FAMILY NAMES - Berrigan, Oreilly, O'Reilly, O'Rahilly or Reilly

[daisynook]

Afraid not, parents and siblings all dead.  James Riley Jnr was living in England when he died in 1972 I believe in London.

Yes, you got it.  He left wife and children at home.

[oldohiohome]

births with Mother's Birth Surname   Berrigan

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01nd7/

they don't seem to have registered anyone!!

and 9 more as "Berigan", but nothing close to Reilly for a surname

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01nda/

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You might have to go back and start at square one with your friend's mother or father's birth record, death record, etc. And her grandmother's death record in Kilkenny. I don't know whether they will release them to her, because I don't know the Irish laws. Most jurisdictions in the US will release a record if you can prove you are a descendant. Some states will even if you aren't.

See if she knows or can find out about when James Reilly Sr left his family. It would probably line up closely to his emigration date, and would help with finding him in the Boston censuses. Mass death records are online only up to 1920 I think, but the Registry will search 10 year periods after that.  It would be fruitless, though, to start looking for James Reilly/Riley/etc in the death records, and would be very expensive to request all possibilities.

I saw one James Reilly on a census living in Boston as a boarder in the "Wayfarer's Inn" (sounds like a homeless shelter of sorts, I should Google it), but it is impossible to say that it is him without a reliable DOB and arrival date.

Has she tried talking to her older cousins?

[oldohiohome]

 It would be fruitless, though, to start looking for James Reilly/Riley/etc in the death records, and would be very expensive to request all possibilities.

Aside from the fact that if he died here with no family, even worse in a shelter or City Hospital, whoever filled out his death record probably wouldn't know enough about him to identify him with "your" James Reilly from Kilkenny.

Any hope that he knew someone in Boston? had a brother here? See what she knows or can find out. Again, if one generation is dead, ask the next one , you never know.

[oldohiohome]

Every time I walk away from the computer, I think of another question/possibility. Is she sure of the name Berrigan? Could it be a name that sounds like it, Harrigan or Kerrigan for example?

[hallmark]

Every time I walk away from the computer, I think of another question/possibility. Is she sure of the name Berrigan? Could it be a name that sounds like it, Harrigan or Kerrigan for example?

Even allowing for that....searching 1901 Census for Ellen, Kilkenny, Age 10 (+/-5 yrs) I don't see her!


http://www.rootschat.com/links/01ndb/

[daisynook]

I asked her the same question, she was even definite it was rr! 

As for his death, he died in an accident on the trams in Boston. Going to do dinner now so will continue tomorrow.

[oldohiohome]

I thought I had a possible death for James, but not so. The first death record for this James Riley said he died August 1, 1911, at City Hospital, Boston, age 36. cause of death: hemorrhage and shock following traumatic amputation of both legs by being run over by train, accidental.

birthplace: Ireland
occupation: oiler
parents: James Riley and Ellen Griffin, both born in Ireland
buried: St Joseph's Cemetery.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6SJ3-SD9?i=1707&cc=1463156

But after further looking, I found the city's record of that man's death which had further information that wasn't copied to the state's record. It isn't him. The informant is likely his wife. And he worked for the railroad, not the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which ran the trolleys.

It gives his birthplace as Co. Cork.
other additional information:
home address: 38 Marshfield St, Roxbury
white, male, married, born 1875
worked for the Boston and Albany RR
informant: Bridget Riley

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2Q2-8W5Z

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here are a couple of James Rileys boarding with people in Boston. The first is interesting because the lodger listed ahead of him is named Derrigan. (clutching at straws), but she was born in Massachusetts.

1940 at 637 Dudley Street, Roxbury, age 67, a painter
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4VM-4Y7

1930 Wayfayer's Lodge, 30 Hawkins Street, a construction laborer, age 48
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQ5R-JRS


1940 Tewksbury State Hospital, Tewksbury Massachusetts
age 64, no occupation
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4FY-29X

[oldohiohome]

Why not try a lookup request on the rootschat US board for James Riley's death? Getting hit by a trolley and dying might have made the newspaper.

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Any clue what James' occupation in America was? Or whether he died before or after his wife?

[heywood]

James Reilly 1928, Callan mmn Bergin

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F13Z-DQ1

Possibilities?

Bernard J O’Reilly 1931 Dublin mmn Bergin

Mary P O’ Reilly  1932 Dublin mmn Bergin