John Riley biography. Researched by Mary Reilly Reagan. Please give attribution. Revised Feb. 2023
"John (Reilly) Riley and his brother Terrance Riley came from Ireland at the ages of 12 & 14 years." This note from his granddaughter Norine Reilly is all that is known about John Riley's early life. Even his year of birth is different in every existing record: according to the 1870 census from Edinburg, Johnson County, Indiana, he was born in 1840. In the 1880 Franklin, Williamson County TN census it lists "1845," and in the 1891 Tennessee Enumeration of Male Voters, he is listed as being 50 years old (born 1841). He was a cooper (barrel-maker) by trade and could read and write English. He married Nancy Jane Graston in Jennings County, Indiana on February 6, 1859. Her brother George W. Graston had a flour mill and perhaps they met there. I cannot find them in 1860 census, but their first child, son Terrance Albert Riley, was born in October 19, 1859 in Jennings County, Indiana. *A* John Riley became a naturalized U.S. citizen in Jackson County, Indiana in 1867. We don't know if this was "our" John Riley or another one. In the 1870 census the Rileys were in Edinburg (Johnson County), Indiana.
John is listed in the 1873 and 1875 Indianapolis City Directories working for D. Burton. The family moved to Nashville, Tennessee in the autumn of 1877. John Riley and son T. Albert Riley were listed in the 1878 Nashville City Directory working for S.B. Gardner, who had been a cooper in Indianapolis.
Son T. Albert [who later renamed himself "Turnes Reilly"] moved to Franklin, Tennessee two years later and the rest of the family joined him there. The Riley family is enumerated in the 1880 Franklin (Williamson County), Tennessee census. His son recalled that he was a cooper contracting work for the Lilly flour mill that used to be in Franklin. According to his son, he died in 1892. There is no death certificate (not required then), no record of a funeral Mass (rectory fire at St. Philip's Catholic Church), no obituary, and no tombstone visible. Like so many poor immigrants, he worked hard all his life with very little in the way of material reward. With no known photograph, even his face is only known to God alone.
"John (Reilly) Riley and his brother Terrance Riley came from Ireland at the ages of 12 & 14 years." This note from his granddaughter Norine Reilly is all that is known about John Riley's early life. Even his year of birth is different in every existing record: according to the 1870 census from Edinburg, Johnson County, Indiana, he was born in 1840. In the 1880 Franklin, Williamson County TN census it lists "1845," and in the 1891 Tennessee Enumeration of Male Voters, he is listed as being 50 years old (born 1841). He was a cooper (barrel-maker) by trade and could read and write English. He married Nancy Jane Graston in Jennings County, Indiana on February 6, 1859. Her brother George W. Graston had a flour mill and perhaps they met there. I cannot find them in 1860 census, but their first child, son Terrance Albert Riley, was born in October 19, 1859 in Jennings County, Indiana. *A* John Riley became a naturalized U.S. citizen in Jackson County, Indiana in 1867. We don't know if this was "our" John Riley or another one. In the 1870 census the Rileys were in Edinburg (Johnson County), Indiana.
John is listed in the 1873 and 1875 Indianapolis City Directories working for D. Burton. The family moved to Nashville, Tennessee in the autumn of 1877. John Riley and son T. Albert Riley were listed in the 1878 Nashville City Directory working for S.B. Gardner, who had been a cooper in Indianapolis.
Son T. Albert [who later renamed himself "Turnes Reilly"] moved to Franklin, Tennessee two years later and the rest of the family joined him there. The Riley family is enumerated in the 1880 Franklin (Williamson County), Tennessee census. His son recalled that he was a cooper contracting work for the Lilly flour mill that used to be in Franklin. According to his son, he died in 1892. There is no death certificate (not required then), no record of a funeral Mass (rectory fire at St. Philip's Catholic Church), no obituary, and no tombstone visible. Like so many poor immigrants, he worked hard all his life with very little in the way of material reward. With no known photograph, even his face is only known to God alone.
