Reilly Family from Cavan/Longmont

Hi,

There is a well documented tree on Ancestry called The Brennan Family History with your family. On it are census records from 1900 and 1910 that show only Margaret was born in Ireland, and the younger siblings, including Philip were born in Pennsylvania. BTW, the 1910 census has their surname as Breilly instead of Reilly.

There is also an obituary on Francis' profile showing he died 16 Feb 1916 in Philadelphia and that his parents were named Francis and Margaret from Co. Longford. Then looking on the paid site, Roots Ireland, there are two potential birth records for Francis:

Francis Reilly 3 Mar 1865, RC parish Dromard, Longford, parents - Francis Reilly & Margaret McGrath, sponsors - Philip Reilly & Catherine Callary

Francis Reilly 18 May 1864, RC parish Dromard, Longford, parents - Francis Reilly & Margaret Reilly, sponsors - Patrick Mulstay & Catherine Reilly

The first record jumped out with the sponsor Philip Reilly....perhaps Francis named his son that in honor of his uncle?/baptism sponsor.

Regards,

SDeMilia,

Sometimes family stories turn out to be just that--stories. Your mom may have been told incorrect information or she may have confused Philip's story with someone else's. If you have Ancestry, you can look at the 1910 U.S. census:(https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7884/images/4449574_00772?pId=114409687)

It shows that Francis (Frank) and Mary and daughter Marguerite emigrated to the U.S. in 1890. The rest of their children were born in the U.S. This includes Philip. You might check some other censuses and other records for Philip to confirm this. But as you said, you have seen many records stating he was born in America.

Thank you all very much for responding and offering this information. Wow! I'm actually so surprised at this. Like I said the story was always that they came here from Ireland after their parents and one sister died. I will try to check for a birth certificate both here in the US and in Ireland, but it certainly seems, especially with that 1890 census information, that he was born here. Well, glad to have the information but also disappointed that he wasn't born in Ireland. Thanks again!!

This might be Margaret's baptismal record:

Name: Margaret Reilly

Date of Birth: 28-Dec-1888

Date of Baptism: 29-Dec-1888

Address: Drumharly

Parish/District: DROMARD

Gender: Female

County Co. Longford

Denomination: Roman Catholic

Father: Francis Reilly

Mother: Mary Reilly

Sponsor 1 /John Reilly

Sponsor 2 /Margaret Reilly

Notes:

FR.E.SMITH