Third generation master mariner Suttons
Four of Robert Sutton ’ s (b.1761) sons produced the third generation of master mariners. Nathaniel Sutton (b.1794) had three sons, Robert (b.1829), Nathaniel (b.1835) and George Nathaniel (b.1842), who would captain Sutton ships into the 1870s. His daughters, Catherine and Margaret, married Captains Jeremiah Walsh (b.1815) and Denis Whelan (b.1820), both of Dungarvan, and had multiple mariner sons. Thomas Sutton (b.1797/8) had a daughter, Catherine, who married another Dungarvan man, Captain John Gibbons (b.1823). George Sutton (b.1804) had three master mariner sons, Robert (b.1832), John (b.1834) and George (b.1836), while his daughter, Catherine, married Captain Nicholas Reynolds (b.1821), who belonged to another significant Cork family of sea captains. George’s son, Captain Robert Sutton (b.1832), continued to sail on the Nancy McSweeney into the 1890s. William Sutton (b.1814) had one master mariner son, Robert (b.1836), who sailed on Sutton ships for several years before moving on to Liverpool in the 1860s. His second son Abraham William (b.1840) became a chandler and his daughter Catherine married a rope manufacturer. Three of the second-generation brothers died in the mid-nineteenth century. Nathaniel Sutton died in 1849, possibly as a result of the collision of the Robert Lawe with a sunken wreck when approaching Lynn. Thomas Sutton drowned when the Asiatic sunk (See Asiatic ). William Sutton died in 1860. Thomas Sutton’s daughter, Catherine Gibbons, died in September 1849 and was buried with her grandparents, Robert and Catherine Sutton, at Lislee cemetery about 5.5mls eas t of Ring and Nathaniel Sutton’s wife, Joanna (Donovan), was buried in the same grave in 1853. This indicated the strong family bond and ties of place that animated the Sutton family and demonstrated that Nathaniel must have died far from home as he is not recorded in this family grave.
Development of land-based Sutton marine industries
In 1855 George Sutton (b.1804) had two active master mariner sons (Robert and John) when he retired from the captaincy of Girl I Love and from seafaring. George and his brother Abraham, of the second generation, then divided the family business, completing the process by 1856. George Sutton was joined by his non-mariner son, Abraham George Sutton (b.1842), and they traded as George Sutton & Son , White Street, at the junction of Union and George’s Quays. Abraham was joined by his son, Robert Sutton (b.1839), at 1 South Mall, with facilities on Union and Lapps Quays. Later, with his non-mariner sons, Abraham Jr (b.1849) and George Abraham (b. 1852), he would open branch stores and form Abraham Sutton & Sons. These third generation Sutton businessmen, Abraham George Sutton and his cousin George Abraham Sutton served as Cork Harbour Commissioners (mercantile representatives) 1869- 98, and Abraham’s brother, George Sutton Jr (b.1836), was a Cork Harbour Commissioner (City Council representative) for much of the period from 1883 to 1914. Captain Nathaniel Sutton (b.1835, Kinsale) was deputy Harbour Master in Queenstown 1873-83 and coxswain of the Queenstown Lifeboat before becoming Cork Harbour Master and Bailiff from 1883 to 1917.
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