much impaired, and it is believed that this led him to step too close to the track, so that a projection from the car struck him in the center of the forehead. He was picked up and carried on the car to the office of Dr. A. C. Wilbur, but upon arrival no sign of life could be detected. Medical examiner Morse of Wareham was called, and assigned a fracture of the skull as the cause of death.

Sullivan was aged 64 years, 3 months and 7 days at the time of his death.

Sullivan’s untimely death threw the probate office at Plymouth into disarray, “and by a combination of circumstances the probate office was without anyone to conduct the business.”

Judge B. W. Harris has been in feeble condition for a long period at his home in East Bridgewater, and Judge Freeman H. Lothrop of Barnstable County has presided at the court sittings here in consequence. Miss Minnie K. Bachelder, the assistant in the probate office would have been able to have taken up the routine of work, but she had been ill at her home for two weeks, and may not be able to resume her duties for some little time to come. The regular session of the court in Brockton on Monday was postponed until Thursday, and on Tuesday afternoon Judge Lothrop had an interview with Judge Harris, which resulted in Sumner A. Chapman of [Plymouth] as Registrar of Probate for a few weeks, until Gov. Guild can appoint a registrar to fill out the term of Mr. Sullivan’s incumbency, until the election of 1907. [Old Colony Memorial, October 27, 1906, p. 1, “Registrar Pro Tem”]

His uniform kindness … will be long remembered

Sullivan’s funeral service was conducted at the Central Congregational Church of Middleborough on Wednesday, October 24, 1906, at 2:30, “and were very largely attended” by among others Freeman H. Lothrop, Barnstable County Judge of Probate and Insolvency; Judge George W. Kelley of the Second Plymouth district court; Judge William H. Osborne of the Plymouth Third Dirstict Court; John B. Washburn, Plymouth County Registrar of Deeds; Plymouth County Commissioner Walter H. Faunce of Kingston; Senator George H. Garfield of Brockton; and Attorney Jonathan M. White “who is the nestor of the Plymouth county bar, if not the oldest lawyer in the state.”

“Business was suspended during the exercises, and the church was crowded with men and women from all walks of life, as well as from all parts of the county, thus testifying to the breadth and diversity of Mr. Sullivan’s interests, and to the universal respect and esteem in which he was held.”

Walter Sampson, Morrill S. Ryder, Albert A. Thomas, Theodore N. Wood, and Allan R. Thatcher acted as ushers. “There was a profusion of floral tributes from individuals and organizations, and the musical selections rendered by a quartet composed of Mrs. H. H. Fuller, Mrs. E. Wood, Louis carroll and A. M. Howard, were of especial beauty. Rev. Samuel M. Cathcart conducted the services, paying an eloquent tribute to the memory of the deceased.” The bearers were ex-Senator Loyed E. Chamberlain and Harry W. Flagg of Brockton, and Joseph E. Beals, George E. Doane, Dr. Edward S. Hathaway and Percy W. Keith of Middleborough. Burial was in Nemasket Hill Cemetery at Middleborough.

No man has passed out of the life of this community for many years whose loss will be felt more keenly, or in a greater variety of relations than that of Mr. Sullivan. His life in public and private was absolutely irreproachable, and the multiplicity of his interests makes his demise a severe blow to the town. Expressions of deep regret have come from all over the county, and the session of Probate court to have been held in Brockton, Monday, was adjourned immediately upon convening, as a mark of respect to the deceased. Mr. Sullivan was a man of strong convictions, and was liberally endowed with sound common sense, a combination which stamped his conduct of affairs with sincerity and good judgment. Personally, he will be especially recalled for his friendly and benevolent disposition, and the keenness of his powers of perception as well as his native wit and geniality ….”

Illustration:

John C. Sullivan, photograph. c. 1900.

Notes:

John C. Sullivan's naturalization record gives his date of birth as July 13, 1841.

Mathew and Nicholson quoted in Peter Somerville-Large, The Coast of West Cork (Belfast: The Appletree Press Ltd., 1991), p. 156.

Sources:

Deane, Annie D. "History of Middleborough High School" The Middleborough Antiquarian. 6:4, November, 1964.

Middleboro Gazette.

Old Colony Memorial.

Somerville-Large, Peter. The Coast of West Cork. Belfast: The Appletree Press Ltd., 1991.

Thackeray, William Makepeace. The Irish Sketch Book: And Notes of a Journey from Cronhill to Grand Cairo (London: John Murray, 1869), pp. 93, 94.

Seventh Census of the United States, 1850. National Archives Microfilm Publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Record Administration, n. d.).

Eighth Census of the United States, 1860. NARA microfilm publication M653 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

Ninth Census of the United States, 1870. NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

Tenth Census of the United States, 1880 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1880).

Washburn, Nathan. "History of Middleborough High School" (1889). The Middleborough Antiquarian. 24:1, March, 1985.