 His father had taken him on a visit to Europe when he was 14.His cousin was too young at the time to have any memory of him, but after the death of O'Reilly's wife in August 1914, the letters gradually developed into love-letters and in June 1917 they were married.Their letters were collected, and published in 1927 under the title of "Dowell O'Reilly From his Letters, an illuminating revelation of his interesting personality".