From: Paula Ward [SMTP:pward@express-news.net] > Here is what another Kelley/Kelly researcher shared with me recently: > > "My Kelleys came from London to Detroit about 1872. The records in England > I've found so far spell the name Kelly. It appears they started spelling > the name Kelley over here. My guess is that in the 1870s, it wasn't cool > to > be Irish so the Brits that had Irish surnames, adapted the spelling to > indicate they were different and not to be confused with their Irish > counterparts. That's my theory anyway and I'm sticking to it until I find > something different." > Well, that was me that shared this theory with Paula. Since this mailing list only comes to my work e-mail address, and I'm a government employee, I didn't see this discussion until today. Interesting discussion! I've read a lot about the Irish and that's how I developed the theory above. If you look back to history, you'll see that the Irish were unwelcome immigrants in the latter half of the nineteenth century, which is why I believe that if my immigrant ancestor could spell, he chose to change the spelling. I'm not convinced he could spell, though, but I do believe his children could, and in my line they continued the "Kelley," although you'll always find other spellings based on the enumerator. I hadn't given much thought to the religious theory, although my line would fit, as my Kelleys as far back as I've gotten them (Greenwich,England, in 1848) were Protestant. I know that I grew up fiercely proud of the extra "E" in my name and my father always told us we were "orange" Irish, so we wore orange on St. Patty's Day instead of green. Now that I've traced the family back a ways, I'm not sure where he picked that up other than for something like that to be handed down as family tradition. Maybe it will eventually give me a hint that if I ever get my Kell(e)ys back to Ireland, they'll be from the Northern part. Who knows. As far as the O' is concerned, I would encourage all with Irish ancestry to read about the history of Ireland--it's fascinating if not depressing. Read especially about the seventeenth century when the Brits took over and there was some kind of decree that the native Irish could no longer use the O'. That's the root of the difference, and though the Irish were supposed to stop using the O', in the nineteenth century many of the Irish began using it again as a matter of national or family pride or whatever. So, probably just as in the spelling difference between Kelly and Kelley, there's probably not too many clues in the use or lack thereof of the O'. Please keep in mind that not all Kell(e)y descendants spring from the same clan. There are six or eight places where the surname can be traced to in Ireland. We're not as lucky as my husband's Dohertys who all descend from the O'Dochartaigh Clan from Inishowen, County Donegal. Since I have proven my husband's connection to this line, he has hounded me about claiming I'm Irish based on my Kelley surname, since I can't prove the Kelleys came from Ireland. I will someday. Stay tuned... Liz Kell!e!y Kerstens, CGRS Ancestor Detective <http://www.ancestordetective.com>