The Reformed Presbyterians (Covenanters) in Ireland don’t really have any records for the 1700s, so far as I am aware. The first ever RP Minister in Ireland was the Rev William Martin who was ordained in Ireland in 1757. His “presbytery” was all of Counties Down, Antrim, Londonderry & Donegal. He lived near Kellswater in Co Antrim but preached all over Ulster. Initially, he had no church and preached in barns or the open air. He kept no records in Ireland (or none that have survived anyway). The first RP church was built at Kellswater. A second Minister, Matthew Lynn, was ordained in 1763 and took over the Bannside part of Rev Martin’s presbytery (ie Cos Derry, Tyrone & Donegal). By the time Rev Martin left for America in 1772, with 5 shiploads of emigrants, 4 more Ministers had been ordained. A grand total of 6.
However by 1779 the presbytery collapsed because 2 Ministers had emigrated to the USA and 2 others had died. It was re-established in 1792 with 6 Ministers. There were still only a handful of churches: Kellswater, Letterkenny, Conlig, Dervock & Kilraughts being ones that I know of. Around 1793 the Ministers for Kilraughts and Kellswater both had to go into exile for preaching treasonous sermons. Back to 4 Ministers, all covering huge geographic areas. Some itinerant Ministers from Scotland came to Ireland from time to time and conducted baptisms and marriages, but they kept no records of those events. (Or if they did, none has survived).
So the picture that emerges for the 1700s, is one of an embryonic organization, with few church buildings, a handful of Ministers (some of whom died or left at short notice), and even fewer records. So if Robert and William Ewing were baptised as Covenanters in the late 1700s or early 1800s, there are unlikely to be any records of those events. There is an RP church in Letterkenny (Gortlee) but according to the PRONI church records indexes, it has no records earlier than 1872.
Tradition was to marry in the bride’s church, so Robert Ewing’s marriage to Eliza Bell may not have been in an RP church unless they were both of the same denomination. Marriages were entered into the statutory records from April 1845 onwards. I have searched 1845 to 1881 but see no sign of such a marriage. That suggests they married prior to 1845, in which case you would need to search church records. Letterkenny Church of Ireland has no marriages prior to 1845, Letterkenny 1st & 3rd Presbyterian also have none prior to 1845, Letterkenny 2nd Presbyterian has marriages from 1821. Trenta Presbyterian has marriages from 1838. So a lot of gaps. There are copies of the surviving records in PRONI, Belfast.
I looked in the 1901 Irish census for Donegal. There were 131 people named Ewing. They were a mix of RC, Presbyterian and Church of Ireland. None described themselves as Covenanters.
