Hello NZSimmer85,
In going over your message to Ireland Reaching Out, I'm not clear if you have the marriage record for Mathew Reilly and Mary Anne Kelly. Their marriage record may tell you who their parents were.
To see if I could find their marriage, I went to the free FamilySearch website, where I found an index of their marriage, showing they were married in New Zealand in 1884. See the index below:
New Zealand, Civil Records Indexes, 1800-1966
Name Mathew Reilly
Sex Male
Spouse's Name Mary Anne Kelly
Spouse's Sex Female
Event Type Marriage
Event Date 1884
Event Place New Zealand
Event Place (Original) New Zealand
Registration Number 1884/2667
"New Zealand, Civil Records Indexes, 1800-1966", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q24V-BT8F : Sat Feb 22 00:11:14 UTC 2025), Entry for Mathew Reilly and Mary Anne Kelly, 1884.
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The marriage index from FamilySearch provided a link to the New Zealand BMD Historical Records page where you can search for Birth, Marriage, and Death indexes. From the indexes, you can order the full birth, marriage, or death record.
Based on the FamilySearch record, I found the marriage index for Mathew and Mary Anne at the New Zealand Historical Records website: bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz. See Below:
Registration Number: 1884/2667
Bride's Given Name(s): Mary Anne
Bride's Family Name: Kelly
Groom's Given Name(s): Mathew
Groom's Family Name: Reilly
Source: bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz.
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You will need to go to the New Zealand BMD marriage search page to access the above index. Go to:
https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Search/Search?Path=%2FcartRecordSubmit.m%3FReportName%3Dnzmge%26key%3D1884%2F2667
Instead of filling out the form with names and dates, enter the Registration Number, 1884/2667, to generate the marriage index you see above.
Once the index downloads you'll be directed to "Order Product," where you can order the full marriage record for Mathew and Mary Anne.
According to information from New Zealand BMD Historical Records, the names of the parents of the bride and groom were recorded in marriage records “Since 1881, or in some instances late 1880,”
and so it's possible that Mathew and Mary Anne's parents will be recorded in their full marriage record. See "Frequently Asked Questions" at: https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/faq#Marriages
If the marriage record does tell you who Mathew and Mary Anne's parents were, you can submit another query to Ireland Reaching Out with the names of their parents in order that volunteers can search for their birth and or baptism records. Birth records in Ireland are available from the year 1864.
Your information shows that Mathew Reilly was born in 1869. But are you sure that is his correct year of birth? If born in 1869, he would have been only 15 years old when he and Mary Anne Kelly married in 1884.
Continuing with the bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz website, I found the birth indexes for Francis "O'Rielly" (1892); Michael O'Reilly (1894); and Mary "O'Rielly" (1897). See the indexes below:
Registration Number: 1892/6477
Family Name: O'Rielly
Given Name(s): Francis
Mother's Given Name(s): Mary
Father's Given Name(s): Matthew
Source: bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz.
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Registration Number: 1894/13185
Family Name: O'Reilly
Given Name(s): Michael
Mother's Given Name(s): Mary
Father's Given Name(s): Matthew
Source: bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz.
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Registration Number: 1897/1319
Family Name: O'Rielly
Given Name(s): Mary
Mother's Given Name(s): Mary
Father's Given Name(s): Matthew
Source: bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz.
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You can order the full birth records for your great grandfather Francis and his two siblings from the New Zealand BMD website if you don't already have them.
I also found the death index for a Mary Anne O'Reilly who died in 1949 at the age of 83 years. Your records show that Mary Anne died in 1949. The record below may possibly refer to the death index for your great grandmother:
Registration Number: 1949/23764
Family Name: O'Reilly
Given Name(s): Mary Ann
Date of Birth/Age at Death: 83Y
Source: bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz.
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If Mary Ann's age of 83 years at the time of death is correct, she would have been born in 1866.
With Kind Regards,
Dave Boylan
SOURCES
FamilySearch: https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/
New Zealand: bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz.
