As a youth, both parents died, and he was left penniless by mismanagement or dishonesty by the administrators of the estate.

[1] Sullivan entered a pottery near Philadelphia, served an apprenticeship, and later engaged in business in that city.

He engaged in mercantile pursuits, and erected the first pottery that manufactured the quality goods for which Zanesville would later be famous.

[1] On January 27, 1811, Sullivan was elected by the Ohio General Assembly as Associate Judge of the Muskingum County Court of Common Pleas.

[3] He was elected to the Ohio State Senate for Muskingum County, for a two-year term commencing on December 6, 1819.

In 1822, he was a candidate for United States representative for Ohio's 9th congressional district, but lost to Philemon Beecher.