Winifred/Sister deSales Reilly

Winifred was born in Tonroe on 8 Sept 1863 and christened in the Breedogue & Ballinameen RC Parish on 19 Sept. Her father, a farmer, died when she was 10, leaving behind her mother and 7 children. Prospects were limited. Her older siblings emigrated in 1882, living on St. John's Church grounds in Orange, NJ.

Winifred professed as Sister Francis Marie deSales on April 20, 1890. The following year her mother and younger siblings joined the family in NJ. They were all living together at St. John's in Orange when Winifred came over to the US in 1899. She worked at the House of Good Shepherd in Newark, NJ, until 1931. It was a Magdalene asylum [Catholic girls' reformatory] where the girls were kept pure and penitents redeemed their souls by doing laundry and sewing clothing. The institution was shut down in 1930 during the Great Depression, because the cotton manufacturers didn't want to violate new NRA labor laws.

From there, Auntie deSales went to "Our Lady of Grace Training School" at 74 Kahdena Road, Morristown. In her final years she lived at a home for elderly nuns in Morristown, NJ. Church records for The House of the Good Shepherd" were transferred to St. Margaret of Scotland Church on Sussex Avenue, Morristown.

Winifred died in 1954 and is buried at the Sisters of the Good Shepherd cemetery in Wickatunk, New Jersey. Her nephew Frank Reilly was named after her and always carried her little gold religious figure of Mary in his pocket. Everyone spoke highly of her and said she was lovely and very kind.

US Census records have her listed as Winifred Reilly at the House of Good Shepherd; occupation, Director, convent. Note that according to the 1900 and 1910 Census records, her widowed mother may be the older employee Catherine O'Reilly who also lived at the House of Good Shepherd.