Miss Bridget O'Sullivan1 was born in Dromdeveen, Glenduff, Co Limerick, Ireland on 18 May 1890.
She was the daughter of John O'Sullivan (b. circa 1848), a labourer, and Mary Barry (b. circa 1852) who were married on 28 February 1876.
Hailing from a Roman Catholic family, Bridget's siblings were: John (b. 4 July 1878), William (b. 1 December 1879), Robert (b. 25 November 1884), Johanna (b. 20 May 1887), Ellen (b. 1 September 1888) and Mary (b. 9 September 1893).
Bridget's father died sometime prior to 1901, perhaps around 1896, and she appears on the 1901 census living in house 14, Dromdeveen with her widowed mother and four of her siblings. The family are not identifiable on the 1911 census but it is possible that the Bridget O'Sullivan, aged 20 and working as a servant in Colooney Street, Limerick City is the same person.
Her brother Robert "Bob" left Ireland in the early 1900s and settled in Manhattan where he worked as a guard at the subway; he was married to a woman named Ellen Walsh (b. 1888) on 18 June 1911 and raised a family. Her sisters Ellen "Nellie" and Johanna "Hanna" followed him to New York a few years later, around 1908, and carved out domestic careers in their adopted home. They soon sent for Bridget and it was reportedly sister Johanna who sent her the money for the fare.
Bridget boarded the Titanic at Queenstown on 11 April 1912 as a third class passenger (ticket number 330909 which cost £7, 12s, 7d) and she was destined for Manhattan. Travelling with her was her sweetheart Joseph Foley from nearby Mountplummer who was travelling to an uncle in Larchmont, New York.
Bridget O'Sullivan died in the sinking and her body, if recovered, was never identified.
Her sister Ellen was married on 4 April 1915 to John Finn (b. 1883) and they had a daughter, Mary. She died in Manhattan on 23 March 1922 and was buried in Calvary Cemetery.
Her sister Johanna (later Mrs John Ryan) died in Manhattan on 31 January 1932.
Her brother Robert died in Manhattan on 23 December 1933.
Comment and discuss
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Does anyone have or know where I can find information on Third Class passenger Bridget O'Sullivan? I believe she is a distant relative, and I am unable to find any information on her. Sarah
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Is anything out there on Miss Bridget Mary O'Sullivan? thanks, Shadow
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Dear Shadow, There was some confusion at the time of the sinking as to this woman's name. Montreal papers reported that a "Bridget Mary Sullivan" of Montreal had died in the sinking and that she had previously been living there. In reality Bridget O'Sullivan (I've seen no evidence of a middle name for her) was making her first trip across the Atlantic to be with sisters already living in New York. She was accompanied by her boyfriend, Joe Foley. They apparently were well on their way to making it up to the boatdeck when Bridget decided to go back to her cabin for her purse and Joe followed--a fatal mistake for both. When Carpathia arrived, her sister Hannah hoped against hope that Bridget might have survived after all and waited as the survivors disembarked. A man pressed a card with a poem on it into her hand--she kept the card and its message near to her as long as she lived: Serene I fold my hands and wait Nor care for wind, nor tide, nor sea I rave no more 'gainst time...
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Bridget O'Sullivan boarded the Titanic at Queenstown. There is no information on her on this site or any other that I've seen. If anybody has any info on her, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.
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You may want to check out this thread, Caitlin: Phil Gowan provides some excellent information on this Irish passenger. If you possibly can, get a copy of Senan Molony's 'The Irish Aboard Titanic'. He has a fairly substantive section on Bridget, including a hauntingly lovely photo of her.
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Inger, Thank you! I'm relatively new, and haven't really gone through many of the posts, so I greatly appreciate this. Sláinte, Caitlin
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Since that thread was probably too early on for me to reply to: I read that Bridget's sister's name was Hannah. Was that Hannah O'Brien? Or another Hannah? Sláinte, Caitlin
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Hi Caitlin, Hannah O'Brien's maiden name was Godfrey. Bridget's sister Hanna lived and worked in New York. I hope that helps, Lester
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No problem, Caitlin - I know it's a forest of posts, and given the huge volume of material that's been covered on the ET board it can be difficult to find exactly what you're after. You can try entering 'O'Sullivan' in the search engine on the board - it has a few entries.
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Thanks for the information everyone. Sláinte, Caitlin
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Does anyone know about a passenger Bridget O'Sullivan, any info would be appreciated, thanks
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Looking for info on Bridget O'Sullivan's father's name - my mother was supposedly related to Bridget - second cousin or so. Trying to connect to my mother's family history only have one generation back. Thanks
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