Excerpted from Scotch Irish Pioneers in Ulster and America, by Charles Knowles Bolton, reprint 1977 by GPC: In Oct 1714, "Rev Thomas Craighead arrived in Boston with his brother-in-law Rev William Homes and their families from Londonderry" (on the ship "Thomas and Jane", William Wilson, master.) William Homes's son Robert married Benjamin Franklin's sister Mary in Boston; he was a ship's captain on ships bringing settlers to America. Both ministers were educated in Scotland in early 1690s. Rev Craighead served for a number of years in Freetown Bristol County Mass before, in 1723, moving to 'the Jerseys' where he served for a time in Delaware prior to a further move, in 1733, to Lancester County, Penna. He was pastor at Pequea Oct 1733 to Sept 1736. His family included his wife Margaret and children: Thomas, m Margaret, dau of George Brown of Londonderry Andrew, d without marrying Alexander - a minister John of Cumberland Co Penna Jane, m 23/10/1725, Rev Adam Boyd(first pastor of Upper Octorara Church in Lancaster Co Penna)

Thanks! This is quite interesting as I have a Robert Hume(s) in early PA that doesn't seem to match up to the Scottish family tree he's said to be related to. Home and Homes are common variants. He settled eventually near the Susquehanna river and was found at Old Hanover Presbyterian Church, where he is buried in the old graveyward (the church is long gone). More on this below. I'll include a USGENWEB link that offers some detail on this church, which only has a remaining graveyard in a state of some disrepair. Craighead shows up in some of the notes on the history and died nearby: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/pa/dauphin/church/hanover-church1.txt http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/pa/dauphin/church/hanover-church2.txt I an curious about the references in ebay ads where a copy of this books old recently that lists Holmes and Hume but not Home in the listings other than for the chapter heading. I'd welcome any more info on the children or family of Rev. William Homes and any other Hume, Holmes, Holmes references in that book. I have some other info on Reverends Craighead and Boyd included below. There was a web site that covered a lot of detail on Early Presbyterians in the US that went offline but the info kept coming up in Gogole searches and some data could still be found in Google's cached copies. So I tracked down the site owner and asked if I could bring the site back and she granted permission. I've been gradually editing and reformatting the pages (which were rampant with typos) and these have been very helpful to me in understanding the evolution of Presbyterian churches in the PA, which is central to the migrations of many of my families. Also many of the Reverends listed at the site appear in my family tree (Linn, Graham, Finley, and Steele), and others had influences if not direct marriages to collateral lines. Here is a link to the revived Early Presbyterians pages: www.mal.net/EarlyPresbyterians/ They still need a lot of work so I haven't promoted them much at all yet, and they still aren't showing up in Google searches even though I submitted them for indexing. I especially recommend the link to the history of the Presbyterian church in PA: http://www.mal.net/EarlyPresbyterians/presby2.htm And to how congregations evolved, often without churches for many years: http://www.mal.net/EarlyPresbyterians/prescong.htm The Bios are one of the best parts: http://www.mal.net/EarlyPresbyterians/presbio.htm Here are the bios on the two you cited: Rev. Adam Boyd: http://www.mal.net/EarlyPresbyterians/presbiob.htm#Rev.%20Adam%20Boyd "He was born at Ballymoney, Ireland, in 1692, and came to New England as a probationer in 1722 or 1723. He was received under the care of New Castle Presbytery in July, 1724. He accepted a call to the churches of Octorara and Pequea, and was ordained, October 13th, at Octorara. In October, 1727, the families on the west side of the stream Octorara having asked for one-third of his labors, he was directed to spend every sixty Sabbath at Middle Octorara. The Forks of Brandywine composed part of his field until 1734. In the progress of the great revival, a large portion of his congregation having left him and joined the Brunswick brethren, he asked leave, August 11th, 1741, to accept the invitation given him by the fraction of Brandywine which adhered to the Old Side. His relation to the Forks was dissolved in 1758. He died November 23d, 1768. Mr. Boyd was a man of great exactness, recording in what articles his salary was paid; thus John Long paid by publications (as a magistrate) of marriages and astrays, and by a riddle. His congregation agreed to pay him twenty-five pounds yearly during his life and several of them remembered him, in their dying testaments, by small bequests." (Rev. Boyd was also involved in the Middle Octorara scandals circa 1734 involving another Boyd family and a Potter family in disputes with magistrate John Carnachan. The locals tried to get Carnachan banned from the church after some disputes and after attempts to get the government involved failed. Documentation on this is found in the Donegal Synod records (a copy can be browsed at the Lancaster LCHS library) and in some state records, and was uploaded to USGENWEB recently by a list member here.) Rev. Thomas Craighead (d. 1739) http://www.mal.net/EarlyPresbyterians/presbioc.htm#Rev.