The Campbelltown area in Argyllshire was a refuge for persecuted Presbyterians from Ayrshire in the 17th century. A branch of the Howies from Fenwick settled there. There was also a lot of going back and forth between Ulster and Ayrshire... some from northern Ireland settled at Fenwick in William Guthrie's day. Campbelltown would be similarly accessible. I know that in the later 18th century the Presbyterians in Ulster were nearly as marginalized (legally speaking) as the Catholics, because the aristocracy were members of the then "established" Church of Ireland (i.e. Episcopal). That dated from the era of the Glorious Revolution under William and Mary, but on back to the Stuart Restoration as well. I've not heard of Presbyterians not being allowed to baptize or bury folks in Ulster, but I've not done extensive research. In Scotland the only restriction was really on marriage, folks in the non-established denominations still had to have the "banns" proclaimed in the official parish kirk. It is virtually impossible to find surviving records of Presbyterian churches in Ulster. I have a general idea where my Gibson line may have come from in Ulster... but that's it. My spouse's Lindsay line were Church of Ireland before emigrating, and we have more info. on them... back to King Billy's army. The discrimination against poor Presbyterians in Ulster is why so many... whole congregations at times... left for America (Pennsylvania and South Carolina, in particular) in the latter part of the 18th century. Ken C. In a message dated 1/25/2014 2:26:05 A.M. Mountain Standard Time, [email protected] writes: One book that I found during my trip to the USA in June 2013 that was new to me was called “The Boyd Family of Pike County, Missouri, The Ancestors and Descendants of John Warren Boyd and Rosalea Helen Baxter, by Mary Ellen Boyd and Herbert Eugene (Gene) Boyd, 2008. I an section dealing with the Sharp Family origins of this book, there was discussion if some members of this family were born in County Antrim or Argyllshire, as they had been Christened at Campbelltown, Arygllshire in the early and mid 1700’s. I am sure that other sections on spouse families also mentioned a similar problem. So the questioned need to be asked ‘when Presbyterian Church were not allowed to Christian, marry or bury their members in Ireland did they travel from northern County Antrim and Londonderry to the Presbyterian Churches in Kintyre, Argyllshire – such as Campbelltown and Southend? I can’t recall what year in the 1700’s that Presbyterian’s were allowed to undertake Church functions and not use the Church of Ireland Churches? So did people living in Northern Ulster, go to Argyllshire for to have their children Christened within the various sects of the Presbyterian Church. With Southend only being about 40 kms from Ballycastle by sea. I assume that people from Larne, Carrickfergus and eastern County Down would have either gone to Ayrshire or a Wigtonshire Churches? So will this mean that while the family actually lived in Ulster, their Church records will be in those nearby Scottish Counties? This book mentions a number of Scottish families, including Wallace, Fullerton, Sharp, Alexander, McCullock, and McKnights. A number of these sound to be good Ayrshire names. I will have to do some further research to see which of these families went from Ulster, to York County, PA, down to Iredell County, North Carolina, Trigg County Kentucky and then onto Pike County, Missouri, but from a very quick read it seems that most of these families intermarried over the generations and through the above migration trail. Do any members know if this actually happened? Thank you Mike Boyd Historical Committee House of Boyd Society ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message