Hello All .Was this church operational from 1750`s onwards and are there records of Births and Marriages . Laurie

The short answer to your question is that it depends what you mean by 'operational'. You won't find many Prebyterian church records that early- most are from mid 1800s. Convoy's records are Baptisms fr 1822 and marriages from 1845 . The are available on microfilm in PRONI in Belfast (Public Record Office of Northern Ireland) and probably elsewhere but you should be able to view them at a Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormon) Family History Centre if there is one near you.. But some Presbyterian congregations existed before this. Records were seldom kept as the law dictated worship should be at the parish church (CofI) - it was illegal in the 1750s and before to hold meetings for Pres worship and they often took place in private houses. Hence no-onekept records which could incriminate them. Some of the flavour of those times and some records are in two books by Alexander Lecky on the Laggan Presbytery. Both are long out of print and difficult to get. These are the names from Raphoe/Convoy- Ruling Elders and Commissioners 1672-1700 Joseph HENDERSON Edward HERVIES William MILLS Michael HENDERSON Robert ANDERSON Michael PYPER Patrick BELL Robert DICK Alexander STUART William RAMSAY James LAIRD James COWDEN Robert GRAY Robert WALKER John McCLURE Arthur McCLURE James FLEMMINE Richard McCLURE John SPROUL Alex McCONNELL Wm BENE For marriage records it is advisable to check COFI parish church records since this was where a marriage recognised in law took place. This was important if you had land you wanted your children to inherit. Rachel From: "Laurie Thompson" <lthompson@terrafirma.com.au> To: <DONEGALEIRE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2004 11:15 PM Subject: [DONEGALEIRE] Convoy Presbyterian Church > Hello All .Was this church operational from 1750`s onwards and are there records of Births and Marriages . Laurie snip