Genealogical Journey: Surprises Kept Me Searching

The ancestors are always teasing me:  pack of napkins I found in a grocery store parking lot.  Photo credit:  Michele Lagoy

Great-great-grandma Elizabeth Sullivan was buried in her son James' ( 1853-1907) family plot.  James was my great-grandfather Charles' brother.  The strategy of researching my ancestor's siblings was paying off in spades.  Not only was I meeting more relatives, I was finding ancestors.  St. Peter's Cemetery in Staten Island, NY had my great-great-grandmother listed as Elizabeth O'Sullivan in their records.  Via the Emigrant Savings Bank records, I had previously learned that her maiden name was O'Regan.  Our ancestors had a bank account but I haven't found the money yet, so calm down family. With the date of the burial information from the cemetery, I could narrow down a search for her death record in the New York City death certificate database.  One result came up for an Elizabeth O'Sullivan who died in November of 1899. The luck of the Irish struck again!  I ordered a copy of her death certificate and impatiently waited for it to arrive.

Relationship Summary Lagoy, Michele Ann's grandmother's uncle is Sullivan, James S. Sullivan, Denis 1815 - 1880 Elizabeth Sullivan (1826-1899) was married to Denis Sullivan  and is my great-great-grandmother Sullivan, Charles Joseph 1856 - 1902 Sullivan, James S. b.1853 Sullivan, Mary Bernadette 1896 - 1964 Lagoy, William Paul, Jr Lagoy, Michele Ann Details: Lagoy, Michele Ann's father's mother's father's brother is Sullivan, James S. Names:  Lagoy, Michele Ann father Lagoy, William Paul, Jr mother Sullivan, Mary Bernadettefather Sullivan, Charles Joseph brother Sullivan, James S.

In the meantime, I put in a request on the Find A Grave website to have the headstone photographed. I was not impatient about getting this photograph because I knew I would eventually get back to Staten Island myself, or ask my cousins to photograph it during one of their visits to the cemetery.  
( By that time, my second cousin Charles, who goes by Tim, had moved from across the street from the cemetery or I would have asked him to photograph it.)  Find A Grave had an event that they called Community Days. It consisted of asking people to fulfill photo requests made to the site by going to cemeteries and photographing headstones with the information provided by the requester. Christine answered the request that I had posted.  Once again, the kindness of strangers prevailed. Christine lived in the vicinity of the cemetery and regularly walked her dog there.  This was her fist time fulfilling a photo request on Find A Grave and I was glad that she chose mine.  ( The ancestors must like Christine and her dog. )  She initially had some trouble locating the headstone as each section of the cemetery was not clearly marked and the cemetery office that might have been able to help, was closed on the weekend.  A flurry of email exchanges between us finally got her there.  I figured the grave was near Section XX where my great-grandparents were buried, so I advised her to use the Clove Road entrance where the words "Saint Peter's Cemetery 1848" were written on a stone pillar.  I suggested she check near the lake for Section 33, for which there was no signage.  Arliene Sullivan, Jack's wife, was interred there four months earlier so I suggested she look for grass that was not as grown in as much as on the other plots.  That did the trick!  Racing to get back to the cemetery before night fall, Christine took several photographs of the main headstone and the two adjoining ones.  I emailed the photos to Cousin Bill and he sent her a thank you email as well.  I had found a great-great-grandparent's grave that led me to a death certificate that I hoped would provide me with the names of yet another generation of ancestors.

Grave stone of my Great-great-grandmother Elizabeth O'Sullivan and her son James' descendants and their spouses.  Photo credit:  Christine B. as part of Find A Grave's Community Day

Genealogical Journey: Staten Island, Sullivan's and Saint Peter's

Relationship Summary
Lagoy, Michele Ann's father's second cousin is Sullivan, Carolyn

Sullivan, Denis 1815 - 1880   Sullivan, Charles Joseph 1856 - 1902   Sullivan, James S. b.1853   Sullivan, Mary Bernadette 1896 - 1964   Sullivan, Joseph Francis 1897 - 1971   Lagoy, William Paul, Jr   Sullivan, Carolyn 1937 - 2011     Lagoy, Michele Ann

The above relationship chart shows Michele's relationship to Carolyn Sullivan.  Our common ancestor is Denis Sullivan.

Details:

Lagoy, Michele Ann's father's mother's father's brother's son's daughter is Sullivan, Carolyn

Thanks to Beatrice Sullivan's obituary, I had eleven living relatives to contact on the James S. Sullivan line of the family.  Eleven!  All I needed was for one of them to be willing to talk to me.  I started looking up names and phone numbers in the white pages online.  Some of the names didn't have phone numbers listed.  One person didn't return my call, but I had many names to contact.  I was drawn to the name Angelique Phyllis Sullivan.  ( It was on a public record I had found; see previous blog post.)  Her mother Beatrice's obituary gave Angelique's married name and the New Jersey township where she currently lived.  That information led me to her phone number.  I called it leaving the message I had honed stating who I was, that I was seeking genealogy information as I believed we were related.  After several rounds of phone tag, we spoke.  I believe she left me two messages before I could get back to her.  She seemed eager to talk to me and I soon learned why.  She was a foster child of the Sullivan's who came into their home when she was 18 months old.  At some point, she started using "Sullivan" as her last name until she married.  She was eager to contact me because she heard that a biological sister lived out West and her name started with an "M."  So a "Michele" calling out of the blue from California saying we were related, piqued her interest.  I was sorry to inform her that I was not a close biological relative but she confirmed that my research had yielded the right Sullivan family.

