Sullivan

Sullivan End-'O-the-Road Livestock Auction... founded June 1, 1997



Jerry Sullivan, from Houston, Texas County, Missouri, purchased the Cunningham Livestock Auction as of June 1, 1997, from Lyle Cunningham who was retiring from the business. Jerry is a descendant of Jourdan Sullivan (great-great-grandson) the original settler of that land in 1852. Jourdan's son, Julian, did not return to the Oak Creek west valley farm after the Civil War with his parents, but remained in Houston where they had lived during the war. Houston was a regional Union headquarters, and Julian served in the Union forces. After the war, he married and stayed to raise his family there, including a son named Julius. His son, Jesse, was Jerry's father.

Jerry had worked in an auction house in Houston for a number of years and wanted to have is own business. When he learned that Lyle had his auction house up for sale, Jerry Sullivan saw his opportunity. He decided to carry forward the "End-'O-the-Road" name because he had always heard, in family tales, that they had lived at the End-'O-the-Road in those earliest days.

In announcing his opening of the business, Jerry said he would continue the schedules that folks had gotten used to. He planned to do some remodeling, but not enough to change the fine atmosphere that Lyle had always provided for his auction events.