Hello Lisa, > Bill, have we ever chatted about Detroit? I don't think we have. > You know my Johnny O'Sullivan > landed in Monroe, MI, working for Ford back in the '30s. There were a lot like him. My grandfather Jimmy Ryan was there, and my great uncles John Lowney and Pierce Powers. Jimmy and Pierce moved to Detroit from Butte when Henry Ford started paying $5 a day, while John came over directly from Beara to work for Ford. > Any chance your family may have known him/of him? I'd guess it's certain my grandfather knew him, since he was very involved with the Detroit area Irish community. If you can give me some connections he had I can ask my mother if she remembers him. There were a great many Sullivans around when she was growing up. -- Bill

Hi Bill, Hope your T-Day was splendid. Here is an 'article' my sister-in-law transcribed from papers my father-in-law provided for a school project. I believe it was a newspaper cutout, but haven't been able to confirm, but the by-line showed Patrick Cahill, Detroit Correspondent. Titled: "Burial of Irish Patriot at Monroe, Michigan, here is the text: "With the passing of the late Captain Sean O'Sullivan, Executive Officer of the Irish Rifle Association, at Monroe, Michigan on sunday April 26, 1936, Ireland has lost one of its truest Patriots. Sean fought in the Irish Republican Army in the 1916 Easter Week Rebellion under Commandant E. Daly in the Four Courts. When taken prisoner, he was interned at Stafford and Frangock [Frongoch, Wales, known as the University of Revolution] prison. After months of prison torture, he was released from Frangock broken in health. He was refused reappointment to his old position in Dublin, owing to him refusing to sign an order swearing his allegiance to the British Empire. Sean, seeing that there was no chance of him making even an existence in Dublin, he went to Limrick and became connected to the 2nd Battalion, Mid-Limerick Brigade, he was later transferred to the Cork First Brigade with which he remained until after the "cease fire order". Because of the economic conditions brought about by the forcing of the Free State on the Irish people, and becase Sean's republican ideals conflicted with the British imposed Free State laws, he migrated to the United States to make this the country of his adoption. His funeral took place on Thursday, April 30, burial at Monroe, Michigan. The last salute was fired over his grave by a firing party of his former comrades in the IRA, composed of: Thomas Hanlon, Sean O'Brian, Jerry O'Toole, Lee Middleditch, James O'Sullivan, and Joseph O'Sullivan, under the command of Lieutentant Thomas Spillane, formerly of the Cork 2nd Brigade, IRA. The firing party marched with arms reversed behind the casket for a mile and a half, from the church to the burial place. This showed the esteem that his former comrades held for the late Capt. O'Sullivan as this honor is extended to only truly great Irishmen in the United States. It is the intention of his former comrades of the IRA at a later date to ship his body back to his Motherland, the land he suffered so much to try to make it a better place for Irishmen to live in. The example of the late Capt. Sean O'Sullivan will always remain with us a guiding light for the future generations of Irishmen to follow, and harken to the voice of the late Patrick Pearse at the grave of O'Donovan Roasa: "Ireland unfree shall never be at peace." The late Captain O'Sullivan is survived by his wife and five children, and his parents, who reside at Berehaven CO. Cork, Ireland" -----Original Message----- From: beara-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:beara-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Bill Gawne Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2008 1:49 PM To: beara@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [BEARA] Happy Thanksgiving Day. Hello Lisa, > Bill, have we ever chatted about Detroit? I don't think we have. > You know my Johnny O'Sullivan > landed in Monroe, MI, working for Ford back in the '30s. There were a lot like him. My grandfather Jimmy Ryan was there, and my great uncles John Lowney and Pierce Powers. Jimmy and Pierce moved to Detroit from Butte when Henry Ford started paying $5 a day, while John came over directly from Beara to work for Ford. > Any chance your family may have known him/of him? I'd guess it's certain my grandfather knew him, since he was very involved with the Detroit area Irish community. If you can give me some connections he had I can ask my mother if she remembers him. There were a great many Sullivans around when she was growing up. -- Bill ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BEARA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message