hi, There was a town by the name of Riley... please remember we are studying the PAST NOT PRESENT DAY... it had a Post Office from 1849-76. If you need more information on this and over 16,000 place names in Illinois... a current map won't list 1000 place names so isong a current map to study places from the past is inviting troubles... try <A HREF="http://hometown.aol.com/illinoygenealogy/myhomepage/writing.html">Illinois Family History Research: Place Names of Each Illinois County</A> and follow the links at the bottom of that web page for the details of the towns. If your Internet connection is an old fashioned dialup then be prepared to wait a few minutes for AOL to load the enormous pages. thanx dennis in reply to: > Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 06:51:54 -0700 (PDT) > From: "Ann L. Wells" <annwells@yahoo.com> > Subject: Re: a town like Riley? > > To all, > > There is no town of Riley, but it is a township, situated in the most SW > corner of McHenry Co., south of the City of Marengo (probably bits of Marengo > are now in Riley Twp.). > > Kristy Gravlin <hannah@teleport.com> wrote: > > > I don't have a definitive answer, but have seen references to Riley or > Riley > > Township. I never pursued it as my Rileys came not from there, but from > > Marengo. I'm sure someone can give you a better answer. > > While I cannot promise 100%...I am -sure- that the town of Riley is the same > as Riley Township. Our family does live in Riley. > > Back East, NY state for one, sometimes they talk to this day about the "Town > of _______" and, indeed, they mean the same as "we Illinois folks" mean when > we say "Riley Township." > > There is a cemetery in Riley...near a church [and a grade school I think] > and that might be sort of a population center for the township. It "feels" > like a community when I am there. Maybe someone else can confirm whether > that is the only such area in the township. > > Kristy > ***Have you seen GRAVLIN, COARSON, ST JOHN, WORF in Riley*** >

Interesting - on the McHenry County 1872 Plat Map there is no town by the name of Riley in Riley Township (or any other township for that matter). In "A Gazetteer of Illinois" by J. M. Peck, reprinted 1993, there is no town of Riley. There may have been a Post Office, but that didn't make a town. There definitely was a township by the name of Riley which is not a town or city. IllinoyGenealogy@aol.com wrote:hi, There was a town by the name of Riley... please remember we are studying the PAST NOT PRESENT DAY... it had a Post Office from 1849-76. If you need more information on this and over 16,000 place names in Illinois... a current map won't list 1000 place names so isong a current map to study places from the past is inviting troubles... try Illinois Family History Research: Place Names of Each Illinois County and follow the links at the bottom of that web page for the details of the towns. If your Internet connection is an old fashioned dialup then be prepared to wait a few minutes for AOL to load the enormous pages. thanx dennis in reply to: > Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 06:51:54 -0700 (PDT) > From: "Ann L. Wells" > Subject: Re: a town like Riley? > > To all, > > There is no town of Riley, but it is a township, situated in the most SW > corner of McHenry Co., south of the City of Marengo (probably bits of Marengo > are now in Riley Twp.). > > Kristy Gravlin wrote: > > > I don't have a definitive answer, but have seen references to Riley or > Riley > > Township. I never pursued it as my Rileys came not from there, but from > > Marengo. I'm sure someone can give you a better answer. > > While I cannot promise 100%...I am -sure- that the town of Riley is the same > as Riley Township. Our family does live in Riley. > > Back East, NY state for one, sometimes they talk to this day about the "Town > of _______" and, indeed, they mean the same as "we Illinois folks" mean when > we say "Riley Township." > > There is a cemetery in Riley...near a church [and a grade school I think] > and that might be sort of a population center for the township. It "feels" > like a community when I am there. Maybe someone else can confirm whether > that is the only such area in the township. > > Kristy > ***Have you seen GRAVLIN, COARSON, ST JOHN, WORF in Riley*** > ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 Ann L. Wells Wells Research Associates Midwest Genealogy Research http://genealogypro.com/wells-research.html