The Life of Reilly

Funny how things work out.

Back in the 1970s, my mother's family had regular reunions, during which Uncle Woody would present his latest findings on the family lineage. He made several trips to Ireland to track back as far as he could, getting back to a single male in the 1840s.

As is most often the case, the grandkids weren't in the least bit interested. We'd wander off to the shuffleboard court, or to horse around near the lake when Uncle Woody would start his spiel. I knew that the family had come over to the New World during the potato famine and that was about all I was interested in.

A few years ago, I started noticing that most of the county names in Northern Michigan were identical to county names in Ireland, and that many of the city names were as well. This led to a very cursory review of Irish counties, during which I discovered that County Cavan was likely where my sole ancestor was from. Cavan, interestingly, means "Handsome" and Cavanagh means "Follower of Cavan", rendered here in more modern times as "Kevin.

County Cavan was devastated by the potato famine.

County Cavan for years was dominated by a single family - the O'Reillys. The O'Reillys were so powerful and wealthy that, in the 1600s, they had their own currency. Their success, power and wealth led to the very common phrase "The Life of Reilly".

Seemingly, my ancestor was not of that particular background.

It was a conversation with an extraordinarily handsome man from County Meath, adjacent to County Cavan that induced me to do a little more looking around. County Meath, lead to County Cavan, lead to "what's that mean" and now I know.

His name isn't Kevin, or it would be just TOO funny.

Just funny how things turn out.