SULLIVAN
- At the Ursuline Convent in this city, on the morning of the 16th ult.,
between the hours of twelve and one, ANNE SULLIVAN, aged fifteen years,
the niece of Daniel Sullivan Esq., of Powder Horn, Texas.
She was
a native of Kanturk and the daughter of Timothy and Helena Sullivan,
a family of great respectability and character in the Barony of Duhallow,
County of Cork, Ireland. In 1847, the parents accompanied by three of
their children emigrated to Canada, leaving after them Anne and a younger
brother. Shortly after their arrival in Montreal, Mr. Sullivan died
of typhus fever. From the various accounts in the newspapers of that
city, teeming with representations of the dreadful virulence of that
disease, and no letters being received by their relatives, induced them
to suppose, that the entire family had become victims to its influence.
To Mrs. Sullivan's repeated letters written to her relatives, by some
unaccountable means, she never received any reply; none of them having
reached their destination. Thus matters stood for a period of eleven
years, neither party knowing of the existence of the other. In 1850,
the uncle, Mr. Daniel Sullivan, went to Ireland for Anne and her brother,
and visiting that country in '56 without gleaning any further information
of his brother's family, this truly philanthropic Christian returned
to Texas, bringing with him another niece for his adoption. The latter
with Anne, he confided in October '57, to the care of the ladies of
the Ursuline order.
There is
another strange coincidence in the eventful life of this child. After
entering the convent, conceiving herself an orphan, she repeatedly expressed
a wish to her cousin, that she should die and be buried within the precincts
of that holy demesne.
By dint
of perseverance Mrs. Sullivan (Anne's mother) it is supposed, some time
in June, at last received a letter from Ireland in reply, stating that
her daughter was in the convent in this city, and on the 1st inst.,
poor Anne received a letter, the first and only letter from her mother.
The news was too joyous for the extreme sensibility of this affectionate
and truly amiable girl - she fainted and for more than half an hour,
remained in a state of insensibility. On recovering herself she observed,
"that letter has pierced my heart, it has killed me! Yes, I shall
die and never shall see my mother." To a naturally sensitive disposition,
and possibly, some previously predisposed organic derangement, this
gentle girl, after a few days of suffering from dysentery accompanied
with fever, breathed her last.
The feelings
of her uncle over the mound of his adopted child, must be imagined,
for those, by whom they were witnessed, cannot describe in language,
the tumults of his troubled breast. May He who watches o'er the good,
pour His balm on the afflicted uncle and comfort the bereaved mother.
The oft
expressed wishes of this amiable and pious child were complied with
- her remains are interred in the modest cemetery of the Ursuline Convent
of our city.
Canadian
papers please transcribe.
Galveston, July 31st, 1858.
