John Reilly of Portobello

[glensman]

In 1905 John Reilly a miner of Portobello Scotland married Annie Reilly (born around 1883) of Duke Street Ballymena Co. Antrim.  John was born around 1878 and his father was also John Reilly.   To confuse matters somewhat Annie's father was John Reilly and the couple had two children - a son called John who died aged 6 in Ballymena in 1915 and a daughter called Jeannie who was born in 1910.

Annie and her husband John were still in Ballymena for the deaths of Annie's parents in 1917 and 1918.  John shows up in the Revised Valuation Books for Duke Street Ballymena in 1920 at which point he was replaced by Annie who, according to the same Books, left Duke Street in 1921. After that I have no further sign of them in Northern Ireland.

My question is what happened next.  I cannot find any further records of them in Northern Ireland.  One possible scenario is that John moved back to Scotland to be followed by Annie and Jeannie.  If this happened Portobello is the most likely destination. Family folklore has it that Jeannie was adopted in Scotland but I do not know if that is true.  I have checked the ScotlandsPeople website without success though I do not have the local knowledge to make best use of it with what are common names.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Alb R]

Living at Portobello, I would think he was working at Newcraighall Colliery.  Although that was still open for a long time, I wouldn't bet on hi returning there as miners were very mobile in the late 19th early 20th century. You really have to expand your search from Midlothian to East Lothian, West Lothian (particularly with the boom in oilshale mining), Fife, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Clackmannanshire.

[glensman]

Thank you very much Alb R. 

I had majored on Portobello because that was where John Reilly gave as his address when he married Annie.  His father John was also a miner and I had thought it likely that Portobello was the most likely destination when they left Northern Ireland.  Of course on the basis of your advice, I will have to throw the net much wider. 

Thank you.