The PW Garrahy Family

Patrick William (PW) and Margaret Susanna (Reiff) Garrahy

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TOP: Photos of PW and Margaret Garrahy, dates unknown.
BOTTOM: The marriage of Patrick William (PW) Garrahy and Margaret Susanna Reiff, November 21, 1916.
The attendants are Henry Maxwell and Christine Reiff (Mrs. Matt Gerardy).

John Garrahy and Bridget Kairn – Parents of PW Garrahy

PW’s parents were John Garrahy and Bridget Kairn. John Garrahy was born in (possibly Ennis) County Clare, Ireland. His headstone at the St. Andrew’s Catholic Cemetery in Fairfax, Minnesota, indicates that he was born on June 20, 1821 (which may be incorrect, read further), and died on January 13, 1905. Bridget Kairn was born in Kilfinora, County Clare in 1838, which her headstone in the same cemetery has as her birth year. She died on June 30, 1931. (Some family notes indicate Bridget may have been born in 1837, but there appears to be no validating certificates, etc. at this time.)

Assuming John’s headstone birth date of 1821 is correct, there would have been an age difference of about 16 to 17 years between them. However, in some census records, they list themselves as having only a 10 year age difference. In the 1880 Census, John is listed as being 50 and Bridget as 40 years old. In the 1900 Census, John is listed as being 70 years old with birth information of March 1830. Bridget is listed as being 60 years old with birth information of May 1840. They are listed as being married 37 years to each other. By the time of the 1910 Census, John has passed away, and Bridget’s age is listed as 74.

Other brief family notes suggest that John and Bridget were married in 1857. However, according to the marriage certificate below, John and Bridget were married on November 16, 1861, in St. John’s Chapel in the District of Wigan in the County Town of Lancaster in the County of Lancashire, England. It lists them as being 27 and 20 years of age, respectively. Using the marriage certificate as the guide, if their ages on the certificate were accurate, then John would have been born around 1834 (1861 minus 27) and Bridget would have been born around 1841 (1861 minus 20). Also, if John really was born in 1821 as his headstone indicates, he would have been 40 years old at the time of marriage (1861 minus 1821), which is nowhere close to the 27 years of age on the marriage certificate. However, if he was truly born around 1830, as the 1900 Census indicates, then he would have been much closer to 27 years of age at the time of marriage.

It may not be possible to say with accuracy when either John or Bridget were born. However, going by the census and marriage certificate information, it is more likely that the birth year on John’s headstone should be in the 1830s rather than 1821. Records can get lost or destroyed or may never have been recorded. Birthdays were not used for record keeping to the extent they are these days. Some people did not even accurately know their own birthdays. Unless more documentation appears, these dates cannot be relied upon for accuracy.

After their marriage, it is thought that they lived in Ennis, County Clare, Ireland, where they had their first two children:

Catherine Garrahy (born June 3, 1862; died August 14, 1928)
John Garrahy (born September 20, 1866; died May 29, 1887)

Some time in the 1860s, John and Bridget emigrated to the United States where they first settled in (it is believed to be) Lowell, Massachusetts. It is thought that Bridget worked in a thread factory there as this was a large area for textile factories at the time.

In July 1868, John and Bridget arrived in Wellington Township, Minnesota. They initially lived in a sod shanty on their homestead, located just a short distance north of the town of Fairfax, Minnesota. After arriving in Minnesota, they had four more children:

Mary Alice Garrahy (born May 1, 1871; died December 24, 1931)
Patrick William Garrahy (born July 12, 1873; died February 26, 1949)
Anne Garrahy (born May 2, 1876; died April 1969)
James Edward Garrahy (born September 8, 1878; died November 14, 1919)

Reissued marriage certificate of John Garrahy and Bridget Kairn.
The reissue date (lower right) is November 5, 2019. The certificate used the English standard of the day first, not the month first, which is the US standard.

BACK: Anne Garrahy (Mrs. James H. Maxwell), Patrick William Garrahy, Catherine Garrahy (Mrs. John Henry Smith, later Mrs. William Couturier),
Mary Alice Garrahy (Mrs. Alois Kachelmier).
FRONT: John Garrahy, James Edward Garrahy, Bridget (Kairn) Garrahy.

Mathias Reiff and Susan May – Parents of Margaret Susanna (Reiff) Garrahy

Margaret’s parents were Mathias Reiff and Susan May. Mathias Reiff was born in Sugar Creek, Jackson County, Iowa on August 25, 1867, and died on June 24, 1946. Susan May was born in Cascade, Iowa on May 2, 1874, and died on September 9, 1945.

Susan May worked as a housekeeper, eventually working at the home of an uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Frank May’s family. Later, when her twin brothers, Peter and Joseph May, had a farm by Mount Carmel, she kept house for them. During this time, Mathias Reiff was doing sales work of some sort and also played fiddle for local dances. They met during this time.

Mathias Reiff and Susan May were married on February 4, 1892, in Mount Carmel, Iowa. They lived with Mathias’s brother, Joseph, and his wife in a farmhouse in Carroll, Iowa. Both Mathias and Joseph had been given 20 acres each by their father, Henry Reiff. During this time, Mathias Reiff and Susan May had three children:

Margaret Susanna Reiff (born November 9, 1892; died July 20, 1991)
Christine Mary Reiff (born February 14, 1894; died November 15, 1983)
Charles John Reiff (born October 23, 1895; died February 19, 1971)

Mathias Reiff then sold his 20 acres to his brother Joseph and rented his father’s farm near Breda, Iowa. Two more children were born:

Helen Elizabeth Reiff (born August 25, 1898; died September 4, 1975)
David Nicholas Reiff (born February 23, 1900; died September 12, 1929)

In 1901, Mathias decided to quit farming and moved to Carroll, Iowa, next door to his father Henry’s house. From 1901 to 1906, Mathias did work in well drilling, a brickyard, a flour mill as a fireman, and as a blacksmith. In 1906, both Mathias and Susan got the smallpox, and Mathias’s father Henry came over to care for them. In those years, two more children were born:

Mathilda “Tillie” Rose Reiff (born September 12, 1901; died February 10, 1991)
Cecilia Irene Reiff (born July 1, 1906; died August 7, 1986)

In 1907 or 1908, Mathias decided to move back to the family farm in Breda, Iowa, and the family lived there until 1916. Two more children were born:

Arthur Mathias Reiff (born February 27, 1910; died November 20, 1985)
Laurina Hendrina Reiff (born November 23, 1912; died February 23, 2015)

When Mathias’s father Henry died, the farm in Breda was priced at $175 per acre. Mathias did not have the money to buy it and moved to Minnesota. Later however, his brother Joseph was able to purchase it for a lower price. In Minnesota, one more child was born to Mathias and Susan:

Urban Benedict Reiff (born August 13, 1919; died August 28, 1999)