Looking for my mother's Boyd ancestors who we believe originally came from County Antrim. We have a DNA match to a Daniel Boyd born in County Antrim in 1799 but "our" Boyds only show up in South Carolina, USA in the late 1700s. We suspect Daniel is a cousin who emigrated in the 1800s. Any ideas for linking the two including birth or baptismal records, parents names, etc. would be much appreciated.
Fairwinds:
Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!
Our Co. Antrim expert is likely on vacation so I will make a few comments. Civil registration for births did not start in Ireland until 1864 so Church records would be your only source. I assume your ancestors were either Church of Ireland or Presbyterian. Very few churches have records back to the late 1700s. I just checked Roots Ireland from 1794-1804 and they did not have a Daniel Boyd baptismal record. In addition without knowing his parents names, it would be difficult to confirm that any record found was the correct record. The other complication is that Boyd was/is a fairly common surname in Co. Antrim.
Roger McDonnell
Thanks for your quick reply. I know Boyds are many and records are few but being eternally optimistic,maybe someone somewhere knows something! My own Boyd in South Carolina was born about 1780 and some have his parents listed as John Boyd b. 1740 and Jane Bernardoe b. 1747, both from Ireland, but this is unproven.
Test for matthew - I have uploaded an image to this reply