Jahu B. Sullivan

As printed in 1915

JAHU B. SULLIVAN.

Jahu B. Sullivan, one of the leading and best known citizens of Bridgewater, where he has lived retired for the past ten years, has been a resident of Adair county for more than six decades and still holds title to eleven hundred acres of valuable land in Jackson and Washington townships. His birth occurred in Monroe county, Indiana, on the 11th of November, 1836. His parents, Henry S. and Sarah (Hunter) Sullivan, removed from Kentucky to Indiana at an early day and were among the first settlers of Monroe county, locating there when bears and panthers were still plentiful in the timber. There they spent the remainder of their lives and are buried on the old home farm. The father died when our subject was a child of less than three years and his mother's death occurred when he was but eleven. He was then placed in the home of Jehu Buckner, a neighboring farmer, with whom he remained about two and one-half years or until an older brother, John P. Sullivan, who was the guardian of the family, was married. In the latter's home he was taken, together with his brother, M. S., and there he grew to manhood. His education was acquired in the pioneer subscription schools and in the later public schools of his district. Only two of a family of twelve children still survive, namely: John P., who now resides in Logan, Kansas; and Jahu B., of this review. The former is a veteran of the Mexican war, serving throughout the entire period of hostilities. Two other brothers also enlisted, but peace was declared ere their commands reached the front.

In the summer of 1852, when not yet sixteen years of age, Jahu B. Sullivan became a wage earner, working in a brickyard at Bloomington, Indiana, while during the following summer he was employed by the month as a farm hand. In the fall of 1853, accompanied by two brothers, John P. and M. S,, and a sister-in-law who was the widow of another brother, William H., he came by wagon to Iowa. The parents of his sister-in-law lived in Clarke county and there the party of immigrants stopped, Jahu B. Sullivan there spending the winter and the following summer. In the fall of 1851 he came to Adair county and soon after his arrival purchased one hundred acres of government land on section 33, Jackson township,

As printed in History of Adair County, Iowa, and its people (1915). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.