Greetings! I think I have recently discovered a connection to the McILROY family of Ross Co., Ohio and Loudon or Frederick Co., VA, and I thought I'd post the theory to this list and see whether anyone can prove, disprove or profit by it. My ggg-grandfather, Solomon CHALFIN or CHAFFIN, who lived from 1779-1855 was married to a woman called both 'Isabella' and 'Phebe,' whose maiden name has always previously been given as McCOY or McKOY, but no one, to my knowledge, has ever been able to find a trace of her origins. I now believe strongly that her name was actually McILROY. My reasons are as follows: 1. Isabella McILROY and Isabella/Phebe CHALFIN were both born 29 [sic] or 28 February 1783 (both dates are given for each, and even '20 Feb.,' perhaps because of helpful scribes trying to make sense of the problem of a '29 February 1783'). 2. Isabella McILROY was born either at Loudon County, Virginia (adjacent to modern day Berkeley Co., WV) or Back Creek, Frederick County, VA (now in Berkeley Co., WV). Solomon lived at Back Creek, and married his Isabella in Berkeley Co., 21 November 1803 3. Solomon and Isabella moved to Ross County, Ohio, within a few years of their marriage. The McILROYs also moved to Ross County, at least before 1812, as numerous records attest. 4. The second daughter and second son of Solomon and Isabella were named Rebecca and Daniel, probably after the maternal grandparents. Isabella's parents were Daniel and Rebecca [PYOTT] McILROY. 5. Solomon and Isabella's son, Joseph, married Sarah Ann DAVIS, the daughter of Isabella McILROY's younger sister, Deborah. Marriages between first cousins were quite common at this time. Considering I found Isabella McILROY by a search on her unusual birthdate, and began investigating her knowing nothing else about her, the connections, proximities and coincidences that turned up are overwhelming. There is but little doubt left in my mind that Solomon CHALFIN married Isabella McILROY and that the same linguistic tendency to change rare names to more common ones that transformed CHALFIN into CHAFFIN also turned McILROY into McCOY. (Solomon and Isabella were illiterate, making this even more understandable.)