Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 861 - 862

CYRUS SULLIVAN has a pleasant residence in Sullivan's Addition to the city of Wichita, and is engaging in the real-estate business with signal success, with an office at No. 105 Main street. He was born in Ottawa, Province of Ontario, Canada, Aug. 10, 1848, being the youngest of the twelve children born to Thomas Allen and Adeline (Rude) Sullivan, natives respectively of Canada and Vermont. His paternal grandparents were Thomas Allen and Mary Sullivan, and his maternal grandparents were Dudley and Margaret Rude, natives of Massachusetts and Connecticut. His grandfather Rude took part in the Revolution, and the brother of our subject's mother took part in the War of 1812. The father of our subject, a capable, enterprising man, was engaged in farming, and also in the furniture business while he remained a resident of Canada. In 1870 he settled up his affairs in the Dominion, and coming to Kansas, located in Kechi Township, thus being a pioneer of this place, and here his death shortly after occurred in December, 1871. His excellent wife survives him, at the advanced age of eighty-three, making her home with a daughter on section 29.

            Cyrus Sullivan, of this sketch, was reared to a farmer's life in his Canadian home, and received a very good education in the section schools of his native country. In 1870 be came directly to Kechi from his old home with his parents, preempted the southwest quarter of section 28, and on its rich and fertile soil resumed the occupation to which he had been bred. He greatly improved his farm, built a comfortable dwelling, and for several years was assiduously engaged in agricultural pursuits, which he found very remunerative, and was further enabled to extend his possessions by the purchase of the northwest quarter of section 28.

            Our subject returned to Canada in the latter part of 1872, in order to marry Miss Elizabeth Q. D. Rorison, and their union was consummated Jan. 2, 1873. She is the youngest of the thirteen children born to Hugh Umstead and Anna (Grierson) Rorison, and was born in the Province of Ontario, Canada, in 1854. Her paternal grandparents were natives of Vermont, and her maternal grandparents, John and Mary Grierson, were natives of Scotland, and her grandfather was Lieutenant in the British navy.

            After marriage Mr. Sullivan returned with his bride to his home in Kansas, on section 28, Kechi Township, where he followed farming the next three years. He has his farm well stocked with fine horses of the famous Mambrino Chief strain, and with high-grade Durham cattle.

             A few years after settling here, our subject bought forty acres of land in Sullivan's Addition to Wichita, afterward sold twenty acres for lots, and has since been engaged quite extensively in real-estate transactions, especially during the last three years, and is making a financial success of his business. Mr. Sullivan came to this county when it was in its infancy, and many of the buildings were of a very rude construction, a strange contrast to the costly and elegant structures of to-day; the Episcopal Church had a dirt-covered roof, as lumber was then very high priced, and could be procured only at Emporia, 100 miles distant. Mr. Sullivan has exerted his influence to procure good educational advantages for the youth of this town, and has in many other ways aided in its progress.

            The pleasant wedded life of our subject and his wife has been blessed by the birth of four children, of whom two are living, Alden Newton and Cyrus Clayton, who are attending school. The names of the deceased are Albert Newton and William Robert. Mr. Sullivan has held the office of Justice of the Peace; in politics he is devoted to the interests of the Republican party, and socially, is a member of the Knights of Pythias. He and his wife belong to the Presbyterian Church, and are ever zealous in all good and charitable works, holding an honorable place in the estimation of their fellow-citizens.

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