This is an excerpt from a letter written around 1930 by Emily Brooks, granddaughter of Jeremiah Riney: (spelling for Jeremiah's family changed to Raney in 1818 when they went to Martin County, Indiana.)

“Research work in the Indiana State Library proved that the Riney family in coming to this country settled in St. Mary’s County Maryland. The names of the early pioneers of this name were John, James, Thomas and Jonathon. (These names are found there in record and Jonathon is listed as a Revolutionary Soldier, while we do not know the name of Jeremiah Riney’s father, it is presumed to be one of the former since his children are named after the previous names.

These early settlers migrated to Kentucky from Maryland, Nelson County, between the years of 1785 and 1792 and a reference states that sixty Catholic families banded themselves together and pledged to migrate to Kentucky within a certain period; and in seven years there were five distinct colonies in Nelson County Ky., and gives the names of Riney, Spalding, Tewell, and Patterson.”