I was just in Lochgelly for the day back in March. I finally got to visit the town where by grandmother was born! The photos are on my Flickr set
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dawnone/sets/72157644472378132/ and there are additional sets of Scotland, Glasgow and Edinburgh there as well. I unfortunately didn't have the opportunity to finally meet my cousin, Steven Gorman of Inverness, due to a family emergency, but hope to on a future trip.
I discovered further information regarding the family upon my return, and just today found a family tree my late grandmother provided among my papers!!
http://www.scottishmining.co.uk/Indexes/1889deaths.htmlhttp://users.zetnet.co.uk/mmartin/fifepits/starter/central/pits/c/pit-1.htmDunfermline Saturday Press"
2 March, 1889
Michael Reilly, a platelayer, was killed at Cowdenbeath Colliery, yesterday. He had been engaged in mining repairs on a waggon road near the coal-washing machine, when a loaded waggon approached him and knocked him down. His body was thrown across the rails, and the vehicle passed over one of his legs, causing such injuries that the man died in a few minutes afterwards.
Just discovered through the wonders of the internet how my great-great grandfather, Michael Reilly or Rielly (paternal side) died... though it was probably on Feb. 25, 1889 that this occurred. He left behind a wife and at least 3 young children. Both he and his wife were born in Ireland, but were living in Fife, Scotland. His wife, Bridget, was from County Mayo and was 14 years old when the potato famine killed their parents. She and 2 smaller siblings, the only surviving members of their farming family, had made their way to the coal mining region of Lochgelly, Fife, which I just visited on my Europe/UK trip, hoping to find their gravestones in the cemetery. I expect they were too poor to have one erected, as there was no-one by that name, or any of my other family names, Murray and Gorman, in the old section of the graveyard, which is quite devoid of markers. Perhaps Michael Reilly is buried in Cowdenbeath. I left flowers on the stone at the entrance of the old graveyard in Lochgelly. I had already lit candles for my grandmother and her family in St.Patrick's Roman Catholic Church upon arriving.
http://www.failteromhat.com/southernstar/page10.php Report of her husband's death in the "Dunfermline Saturday Press"
"2 March, 1889. Michael Reilly, a platelayer, was killed at Cowdenbeath Colliery, yesterday. He had been engaged in mining repairs on a waggon road near the coal-washing machine, when a loaded waggon approached him and knocked him down. His body was thrown across the rails, and the vehicle passed over one of his legs, causing such injuries that the man died in a few minutes afterwards."
Her daughter Bridget Rielly/ Reilly (Oct.24, 1878 - Dec.5, 1918) died of dropsy. She is my grandmother's mother. She married Edward Gorman (April 12, 1878- 1942) and they had 2 daughters. My grandmother, Bridget "Betty" Murray Gorman (born in Lochgelly, Dec. 30, 1898) married Ralph Easton Hammond in Winnipeg, Canada. Her only sister was Margaret "Peg" Gorman (April 12, 1901). Margaret married William Walsh in Bronx, NY, USA and had 7 children. May, James, Edward (died of polio), Margaret, Helen (who died age 27 and left a child, Wally), Billy and Alfred.
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Hi DiddyMiller! Thank-you so much for all the effort you've put into this- My father would have been so happy, as he tried for years to find any information on his family, to no avail. My grandmother did once tell me the name of her Irish family from Cork, but the paper it was written on was lost and I've been trying to learn it ever since. That is the only thing I'm still missing, but now with the family names in Scotland known, that should help.