Harry Stack Sullivan (1892–1949)

Abstract

Harry Stack Sullivan was born on February 21, 1892 in Norwich, New York, the only child of Timothy Sullivan and Ella Stack Sullivan. Timothy was a laborer working on Ella’s father’s farm when they married in 1885. Her family felt that she was marrying beneath her status. Timothy and Ella had previously lost two boys, both born in the month of February, one in 1888 and the other in 1890. The first baby died in convulsions due to cholera infantum. The second baby also died in convulsions due to entero colitis (Perry, 1982) . Given these circumstances, it is likely that Harry’s mother felt a special sense of protectiveness over him. His background was Irish-American and Catholic. His mother and her family were the most important figures in his upbringing, while knowledge of his father and his father’s family is scant. He eventually came to believe that his mother actively kept him apart from his father, and it was only after her death, when Sullivan was in his thirties, that he was able to come to know his father. The one way that Sullivan’s father remained involved and influential was in his insistence on regular church attendance. Exposure to the sexual asceticism taught by the church later impressed Sullivan as posing problems for young adolescents. Being an only child and growing up without a connection to his father, Sullivan was led to theorize that all boys who are only children had problems with their fathers (Perry, 1982).