This genial and affable gentleman was postmaster at Slickpoo, a post office which received its establishment through his efforts and was named for an Indian family near its location. Mr. Sullivan did a general merchandise business in connection with handling his farm, which is a homestead that he secured from the government and which he has improved in becoming shape since his settlement.
Thomas Sullivan was born in Queenstown, Ireland, on August 11, 1843, being the son of David and Nancy Sullivan, natives of Ireland. The family came to New York when our subject was four years of age, and the father went to sea after locating them and was never heard from since. He is supposed to have been lost at sea. The mother died in 1859.
After the loss of the father, Thomas went to live with L. F. Corwin, in New Jersey, and he labored on the farm there and attended school until he was sixteen. Then he went to New York and on April 17, 1861, he enlisted in the Third United States Regular Infantry and served three years. After that he enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty-sixth New York Volunteer Infantry and continued in active duty until the close of the war. He was in the Army of the Potomac and served in the Peninsular campaign. At the battle of Gettysburg, he was taken prisoner and kept three months at Belle Island when he was paroled, pending exchange.
After the war he was in New York and then went to Illinois. In 1871, he went to Texas and in 1873 returned to New York. In 1888, he came to Moscow and opened a restaurant, doing business there until February, 1894, when a move was made to Lewiston, it was in 1897 that Mr. Sullivan came to his present location, took a homestead and went to tilling the soil. He opened a mercantile establishment, got the post office established and has done well since that time.
In 1873, at New York, Mr. Sullivan married Miss Annie Quaine, a native of Ireland, who came to this country with her parents in 1859. She has two sisters living. Mr. Sullivan has one sister, Mrs. Ellen Mannle whose husband was an old soldier. It has been the lot of Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan to mourn the death of all three of their children. In political matters, Mr. Sullivan is a Democrat and active in representing the principles of his party.
He and his wife are adherents of the Catholic Church. Mr. Sullivan is a member of the G. A. R. and is a good citizen, an upright and highly respected man.
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Source: An Illustrated History of Northern Idaho, Embracing Nez Perce, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone Counties, Western Historical Publishing Company, 1903