Rebecca, Have you ordered the civil war records for the two William J Boyds? Their ages might rule one or the other out as your man. Have you checked for pension records for them? I understand Union records were much more extensive than confederate but I have yet to actually see one since I haven't found a Union ancestor yet. Doubt that parents would be listed but- hey you never know for certain. Do you have a death record for him. A pension record for his wife sometimes gives a death date if she outlived him and filed herself in his name. You might want to post what you know about him (or that story says with his regiment) on this civil war site http://history-sites.net/cgi-bin/bbs53x/ohcwmb/webbbs_config.pl?index The experts there may or may not know more about your ancestor or ways to better narrow him down. Rhonda ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Rebecca Boyd" < > To: <Boyd@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2011 3:02 AM > Subject: [BOYD] Brick Wall: William Joseph Boyd b. ~1840 > > > I am looking for the parents of William Joseph Boyd, who arrived in New York > on a ship from Belfast in 1850. He was approximately 10 years old. The only > other Boyd on the ship with him was Jane, age 20. I don't know if they were > siblings, cousins, aunt/nephew, or what. Unless the ages on the ship's > manifest are wrong, she's not his mother. > > Family lore holds that William was a soldier in the Ohio 6th Regiment in the > Civil War, and there are indeed two William J. Boyd's in that regiment. > However, this doesn't get me any closer to knowing who his parents were. > > The US and International records available through Ancestry.com have proved > useless on this particular problem. I suspect I need to be looking at Church > records in Northern Ireland. How does one do that, without going to Northern > Ireland? Help?