Conrad spelled his surname as “Riehle”, the same as his fathers before him. However his son, George Riehle, born February 25, 1876 in Iowa, shows the surname “Reihle” on his birth certificate, presumably a random error, but that spelling stuck. George married Frances B. Herold on June 27, 1899 and together they had a number of children, but only one son had a son and that grandson had no children as far as we have been able to determine. (Corrections would be appreciated.) So despite the error, the spelling did not perpetuate through his descendants.
Curiously however, the spelling occurs elsewhere in the family. Clarence Frank Reihle, was the son of Edward James Riehle (1891–1959) and grandson of Conrad. Edward seemed to use the “Riehle” spelling throughout his life but while we don’t have a birth certificate for Clarence, he used the Reihle spelling consistently, including on his draft card and in the military. Edward’s daughter, Elaine Agnes Reihle, also used this spelling and her birth certificate does show the “Reihle” spelling, for both her and her father. The birth certificate has at least one other obvious error, causing one to wonder if there was an issue in the records office!
The “Reihle” spelling continues today in the children and grandchildren of Clarence Frank Reihle, as mentioned in the comment attached to the Conrad page, and we thank Paul Reihle for that comment and his help with this article.
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