Individual Details

According to Ellen's birth record, present at her birth was Mary O'Sullivan (probably her father's sister).

According to information from the Mallow Heritage Centre, the sponsors at Ellen's baptism were Cornelius Sweeney and Julia Curtin. It is believed Cornelius Sweeney was a neighbour of the Sullivans and it is thought he was married to one of Caheraveelane Sullivans who were related to Ellen. A granddaughter of Cornelius would later marry Ellen's brother Denis. Julia Curtin, the second sponsor, had been a neighbour of the Sullivans when they lived in Ballyknockane. Julia would later marry Sean O'Looney; they emigrated to the United States and had 12 children. Valuable information on the Sullivan family, for which I am so grateful, came in November 2003 from 96-year-old Patrick, known as Pats, Curtin, a nephew of Julia's who lived in Ballyknockane with one of his daughters. Sadly, Pats died in September 2004.

It is thought that Ellen, who was also known as Nellie, had some domestic training and subsequently became a parlour maid. I am told that she met her husband, Thomas Treacy, in Tipperary town where they were both working (Thomas worked at the gasworks in the town). Based on this information I believe I have located a 1911 census record for Ellen. An Ellen Sullivan, aged 24 (although our Ellen was actually 23 years of age at the time of the census) and born in Co. Cork, was working as a parlour maid at the home of law agent George Hugh Chetwood Townsend in Cordangan, just a couple of miles south of Tipperary town. It was a large house and, along with Ellen, six other servants are listed.

However, according to Ellen's marriage record, her residence at the time (January 1915) was Lavitt's Quay, Cork but it is not known how she came to move to Cork after apparently having met Thomas. She did have an uncle, Mike Doody, who was living at 5 Lavitt's Quay at the time of the 1911 census, while his wife, Mary Anne, was running a hotel at no 6. Perhaps Ellen was working at the hotel. Or perhaps, being from Co. Cork, Ellen wished to be married in Cork and therefore used her uncle's address to fulfil a possible residency requirement.

It is thought Ellen may have been related to a Hewitt family which included Patrick (1897-1979), a Holy Ghost priest who did missionary work in Tanganyika (now part of Tanzania), his brother James (1900-1974), a Holy Ghost brother who worked at Blackrock College in Dublin as a ground staff supervisor, and their sister Biddy who married a J.J. Healy and lived in Carrick-on-Suir. Other relatives of Ellen - or her husband, Thomas - included a couple who lived near Flamborough Head in Yorkshire in the 1940s. All we know of this couple is that the husband was in the Merchant Navy. Could they have been Ellen's aunt Hannah (O'Sullivan) and her husband Harry Williams, who was in the Merchant Navy? Further information would be most welcome.

According to a newspaper death notice, Ellen died in St. Brigid's Hospital, Carrick-on-Suir.

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Birth	24 Oct 1887	Glynn, Mourneabbey, Co. Cork
Christen	25 Oct 1887	Analeentha Church, Mourneabbey, Co. Cork
Marriage	12 Jan 1915	Church of S.S. Peter And Paul, Cork - Thomas Joseph TREACY
Death	18 Sep 1972	Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary
Burial		New Cemetery, Carrick-on-Suir

Spouse	Thomas Joseph TREACY (1881 - 1969)
Child	Patrick TREACY (1915 - 1915)
Child	Mary Frances (Joan) TREACY (1920 - 2003)
Child	Sheila TREACY (1923 - 2012)
Child	Thomas Noel (Noel) TREACY (1926 - 2009)

Father	James (Big Jim) SULLIVAN ( - 1903)
Mother	Julia DOODY (1858 - 1933)
Sibling	Mary Ann (Sr. Mary Munchin) O'SULLIVAN (1882 - 1913)
Sibling	James (Jimmy) O'SULLIVAN (1883 - 1959)
Sibling	Johanna (Hannah) O'SULLIVAN (1885 - 1983)
Sibling	Daniel O'SULLIVAN (1886 - 1887)
Sibling	John (Jack) O'SULLIVAN (1890 - 1975)
Sibling	Eugene O'SULLIVAN (1893 - 1988)
Sibling	Denis O'SULLIVAN (1895 - 1971)
Sibling	Margaret (Madge) O'SULLIVAN (1897 - 1925)
Sibling	Richard SULLIVAN (1900 - 1900)
Sibling	Julia O'SULLIVAN (1901 - 1920)
Sibling	'unknown' SULLIVAN ( - 1911)