Sullivan Family Timeline

Moorhead Normal School

Louise Augusta Watterberg was reared on a farm near Wolverton, Minnesota and graduated from Moorhead State Normal School.  Moorhead was 27 miles north of Wolverton, Minnesota where she was raised.  

The Fargo Forum and Daily Republican, June 7, 1913

150 Received Diplomas at Moorhead Normal

    Before a large audience at the Moorhead normal last evening the twenty-fourth annual commencement took place and 150 graduates were presented diplomas by C. G. Schulz, state superintendent of public instructions. Louise Watterberg was listed as receiving an Elementary Diploma.  

After her education Louise accepted a teaching position in Canada.

The town of Sanish, Mountrail County, North Dakota was founded in 1914 as a station on the Soo Line Railroad.  The town was abandoned in 1953 and submerged in Lake Sakakawea after the completion of the Garrison Dam.  A "new" Sanish was formed a few miles from the original site.

James Edward Sullivan AKA Fred Cole received homestead documents on June 1, 1920 for 160 acres for the northwest quarter of section thirty-four in Township one hundred fifty-one north of Range ninety-three west of the Fifth Principal Meridian, North Dakota. This 160 acres is south of the town of Sanish in an area called Big Bend.  Big Bend was about 8 miles south of Sanish.  In order to receive the homestead documents on June 1, 1920 he had to have been on the land for five years building and making improvements so that means he came to North Dakota at least by June 1, 1915.  

Life story of James Edward Sullivan reads: His drifting finally lead him to Mountrail County where he had heard of homesteads being offered. He filed in the spring of 1916. He built his house and barn that summer, plowed and planted his crop, and then helped others put in their crops. Along with all this activity, he still found time to attend the social functions which included dances and picnics. At one of these occasions, he met a pretty school teacher by the name of Louise Augusta Watterberg. Louise had come to Sanish during her summer vacation from school to visit her sister, Mrs. Ed (Mary Ellen Watterberg) Larson.

James Edward Sullivan and Louise Augusta Watterberg were married September 9, 1916 in the Minot Presbyterian parsonage.  Minot, North Dakota and Sanish, North Dakota are 75 miles apart from each other.

They had only been married about two months when Jim's horse fell with him, breaking his leg and causing a lot of pain and inconvenience, Jim and Louise enjoyed neighbors and friends and spent many evenings visiting and playing cards or attending picnics and dances, One time some friends came to surprise Louise on her birthday and were caught by a sudden storm and had to spend the night.

Birth of first child: On 15 Dec 1917 Alice Louise Sullivan was born in Max, McLean, North Dakota.  Max, North Dakota is approximately 75 miles north east of Sanish.  James would not have received his homestead papers yet so they must have just gone for a visit.  

Birth of second child: John Sullivan was born 20 Jul 1919 in Sanish, Mountrail, North Dakota. Family history written by his sister, Molly Sullivan Watts, says that John Sullivan was born at home on the folks' homestead south of Sanish.  He lived there until Mom and Dad sold the farm and moved to Garrison.  

House where John Sullivan was born in Sanish, North Dakota

James Edward Sullivan AKA Fred Cole received homestead documents on June 1, 1920 for 160 acres

Birth of third child: Doris Jane Sullivan was born 19 Apr 1922 in Sanish, Mountrail, North Dakota.

This must be the time period that they sold the home and moved to Garrison, Garrison, North Dakota. His obituary says: He did much road construction work, building Highway 23, the first highway in McKenzie county and also on the roads north of Sanish.

Birth of fourth child: Molly May Sullivan was born 12 Apr 1924 in Garrison, Garrison, North Dakota.

Birth of fifth child: Ruth Elinor Sullivan was born 30 Aug 1926 in Garrison, Garrison, North Dakota.

Birth of sixth child: Roger Sullivan was born 15 Feb 1931 at Lumo Ranch, Sanish, North Dakota.

WWI & Homestead updates

Sign in photo reads: This is the Site of the New Town of Sanish and Van Hook.  The photo is from the State Historical Society of North Dakota

 Why did Fred Cole change his name to James Edward Sullivan?

In my last post I stated that we believe Fred Cole changed his name to James Edward Sullivan in order to avoid being called back into active duty in the army.  When he changed his name he also created a story about his life and his family.  Fred Coles birthday was originally the 4th of July 1885 making him 30 years old in July of 1915.  In his new life story his birthday was the 4th of July 1879 making him six years older so in July of 1915 he would be 36 years old.  

National Archives/Military records states:

https://www.archives.gov/research/military/ww1/draft-registration

During World War I there were three registrations.  The first, on June 5, 1917, was for all men between the ages of 21 and 31.  The second, on June 5, 1918, registered those who attained age 21 after June 5, 1917.  A supplemental registration was held on August 24, 1918 for those becoming 21 years old after June 5, 1918.  This was included in the second registration.)  The third registration was held on September 12, 1918, for men age 18 through 45.

I realize that this information is not proof that this is why he changed his name.  It is speculation that he changed his name so military records wouldn't be found for him and he changed his age so he would be old enough to avoid being drafted at the beginning of the war.

