O'Kelly

Okay, some of you sharp eyed detectives have noticed that there is a difference in the spelling of the O'Kelley name. Most of my life I have been plagued with people spelling my name by dropping the second e (O'Kelly). I was also told by my parent's generation that the O'Kelley spelling is the true Irish spelling of the name and those who dropped the second e did so to make life simple. Well as it turns out Coner O'Kelly of Ireland informed me (during my 44th year on this earth) that he has never seen the spelling used in Ireland. I did some additional research on this and I too was unable to find any Irish sources that used the O'Kelley spelling of the name. I did learned that many Irish names were changed when the Irish left Ireland and most of these changes occurred due to translations from one language to another. Many of the ship masters were English speaking so a Gaelic name O'Ceallaigh pronouned as O'Kelley would be written in the English form and not the Gaelic form by most of these masters. This causes me to concluded that O'Kelly (the English form of the Irish spelling) was more likely also spelled as O'Kelley by some ship masters and a Gaelic reading and speaking Irishman stepping on American soil would have also most likely used the English spelling as to conform and fit in with his new American neighbors. It is also possible the name change could have been intentional. A well educated English speaking Irishman coming to American could have chosen to change his Gaelic spelled name to the English form. There are also records of Irish families splitting over differences and some coming to America changing their names as a method to end ties to their families in Ireland. I know of a person named Kelly whose grandfather changed his name from O'Kelly to Kelly for just such a reason.

Anyone who reads W. E. MacClenny, The Life of Rev. James O'Kelly and the Early History of the Christian Church in the South, Raleigh, Va.: Edwards and Broughton Printing Company, 1910 will notice the author always spells James O'Kelly without the second e, but on the head stone of James' grave the name O'Kelley is clear. Some believe the headstone is in error. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Considering Rev. James O'Kelley is buried near the O'Kelley Chapel I think it is more likely the spelling is correct and like my own experiences, James also was written about by persons who fail to spell his name with the second "e".

Both Thomas and James spelled their last name as O'Kelley and it is that spelling of their name that causes me to suspect that Thomas and James could have been related and have come from the same family and it could be possible that both may have even been born in America. They both came from the same area of Virginia which wasn't over run with people during those days so it would be likely that any O'Kelleys coming from the same region were kin. (Ship records from early 1600s to mid 1750s do not list any O'Kelleys coming to America.) There are several with other variations of the name arriving in Virginia between those years.

Update - since the creation of this website Edith R. Duncan has submitted a family tree that concludes that William O'Kelley born in Ireland was the father of Thomas O'Kelley. That website is located at http://william.okelley.org. I do not know if there is any documented authority for this conclusion as there is nothing included in the notes that could be used to confirm this claim and it may be that this is soley based upon family spoken tradition and not actually knowledge. The reader should contact Edith R. Duncan directly if they need additional information about this site. Her address and email are listed on the William O'Kelley website.

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