William L. Sullivan. Among the early settlers of Paducah were Abel Sullivan and his wife Nancy (McDaniel) Sullivan. The former was a native of North Carolina, though of Irish ancestry. He came in boyhood to Kentucky and settled in Muhlenberg County and there in 1825 he married Miss McDaniel a lady of Scotch descent and in 1831 they removed to Paducah. Abel Sullivan spent many years in Paducah merchandising . He died in Massac County, Ill, 1871, in his eighty ninth year; his wife survived him until 1872, when she died in Grayville, Ill. at the age of seventyone years. These parents had three children, of whom William L. is the eldest. He was born on May 6, 1823, in Paducah, and is now the oldest native male resident of the city. With the exception of a very few years, Mr. Sullivan has always been a resident of Paducah, and at the age of fourteen years began his merchantile career as a salesman in a grocery house. He is now one of the oldest of the Paducah merchants and is the proprietor of a flourshing grocery business. In 1856 in Paducah he married Miss Mattie Brown. She died of cholera in 1873 leaving one child, Harry Sullivan, now of St. Louis. His present wife to whom he was married June 17, 1875 was Miss Birdie Ellithorpe. Their union has resulted in the birth of seven children of whom Maggie, Mattie and Frank are living. Mr. Sullivan is a Knight Templar, in the Masonic order; a member of the A.O.U. W., K. of H. and of the I.O.O.F. and has served the city of Paducah as marshall and tax collector.