Introducing Marie (Bednorz) & William Augustine Sullivan

Patricia Ethel Sullivan, abt 1945

Patricia Ethel Sullivan was born on August 31, 1927 to Marie Josephine (Bednorz) and William Augustine Sullivan.  This photo is probably her high school graduation photo, although none of the copies I've found so far are dated.  She would have graduated from high school in Oshkosh Wisconsin in 1945.

So much is unknown yet (to me, at least) about her family. She had 3 brothers and 7 sisters, one brother and one sister still living.  Pat was the 3rd youngest in the family which spanned 20 years between oldest and youngest. 

Birth information puts the family in the Minneapolis, MN area until sometime after 1917 when they moved to LaPaz, Manitoba, Canada. Sometime before 1922 they moved to Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Birth information shows that 2 children were born in the Minneapolis area (1915 and 1917), 2 in Canada (1919 and 1920), and the 5th child was born in 1922 in Oshkosh as were the 6 children to follow.

There is still much to sort out, but it is likely that Marie's father, Andrew (Andreas) and mother Francis (Franzciska) Marketon immigrated from western Poland about 1886.  Name spellings and inconsistent birth  locations in records makes finding this family rather difficult.

Marie Bednorz, High School Graduation, abt 1911

More is known about Pat's father, William Augustine.  He was named for his grandfather who immigrated from Ireland (Boherbue, County Cork) about 1836 and settled in 1844 in Erin Township, Washington County, Wisconsin.  A land patent record from the U.S. government lists William as purchasing 80 acres along Donegal Road in Erin Township (the second parcel on the right from County Road K).  The Sullivans are 100% Irish until William A. marries Marie Bednorz.  

William Sullivan (abt 1818-1893) married Susanna Lambert (born 1822 in Mayo County, Ireland) in 1843 (Canadaigua, Ontario, NY).  They had 14 children and also adopted a granddaughter.  Their third child, son Michael (1847-1929), moved his family to Marshfield (Wood County), WI by 1880 when the census records indicate that he works in a sawmill in Marshfield. He died in Marshfield and is buried in the Gate of Heaven Cemetery there along with his wife and a son who died at age 28.  

William A (known to his friends as Augie) was a lumber grader and salesman, until the Depression when he took a job as a WPA project foreman.  There are stories written by his children as well as oral history that needs to be gathered and shared.

This looks like a good place to stop for now as I can see that I need to do some organization of my papers and photos.  I know I have information and stories about the Sullivans and I have several photos of Augie Sullivan, none of which seem to be in my photo file or documents files.  I have information in my Legacy genealogy program, but the citations are missing, so I hesitate to set out the information until I can find the sources I used to come to the conclusions I've listed in my Legacy program.  

So I guess my project for tomorrow includes:

• Find the photos and get them scanned
• Find the documents and get them entered into Legacy
• Find/print the census documents I have and look for any that are missing
• Create citations and attach appropriately to the information in Legacy (this could take awhile since I'm not good at creating genealogical citations yet, but I have the book Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills)
• Analyze the information I have for consistency and holes in evidence
• Generate a list of questions for future research
• Post what I find out

Yikes, writing this down will force me to actually follow through on my plan....Another of Martha Stewart's "good things".  Hoping I haven't signed up for too much of a good thing!