Jeremiah Sullivan

Who was Jeremiah Sullivan?

Jeremiah C. Sullivan was a justice of the Indiana Supreme Court from 1836–1846 and coined the name "Indianapolis" for the new state capital.

Jeremiah Sullivan's father, Thomas Littleton Sullivan, was the son of an Irish barrister and emigrated from Charleville, County Cork, Ireland, in 1791 to Augusta County, Virginia. Jeremiah began his studies at The College of William & Mary in Virginia. After serving in the War of 1812, during which he rose to the rank of major, he returned to Virginia to study law. He was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1816. Believing that there was more opportunity in the newly opened West, he ventured out to Louisville, Kentucky. On his way, he was told of the opportunities offered by Madison, Indiana, a new and growing town on the banks of the Ohio River.

He built his home in 1818 and from this base went on to carve a career as state legislator, state supreme court judge, county judge, Presbyterian elder, and Mason. He helped found nearby Hanover College and the Indiana Historical Society. Jeremiah Sullivan’s public career was immediately successful.