Robert I will reply to this by coping it to both the Boyd and Ayrshire net lists. This document CLEARLY PROVES that this John Boyd born in 1738 is not the son of James Boyd who became the 15th Earl of Erroll. While I have been to the North Ayrshire Local Studies library several times, I have never tried to look for any "occupations" such as Maltster's. So I am not sure if any such records might exist that could help find this John Boyd. I do not think that I copied any Burgess list for Irvine that I could look at. So it maybe worth asking the Local Studies Library if there are any Malster Burgess before 1738. I do list of Boyds in the Parish of Irvine who are on the 1691 Hearth Tax List. Parish of Irvine List within Town and parish of Irvine James Boyd (1) Robert Boyd (1) John Boyd (3) Thomas Boyd (4) Hugh Boyd (1) Lady Montfode (2) [what surname? - see ch 8/4??] Janet Boyd (2) Baillie Boyd (6) [what first name - need to check Irvine town history or lists of Bailles] James Boyd (5) - East side of the Towne Barbara Boyd (1) Josias Boyd (2) Thomas Boyd, merchant (3) Margaret Boyd (1) - Stonslands Hellen Boyd (1) The entries with more than one hearth could be the father of this John Boyd who married Janet Dunlop and had a son John Boyd in 1738. That gives you 7 families to pick from. I will add your note to Chapter 5/262. Oh from the booklet written by Edger Boyd in 1913, it said that John Boyd, the son, came to America with his mother, so it may be interesting to see if her death can be found - along with any newspaper article about her death. Are there any Boyd researchers looking into this family. Or are there any Dunlop researchers that may be bale to tell us more about John Boyd, the father's family. Thank you Mike Boyd Historical Committee, HBS -----Original Message----- From: Robert Boyd Sent: Saturday, May 18, 2013 1:16 AM To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: Boyd ancestry controversy Hi Mike: My son Andy has located some documents related to the John Boyd born in Scotland in 1738. This is probably old stuff to you. Andy got some papers from the collection of William Hart Boyd on Monroe, Michigan, a son of William Augustus Boyd and grandson of John Boyd. The papers are held in the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan. They include a copy of John Boyd's certification as a "Notary Publick" dated June 24, 1761, in Edinburgh. According to this document, John Boyd was a "Writer" (meaning lawyer) and the "Son Lawfull of John Boyd Maltster" (meaning brewer) in Irvine.The younger John Boyd emigrated to America and died in Philadelphia in the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1798, according to probate papers from Philadelphia. This bit of history casts more doubt on the Kilmarnock ancestry. I doubt a son of a Laird would be a brewer (unless, or course, he was illegitimate or a scalawag cast out by his father). Cheers, Robert Boyd [email protected]