Arriving they end up in Drakesville (now Ledgewood), Morris County, New Jersey.

From 1831 to 1841 six children are born to Thomas and Martha. During this time either the adults and/or children become acquainted with the Hopkins family. Later three Reiley children; Edward, William and Mary Ann will marry three children of Nathan Hopkins II and his wife Ann Wilson; they are Sarah Rebecca, Abigail Gertrude and William Emmett.

William and Abigail have nine children between 1857 and 1876 but only five survive past the age of five. At some point he becomes a boatman on the Erie and Morris Canals. During the summer months their son Harry drove mules along the canals for his fathers boat. Harry attended school during the winters in Jersey City.

Prior to 1878, but after the birth of his last child in 1876, they moved to Rowland, Pike County, Pennsylvania.

William Reiley’s oldest child Martha Davis "Marnie" Reiley meets Moses Brink, they marry in March 1878. Moses, son of fellow boatman Peleg E. Brink and his wife Mary Jane nee Kelly, the Brinks were long time residents of Rowland, Pennsylvania.

Peleg’s brother George had prior to 1864 gone west to Wisconsin, finally settling in Ashland, Newaygo Co. Michigan, becoming a farmer. He died there in 1876, his body was returned to Rowland, Pennsylvania where he was buried. Shortly after their marriage Moses and Marnie in an attempt to relieve the asthma, from which she suffered her entire life, moved to Newaygo County, Michigan. This lasted only a short time, homesick for family they returned to Rowland, Pennsylvania the next year.

After returning to Pennsylvania Marnie’s asthma worsened. This along with the stories of Michigan from Moses, Marnie and letters of their deceased Uncle George resulted in the families of Peleg Brink, William Reiley, a fellow boatman John Meyer and the spouses of the married children packing up and moving to Ashland Twp. Newaygo Co. Michigan in 1879. Records show that Peleg Brink had purchased 80 acres in Ashland Twp. on April 20, 1882. William Reiley purchased land in Bridgeton Township on October 31, 1883.

The Pennsylvanians came to Michigan by train to Grand Rapids. From there they traveled by horse and carriage to Newaygo County. William Reiley also brought his mules from his days as a boatman.

By 1890 William Reiley is reported to have had the first telephone and first windmill in the area, which was quite an attraction. He also had a General Store in what was known as Dickinson, located at the approximate center of Ashland Township. Dickinson was a station on the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. On May 31, 1888 he opened a post office in the store, he operated it as the only postmaster until June 29, 1901. The old Dickinson School still stands near this location on Dickinson Rd.

When William and his sons Harry and Ned started lumbering near the Muskegon River in west Ashland they were joined by Arthur Davis Reiley. Arthur, son of William’s brother Edward and Sarah Rebecca Hopkins was the only one of the New Jersey Reiley’s to come to Michigan, his parents along with his siblings remained behind in New Jersey

By 1893 William Reiley had a lumber camp at Norway Lake, Clare County, Michigan. A photograph circa 1895 shows the following people: William Reiley, Harry Reiley, Lena Reiley Patrick, Arthur Reiley, Eleaze Reiley Moore, John Meyer, Eunice Reiley, Ned Reiley, Nora Brink Reiley, Uriah "Pid" Williams, Isabelle Brink Williams, Susie Williams, Cassie Reiley, Fern Reiley, Millie Reiley Powell, Earl Williams, Pearl Reiley, Sadie Reiley Neil, Marnie Reiley Hill, Lizzie Reiley Walkey and Lou Reiley Bouschard along with others.

Some would eventually remain in Newaygo County, others would settle in Antrim County when the primal hardwood forests gave out and some would go on to greener pastures and emigrate to Saskatchewan, Canada becoming farmers.

Like the generation of Reiley’s that had married into the Hopkins Family. Three of the Reiley’s married into the Brink Family. They were Martha Davis "Marnie", Arthur Davis and Harry Reiley, Sr., they married Moses, Eunice and Nora Brink.

The Reiley family found lumbering to be prosperous in the huge slow growth hardwood forests of turn of the century Michigan They gradually worked their way north following the hardwoods. Their camps were close to the major rivers while also staying close to the spreading railroad lines. One of the ways of getting the logs to the mills was to cut and stack the logs along a high riverbank thru the winter. The spring thaws provided the high water necessary when the logs would be released to go rolling down into the swollen waters to be carried downstream to the mills. But frequently some of the logs would yield over 500 board feet of high quality tight grained lumber much in demand at the furniture factories in and around Grand Rapids. These large diameter logs were usually too big even for a swollen river and had to be transported by rail.

When the hardwoods were lumbered out in an area they would transport people and equipment to the next area via the railroads. Arriving in the summer they had time to build new camps before winter set in. The snows and frozen ground making it easier to maneuver the huge hardwoods to the selected jam sites along the rivers. Usually William’s sons Harry and Ned each operated a different lumber camp while his nephew Arthur handled a third. Slowly they gradually worked their way north.

William Reiley died in 1908, two years after his wife. They are both buried in Newaygo County along with his son Ned, as is his nephew Arthur Davis Reiley and Arthur’s wife Eunice Brink.

Harry Reiley, Sr. purchased land near Bellaire, Michigan to provide a permanent home for his family. Farming in the summer months he continued to serve for the thirty years prior to his death in 1931 as General Manager of the William Reiley & Sons Lumber Co., which operated throughout Western Michigan and into the Upper Peninsula.