Several anecdotal letters and oral representations indicate that later generations believed that when my first ancestor in this country, Thomas Ceeley, came over to New Hampshire permanently to escape the Roundheads in the English Civil War in the early 1640s, he believed that the name derive from the Scilly Isles off Land's End west of his home in Teignmouth, Devon. He and his brothers had been over to America fishing regularly since the late 1620's, smoking and curing fish, and bringing back the catch to the west of England to sell. It became politically expedient to remain in America at the Isles of Shoals off New Hampshire rather than risk being hung for a Royalist at home.
This accounts for the "Chilley" pronounciation that crops up throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries. See Longfellow's description of U.S.Congressman Cilley from Maine and his obituaries in the Washington DC papars in the 1840's, noting the Chilley phonetic spelling made by several other congressmen reflecting that variant. My twice-Great-Grandfather Horace Baxter Cilley wrote to my Great-Grandfather Clark Merrill Cilley in the late 19th Century that he believed that this confusion led Devonshire-bred, seafaring Ceeleys/Seeleys/Chilleys, who were very aware of the Scilly Isles, to make that leap of deduction, and though it would seem to be pure speculation, the Scillys aren't far from the Devon Coast. - Richard Cilley
richard.cilley@psiusa.com