Good question, unfortunately it will likely take your own research to answer the question, if ever. I suspect that a lot of spelling changes are because some of our ancestors were illiterate. If you can't spell, what spelling does your child use when they learn how to spell? What spelling does your preacher, your census taker, etc. use? In Ireland every literate person knew how to spell Reilly, in the US, Canada, NZ and Australia it was probably an entirely different story. Best wishes, Dennis Reiley, er Reilly-O'Reilly-Reilley-Riley-Rhley-Rahley (there's probably a couple more) "E.Sharp" <bellemarco@hotmail.com> wrote: On some family records and documents our ancestors last name is O'Reilly. On others it is Riley. Is their original surname O'Reilly shortened to Riley? Also, if an ancestors served with Wellington and received a pension and moved to Canada, would he still have received that pension in Canada (so far, I have not ascertained he qualified/received a pension - still researching). Thank you. "E"laine ==== IRL-CAVAN Mailing List ==== For the IRL-CAVAN-L archives, go to http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/IRL-CAVAN
FYI- I've noted, when transcribing the ANGLO-CELT, that the same person's last name might be spelled differently right within one paragraph! I don't think they were as worried about that as we are. Karen Hart Anthony Falmouth, Maine ----- Original Message ----- From: "Reiley Dennis S" <shanedr@sbcglobal.net> To: <IRL-CAVAN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, February 27, 2004 3:58 PM Subject: Re: [IRL-CAVAN] Surname, pension > Good question, unfortunately it will likely take your own research to answer the question, if ever. > > I suspect that a lot of spelling changes are because some of our ancestors were illiterate. If you can't spell, what spelling does your child use when they learn how to spell? What spelling does your preacher, your census taker, etc. use? In Ireland every literate person knew how to spell Reilly, in the US, Canada, NZ and Australia it was probably an entirely different story. > > Best wishes, > Dennis Reiley, er Reilly-O'Reilly-Reilley-Riley-Rhley-Rahley (there's probably a couple more) > > "E.Sharp" <bellemarco@hotmail.com> wrote: > On some family records and documents our ancestors last name is O'Reilly. > On others it is Riley. Is their original surname O'Reilly shortened to > Riley? > > Also, if an ancestors served with Wellington and received a pension and > moved to Canada, would he still have received that pension in Canada (so > far, I have not ascertained he qualified/received a pension - still > researching). > > Thank you. > "E"laine > > > ==== IRL-CAVAN Mailing List ==== > For the IRL-CAVAN-L archives, go to > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/IRL-CAVAN > > > ==== IRL-CAVAN Mailing List ==== > For the IRL-CAVAN-L archives, go to > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/IRL-CAVAN > >