Reilly

Name that Ancestor

I posted the below six pictures on Facebook, with this message to my family.

It’s time to play “Name that Ancestor”. I need your help – do you know who these people are? They were in with the photos I got from Pop. They may be siblings, cousins or close friends of Grandpa and Grandma Reilly (Lawrence Ambrose Reilly and Ethel Loretta Powers Reilly).

These were probably taken in the last 1910s or early 1920s.  Potential surnames include: Reilly and Powers.

Unknown 1 – possible Powers
Unknown 2 – possible Powers
Unknown 3 – possible Powers
Unknown 4 – possible Powers
Unknown 5 – possible Powers
Unknown 6 – possible Powers

Treasure Trove

My dining room table is covered with a trove of genealogical treasures.  My dad was back east this week visiting my grandfather.  While he was there, I got him to pick up a box family documents and photographs.  It filled a suitcase and my dad dropped it off at my house this afternoon.  I excited – like a child on Christmas morning excited.  I’ve already spent several hours tonight going through all the photographs and documents, sorting them into like piles.  I’ve located photographs of ancestors I know very little about – these photographs are the first inkling of any real information I have about them. 

I can’t wait to start really digging into the information and finding out new information about all my ancestors contained in all these documents.  I’m down right giddy – and intimidated by the sheer volume.

St. Vincent de Paul, Brooklyn, NY – Another source for information on the Donnelly/Reilly Family
St. Vincent de Paul, Brooklyn, NY

St. Vincent de Paul, Brooklyn, NY

This is the church were my 2nd great-grandmother Sadie Donnelly married my 2nd great-grandfather John Reilly on April 30, 1893 in Williamsburg (Brooklyn), NY.

I have been unsuccessful in finding a lot of information about this part of my family.  Vital records searches in Brooklyn have turned up with nothing.  Now I found a reference to the church where they got married in some old records.  So I thought, if the City of New York doesn’t have any information, maybe the church as the information.

(more…)

Baldwin Family Mystery Update…. Disappointment

I recently ordered a vital records search from the New York City Vital Records office.  I ask them for several birth, marriage and death records associated with Sadie Donnelly, John Reilly and both Nelson Baldwins.  I just received the first response that is in response to the two marriage records I requested.  The first record I request was a search for Sadie’s marriage to John Reilly on April 30, 1893 in Brooklyn.  They were unable to find the record of the marriage.

I also requested a search for a marriage to Nelson Baldwin in Brooklyn, but I requested a three year search based on the information I found in the 1910 Federal Census.  I requested the search be conducted for 1908, 1909 and 1910.  They were unable to find the record of the marriage.

So my next thought is to look in Queens for vital records and to start tracking down potential Catholic churches for record of a church wedding.  They were living in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn, so I plan to start there for possible neighborhood churches.  I also plan on contacting the cemetery where Sadie is buried for any potential information that they may have.

Biography of Sadie Donnelly

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.

(more…)