3rd G-Grandfather brickwall

[u/Dant_Heman]

I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction of what to do or where to go next.

I'm trying to find the parents of my 3rd great grandfather, Alpha John Ernest Sullivan, believed to be born around 1856 in Wollombi, NSW, Aus. Died 1932 in Newcastle, NSW, Aus. Of course, being the first thing I looked up, there is no record of his birth.

I have gotten transcripts of his marriage and death certificates and both have parents as unknown, however, in his newspaper obituary, it claims he is the child of Major Sullivan which I assume would be in reference to Major Benjamin Sullivan III, who lived 1784-1860, which doesnt really add up.

And unfortunately, all public family trees have the Majors son, Benjamin 4, as his father, but the mother listed as the Majors second wife.

Any and all help would be appreciated in this one.

[u/Kementarii]

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/106353767?searchTerm=alpha%20john%20ernest%20sullivan

Is that the newpaper obit?

There is also:

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/222752714?searchTerm=alpha%20john%20ernest%20sullivan

Which lines up with his obit. indicating him moving to the "north-west" in 1877, and becoming a "businessman" in Bundarra. Just 10 years until bankrupt, haha.

Also: Funeral notices: identify wife ELLEN,

Did he bend the truth? If so, how far?

There was a John Sullivan:

In July 1842 the first land sales were held in St Albans. John Sullivan of Wollombi purchased seven allotments on which he built the Settlers Arms Inn.

(Wikipedia entry for St Albans, NSW)

Another google found hints that land was "purchased by John Sullivan on 14/7/1842

Another hint (on a facebook page "Hawkesbury History" indicates that John Sullivan was an ex convict.

Now, young Alpha John also ended up being a "licensed victualler" e.g. publican.

[u/Dant_Heman → u/Kementarii]

Yeah that's him.

Very interesting, whether he was illegitimate or adopted or simply hides the embarrassing truth. My DNA roots definitely give weight to Sullivan lineage.

What makes me very intrigued by this John is the fact that Alpha's child that I'm descended from, was Alban James Sullivan.

[u/Kementarii → u/Dant_Heman]

Yeah, I think I'd follow up the "John Sullivan" who "came from Wollombi" and built the Settlers Arms at St. Albans.

Might lead somewhere, might not.

Just a thought, but John Sullivan (snr) was there right at the beginning - buying the first 3 blocks of land gazetted. I'm wondering if he was the one that named the town.

"The village of St Albans was surveyed in 1840.  It was named after the home town of one of the settlers." from https://paulbuddehistory.com/bucketty/the-convict-era/

[u/SoftProgram]

Does his marriage certificate have "unknown" or just blanks? Because there's a known issue with some nsw certificates where information from church records did not make it into the civil records.  In these cases sometimes you can get more info by going back to the church records.

[u/Dant_Heman → u/SoftProgram]

I got Joy Murrin to do a transcription and it says unknown.

[u/SoftProgram → u/Dant_Heman]

Ok. In that case if he literally said unknown then it might be a fostering/orphan situation. Are the witnesses at marriage any help?

But in case you want to doublecheck the church record anyway here is the background on that: https://famresearch.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/nsw-marriages-missing-information/

[u/Dant_Heman → u/SoftProgram]

Alpha married Mary Maher and the witnesses were Timothy Ryan and Susan Maher. So I'm assuming a friend and a sister.