Jeremiah Kiley of Limerick, Ireland, and New York City

    Jeremiah Kiley or Kiely was born in County Limerick, Ireland, circa 1817-1820 and died in New York City on 20 October 1881. His wife was Mary Ann Nolan, who was born in Ireland between 1809 and 1818 and died on 4 December 1880 at 71 years of age..
    According to his death certificate, and confirmed by bank records, Jeremiah had lived in the United States for forty-five years (immigrated circa 1836).

Emigrant Savings Bank, Jeremiah Kiely account, 1863

    In September 1863 Jeremiah Kiely, a cooper residing at 3 Vandewater Street, made a transaction at the New York Emigrant Savings Bank. The record stated he was born in 1819 in County Limerick, arrived in the United States in 1836 aboard the ship Diamond, was married to Mary Ann Nolan, and had no children.[1]
    In 1870 Jere Kiley (54, grocer, $1500 personal estate, born in Ireland), Mary A. Kiley (54, born in Ireland), Johana Noonan (22, silver burnisher, born in Ireland), and Jno Weinenapst (27, grocer clerk, born in Prussia) were enumerated in New York City’s Ward 4.[2]
    Jeremiah Kiely, a grocer residing at 369 Pearl Street in New York City, made an additional transaction at the New York Emigrant Savings Bank in December 1871. The record stated he was born in 1817 in County Limerick and had arrived in the United States in 1836 aboard the ship Diamond.[3]
    The 1880 census recorded  Jeremiah Keily (60, head, married, cooper, born in Ireland, parents born in Ireland), Mary Ann Keily (66, wife, married, keeping  house, born in Ireland, parents born in Ireland), Joseph Keily (35, son, single, cooper, born in Ireland, parents born in Ireland), Henry Keily (30, son, single, cooper, born in New York, parents born in Ireland), Margaret Keily (22, daughter, single, no occupation, born in New York, parents born in Ireland), and Patrick O'Hare (39, boarder, widowed, cooper, born in Ireland, parents born in Ireland) at 50 Oliver Street in New York City. No additional records pertaining to the three children have been found.[4]
    Jeremiah died in Charity Hospital[5] in 1880 and was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, Queens County. His death certificate identified him as 63 years old and a widower, whose last residence was 43 Oliver Street.[6]

Calvary Cemetery, Jeremiah Kiely plot

    The cemetery recorded the owner of his plot (Section 5, Avenue 13, Plot R, graves 7 and 8) as Jeremiah Kelly.[7]  Buried in grave 7 were Margaret O'Hare (27 June 1866, 57 years old, born in Ireland), Joseph Weinabst (20 September 1874, 8 months old, born in New York), and Annie Hagan (9 May 1888, 9 months old, born in New York).  Buried in grave 8 were Mary Kiely (4 December 1880, 71 years old, born in Ireland), Jeremiah Kiely (20 October 1881, 60 years old, born in Ireland), Timothy Hayes (5 January 1910, 13 years old, born in New York), Mary Agnes Ferguson (24 June 1935, 74 years old, born in Ireland), and Hannah Hallesey (4 June 1936, 75 years old, born in Ireland). Margaret O'Hare may have had a connection to Patrick O'Hare who boarded with Jeremiah in 1880; Mary Kiely was Jeremiah’s wife; and Joseph Weinabst was probably related to the John Weinenapst who was in Jeremiah’s household in 1870. The identities of the others is unknown.
    It is the children reported in the 1880 census that is disturbing about this brief account of Jeremiah. He had no children, according to the bank transaction of 1863, made well after their reputed birth dates. Joseph was supposedly born in Ireland in 1845, nine years after Jeremiah immigrated to America - not too serious a discrepancy, however, as the census might very well be wrong. More important, where were the children, especially 12-year-old Margaret, in 1870? And where were Jeremiah and his sons in 1850 and 1860?
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   1 “New York Emigrant Savings Bank, 1850-1883,” database and images, Ancestry.com (accessed 27 July 2015), entry for Jeremiah Kiely, test books, account 36368, 17 September 1863; citing call number *R-USLHG *ZI-815. roll 7, New York Public Library, New York, New York. 
   2 1870 U.S. census (1st enumeration), New York County, New York, population schedule, New York City, Ward 4, ED 2, p. 405, line 24, dwelling ?, family 1134, Jere Kiley; NA microfilm M593, roll 976.
   3 “New York Emigrant Savings Bank, 1850-1883,” database and images, Ancestry.com (accessed 27 July 2015), entry for Jeremiah Kiely, test books, account 64568, 20 April 1868; citing call number *R-USLHG *ZI-815. roll 10, New York Public Library, New York, New York. 
   4 1880 U.S. census, New York County, New York, population schedule, New York City, Ward , ED 26, p. 462 (sheet 44D), line 6, dwelling 73, family 344, Jeremiah Keily; NA film no. T9, roll 867.
   5 Probably the insane asylum on Blackwell’s Island, now Roosevelt Island, which became known as Charity Hospital.
   6 New York, New York, Manhattan death certificates, 1866-1919, certificate 400134 (1881), Jeremiah Kiley; FHL microfilm 1,322,610.
   7 Calvary Cemetery (Woodside, New York), typewritten transcript of interment records, Section 5, Avenue 13, plot R, graves 7/8, Jeremiah Kelly [sic] owner; Buffalogen’s Collection.

Timothy & Jeremiah Kiley

    My grandmother was interested in her family’s history and often told me about her parents and their siblings. I listened politely to what she said, but never asked her any insightful questions. She died when I was in high school and not at all interested in genealogy. How I wish I had been more curious!
     I was intrigued, and horrified, to hear that her mother’s two brothers, sons of Timothy and Margaret (Donovan) Kiley, died as teenagers or in their early twenties, supposedly during or after service in the Civil War. Neither was found in the 1870 census, in New York City where the family lived, or elsewhere, and I’ve found no death or burial records for either. I wonder if my grandmother really knew what happened to them.
    Timothy Kiley, who was born in New York circa 1841, according to the 1850 census, was more likely born in Clonakilty, County Cork, Ireland, in 1839. He was not living with his parents in 1855 or 1860 and his whereabouts at those census times are unknown. Timothy Kiely enlisted in New York as a Union soldier in May 1861, but deserted in August 1861, as did a future brother-in-law in the same unit. He allegedly died, unmarried, from the effects of a long imprisonment during the Civil War. Did his imprisonment have anything to do with his desertion, or had he re-enlisted and been captured.
    Jeremiah Kiley, who was born in New York circa 1845, enlisted in 1861 as a drummer and was honorably discharged and mustered out in June 1862. According to my grandmother, he died during the Civil War, so he must have re-enlisted.
    One of the difficulties in tracing the surname Kiley is that alternative spellings are many (i.e., Keily, Kieley, Kiely, Kileigh, Killey, Killy, Kyle, etc.) and it is often mistaken for Kelly and Riley, or some variations thereof. While I have never found in records after 1861 anyone named Timothy Kiley who definitely could be my great-grandmother’s brother, it is conceivable that Timothy did not die (perhaps was disowned in disgrace?) and took up life apart from his family.
    As for Jeremiah, I have no ideas about what became of him.