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The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales Bernard Burke 1884
	The Gaelic Gentry Irish used a coat of arms to identify their Septs or Clans.  Any member of the Sept could display or use the Coat of Arms.  Unlike the English the Irish never setup a governmental office to regulate the use of a Coat of Arms.  The Irish pretty much lived by the oldest law of the land, "might makes right".  If you had the might you could do what every you please something the Irish shared with the rest of the Christian world. It has been claimed mostly by the descendant of William Boy O'Kelly that the earliest known use of the O'Kelly Coat of Arms was by the descendants of Teige O'Kelly who died good Friday 1014 at the Battle of Clontarf.  I don't think anyone has any proof but it is widely accepted as truth just as it is widely accepted that all known lines of O'Kellys descended from Teige.  Based in the Burke's book publish in the 19th century it would seem that in the mid 1700s, the Irish Gentry began to accept their fate, that they would never become powerful enough to expel the English so some began to embrace some of the English ways.  There are records of Gentry Irish who converted to the Protestant Religion, took an English spelled name, and some choose to register the O'Kelly Coat of Arms with the Ulster Kings of Arms.  This was basically an English office setup in Ireland to register native Gentry Irish.  There was a effort put forth to do this, members of the Ulster King of Arms "visited" the many areas of Ireland seeking to add the Irish Gentry to their records and it was during this time that some lines of O'Kellys began to register.   The first to register appears to be the line of Aughrane which is the line of Col Charles O'Kelly the 9th Lord of Screen.  His line died out before the time of registration so it is likely one of his grand nephews was the first.  We see in the crest description for the Aughrane line that the Enfield is Statant meaning in a profile with all fours on the ground.  After the unidentified Aughrane application we find the same line being the O'Kellys of Clonlyon who were allowed in 1755 the earliest date.  Captain Dennis O'Kelly of Clonlyon is given as the person making application.  It should be noted that this line was friendly towards the English very early and thus might be the reason they choose to register their Coat of Arms with an office setup by the English.  This line went extinct with the death of Denis Henry O'Kelly who before his death sold Castle Kelly and the land adjoined to it.  Castle Kelly and its land eventually became the property of the state and it was torn down in the early 1900s. There is however a claim that appears on the 1684 stone slab for Brian O'Kelly which brings the claim that the commonly accepted O'Kelly Coat of Arms was first registered by descendants of William Boy O'Kelly as it claims that a Ferdinand O'Kelly registered his Coat of Arms with the English King of Arms St George in 1608.  While not identical, Ferdinand's Coat of Arms has more in common with the modern O'Kelly of Hy-Many Arms than the oldest example of the O'Kelly of Hy-many arms that appears on the 1615 tomb of Colla O'Kelly. In Burkes the next appears James O'Kelly Esq of Aughrim and I believe an error occurred when setting the type for printing as it gives James as descending from "Feigh O'Kelly the Chief of his Sept at the invasion of 1172".  Feigh does not appear in any documents around 1172 so I believe the actual text may have read "Teige O'Kelly, Chief of his Sept at the invasion of 1172".  The early spelling of Teige was Tadhg so it could be easy to make a mistake.  We are informed that James was allowed in 1803 more than 100 years after he was killed so it seems likely his great great grandson, William Kelly of Buckfield made the application.  I believe this to be true because only his line is brought down in the Pedigree of Kelly well into the 1800s.  The O'Kelly of Gallagh was allowed in 1782 upon application by yet another Denis O'Kelly. The O'Kelly of Tycooly Co Galway was allowed to Dillon John O'Kelly in 1767.  The second earliest application that was allowed in 1757 or two years after Captain Denis O'Kelly was given to Major-General William O'Kelly.  His line of descent is only given as County Galway so this is a bit of a mystery.  The O'Kelley of Killahan and Gort, Co Roscommon was allowed during the time of Charles II but we are not given the exact date.  This line is given to have descended from Matthew O'Kelly. The last and final line to appear is the O'Kellys of Barretstown Co Kildare Ireland.  They have a slightly different Coat of Arms as their seem to exclude the chains and the reference is to a single tower.