[Granville-Hough] 19 Jan 2010 - Lazy Steave

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:00:43 -0800
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: Lazy Steave - 19 Jan 2010

  I did not know "Lazy Steave" Sullivan. I believe that in 1930 he lived 
far away in Sharkey County, MS, with his son Homer. He may have come 
back to Sullivan's Hollow, or he may have been brought back to be buried 
in New Sardis Baptist Church Cemetery.

The only recall information found on ôSteaveö Sullivan comes from pages 
52-57 of Chester SullivanÆs SullivanÆs Hollow, which is summarized 
below. Chester Sullivan did not personally know Steave Sullivan, and 
neither did I. I can only attest to what I found in census and cemetery 
records. All else is hearsay. Steave Sullivan is said to have married 
three or more times, but each wife left him because he would not work 
enough to support her. He eked out a living by lying, begging, and 
fortune-telling. He was so lazy that people thought he might be sick, 
perhaps with pellagra. He went to a Hattiesburg doctor noted for 
pellagra treatment, who found no symptoms of that disease, but who 
suggested he might get a begging permit if he did not feel like working. 
To the doctor, it probably seemed the only way to get Steave out of his 
office, but Steave acted on that advice and went around with a begging 
permit for years. He also told fortunes to get a few pennies. Or perhaps 
people gave him money not to hear his piteous whining. About 1920, 
Steave was visiting his cousin, Rev. Webster Bishop and went to church 
with him to hear Webster preach. While there, Steave met a woman, 
Sophronia Ranner (maybe Rayner or Ranier), who was eligible for 
marriage. In a few days he proposed to her, and they arranged to get 
married on a certain day, but he did not show up. The next day after the 
agreed date, Steave went to Rev. Webster Bishop and asked that he 
perform a marriage free, based on their kinship; so they went to 
PhronieÆs house, where she was working, and out of the marrying mood, 
since Steave had not shown up the previous day when he had promised, and 
her family had told her Steave was too lazy to support a wife. After 
some strongly stated promises that he would support her, she consented 
to marry, which they did. She was barefooted, with her workdress held 
together with safety pins. After about three months, they were 
separated, as Steave could not take the pressure from Phronie that he 
make a living as he had promised. Fronie Sullivan (1882 MS- after 1930) 
was a divorced woman living near Magee in Simpson County, 1930.

1920 Smith Co, MS, Beat 3, ED 122, sheet 15A, fam 193, Stephen A. 
Sullivan and two ch, Bertie and Homer G. He was a widower living near 
Tillman Sullivan, Erby Sullivan, and related families of Merry Hell.

1930 Sharkey Co, MS, Beat 4, ED 7, Sh 3A, Steve A. Sullivan and son 
Homer, farming.
1930 Simpson Co, MS, Beat 1, ED 64-4, Sh 9B, Fronia Sullivan (1872 MS), 
divorced. In age, this would seem to be the Sophronia Ranner who md 
Steavy Sullivan.
1930 Jones Co, MS, Ellisville State School, ED 34-2, Sh 9A, Troy 
Sullivan, inmate. (GWH: If I recall correctly, this was the state Reform 
School.) I could never prove just exactly who Troy Sullivan claimed as 
parents

The best one can do about Steavy A. Sullivan is to include some more 
detail from the stories recorded by Chester Sullivan who claimed Steavy 
was son of Thomas Sullivan, Jr, and Betsy (Bishop), and that he was the 
laziest, cleverest, and hungriest Sullivan ever to be born. He would 
show up, unexpected and uninvited, at any Sullivan descendantÆs home at 
meal time and eat everything in sight. If at mealtime he was not close 
to a cousinÆs house he would try someone unrelated. On one such occasion 
he helped eat everything in sight and all retired to the living room, 
and the lady of the house then mentioned they had killed hogs the day 
before and had made chitlins. To which Steve declared he liked chitlins 
better than anything else from the hog. The lady said she had not 
brought any out because they had all the food they needed already on the 
table. But Steave insisted that he could help her eat the chitlins. So 
she brought them out and Steave did not leave until they were all gone.
Once he met two Negro preachers on the road and stopped them when he saw 
they were carrying Bibles. He told them he wanted to talk about the 
Bible, which he did, then he admitted he was a very sick man, unable to 
work, and soon had them crying. Then he asked that they all pray, and he 
led off for thirty minutes. Then he slacked off and let them get in a 
few words of supplication. He then told them he needed medicine and 
money. The two Negro preachers only had a little over two dollars 
between them, but they gave every penny to him. He blessed them and went 
on his way to the nearest town, where he told the story over and over, 
falling over with laughter with each retelling.
Steave was so lazy that people thought he might have pellagra, and this 
thought frightened him. People told him that Dr. Betha, of Hattiesburg 
was a good doctor for that disease so he ôhit outö for Hattiesburg. Dr. 
Betha could find no evidence for pellagra or any other endemic disease. 
Steave complained that he did not feel like working, so he asked Dr. 
Betha what to do. Dr. Betha suggested he get a begging permit and ask 
people to help him. To which, Seave asked: ôIf I did that, donÆt you 
think it would hurt my reputation?ö But Steave liked the idea. He found 
someone who would write what he dictated, so he got a note prepared 
along these lines: ôI am Steave Sullivan, and I am sick and unable to 
work. I have been to see Dr. Betha, the pellagra doctor, and he told me 
to get a begging permit. I need money for food and medicine. Can you 
help me?ö Steave carried the paper with him for years, and he would show 
it when all else failed.
One of SteaveÆs lesser maneuvers was to tell fortunes, and one of his 
nicknames became Fortune-Telling Steave. One way to get a free cup of 
coffee was to offer to tell the fortune of the lady in the house. Of 
course, he needed a fresh cup so he could study the grounds at the 
bottom of the cup. Soon as he got one he would drink it down to the 
grounds, then proceed to give a standard fortune. Then he would charge 
for the fortune. Sometimes he would get a few cents this way in addition 
to the free cup of coffee.
Strangely, Steavy was not recalled as a drunkard or as a belligerent 
person. He probably did have hookworm infestation, which was quite 
common. I personally went through the treatment for that infestation in 
1937.
(GWH: What I think I know about this Steavy Sullivan makes me believe I 
have confused two different people, one who was son of Ephraim, and 
great grandson of Pappy Tom, and the other who may have been son of 
Thomas Sullivan, Jr., and grandson of Pappy Tom. I therefore relegate to 
others the task of rescuing what truth there may be from his life, or 
their lives, if that was the case. I must say his life was an 
aberration. I knew sick Sullivans, hungry Sullivans, mean Sullivans, and 
clever Sullivans, but they were not lazy. As one person put it, "I was 
born free and white in Smith County, and when I was about grown, I was 
told, "You can go 'root, hog, or die," just like any wild Piney Woods 
boar.. Grampa.

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P. S. I am sending this message a day ahead. My blood counts today 
showed my HGB to be 5.6, indicating that the blood transfusion of two 
pints a week ago did not do the expected improvement. So I will get 
three pints early tomorrow and begin Vidaza again on Thursday. Two 
doctors and two nurses told me to stop driving and get full-time help. 
The two doctors independently told me they would try to keep the pain 
level down. It is clear that each believes the end is near for me. So 
all I can say is: I thank God for 87 good years, I appreciate the many 
friends He has given me, I ask forgiveness for the meanness and sins 
which have crept into my life, but in the ending, May God's Will Be Done!.