I have found my MORRISSEY family with many spellings. I suspect some of the reason is not every one could read or write when then came to the USA in 1850. (Of course, that is another mystery as I have found them on a ship manifest via New Orleans in 1850 with some members of the family listed Morrisy, some Morisy, etc., but on the 1900 census some give the arrival date as 1846 and some 1850. The two years also appear on various naturalization records and in a civil war pension file. Did some members of the family come in 1846 and then return to Ireland to come again in 1850 with the entire family? Or is it simply that some of the dates are wrong?) In the 1850 census the family is listed as Marsey (imagine how the name would be said with the Irish accent). In 1860 the family is Morsee. After that is is always either Morrissey or Morrisey. Unfortunately (as far as current spelling goes) the only member of the family to marry AND have children was my Great Grandmother, Catherine Morrissey, so there are no living members with the name Morrissey. Jeanne