Below shows some reasons why Boyds and other Scots left Scotland and Ireland. >>>>>>>>>>>> Petition of Ulstermen, 1718 In the beginning of the seventeenth-century, when James VI of Scotland became James I of England, (1603) a concerted effort was made to settle the province of Ulster in N. Ireland with Scots. King James thought of this as one way to cure the "Irish problem". Most of the large estates from this time have long since passed into other hands. Some of the Undertakers (a man who undertook to plant the land with settlers) did not adhere to the conditions of the grants and, therefore, lost their estates. Others sold the land once they had obtained title. Many more estates were created by land grants between 1641 and 1703, after the 1641 rebellion. The Scottish Undertakers as part of their land grants undertook to plant the land with settlers (or undertenants) whom they brought over from Scotland. It was mainly these tennants who became the ancestors of the ethic group known today as Scotch-Irish, a term virtually unknown in Ireland where they are known as Ulster-Scots. Very little documentation survives on the Undertenants, but the Undertakers are a different story. It must be remembered that, in those times land was considered more valuable than people. Because large tracts of land are involved there is far more information on the Undertakers. As the undertenants were brought to Ireland by the Undertakers it is obvious that many of them came from the same area in Scotland and were his near relatives. One such undertaker was: Sir Thomas Boyd of Bedlay: second son of the sixth Lord Boyd of Kilmarnock, Scotland. He married Grizel Cunningham, the daughter of Alexander Cunningham on 22 October 1603. Ulster patent dated 29 August 1610: Shean 1,500 acres, Strabane Barony, County Tyrone. Marion, the sister of Thomas Boyd, married James Hamilton, Earl of Abercorn and eventually acquired Sir Thomas Boyd's estate. It can be assumed that Thomas Boyd brought over many settlers by the name of Boyd since the surname is quite common in Northern Ireland. Many of the Boyd's in America are descended from these Ulster-Scots but tracing them down is another thing altogether. Many records have been destroyed during the centuries of civil strife in the country. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *The Petition of Ulstermen* Three hundred people signed the memorial (Petition of Ulstermen 1718) to Governor Shute, March 6, 1718 asking encourgement to obtain land in "that very excellant and renowned plantation called New England. Five heads of the Boyd family; John, Robert, Thomas, William and another Thomas signed the Petition. Captain William Boyd came to this country fourteen times bringing Scottish pioneers from the north of Ireland, and finally located at Londonderry. There is reason to believe that many of the Scottish Boyds who came between the years 1718 and 1750 from Ulster were his near kin. A number of them located at Bristol, Maine and Londonderry, NH. The Petition begins: "We whose names are the underwritteninhabitants of ye north of Ireland doe in our own names and in the names of many others, our neighbors, gentlemen, ministers, farmers, and tradesmen, commisionate and appoint our trusty and well beloved friend the Reverand William Macasky to repair to His Excellancy the Right Honorable Colonel Samuel Suitte (Shute) Governor of New England, and to insure His Excellancy of our sincere and hearty inclinations to transport ourselves to that excellant and renowned Plantation upon our obtaining from his Excellancy suitable encouragement"......... The original copy of the Petition of Ulstermen hangs in the rooms of the New Hampshire Historical Society in Concord. This from my web site: http://clanboyd.info