Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

Ireland, and they were the parents of six
children : Thomas F., Michael A., Edward
J., John F., Ellen, Rose T., all of
Westport.
(Ill) John Francis Coyle, son of Michael
(2) and Rose (Leonard) Coyle, was
born in Westport, Connecticut, February
6, 1878. He was educated in the public
schools. Soon after completing his edu-
cation, he apprenticed himself to learn
the trade of carpenter and builder. An
ambitious youth, he gave strict attention
to the mastering of this occupation, and
for a period of fifteen years worked on
various contracts and thereby gained ex-
perience which has been invaluable to
him. About 1915 Mr. Coyle started in
business on his own account. He makes
a specialty of building residences and
employs six men on an average. Mr.
Coyle is one of the esteemed citizens of
Westport, and takes an active interest in
its affairs. He is a member of the Westport
Volunteer Fire Department and
serves as its secretary, an office which he
has held for twelve years.
Mr. Coyle married Helen McArdle, of
Brooklyn, New York, and they are the
parents of a son, Edward, and two daugh-
ters. Rita and Eleanor Coyle.
O'SULLIVAN, John Edward,
Hotel Proprietor.
There is no family in Ireland with a
more honorable lineage than the O'Sullivan
family. The root of this surname
is from the Irish, suil, derived from sul,
meaning the eye, as the light of the body.
In its early form the name was spelled
O'Suileabhain, and the family is de-
scended from Milesius through his oldest
son, Heber. The latter was the first
Milesian monarch of Ireland with his
brother, Heremon, and he was slain by
this brother B. C. 1698. The line de-
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
411
scends through Eoghan Mor (Owen
Mor), who the historian O'Hart tells us
"was a wise and politic prince and a great
warrior. From him Miadhad, now May-
nooth, was so called." A worthy scion
of this family is John Edward O'Sullivan,
proprietor of Dorian's Shore House, Dor-
ian's Point, East Norwalk, Connecticut.
(I) Daniel O'Sullivan, grandfather of
John E. O'Sullivan, lived in Ireland
throughout his lifetime, and there mar-
ried Elizabeth Tattan. He died in 1869,
and his wife in 1873.
(II) John O'Sullivan, son of Daniel
and Elizabeth (Tattan) O'Sullivan, was
born in what is now Queenstown, Ire-
land, October 8, 1836, and died at the age
of seventy-nine years. He came to Amer-
ica, June 2, 1852, and for a time was in
New York City, going thence to Boston,
Massachusetts, where he learned the
trade of shoemaker, and worked at this
trade in Norwalk and New Canaan. After
ten years he was appointed a member of
the Norwalk Police Force by the Demo-
cratic party, and for sixteen years faith-
fully served in the interest of his fellow-
citizens. The last few years of this pe-
riod, Mr. O'Sullivan was chief of police.
In his later life Mr. O'Sullivan resigned
from the office of chief and engaged in
the liquor business, which he followed
several years, and was also the owner of
a shore resort where the Norwalk Coun-
try Club is now located, adjoining his
son's present property. It was he who
set out the trees that have since grown
to give Dorian's Point much of its at-
tractiveness. In 1859 Mr. O'Sullivan
married Mary Ryan, daughter of Edward
Ryan, of County Tipperary, Ireland.
Their children were : Elizabeth, deceased
; John E., of further mention
Mary, wife of Michael J. Riordan, now
deceased; D. Francis, of Norwalk; Jane,
wife of Hugh Donnelly. The family at-
;