Florence Rita Sullivan
Florence (LeBlanc) Sullivan is the great-great-great-great-great-great granddaughter of Claude de St. Etienne de la Tour; the great-great-great-great-great granddaughter of Charles Amador de St. Etienne de la Tour and Jeanne Marie Motin; the great-great-great-great granddaughter of Jacques Mius d'Entremont and Anne de la Tour and of Pierre Pothier and Marie Doucet; the great-great-great granddaughter of Jacques Mius d'Entremont and Marguerite Amirault and of Dominque Pothier and Anne Surrette; the great-great granddaughter of Benoni d'Entremont and Anne Pothier; the great-granddaughter of Frederic LeBlanc and Anne d'Entremont and of Mathias McCarthy and Nellie Giblin; the granddaughter of Joseph LeBlanc and Francoise Pothier and of William Wanders and Ann McCarthy; and the daughter of Adelia Wanders and Louis LeBlanc.
Florence is the mother of Robert and Wilfred Sullivan, and Anita Hucksam, and Barbara Galvin; the grandmother of William M., Rita, Diane, Clint, and Jon Galvin, Robert, Betty Ann, Joseph, John, Thomas, and Steven Sullivan, and Anita Cihocki, and Barbara Mione.
Florence is the great-grandmother of David, Kerry, Jeremy, and Matt Galvin; Tara Weber; Kelly Rodgers; and Stacy, Emily, and Eddie Sullivan; and Ann, Clare, Lynn and Christine Mion; and Rob, Bunny, and David Cichocki; and the great-great grandmother of Ryan Weber.
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Florence Rita Sullivan, nee LeBlanc, was born on May 24, 1888 at 34 Smith Street, Roxbury (Boston). Florence's name on her Boston city birth record is recorded as "Florence Rita LaBlanche" (a feminine variation of LeBlanc). She was the daughter of Louis LeBlanc, from Nova Scotia, and Adelia Wanders, from Boston.
Florence had one brother, John, who was born on June 13, 1887. After Louis' death (year unknown), the LeBlanc family moved into the home of Adelia's sisters, Flossie and Annie Wanders, at 47 Prentiss Street, Roxbury. Flossie and Annie helped to raise Florence and John.
Due to her high intelligence, Florence skipped three grades in school and graduated from high school at about age 15. She then attended Boston Teachers Normal School and graduated at age 17 in 1905. She taught grammar school in East Boston for the next several years and passed a promotional examination given by the Boston City Schools on December 8, 1913.
Florence met Edward Sullivan, a custodian, at the East Boston school where she taught and where he was employed. Florence married Edward on June 29, 1914, in Boston. She was 26 years old at the time of the marriage, and he was 40. She gave up her teaching career in 1914 since married women were not allowed to continue teaching at that time. Florence lived at 224 Hemenway Street, Boston, prior to her marriage.
Florence and Edward had the following children:
Florence and her family lived at 38 Colonial Avenue in Dorchester from about 1914 until 1919, when they moved to 6 Wooddale Avenue in Mattapan. In about 1938, the Sullivan family moved to 125 W. Selden Street , also in Mattapan.
She proudly displayed photos of her sons--Willy served in the Navy and Bob in the Air Force--at her home on W. Selden Street during World War II. After the death of her husband Edward in 1945, she moved to Rockwood Street in Holbrook. Subsequently, she moved to 32 Maple Street, Braintree, where she lived until about 1972 prior to entering a nursing home.
Florence, as the granddaughter of William Wanders of the Massachusetts 20th Regiment, was a member of the Daughters of Veterans, U.S.A., from 1908 to 1909. Florence enjoyed crochet and was an active bridge player. She also liked to recite poems.
Florence Sullivan died of heart failure on July 14, 1980 at Shrewsbury Nursing Home in Shrewsbury, Mass. She is buried in Forest Hills Cemetery in Mattapan (Boston).
