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History of Adair
County, Iowa, 1915.

Biographical.  Volume 2.

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P. P. Sullivan.

P. P. Sullivan, of Bridgewater, is a native of Adair county, as he was born November 30, 1868, on the old homestead on section 34, Jackson township, on which his parents, Jahu B. and Margaret J. Sullivan, located on emigrating to Iowa from Indiana in the early '50s.  They suffered the usual hardships and privations incident to frontier life, but amidst all their privations they never overlooked the religious and educational training of their children.

The subject of this review received his early education in the rural schools and at the age of eighteen years spent one winter in teaching a country school.  However, he had visions of greater possibilities and as soon as his school closed in the spring he entered Drake University, at Des Moines, Iowa, enrolling in the commercial department of that institution on the 28th day of March, 1888.  After completing his course therein he enrolled in the College of Liberal Arts and in June, 1894, he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science.  While in college he took a very active part in the various college organizations.  He was a member of the Athenian Literary Society and was for two terms president and for one year treasurer of that organization.  He served one year as president of his class, one year as president of the University Oratorical Association, and one year as vice president of the Iowa State Athletic Association.  In 1901 he was elected a member of the university board of trustees and has been a member of that board continuously since.

In September after his graduation Mr. Sullivan became superintendent of the public schools of Menlo, Iowa, and remained in that position for two years, after which he discontinued school work for a year but in 1897 he took charge of the schools of his home town, Bridgewater, Iowa.  In 1899 he was elected superintendent of the public schools of Orient and served in that capacity for two years, after which he went to Fontanelle, where he remained for four years, and thence to Greenfield, where he continued for three years, resigning at the end of that time to take charge of the Bridgewater Savings Bank.  He did much to promote the advancement of the school systems with which he was connected.  At Orient and Fontanelle he added one year's work to the courses, at Fontanelle he secured the erection of a new primary building, and soon after his election as superintendent of the Greenfield schools he began a successful campaign for a new high-school building, securing a twenty-five thousand dollar building which was ready for use about the middle of his second year.

In 1908 Mr. Sullivan purchased the controlling interest in the Bridgewater Savings Bank of E. S. Harlan, of Atlantic, Iowa, and removed from Greenfield to Bridgewater to assume the management of the institution.  The business of the bank grew steadily until it had more than trebled in volume and, the original quarters becoming inadequate, a two story brick building was erected on the site of the old frame one in 1914.  The new building, which is an ornament to the town, is constructed of white enameled brick, has a beautiful interior and is well appointed.

Mr. Sullivan has always supported the democratic party and has taken quite an active part in local politics.  He was twice given the nomination for the office of county superintendent of schools and although in the minority party was defeated each time by a very small majority.  He is a member of the Church of Christ, is much interested in all church work and has been a leader in the advancement of the Sunday-school movement in the county, having served continuously as president or in some other office in the county association since 1901.  In 1909 he became a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Bridgewater and he has held the principal offices in that order.  During the year 1913-1914 he was president of the Cumberland Branch Association, an organization numbering over six hundred members.

On the 14th of August, 1895, Mr. Sullivan was united in marriage to Miss L:ute Jones, of Des Moines, Iowa, who was born near Keosauqua, Van Buren county, Iowa, September 6, 1869, the eldest child of Isaac and Eva Jones.  Mr. Jones was one of the first to enlist in the war of the Rebellion, being a member of Company G, third Iowa Cavalry, and served through the entire war, and his children received much of their history of that great conflict direct from an eyewitness who saw a great deal of hard fighting and who bears numerous scars from shot and shell.  Miss Jones graduated from the Keosauqua high school in 1888 and after teaching one year entered the College of Liberal Arts of Drake University in September, 1889.  She spent one year in college and then accepted the principalship of the Keosauqua high school, in which capacity she served for two years.  In September, 1892, her parents removed to Des Moines in order that their children might have the advantages of a higher education, and she reentered the university, from which she was graduated with the class of 1894 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts.  She took a very active part in the affairs incident to college life.  She was a member of the Athenian Literary Society and held the various offices, including the presidency, of that organization and was also prominent in the work of the college Young Women's Christian Association, serving much of the time as its president.  After her graduation she was elected principal of the high school at Brooklyn, Iowa, but resigned that position in 1895 and was married to Mr. Sullivan at her home in Des Moines.  She joined the P. E. O. order at Keosauqua and has been active in that society.  She is a great reader and a careful student of current events and although she is not permitted to cast a ballot she is alive to political conditions, is for Woodrow Wilson first, last and all the time, and is ready to give the reason for her position on public issues.  Since she has been a resident of Adair county she has been repeatedly solicited to accept the nomination for county superintendent of schools but has never done so.

To Mr. and Mrs. P. P. Sullivan have been born two sons and one daughter, as follows.  Harold Eugene, who was born at Menlo, Iowa, September 29, 1896, was graduated from the Greenfield high school in 1914 and entered the freshman class in the College of Liberal Arts of Drake University in the following September.  Lawrence Francis, who was born at Fontanelle, October 15, 1902, completed his grammar-school work at Bridgewater in May, 1915, and expects to enter high school in September.  Margaret Evelyn, the youngest of family, was born at Sunnyside Farm, January 30, 1911.

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