James Bernard Reilly (August 12, 1845 – May 14, 1924) was a Democratic member of the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. James B. Reilly was born in Pinedale, Pennsylvania. He attended the public schools and was graduated from the Bunker Hill School in

Pottsville, Pennsylvania Pottsville is the county seat of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 13,346 at the 2020 census, and is the principal city of the Pottsville, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city lies along the west bank of th ...

, in 1862. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1869 and commenced practice in Pottsville. He was district attorney of

Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania Schuylkill County (, ; Pennsylvania Dutch: Schulkill Kaundi) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in the heart of Pennsylvania's Coal Region and is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the popula ...

, from 1871 to 1875. Reilly was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth Congresses. He resumed the practice of law in Pottsville. He was a delegate to the

1880 Democratic National Convention The 1880 Democratic National Convention was held June 22 to 24, 1880, at the Music Hall in Cincinnati, Ohio, and nominated Winfield S. Hancock of Pennsylvania for president and William H. English of Indiana for vice president in the United Stat ...

. He was an unsuccessful candidate for law judge of Schuylkill County in 1881 and again in 1882, and an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for election in 1884 to the Forty-ninth Congress. Reilly was again elected to the Fifty-first, Fifty-second, and Fifty-third Congresses. He served as chairman on the United States House Committee on Pacific Railroads during the Fifty-second and Fifty-third Congresses. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1894. He served as United States marshal for the eastern district of Pennsylvania from 1896 to 1900. He again resumed the practice of law in Pottsville and was an unsuccessful candidate for justice of the superior court in 1913. He died in Pottsville in 1924. Interment in St. Patrick’s No. 3 Cemetery.

Sources

The Political Graveyard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reilly, James Bernard Reilly, James B. Reilly, James B. Politicians from Pottsville, Pennsylvania Reilly, James B. United States Marshals Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania 19th-century American lawyers District attorneys in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania