Sadie Donnelly was born to Patrick and Bridget on December 14, 1875 in New York. She is my 2nd great-grandmother on my paternal grandfather’s side of the family. She married John Reilly on April 30, 1893 in New York. She gave birth to 5 children while married to John: Arlington, Madeline, Lawrence, Helen and Adele. Both Helen and Adele died in infancy or as young children. Lawrence was the only one of her children who married as an adult. Madeline was engaged, but her fiance was killed overseas during World War I, and she never ended up marrying.
My Genealogy
Biography of Michael Reilly
Right now I’m obsessing over my 3rd great grandfather, Michael J. Reilly. He was born in 1846 in Ireland and probably came to the United States with his parents, John and Ann, when he was about 5 years old. They settled in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. He met and married May Ann Ambrose, a native of New Jersey, who was the love of his life. They had seven children, of whom only four survived to adulthood. As an adult, he worked as a sailmaker. Even after his children were adults, he helped raise his grandchildren – my great grandfather Lawrence Ambrose Reilly, and his brother Arlington and sister Madeline. A couple of this children, David and Elizabeth, remained single and lived at home as adults. He died in 1926 in Brooklyn at the age of 80.
The Baldwin Family Mystery
- New York Subway Map, CIrca 1918, Library of Congress
My 2nd great-grandmother Sadie Donnelly Reilly was a nickle-snatcher – a subway token clerk in New York City. She was raising three children in Brooklyn, the youngest of whom as 2 years old when her husband disappeared. John Reilly was riding the ferry one day when he allegedly fell overboard. No body was ever recovered, and he was declared dead, leaving Sadie to raise their children alone.
The USS Frank E. Evans
I write about the USS Frank E Evans with admitted bias – my uncle Larry was one of the seventy-four men lost at sea that fateful night in June 1969, and my beloved grandfather was one of the ones lucky to survive. The repercussions of the collision of the USS Evans and the HMAS Melbourne have now spanned four generations of Reillys. I grew up with the accident – it colored many a family occasion.
Aunt Dotsie
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Sister, Aunt, Great-Aunt, Great-great-Aunt, Teacher, Financial Consultant, Social Activist, Mentor, Leader, Friend
At Aunt Dotsie’s funeral services this weekend, it quickly became apparent that she had touched the lives of many, many people, in a variety of different ways. I learned so much more about her from listening to the stories and talking to the people who had been a part of her life. She was brillant and fair, loving and devoted. If you came into her circle, you became one of hers – she adopted a sense of responsibility for you.