In the Boyds of Portincross I have this entry:- Hew Boyd, b / /15xx ( ), d /10/1610 (Irvine?, Ayrshire), bu , m / /15xx (church, town, etc), Marion Ross, dau of and (nee ) Ross, b / /15xx ( ), d / /16xx, died after 1610, bu , and had issue:- [Lived: , Irvine, Ayrshire ] - Merchant in Irvine [What sort of merchant.] How would you find out what sort of Merchant this Hew Boyd might have been in 1610? Secondly, do any Wills or Letter Wills survive for this period and where might they be found today? At this point, I THINK that the Thomas Boyd of Dervock who died in 1634 and was Provost of Irvine in 1608-1610 are the same person. So this would mean that the Boyds of Ballycastle - who stem form Thomas Boyd of Dervock - came from Irvine. It is said that the Boyds of Ballycastle/Danson Hill, Kent came from the Portincross family and the link is Alexander Boyd second son of the First Earlof Kilmarnock. >From the book Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire, Vol. 1., John Burke 1883, page 135, under the Boyds of Danson Hill (see chapter 29), it says "The family of Boyd is of very great antiquity in Scotland, and the similartity between its armorial bearings and those of the Srewarts, has given ground for conjecture, that it branched from that toyal and unfortunate stock. The present family is directly descended from the Honorable Alexander Boyd, of Portencross, (second son of William, ninth Lord Boyd, created by King Charles II. Earl of Kilmarnock;) whose descent in the fifth degree, John-Augustus Boyd, esq married in 1717, Lucy, daughter of Judge Peters, of the island of St. Christopher's and left and only son." This CLAIM that Alexander was the second son of the First Earlof Kilmanrock is incorrect. He was the fifth son and eighth child. Q8 Alexander Boyd, b / /1675 ( ), C 9/9/1675 (Dumbarton, Kirkintillock Parish, Dumbartonshire), d 16xx, m ? bc 1669-71 (a guess) d probably in Belgium, and not sure if married:- [Lived: ] - Joined the Scots Dutch Brigade before 7/5/1694. This Alexander could be the ancestor of the family of Danson Hill - see Chapter 29, if so he could have spent sometime in Ireland in the 1670's and 1680's. Alexander BOYD (M).................. C: 9 Sep 1675 B: 17 Jun 1988 IFALL Ba: C114982 ^- Father: William Earl Kilmarnock BOYD Kirkintilloch, Dunbarton, Scotland E: 9 Nov 1988 IFALL So: Mother: Jean CUNNINGHAM SP: 21 Dec 1988 IFALL However, the CLAIM that this family came form the Portincross Boyd's may not be incorrect. Sir Thomas Boyd, third Feudal Baron of Kilmarnock [F1] younger brother Robert Boyd [F3] held Portincross F3 Robert Boyd, b 13xx, d 13xx, m 13xx, wife unknown and had issue:- [Lived: ] - He was ancestor of the Boyds of Portincross in Ayrshire, his male descendants held Portincross until the death of Robert Boyd of Portincross in 1721. He having lost his only son, disposed the Barony of Portincross and Ardneil to his grandson William Fullarton, afterwards Boyd, son of Alexander Fullarton of Kilmichail in Arran and Grizel Boyd, 13 April 1712. (see Chapter 12) So Portincross was still in this Boyd family until 1721, so this Alexander Boyd son of the first Earl of Kilmarnock could not have come from Portincross. [However those Boyds found in and around Dervock in 1614 MIGHT COME FROM later younger generations of the Boyd family of Portincross, through the Irvine connections. One of whom is Merchant in Irivine and died in 1610. So could this Hew Boyd [see K2 in chapter 12] have been an uncle to Thomas Boyd and perhaps the other Boyds - John Boyd who died in 1615 and is buried in Derrykeighan and William Boyd who died at Dunluce in 1624.] This is THEORY on my part, but that maybe where this information is leading us. Thank you Mike Boyd HIstorical Commitee, HBS