This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Riley Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Zg.2ADI/797.1 Message Board Post: You ask a very interesting question and I don't have much of an answer. There were a lot of Irish immigrants that made their way to McHenry County after landing in NY. My g-grandfather arrived in Marengo in 1851.Towns such as Marengo, Belvidere and Woodstock had many Irish. I gather they arrived with little more than the clothes on their backs.They worked as laborers and eventually farmers as I believe at one point the government gave land to those that would farm it. Some went on to hoped for greener pastures in Missouri, Iowa and Montana and elsewhere West. How they moved and lived is not something that I have found to be very well documented. My g-g-grandmother died in Woodstock in 1878 and I have a copy of the estate she left behind and it was pitiful. One cow, a few dresses, a bed, a few chairs, a table, some dishes, a bonnet and not much else. We probably can't imagine how difficult life was for our Irish ancestors back then. I'll guess that initially they stayed with ! family or friends they knew from Ireland.