This site is to document on the Internet the known history of the first four or five generations of the Greelis family in the United States.  While it is intended for family use, others are welcomed to peruse it for common interests.

The known history of the Greelis family starts with the immigration of Patrick and Mary Greelis to the United States between 1835 and 1839.   They brought with them their daughter, Mary, and son, Thomas Henry who were born in Ireland.  Patrick and Mary settled in Troy, New York with their family where they had two additional sons and another daughter.  With the exception of Thomas Henry, very little is known of Patrick and Mary's family except that which can be derived from the 1850 census.  

It should be noted, earlier thoughts were that Thomas Henry Greelis might have immigrated  to the United States by himself.  The 1850 census and the newspaper article "Youngest In The Arsenal" indicate he immigrated with his family as stated above.  

Kelly Ann Greelis pursuing her Masters Degree in 1983 researched the Greelis name in Clonfert Parrish, Galway, Ireland.  She found the name in Ireland was spelled "Grealish".  It was likely changed to Greelis when the family came to the United States.  Grealish is a very common name in Galway.  See her report "Fix It Again Tony" for more information.  Jim Greelis found a document on the Grealish / Greelish name describing its origin and meaning.  (See the Greelish document.)

It would be desirable to include in this presentation all generations of the Greelis family to-date.  However, this would be an over whelming task and would necessitate an even larger maintenance task.  Therefore, this presentation has been limited to the first four or five generations of the Greelis family.

Special recognition and thanks goes to Jim Greelis who collected most of the family tree data that was used to put this web site together.

The site map will assist in navigating through the family and supporting information presented.

The family pages starting with Patrick Greelis page lists the members of each family, associated information on each with any articles or pictures that may be available.

An address book provides available e-mail and postal addresses for current family members.

Your additions, corrections and/or comments (good or bad) are very much welcomed.  If you have your own family web site or photo album on the Internet, and send me the site address, I'll add a link to it in this site.  Please e-mail me at jgreelis@ultranet.com or mail to: John R. Greelis, 2 Karen Circle, Hudson, MA 01749-3241.

Again, please sign the guest book before you leave this site.