John Riley biography. Researched by Mary Reilly Reagan. Please give attribution. Revised Feb. 2023
"John (Reilly) Riley and his brother Terrance Riley came from Ireland at the ages of 12 & 14 years." This note from his granddaughter Norine Reilly is all that is known about John Riley's early life. Even his year of birth is different in every existing record: according to the 1870 census from Edinburg, Johnson County, Indiana, he was born in 1840. In the 1880 Franklin, Williamson County TN census it lists "1845," and in the 1891 Tennessee Enumeration of Male Voters, he is listed as being 50 years old (born 1841). He was a cooper (barrel-maker) by trade and could read and write English. He married Nancy Jane Graston in Jennings County, Indiana on February 6, 1859. Her brother George W. Graston had a flour mill and perhaps they met there. I cannot find them in 1860 census, but their first child, son Terrance Albert Riley, was born in October 19, 1859 in Jennings County, Indiana. *A* John Riley became a naturalized U.S. citizen in Jackson County, Indiana in 1867. We don't know if this was "our" John Riley or another one. In the 1870 census the Rileys were in Edinburg (Johnson County), Indiana.
John is listed in the 1873 and 1875 Indianapolis City Directories working for D. Burton. The family moved to Nashville, Tennessee in the autumn of 1877. John Riley and son T. Albert Riley were listed in the 1878 Nashville City Directory working for S.B. Gardner, who had been a cooper in Indianapolis.
Son T. Albert [who later renamed himself "Turnes Reilly"] moved to Franklin, Tennessee two years later and the rest of the family joined him there. The Riley family is enumerated in the 1880 Franklin (Williamson County), Tennessee census. His son recalled that he was a cooper contracting work for the Lilly flour mill that used to be in Franklin. According to his son, he died in 1892. There is no death certificate (not required then), no record of a funeral Mass (rectory fire at St. Philip's Catholic Church), no obituary, and no tombstone visible. Like so many poor immigrants, he worked hard all his life with very little in the way of material reward. With no known photograph, even his face is only known to God alone.
"John (Reilly) Riley and his brother Terrance Riley came from Ireland at the ages of 12 & 14 years." This note from his granddaughter Norine Reilly is all that is known about John Riley's early life. Even his year of birth is different in every existing record: according to the 1870 census from Edinburg, Johnson County, Indiana, he was born in 1840. In the 1880 Franklin, Williamson County TN census it lists "1845," and in the 1891 Tennessee Enumeration of Male Voters, he is listed as being 50 years old (born 1841). He was a cooper (barrel-maker) by trade and could read and write English. He married Nancy Jane Graston in Jennings County, Indiana on February 6, 1859. Her brother George W. Graston had a flour mill and perhaps they met there. I cannot find them in 1860 census, but their first child, son Terrance Albert Riley, was born in October 19, 1859 in Jennings County, Indiana. *A* John Riley became a naturalized U.S. citizen in Jackson County, Indiana in 1867. We don't know if this was "our" John Riley or another one. In the 1870 census the Rileys were in Edinburg (Johnson County), Indiana.
John is listed in the 1873 and 1875 Indianapolis City Directories working for D. Burton. The family moved to Nashville, Tennessee in the autumn of 1877. John Riley and son T. Albert Riley were listed in the 1878 Nashville City Directory working for S.B. Gardner, who had been a cooper in Indianapolis.
Son T. Albert [who later renamed himself "Turnes Reilly"] moved to Franklin, Tennessee two years later and the rest of the family joined him there. The Riley family is enumerated in the 1880 Franklin (Williamson County), Tennessee census. His son recalled that he was a cooper contracting work for the Lilly flour mill that used to be in Franklin. According to his son, he died in 1892. There is no death certificate (not required then), no record of a funeral Mass (rectory fire at St. Philip's Catholic Church), no obituary, and no tombstone visible. Like so many poor immigrants, he worked hard all his life with very little in the way of material reward. With no known photograph, even his face is only known to God alone.
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