Hi William, I'm glad you asked us about researching your ancestor before 1718 and not another list, etc. Usually you'll be told that it is impossible trace common Irish who aren't gentry before about 1820 or so, when church records tend to start. It's less grim for Protestants because they will be indentified in the kinds of records we got in the earlier periods. However how to do this is rarely taught or written about. And I might add, it is not easy. It is basically a research project. All genealogy is, but usually easier research projects <grin>. It requires that you learn some skills that might be new to you, or not. The other thing you need to learn is some Ulster history. This is different from generic Irish history. It is also said of Irish genealogy that it is about local history, local history and local history. There are many books published on communities like Aghadowey and church histories as well. I have a small collection, but they're in County Antrim. The FHL in Salt Lake has a huge collection. The fastest way to get an idea of what records we have is to view the Fianna pages: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fianna/guide/index.html You will then move to county pages. In some counties and parishes you have censuses for 1821 and 1831 and for others you don't, for example. I recently did some work in Aghadowey and in an history of the area I learned that during the 1641 Rising all the Protestants were killed or run off. Afterwards there was a 100% turnover of names of Protestants. So Woodside or his ancestors would have come there afterwards. You can usually find some information on ministers in Fasti. That is the name for collections of biographies of Presbyterian ministers. Now a huge problem I must tell you about. There are three types of Presbyterians and each has their own Fasti. The orthodox or mainstream ones are the largest. Then you have the APs and the RPs (associates and reformeds). Where do you find these? The FHL has them. A seminary has copies as well. Here in Pittsburgh the main seminary has the orthodox and the RP seminary has the RPs. They tend to self-segregate. One of them has published records of the Irish synods back to the start in the early 1700s! They're fantastic resources. Probably you can find some info on Woodsides fairly easily because the Cascoe Bay people have been well documented. Research his farm -- did he pay taxes before the Revolution? The reason I ask is many of the New England settlers were veterans of the Derry Siege. They were excepted from taxes for life. However Woodside is not in "Defenders of the Plantation of Ulster," compiled by Brian Mitchell. It has the muster roll of the garrison of Derry during the Rising from 1642-3 and an index to the book "Defenders of Ireland during the Williamite War of 1689-1691". However many muster rolls survive for Ulster in the 1642 period, etc, etc. We're a lot like our ancestors in that we're really attempting to do what most would consider impossible. Instead of conquering the wilderness we're trying to research Scots dirt farmers in the 1700s and earlier in Ireland. It can be done but it is not easy. Have you seen this great website that details the early role of some Montgomeries in Ulster? http://www.hamiltonmontgomery1606.com/ It is basically the story of two private Scots plantations. Linda Merle ----- Original Message ----- From: "WJMontgomery" <wjmntgmry@comcast.net> To: scotch-irish@rootsweb.com Sent: Friday, December 30, 2011 9:27:39 PM Subject: [S-I] The Montgomerys of 1718 I have been observing for quite a while now this S-I Board and firmly believe there is someone out there to direct me to find records about Aghadowey and Garvagh from the period my ancestor, William Montgomery b 1675, and family, emigrated to America in 1718. Along with his brothers Robert and Hugh and father Robert and all their families, they arrived at Boston on September 6 aboard the ship Maccullum along with various ministers to include the Rev. James Woodside of Garvagh. From Boston they sailed to Maine, making settlement at Casco Bay. My interest lies back upon Garvagh, mainly, as this was Rev. Woodside's origins, but can include Aghadowey, as well.. Where might I begin to find records, property and / or Presbysterian, from years leading up to 1718? William Montgomery ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SCOTCH-IRISH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message