Looking for information on children/grandchildren of Thomas Rielly/Reilly and Alice Sheehy

Hi Miriam, Thanks so much for your reply. I first thought Hannah & Hanora might be the same person but the dates don’t align. Hanora - or Nora  as she was know - entered the US at Boston in 1898. I don’t find a record of her returning to Ireland. She was married in Connecticut, USA, in 1912 or so. (I am working from memory without my references in front of me.) The child Mary Ann was born in 1906 in Drombana/Kilteely where the Reillys lived. She was raised by my grandmother and came to the US in 1925. Mary Ann married & had children & her obituary stated that her parents were Hannah O’Reilly and Roger Harty  I cannot find a record for any of them. Could it have been an elaborate lie to hide her true parentage? I recall being told that one of the Reilly sisters had a child out of wedlock but don’t know which one  And of the 9 children born I’m able to find records for only 7. Sadly there’s no one to ask at this point. I wish I’d asked more questions of my mom when she was alive. Might there be other records that weren’t submitted to the on-line sources? I hate to give up on my quest. 

Thank you for your help.

Patricia

Miriam I forgot to state that the information I have comes only from Mary Ann’s obituary and something I saw on Ancestry.com. It seems some one else started an ancestry search years ago and  recorded Hannah as deceased in 1906. I must dig deeper into Hanora Rielly to see if she returned to Ireland before 1906, possibly gave birth & cMe back again for the US, leaving Mary Ann with her parents & a fabricated story of the child’s Parentage. I suppose that wouldn’t be surprising. I still need to find the 2 missing Rielly children. 

Regards,

Patricia

Hello, Miriam -

Again, thanks so much for your help. I spent a couple of hours this afternoon going back through my notes and rechecking the sources. I found another genealogy site that was very user friendly and I am not cross-referencing between RootsIreland.ie, Ancestry.com, and IrishGenealogy.ie. Here is what I found today:

Hanora/Hanna appears on the ship log as Honor Reilly on the SS Scandinavia that departed from Galway in April 1898 and arrived in Boston, MA, USA in May. The  date of birth aligns with my Hanna, and she was coming to her sister Bridget Reilly who worked for a family names Sullivan in Boston. This lines up with what my mom had told me about Honora when she first came over. HOWEVER, I found her under her married name on the 1920 & 1930 Federal Census records and her date of arrival is listed as 1906 on one, and 1907 on the other. I am unable to find her name on passenger logs for either of those years, either through Boston or New York. You’re correct, there were dozens of Honora/Hanora/Hannah and Bridget Reillys on those records. The Honora & Bridget from the 1898 ship log may not me her at all, even with a matchup in birth info. And making it further complex is the Irish census of 1901 that lists Bridget as Bridget Howard, a married woman. 

Thus, this may indeed mean I have the wrong Honora & Bridget and that my Hanna had the child in 1906, left her with Alice & Thomas, and emigrated to the US, Perhaps the child was told that she died. I did see Roger Harty name but didn’t investigate, I put it to the side to go back to.

I believe I found one of he missing Reilly children. There was a boy Edmond born in 1883 and in 1889. The boy born in December 1883 died in January 1884 from whooping cough. Oddly enough, the next boy born was also named Edmond. I am still missing a child. I don’t see the link to the Parish register in your message. I will try to find that on my own tomorrow & I’ll spend some time looking for the missing child. 

I am becoming somewhat obsessed with finding the missing puzzle pieces. It really is fascinating. And I very much a appreci ate your help and guidance.

Thank you for the link, Miriam. I will work on it a bit tomorrow & afternas I find the time. 

I agree with you about Hanora. I think the 1898 entries are just a coincidence; so many similar names & dates & no real way to validate any of them.  I have written to my second cousin whose grandmother was Hanora’s sister and asked if she had any information. I don’t think anyone has looked into this as deeply as I have but I’m hoping there is something anecdotal that will provide more clues.

Thank you for all your help. I will keep in touch & let you know if I find out anything new or if I decide to do the DNA test.  So far I’m not keen on it but will see!

Best regards.