Great great grandfather

Kathy C:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

I assume you are referring to the church in Tallanstown rather than a church in Meath? I will contact a parish liaison in Louth near Drogheda and see if he can assist. Tallanstown is a good deal to the northwest of Drogheda.

Roger McDonnell

Hi Kathy

Firstly your query is easy enough, the church was built in the 1760 to 1780 period, however I checked the baptismal regsters and I see a difference.

The details of the church can be seen here  http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=record&county=LH&…

I found the baptism of Henry Reilly on 3rd of April 1820 in Tallanstown but the father is John and mother appears to be Hamil now or always Hamill, an unusual enough name but found in north Louth, the registers are here, search Tallanstown, select baptism, 1820 and April and it is there as written wiht God parents, cannot make out mothers first name but last name looks like Hamil. 

https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0234 See little map with Tallanstown in pink type colour. The adjoining parishes of Drumconrath and Lobinstown are in Meath so not a great distance to go for a baptism.

This is a site about Louth http://www.jbhall.freeservers.com/ In 1815 or so there was some gruesome happenings nearby to Tallanstown, Wildgoose Lodge Murders and you can read about it on the site, there is a book and Netflix released a movie about it amost 2 years ago. It was filmed locally if you want to look it up. The area would still be fairly rural even now, it is slightly closer to Ardee than Dundlak but not by much and is also about 20 miles from Drogheda, while there will be public transport there it will be infrequent so hiring a car would probably be best, left hand drive and all. 

There will be references to certain local journals etc on the site and the reference section of Dundalk library is the center for local studies to view these publications. The Louth County archives are also in Dundalk and both are on line if you wish to contact them.

I live about 20 miles from Tallanstown if you have any more questions, I would be interested to know your thoughts on the baptism entry.

Regards and enjoy our trip, there are a few interesting places nearby if you are interested.

Pat

Hi Kathy

your Henry Reilly was born in September 1824 in Kells, Meath, parents Patrick Reilly and Mary Mulvaney, it can be seen in Kells parish on the National Library site as yesterday. https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0940

The entry is fairly clear and mothers name and fathers easy to see.

Regards
Pat

Kathy

the town of Kells is located about 40 miles from Dublin and has a long history. Here is a bit about the church http://www.meath.ie/Tourism/Heritage/HeritageSites/StColumbasChurchKell…;

There is an active history society  called St Ultans Historical Society and they are on Facebook, I have a book published this year, presnt from a cousin who has a story in it called Memories and Recollections, it does not go back to 1824 but interesting and very well produced, bound and hardcover. 

Any further queries just let me know,

Change of holiday plans I assume but the towns are not hugely far apart so should not inconvenience you too much.

Regards
Pat

Hi Kathy the entry in Tallanstown I would read as follows " Henry of John Reilly and Ally? Hamil and underneath the God parents are Thomas Conlon and Mary Brannen or Brennan more commonly. 

The Kells Reilly is the one you asked about but wrong year, Henry is not a common Irish name and I am guessing it was not too common for the RC faith back then so two is unusual I think but my thoughts are not scientific. Wonder if the families are related, however Reilly is a common name associated with Cavan which is very close to both Kells and Tallanstown. It is unfortunate the priest did not record the townland the family were in.  

The "O" was only used in about 4% of Irish names back then, increased after about 1880 with the land wars and the rise in nationalism. In fairness to the US and Canada most people arriving would be either illiterate or possibly speaking Gaelic so spelling was phonetic. 

The Reilly / Phelan / Fallen, probably Fallon, do you really want a fallen woman in your ancestry!!!! Seriously if you can supply dates we can have a look up, also area or county. 

If you are getting close to travelling you can mail me at my site email stpeters@irelandxo.com this will speed up the response rather than waiting for the notification which only comes in once a day.

I searched both the Tithe Applottments and Griffiths Valuation (are you familiar with them) for a Henry Reilly nationally, I got 7 in the Tithes, nearest in 1826 on the Cavan/Meath border slightly nearer to Tallonstown but not in either parish, more interestingly there are only 7 in Griffiths and one in 1854 in Maudlin Street, Townparks, Kells, and I imagine this may be your Kells family if that turned out to be the correct one, from the site you can probably pick out the place as the griffiths site comes with a map, remember though this is an opinion based on the Henry christian name being a family name and from the few of them there are nationally. If you wan the site for Griffiths it is here http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/ various icons to the right give extra info, take site number from the 1st icon when you open it and then search the map, not the easiest thing to do but Maudlin Street is still there, am not sure it would have changed hugely but buildings would be more modern.

Enjoy the journey,

Pat