Thanks Doug for the info. I have received similar info. from a couple of
other sources and you are quite right -- with the spelling variants it is
difficult to straighten out. Given that there are people living in Northern
Ireland today, including the listowner who spell the name "Caughey" it would
seem that eventually a specific connection in Ireland could be established.
I recently read an excellent book "The Scotch-Irish - A Social History" by
James G. Leyburn. His description of that group and their migrations from
Pennsylvania through Virginia and Kentucky follows the history of my line of
Caugheys very closely. Though that is no proof that the PA Caugheys were
"Scotch-Irish" it provides some interesting thoughts. As Laquita referred
to, Karl Rosenberg apparently reached the same dead-end in his research into
our John in Ireland and Scotland. Perhaps as technology advances some
previously unearthed info. will come to light someday. My grandparents gave
me a copy of Rosenberg's book in the '70s when I was too young to appreciate
the task he must have faced in tracing this family with so many names. Too
bad he didn't have the Internet at his disposal as I have already learned
more about my ancestors during a few months of research on the Net than my
grandparents ever knew in their lifetime. Thanks again for your response.
Gary Caughey