MARY JAMES, second child and eldest daughter of Ben and Elizabeth James, was born August 12, 1870, in Minersville, Ohio. She started her schooling in Ohio, then her family moved to Arkansas when she was nine years old.
Her father, realizing that the little sawmill town in which they lived did not offer a proper education for a girl of her talents and beauty, sent her to St. Mary's convent in Little Rock for two years. There she received the academic education considered sufficient at that day along with a cultural and refining influence that was a definite part of her the rest of her life. The amusing tales of convent life that she told to her children never ceased to fascinate them.
Just how and when she met Dennis Sullivan, a handsome Irishman is a bit hazy, but they were married October 1, 1887. At the time of her marriage she was a Catholic, as was he all of his life. Mary had become a Catholic while attending the convent.
[Her parents were Protestants]
(It is interesting to read 1eatters that her father wrote giving his full
permission for her to take the vows of the Catholic Church. They show his complete lack of religious bigotry. In essence he says,
"the name of the Church is not important as long as one is loyal
to the Christian religion. ") However, he was much opposed to her early marriage at the age of seventeen. After a few years the marriage was terminated. Years later, while living In the home of her father, Mary joined the Methodist Church in Junction City, Arkansas.
...[Mary and her two young daughters] moved to Batesville, Arkansas, so that the daughters might have advantage of a good education. Mary Sullivan became the matron of the college dormitory. Here she lived until her final illness. Mary James Sullivan died November 17, 1911, at Junction City, and there she is buried.
credit: A Brief Biographical History of the Family of Benjamin James, Floyd B James,11 Jun 1966.
Her father, realizing that the little sawmill town in which they lived did not offer a proper education for a girl of her talents and beauty, sent her to St. Mary's convent in Little Rock for two years. There she received the academic education considered sufficient at that day along with a cultural and refining influence that was a definite part of her the rest of her life. The amusing tales of convent life that she told to her children never ceased to fascinate them.
Just how and when she met Dennis Sullivan, a handsome Irishman is a bit hazy, but they were married October 1, 1887. At the time of her marriage she was a Catholic, as was he all of his life. Mary had become a Catholic while attending the convent.
[Her parents were Protestants]
(It is interesting to read 1eatters that her father wrote giving his full
permission for her to take the vows of the Catholic Church. They show his complete lack of religious bigotry. In essence he says,
"the name of the Church is not important as long as one is loyal
to the Christian religion. ") However, he was much opposed to her early marriage at the age of seventeen. After a few years the marriage was terminated. Years later, while living In the home of her father, Mary joined the Methodist Church in Junction City, Arkansas.
...[Mary and her two young daughters] moved to Batesville, Arkansas, so that the daughters might have advantage of a good education. Mary Sullivan became the matron of the college dormitory. Here she lived until her final illness. Mary James Sullivan died November 17, 1911, at Junction City, and there she is buried.
credit: A Brief Biographical History of the Family of Benjamin James, Floyd B James,11 Jun 1966.
MARY JAMES, second child and eldest daughter of Ben and Elizabeth James, was born August 12, 1870, in Minersville, Ohio. She started her schooling in Ohio, then her family moved to Arkansas when she was nine years old.
Her father, realizing that the little sawmill town in which they lived did not offer a proper education for a girl of her talents and beauty, sent her to St. Mary's convent in Little Rock for two years. There she received the academic education considered sufficient at that day along with a cultural and refining influence that was a definite part of her the rest of her life. The amusing tales of convent life that she told to her children never ceased to fascinate them.
Just how and when she met Dennis Sullivan, a handsome Irishman is a bit hazy, but they were married October 1, 1887. At the time of her marriage she was a Catholic, as was he all of his life. Mary had become a Catholic while attending the convent.
[Her parents were Protestants]
(It is interesting to read 1eatters that her father wrote giving his full
permission for her to take the vows of the Catholic Church. They show his complete lack of religious bigotry. In essence he says,
"the name of the Church is not important as long as one is loyal
to the Christian religion. ") However, he was much opposed to her early marriage at the age of seventeen. After a few years the marriage was terminated. Years later, while living In the home of her father, Mary joined the Methodist Church in Junction City, Arkansas.
...[Mary and her two young daughters] moved to Batesville, Arkansas, so that the daughters might have advantage of a good education. Mary Sullivan became the matron of the college dormitory. Here she lived until her final illness. Mary James Sullivan died November 17, 1911, at Junction City, and there she is buried.
credit: A Brief Biographical History of the Family of Benjamin James, Floyd B James,11 Jun 1966.
Her father, realizing that the little sawmill town in which they lived did not offer a proper education for a girl of her talents and beauty, sent her to St. Mary's convent in Little Rock for two years. There she received the academic education considered sufficient at that day along with a cultural and refining influence that was a definite part of her the rest of her life. The amusing tales of convent life that she told to her children never ceased to fascinate them.
Just how and when she met Dennis Sullivan, a handsome Irishman is a bit hazy, but they were married October 1, 1887. At the time of her marriage she was a Catholic, as was he all of his life. Mary had become a Catholic while attending the convent.
[Her parents were Protestants]
(It is interesting to read 1eatters that her father wrote giving his full
permission for her to take the vows of the Catholic Church. They show his complete lack of religious bigotry. In essence he says,
"the name of the Church is not important as long as one is loyal
to the Christian religion. ") However, he was much opposed to her early marriage at the age of seventeen. After a few years the marriage was terminated. Years later, while living In the home of her father, Mary joined the Methodist Church in Junction City, Arkansas.
...[Mary and her two young daughters] moved to Batesville, Arkansas, so that the daughters might have advantage of a good education. Mary Sullivan became the matron of the college dormitory. Here she lived until her final illness. Mary James Sullivan died November 17, 1911, at Junction City, and there she is buried.
credit: A Brief Biographical History of the Family of Benjamin James, Floyd B James,11 Jun 1966.
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