> Thank you for your reply Nancy > > I do suppose we are grasping at straws, we have reached a dead-end going back > from Thomas EILLES of Ryton at this point. > > However, James, Thomas and Elizabeth are common names in the Durham EILLES > branch. > > As you are aware EILLES is quite an unusual name and we have discovered in our > researching that if an EILLES crops up somewhere, there is usually a > connection. We found a stray EILLES in Virginia who turns out to be a son a > of Thomas EILLES mentioned in my first posting. A Rick Ellis appeared in > Tennessee who is also descended from Thomas EILLES. Matthew Eilles changed > his name to Ellis on his immigration to the United States. I could go on.... > > Do you know if the name EILLES has any connecton to EILDON? Can you go > further back than Nichol? > > Perhaps Thomas E who married JENNETY BLAEKY were brothers? > > Once again thank you for your reply. > > Best wishes Jaz > Naperville, IL USA but brought up in Whitley Bay, Northumberland, married to > Alan EILLES born and raised in Newcastle upon Tyne > > James ELLIES or ELLES, weaver of Melrose, Roxburghshire, married in 1690 > Isobel USHER. They are my ancestors : I descend from their daughter > Elizabeth (bap 1691) who married James SMAIL. Further children were Isobel, > 1694, Margaret 1703, and George 1707. > > If Thomas E married Jennet in Legerwood in 1694, then I doubt that he would > be a son of James the weaver of Melrose. It is quite some gap you have to > bridge from James ELLIES in Melrose, and your ancestors in County Durham. > Do you have good reason to believe that they originated in Melrose, I > wonder? If not, then I'd suggest you just progress back from the known to > the unknown, and forget the Melrose lot for the time being! > > Best wishes- > Nancy McLaughlin > Christchurch, NZ >