52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

         It was cold. It was dark. It was raining. But all George was concentrating on was “keeping his powder dry.” It had been a long two week ride on horseback from Sycamore Shoals (near Elizabethton today) in the Watauga Settlement, where over 900 infantry road off across the Blue Ridge Mountains, headed south to do battle with the Loyalists.   During this rare, quiet moment, camped in Cowpens, South Carolina, George was reliving the two week journey that brought him to this point. It was then September 25, 1780 when he left, with three of his brothers and his father. Before leaving, all the men were blessed in prayer by Rev. Samuel Doak, with his parting phrase “Help us as good soldiers to wield the SWORD OF THE LORD AND GIDEON.” Depiction of the scene at Sycamore Shoals 9/25/1780 leaving for SC George was the youngest son, and had just only turned 18 when they left for battle. Weather in NC mountains in September can be unexpectedly brutal. T...

    The Emerald Isle - Ireland Happy St. Patrick's Day        As sometimes (or many times) happens in family history research, what you think you know about a person/family’s origins can change as more facts come to light. Don’t worry, we still have the same amount of Irish DNA from mom (Dot’s side of the family). We are still descended from the Reillys and the Mervins. I am, however, reconsidering the Mervyn family line from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. That castle (even though it no longer exists anyway) probably wasn’t “our” castle. Good news is that there could be another one in County Cavan. And it still is from a Mervyn/Mervin line. It would make no sense to give three of your sons the Mervyn middle name, and then repeated for generations after that, if it didn’t hold some significance. My challenge is to find that exact significance.   However, discovering more about the Mervyn/Mervin line, as well as the Reilly line could be ...

          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...