PHILLIP REILLY, a veteran farmer and miner of Platteville, was born in 1804, in County Cavan, Ireland, where his early life was spent on his father's farm. He came in 1841, to America, and worked in the mines and on the canals of New York and Pennsylvania until 1843, when he came to Platteville; worked the first year near this town, and, in the summer of 1844, went to Lancaster and worked in the Pigeon Diggings until 1845, since which time he has resided in the town of Platteville. Settled on his present farm in 1857; built in 1877, a large and elegant house two stories high, the main building being 18x28; wing, 16x18. Since 1860, Mr. Reilly has done but little mining. He married in New York City Mary McGovern, of County Cavan, Ireland; she came to America in 1843, and is the mother of four living children - Frank, Phillip, Edwin and Kate, all born in Platteville, as were four children now deceased. The family belong to the Roman Catholic Church, Platteville.

This biography generously submitted by Roxanne Munns.