Relationship chart showing Annie and I are third cousins.  Our ancestor in common is Denis Sullivan.

Sullivan, Denis 1815 - 1880   Sullivan, Charles Joseph 1856 - 1902   Sullivan, James S. b.1853   Sullivan, Mary Bernadette 1896 - 1964   Sullivan, Joseph Francis 1897 - 1971   Lagoy, William Paul, Jr   Sullivan, Joseph James, Jr. 1925 - 1990   Lagoy, Michele Ann   Reedy, Angelique

Details:

Lagoy, Michele Ann's father's mother's father's brother's son's son's daughter is Reedy, Angelique

Names:

Lagoy, Michele Ann father Lagoy, William Paul, Jr mother Sullivan, Mary Bernadettefather Sullivan, Charles Joseph brother Sullivan, James S. son Sullivan, Joseph Francisson Sullivan, Joseph James, Jr. daughter Reedy, Angelique

We talked about Staten Island.  She grew up there and having already located me on Facebook, saw the photos I had of the Lyons' pool.  She and her siblings swam there as children but never knew the pool was named after a mutual relative, Joseph H. Lyons.

We discussed her Aunt Carolyn and her Uncle Jack's family.  Annie, as Angelique is called, told me that her late Uncle Jack had two married daughters whose names she gave me.  That was another reason I had trouble tracing this family branch; Jack only had daughters whose last names changed upon marriage.  According to Facebook photos, they are fair skinned with blue eyes like many of the Sullivan descendants.  They look more like my Dad than I do!  They reside on Staten Island to this day.  Annie told me that her Cousin Karen might have some of their Aunt Carolyn's family history notes as Carolyn knew a lot about the family.  Contacting her is on my genealogy to do list.

Here is what I do know about their Aunt Carolyn strictly through genealogy research.  Carolyn Sullivan (1937-2011) was the Carol Ann Sullivan listed on the 1940 census I located.  Note to self: learn about Soundex.  That would have saved me hours of fruitless research time looking for a Carol Ann Sullivan.  I discounted all records of Carolyn Sullivan because of that mistake on the census!
Carolyn never married so there was no record of marriage for her.   I even paid the City of New York to conduct a record search hoping to find a married surname that I could trace.  I missed her in the Social Security Death Index because I insisted on looking for a Carol Ann Sullivan and stopped searching each time the records showed a Carolyn.  (Ironically, Carolyn spent decades working at the Social Security Administration.)  For some reason, I kept looking for her even though female relatives are harder to trace.  It turned out she had something to tell me about the ancestors.  Eerily, I pictured her in a wheelchair talking about her knowledge of the family.  Annie told me at the end of her life, Carolyn fell on some icy steps and was wheelchair bound after that.   I searched for her obituary online where I found what she wanted me to know.  Carolyn was buried in the family plot located in St. Peter's Cemetery in Staten Island, NY.  A light bulb went off in my head and I called the cemetery to inquire about the location of the plot.  I was told there were ten other people in that plot besides Carolyn!  The list of names included Carolyn's parents, grandparents, a child named George who died as an infant, and my ancestor:  Elizabeth O'Sullivan who I learned died in November of 1899.  My great-great-grandmother was buried with my great-grandfather's brother's family, a few rows from our family plot.  Thanks Carolyn!

1940 US Census showing Carol Ann ( Carolyn)  Sullivan living with her family on Markham Place in Staten Island.  Notice the family paid $40 a month in rent and Joseph made $2100 a year as a letter carrier for the Post Office.  

Obituary for Carolyn A. Sullivan

AGE: 74 • Wall, New Jersey

Carolyn A. Sullivan, 74, of Wall, passed away on Thursday, July 7, 2011, at Care One, Wall. Born in Staten Island, N.Y., she lived in Plainfield and Brick prior to moving to Wall five years ago. She was a case worker for the Social Security Administration in Plainfield for 30 years before retiring in 1998. She was a parishioner of St. Dominic Church, Brick.

Carolyn was predeceased by her parents, Joseph and Alma Sullivan; and two brothers, Joseph Sullivan and John Sullivan. She is survived by several nieces and nephews, grandnieces and nephews; two sisters-in-law, Arliene Sullivan of Staten Island, and Beatrice Sullivan of Lakewood. Also survived by great-grandnieces and nephews.

Visiting hours are from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday, July 10 at Colonial Funeral Home, 2170 Highway 88, Brick. A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 9 a.m. Monday, July 11 at St. Dominic Church, Brick, followed by interment at St. Peter Cemetery, Staten Island.

Published in Asbury Park Press on July 8, 2011 - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/app/obituary.aspx?n=Carolyn-A-Sullivan&pid=152419742#sthash.E9drYtPy.dpuf