This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: caudill Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/EFI.2ACEB/248.261 Message Board Post: It might be incorrect to say that the Irish would have bashed the brains of the Spanish soldiers and sailors who survived the storms. Remember that Spain's war against England was religious based. Both Scotland and Ireland were Catholic countries in 1604. The Scots wouldn't lose their independence to England until 1707. We know the story of the Protestant colonization of Ireland. Our early ancestors spelled the name as Caudle. It changes from there to Caudill, Cordill, Cordell, Cordial, Cordle and others. The problem seems to be that no one was educated in the 1800 Blue Ridge.