Homestead Papers

Also in one of the past posts I speculated that Fred Cole stayed in San Francisco at the Pacific Panama Exposition until December 1915 when the Exposition concluded.  This past week-end at RootsTech 2023 I did a search of the BLM homestead records.

https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx   

The homestead papers for James Edward Sullivan are dated 1 June 1920.  The gentleman helping me at the booth told me that the homestead papers are issued at the end of a five years period.  The person receiving the papers had to live on the property, make home improvements and farm the ground for five years before he was granted the property.  This would mean that Fred Cole, now James Edward Sullivan was in North Dakota in June of 1915 and didn't stay to the end of the exposition.  The original James Edward Sullivan, director of the sporting activities of the exposition died September 16, 1914.

I currently have copies of these homestead records ordered.  I'm told it can take months to get them so we are waiting patiently for them to arrive. 

 Research notes

    I had the opportunity on July 22, 2022 to visit the University of California at Berkeley, Bancroft Library.  The Bancroft library houses the archives to the Panama-Pacific Exposition.  Since the idea of a trip to Berkeley on my own scared me I recruited my oldest son, Cliff, to be my chauffer and security guard. 

    The Bancroft Library is beautiful.  We arrived a few minutes early for our appointment so we strolled around for a few minutes and looked at the very ornate ceilings and large study halls.  It was a beautiful building.

    When we arrived at the library we had planned that we would be researching for the full day.  We were put into a glass study room so we could communicate with each other without disrupting the other patrons.  A librarian was stationed just outside our door to help us and to make sure nothing happened to the files we were searching.    

    I was hoping to find information in the files that contained the names of the baseball players that played during the Panama Pacific Exposition, names of teams and pictures of the players.  It would also be wonderful to discover some kind of relationship between my Grandfather Fred Cole and James Edward Sullivan.  James Edward Sullivan was the man responsible for all the athletic events during the Exposition.  We were disappointed to find nothing close to what we were looking for.  I had ordered five different files to be searched and we were done searching all of them by noon.  

    It was disappointing to not find any records at the library but since we were done so quickly we had more time to explore San Francisco, Fort Mason, the Palace of Fine Arts and Presidio Army base.  Our first stop was for lunch in downtown San Francisco.  We went to a little café named The Stinking Rose on Columbus Avenue and sat outside at a table on the sidewalk.  We ate the best calzones that I've ever tasted.  Then we walked down the street to the Greek bakery named The Victoria Pastry and I got to try cannoli for the first time.  We also strolled through the park and visited Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church.  It was beautiful.  

    My Grandfather, Fred Cole, was discharged from the army on April 3, 1912 Presidio Army Base, San Francisco, California.  At the time of his discharge San Francisco was preparing for the Panama Pacific Exposition to be held in 1915 and I believe Fred Cole remained in San Francisco and participated in preparing for the Exposition.  Grandpa always told his children that while he was in San Francisco he had played baseball and did some boxing.    A man by the name of James Edward Sullivan was put in charge of all the athletic events of the Exposition.  One thing we did learn in our research was that plans were being made for the baseball games to be played on the Polo Fields.  On this map you can see the Polo Fields in the top left hand corner.  Presidio Army base where Fred Cole had been discharged from was directly under the Polo Field.

    Cliff and I had the opportunity to visit Fort Mason (orange circle on right) and look up the Bay of San Francisco towards the Presidio Army base (on the left end of map). All the buildings, palaces, food and amusement exhibits constructed for the Exposition were all in this area.  The Palace of Fine Arts (in the center of the map) is the only remaining building from the 1915 fair and it has been rebuilt and repaired through the years.    

    The Panama Pacific International Exposition opening day was February 19, 1915 and closed on December 4, 1915.  The following is copied from the National Park Service brochure "Panama-Pacific International Exposition: The World Meets in San Francisco".  

    The Panama-Pacific International Exposition, which closed on December 4, 1915, was considered a commercial success: the fair made a profit of over $1 million dollars and received almost 19 million visitors. Sadly, the world had changed since the fair’s opening. Europe was now embroiled in war and by 1917, it would be America’s war as well. Demolition of the fair began almost immediately. The Company auctioned off fair exhibits, sculptures, structural elements, even whole buildings, for a few dollars and removed them from the grounds. What items the Company could not sell, they tore down quickly. Admission to the grounds was still allowed during demolition, but the atmosphere of the fair was gone. As promised, the significantly altered fairgrounds were quickly made available for new uses. The fair’s important infrastructure elements supported new development for a growing city and army posts returned to their pre-fair operations.

Read the whole brochure here:

https://www.nps.gov/goga/learn/historyculture/upload/PPIE-Brochure-FINAL-for-Web.pdf 

Why did Fred Cole choose to change his name?

     This question has been debated for the past few years as to why Fred Cole changed his name.  The very best idea that I have heard to explain why came from Cliff.  As the last paragraph stated that after the end of the Exposition the world was embroiled in war and soon America would be involved.  Discharged army men would be re-enlisted and called back into active duty in the army to serve their country.  We believe that Fred Cole changed his name to James Edward Sullivan and moved to North Dakota to hide from the army.  He didn't want to be re-enlisted.