Owen [Eugene] O'Reilly

Owen appears on his children's birth and christening records as Eugenii Reilly and O'Reilly.

Farmer Eugene Reilly married Catherine Beirne in the Tibohine Parish - Fairymount, Co. Roscommon, on 19 Feb 1857. Witnesses were John Shanly and Malachy Cregg. [NOTE: The NJ Reillys were very close with the Shanlys from Connecticut.] Christening records for several of the children indicate they were born in Ballinameen in the late 1850s through 1873.

A Civil Death Record dated 31 July 1873 states Owen Reilly [as he was called] died at his farm in Tonroe, Parish of Ballinameen, at age 52. He was married. Householder Michael Kelly of Tonroe made the report. If that's our Owen, then his last child, Eugene [born Feb 1873], was only five and a half months old when Owen died.

According to census documents, older children Michael, Mary, and Patrick emigrated to Orange, NJ, by around 1880. They lived in the victorian on St. John's church grounds. Then in 1891 widow Catherine and youngest children Catherine and Eugene joined them, also living at and working for St. John's. The 2 other daughters became nuns.