Wexford Town - connections & tales

[jksdelver]

Hi Nick I have Reid’s of Bride Street

[Erin OReilly]

HI, Nick--thank you for all your posts and information on Wexford!  My family is planning a visit to Wexford next year and we are hoping to find out more information/genealogy about our O'Reilly family. My great, great grandfather, Michael O'Reilly, was born in 25 September 1807 in Camolin Parish, Ferns, County Wexford. He later moved to Wicklow, married a Mary Byrne, and then they and their 4 children immigrated to St. Louis, MO in USA in 1848 during the famine. I was told by my grandfather that no one on his immigration ship died on the 7+ week trip over to USA, which was unusual, so I wonder if they were a more fortunate family of means that was able to secure better passage. They settled in St. Louis which I think was more favorable to the Irish in 1848 than the east coast of USA.  He was a shoemaker. I am hoping to find out more information about who his parents and siblings were in Wexford.  My grandfather also told us that they had originated in County Cavan, but I do not know how they got to Wexford.  Any guidance would be appreciated so we can know more before our family trip to Wexford!  Thank you!

[Wexflyer]

HI, Nick--thank you for all your posts and information on Wexford!  My family is planning a visit to Wexford next year and we are hoping to find out more information/genealogy about our O'Reilly family....

Hi Erin,
This thread is about Wexford town. Your family are from far from there. Would be best to move your post and replies to a separate, dedicated thread, to avoid confusion. You can get it moved via a message to the moderators (report post button).

Now some questions: what is the source of the detailed information you provide, such as birthdates, and locations?

Michael O'Reilly from Camolin Parish:  This is a very odd detail, as there wasn't a Camolin parish at the time! Neither a civil parish, nor Catholic. A Catholic parish of that name does now exist, but it wasn't created until after your family emigrated to the US, when it was separated from the preexisting large parish of Ballyoughter.

Born 1807: Unfortunately, Ballyoughter parish records don't commence until 1810.

Four children: Can you give their names and birth order, and rough dates, if possible?

[Wexflyer]

Michael Reilly married Mary Byrne, from Co. Wicklow: Is this from family knowledge or documentation, or is it from finding the following marriage(s) online?

Michael Reilly, of Ferns, married Honor Byrne, in Hacketstown, Cos. Wicklow & Carlow, 11-2-1834
https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000634470#page/120/mode/1up

Michael Reilly, of Ferns, married Mary Byrne, in Hacketstown, 13-10-1835
https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000634470#page/121/mode/1up

The first witness is the same at both marriages - Thomas Keogh.

To me, this looks like Michael Reilly married two sisters (in succession). Camolin is more generally in the Ferns area, or perhaps he had moved there.

[Wexflyer]

O'Reillys originally from Co. Cavan: I would take this as referring to the original location of the sept 1,000 years ago, and not as a comment on any recent origin for OP's family.

Edit: See later post for alternative possibility!

[Wexflyer]

I see baptisms for 5 children of Michael Reilly and Mary Byrne in Hacketstown parish, between 1836 and 1845, viz:

Mary Anne, 1836

Michael, 1838

Patrick, 1840

John, 1841, and

Esther, 1845.

An address is given for each baptism.

[Wexflyer]

In the tythe valuation for the civil parish of Kilcomb, in 1825,  there is a Michael Reily listed with a 3 acre holding (Irish acres) in the townland of Camolin Park.
http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/reels/tab//004587457/004587457_00244.pdf

If Michael was from the vicinity of Camolin then this could be his father (on the basis of eldest son named for paternal grandfather), or Michael himself, if the 1807 birthdate is an underestimate (which it often was).

[Wexflyer]

Link for location of Camolin Park
https://www.townlands.ie/wexford/scarawalsh/kilcomb/kilcomb/camolin-park/

Camolin Park was the seat of Annesley family, Earls of Anglesey, subsequently Earls Mountnorris.
One very colorful member of the family was Richard Annesley
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Annesley,_6th_Earl_of_Anglesey
who died in Camolin Park in 1761.

To give some examples of what I mean by colorful:
- He kidnapped his nephew, the rightful heir of the estates and titles, and had him shipped to the plantations in the colonies (today's USA). This formed the basis for the famous novel Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson.
- His son and heir was determined to be a bastard by the English House of Lords, thus losing the family's English title of Earl of Angelsey. At the same time, the Irish House of Lords came to the opposite conclusion - that the son was legitimate - so he succeeded to the Irish titles.
- Richard was also a bigamist along the way.

[Wexflyer]

Of Camolin Park House only a cellar and the stable block remain.
See https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/15701102/camolin-park-house-camolin-park-camolin-county-wexford
A photo of the house (demolished 1974) can be seen by flipping through the photo set on that site.

If the Michael Reilly in the 1825 tythe valuation is one of the OPs family, then he would have been associated with the estate in some way, as the entire townland was the home demesne of the Annesley estate. In Griffith's Valuation, published 1853, there are two Reillys in the townland, John and Myles, each occupying a 5s workmans/labourers cottage.