%20Thomas%20Craighead "He was born in Scotland, and studied medicine there, but soon became a preacher and was settled for ten or twelve years in Ireland. His name occurs, first, in this country, in 1715, among the ministers of New England. Mather, in entreating the people of Freetown, about forty miles south of Boston, to encourage Mr. Craighead in his work, describes his as "a man of singular piety, meekness, humility and industry in the work of God." He is said, by President Stiles, in 1723, to have "gone to the Jerseys." In 1724 (January 28th) he became a member of New Castle Presbytery, which then included portions of Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He was called both to Elk and to White Clay, but he accepted the invitation to the latter place, under the condition that he should give a portion of his time to Brandywine. In 1733 Mr. Craighead removed to Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and in September of that year he received and accepted a call to Pequea, where he was installed October 31st. Donegal Presbytery, of which he now became a member, always speak of him as "Father Craighead," and appear to have had a peculiar veneration and love for him. He was very active in planting and building up churches in that region. [An unfortunate incident in the manse at Pequea caused October 27, 1736, to become a most eventful day in Protestantism west of the Susquehanna River. On a Saturday night some months earlier the elderly Thomas Craighead had broken the news to Mrs. Craighead that he had given permission for their son, John , and his family to move in with them. As Craighead did not approve of her reaction, he assumed the session's prerogative and on the next day forbade her to take communion. As done in Scotland, forbidding admission to communion was facilitated when at the entrance to the crude communion table, each communicant had to present a smal metal communion token. The session, however, backed Mrs. Craighead, but her husband-pastor remained adamant and unrepentant. By Septermber 1736, the congregation was in such an uproar that Presbytery suddenly terminated the pastoral relationship at Pequea, thus permitting Thomas Craighead to gain a place in history as the first full-time minister in the Susquehanna Valley. In October Craighead was assigned two Sabbaths "at Conedeguioinot" before also being "appointed to supply that people" for the five months before the April meeting. From The Evolution of Ten Pre-1745 Presbyterian Societies in the Cumberland Valley by William T. Swaim, 1985] On the 17th of November, 1737, he accepted a call from the people of Hopewell, whose place of meeting was at "the Big Spring," now Newville. His pastorate there was only of short duration. He was now an aged man, though his earnestness and power remained unabated. Under his impassioned discourses his hearers were often melted to tears. Near the close of April, 1739, whilst pronouncing the benediction in the pulpit, he waved his had, exclaimed "Farewell! Farewell!" and sank down and expired. His remains are said to lie, without a monument, under the corner-stone of the present [1884] house of worship at Newville." Whew, that last part about dying in mid sermon is quite a story. I suspect ancestors of mine were probably there as they attended that church. More on Craighead and his descendants is here, which shows that his sister Katherine was the one married to Rev. William Homes. http://www.concentric.net/~pvb/GEN/tc.html Back to your mention of Homes, Craighead, and Franklin: Homes is a common variant of Hume(s). I also didn't know offhand that there was a connection to Franklin's family, who also was close to a Robert & Francis Bailey family of Sadsbury, Lancaster that married into this Humes line and another one in my tree. Francis Bailey was a printer during the Revolution and was a witness to Franklin's willl. Also the first son of my Robert Hume was a William, though I show wife as an Anna and his name as Hume - at least one son added the and was known as Humes. So this is an interesting lead to explore as we have other ties to Pequea Church and some also to Boyds, and these folks settled in an area very close to wher Craighead was active. Descendants of Robert Hume (settled in Dauphin County, migrated to Milton, Lycoming County and other parts of the state, said to be cousins of the James, William and Thomas Humes that arrived later in the 1700s.) 1 Robert Hume - 1790 (buried at Old Hanover Church, Dauphin County) .. +Anna UNKNOWN ........ 2 William Hume 1753 - ........ 2 James Hume 1754 - ........ 2 Elizabeth Hume 1756 - ........ 2 Isabel Hume 1757 - ........ 2 John Humes 1761 - 1827 (moved to Milton, died there but was buried in Dauphin Co.) ............ +Mary Duncan 1774 - 1854 ................... 3 Mary Humes ....................... +Andrew Ferguson ................... 3 Martha Humes ....................... +John Potts ................... 3 Jane Humes ....................... +George Tomb ............................. 4 Sara Sides ........................................ 5 Sarah Wilkins ................... 3 Elizabeth Humes ....................... +Thomas Calvert ................... 3 John Humes ................... 3 Samuel Humes 1801 - 1859 ....................... +Rachel Bailey Humes 1816 - 1883 ............................. 4 Hamilton Bailey Humes 1844 - 1913 ................................. +Floretta (Flora) S. Sebring ........ 2 Anna Hume 1763 - ........ 2 Eleanor Hume 1765 - ........ 2 Matthew Hume 1767 - ........ 2 Robert Hume 1770 - ........ 2 Thomas Hume 1773 - Looks like the claim of a relationship from Rev. William Homes to Franklin's sister may be a mistaken identity. Still, the lead is an interesting one to explore for my mysterious Humes branch in PA. See: http://www.concentric.net/~pvb/GEN/rc.html It is often said that Rev. Homes and Catherine had an oldest son, Capt. Robert Holmes, a sea captain who married Mary Franklin, Benjamin Franklin's sister. However, in the History of Martha's Vinyard, Vol. 2, by Charles Edward Banks, M.D., published by the Dukes County Historical Society, page 48 in the Annals of Chilmark, under the heading Ministry of William Homes, the author states [concerning William Homes]: "While there [in Ireland] he married, Sept. 26, 1693, Katherine, daughter of Rev. Robert Craighead, who had been minister of Donoughmore, and who translated to Derry in the beginning of the year 1690, and continued there until his death, Aug 22, 1711. In the adjoining parish of Urney another William Holmes was ordained in 1696, and this led to a confusion of identity." Thus, Capt. Robert Holmes, Ben Franklin's brother-in-law, may not have been the son of Katherine (Craighead) Homes. In Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, and in the Biography of Benjamin Franklin by M. L. Weems, published by Uriah Hunt in Philadelphia in 1835, and in all other known biographies of Benjamin Franklin, Capt. Robert Holmes (with the "l") is acknowledged to be Franklin's brother-in-law, but the name Craighead is not mentioned and the History of Martha's Vinyard casts doubt as to whether the Capt. was a son of Katherine and Rev. Homes.