> Meoul has been spelled as Myole, and possible Mule, but I haven't come > across this last one yet in the records, it may be that it is just a local > pronunciation - "The Mule". This reminded me of a "fact of life." Once a family gets to the States (and perhaps elsewhere), they may talk about their former place...but it is heard by "American" ears and spelled by (ofttimes inept) American spellers (since education wasn't what it might have been "then"). Before long even a town's most ardent residents would be hard-pressed to recognize "that" and "theirs". And at the new place it would be taken for gospel and no other name would be considered. Kristy...who has found several such events so far...in Illinois (Watch for Lawrie and Anderson, Brown, Hiddleson, Ferguson, Finlayson...in your farm research, please Diana)