52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

          Ever since I took the plunge into Irish waters over one month ago, there have been many false starts and conflicting clues along the way. Imagine looking for a John M. Reilly and wife Matilda (just Matilda, no maiden name), with little else to go on. It seemed to have been a fruitless swim in the Irish Sea, wading in these waters for over 10 years now and making no headway to speak of. This latest go round has been different. The main reason for this is that I have had 12 years of on the job training, so to speak. I am more cognizant of little clues in records. In addition, more research tools and records are available now. And I have learned to think more critically about details. Details that seemed unimportant to me years ago all of a sudden took on new significance. One example of this is the middle initial “M” in two male descendants of John M. Reilly, which until this time I never considered a clue. Map of Ireland, with County Cavan in g...

Imagine if you will - It is 1862 and the Civil War has already been raging for about one year. You have been living in a city, Cincinnati Ohio, for the last couple years with your wife and now 2 year old daughter. Before that you were living in Detroit for a few years, where you were married. You have no family here in Ohio, and but a few friends and business associates. What is your first thought? What do you do? If it was me, I would want to try to get home, to my real home where I have family and friends to help protect my family if I would be called to serve the country.   Update 3/1/2026: Another reason for returning home could have been the news that one of his siblings, Alexander Reilly, had been shot and killed in a  Union camp in Virginia in the Civil War. This happened in late December 1861. Well, that is just what my 2nd great grandfather, John Mervyn Reilly, his wife Matilda, and daughter Elizabeth did. But home to him was Brooklyn, New York, a very long journe...

          As I continue with my saga on the search for my Irish GG Grandparents John Mervyn Reilly and his wife Matilda, I feel like I’m playing that hide and seek game we used to play as kids. You know, the one where you get the hint “warmer” or “colder?” Well, this past week I have been hearing the words in my head “warmer” and “getting warmer,” “getting warmer!”  We could be Reilly and Mervyn and more! (I so apologize in advance for getting deep in the genealogy weeds with the following information, but the devil is in the details and it helps me to put it to paper) This past week I was looking to see what I could find with my GG-grandfather’s name   John M. Reilly in the 1855 NY state census in Brooklyn. I had already found him there in the 1865 one. But by 1860 I knew he was in Cincinnati Ohio with his wife Matilda and 2 month old Elizabeth Reilly (my g-grandmother).   Well, I did find something that looked interesting, if not pr...

         Instead of a photograph to talk about this week, I thought I would share a screen shot of my DNA genetic origins. This is me !   It is fascinating, and Ancestry is getting better with their analysis as more people test their DNA and broaden the base. My DNA origins map Basically I am about 50% English, but that percent is broken down into 4 different regions of the United Kingdom. The smallest % in this regions is Cornwall, which is on the southwestern tip of England. This is so interesting to me, since I am deep into the TV series Poldark, which is based in Cornwall in the last part of the 1700’s. I can just see myself riding a horse and galloping across the windswept edge of the seaside cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.   The chart below shows the breakdown of my ethnic origins and is color-coded to the screen shot. Note that the size of a color-coded region does not indicate how large my DNA origin is in that area. For example...

         Last week I wrote about my 2X great grandparents on my mother’s side, who were born in Ireland: John M. Reilly and his wife Matilda. They both immigrated to the US in the mid 1800’s, most likely separately, and they probably met in the US.   The main two questions I have been trying to answer for years is where did they come from in Ireland, and what was Matilda’s maiden name. I have made some baby steps progress, but I’m no where close to answering these two research questions.   Here are some new things I have learned: 1. John M. Reilly’s middle name was not Merryn, but it was Mervyn . The only sources I had for the middle name were written church record books of baptisms and burials, where he and Matilda were parents. The handwriting is over 160 years old, and the script was not clear at all.              But this past week I noticed that John’s son Robert also had the middle initial of “M” as d...