Major Edward S. O'Reilly from his Roving and Fighting: Adventures Under Four Flags, published in 1918 (Wikipedia)Born: August 15, 1880

Died: December 8, 1946

Married: Sophie Blakeney (1880-1946)

Children: Edward Blackney O'Reilly (1908-1945); John O'Reilly

Edward Synott "Tex" O'Reilly, a famed adventurer and soldier of fortune, lived his last years in Saranac Lake. He died in the Veterans Administration Hospital in Tupper Lake and was buried in Pine Ridge Cemetery in Saranac Lake, as are his wife and son, Edward, who predeceased him. His great-nephew Kevin O'Reilly believes that Tex moved to Saranac Lake to be near his son. His adventures were chronicled in Lowell Thomas' book, "Born to Raise Hell," and in his autobiography, "Roving and Fighting: Adventures under Four Flags."

Tupper Lake Free Press and Herald, December 26, 1945

Tex O'Reilly's Wife, "Partner" in Adventurous Life Around the World, Dies Early Yesterday in Hospital Here

Mrs. Sophie O'Reilly, 63, died Thursday morning at 12:10 in Mercy General hospital here after a long illness. Funeral services will be held Saturday morning at 9 o'clock at St. Alphonsus church here. Interment will be in the family plot at Pine Ridge cemetery in Saranac Lake, where her son, Edward, was buried in 1945 and her husband, Edward S. "Tex" O'Reilly, famed adventurer and soldier of fortune, was laid to rest earlier this month.

Mrs. O'Reilly was stricken by a cerebral hemorrhage more than 15 months ago, while here to visit her husband who was then under treatment at the U.S. Veterans'  hospital at Sunmount. She was admitted to Mercy General hospital on Sept. 5, 1945, and had since been a patient there. Deeply devoted to each other after a lifetime of knocking about the world together, they were able to meet again a few times during their last illnesses, "Tex" O'Reilly coming once to visit her at Mercy General hospital, while the Sisters of Mercy brought her to Sunmount for a brief reunion with her husband on several occasions when her condition warranted the trip.

Mrs. O'Reilly, who had suffered another cerebral hemorrhage recently, failed steadily after learning of her husband's death here on Dec. 8, and survived him by less than three weeks.

Born March 5, 1883, at San Antonio, Texas, the daughter of John and Sophie Blakeney, she accompanied her husband, "Tex" O'Reilly, on his numerous expeditions to out-of-the-way corners of the world, playing more than a spectator role in the career which brought him into action in ten wars, under eight different flags, as recounted in Lowell Thomas' book, "Born to Raise Hell."

Mrs. O'Reilly is survived by one son, John O'Reilly, now in Paris as correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune. His cabled Christmas greeting to her reached here just before her death. Surviving also is one sister, Mrs. A. F. Rose, of San Antonio, Texas.

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