Joyce: The Rev. Holmes who signed the petition to emigrate to New England (Boston) is not Rev. William Homes of Strabane and later Chilmark, Massachusetts. Rev. William was already in the Colonies. The given name of Rev. Homes who signed the petition is unknown to me. I'm trying to determine if he did indeed emigrate and where he and his group settled. I'm trying to trace my Holmes ancestry and I feel he is connected to one of the Holmes mentioned in the petition. I've also tried unsuccessfully to trace brothers Thomas and John Homes, mentioned in Bolton's book. I feel that possibly John Homes was living in Cambridge, Mass., not Boston as Bolton indicates. I appreciate your help, Charles Joyce Hamilton <jhamilton4@earthlink.net> wrote: Dear Charles: Do you know the first name of your Rev. Holmes? Charles Bolton's "Scotch Irish Pioneers" has a whole chapter on a Rev. William Homes from Strabane, Co. Tyrone. In 1714 he brought his wife and 9 children to settle in Massachusetts and took over the church in Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard. A number of his relatives and in-laws in Ulster were also clergy.

Charles: You might check Hanna's section on early Presbyterian congregations in Ireland, which lists the ministers and their dates of service [The Scotch-Irish, vol. II, Appendix V, page 381.] Look in the index under "Presbyterian ministers in Ireland before 1800" and search for Homes/Holmes etc. That should give you the first name of Rev. Holmes. You might also get hold of "Fasti of the Irish Presbyterian Church". [McConnell, Presbyterian Historical Society, 1951]. It is out of print and hard to find, but it is available on microfilm [LDS film #994,080 item 5]. It has brief biographies of Presbyterian ministers in Ireland from 1613 to 1840. That will probably tell you which of them went to America. There is also a Fasti Ecclesiae Hibernicae, but that covers Church of Ireland ministers. Joyce Hamilton -----Original Message----- From: charles [mailto:jitsu93@yahoo.com] Sent: Saturday, April 08, 2006 3:41 AM To: Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [Sc-Ir] RE: Rev. Holmes to Boston, 1718 The given name of Rev. Homes who signed the petition is unknown to me. I'm trying to determine if he did indeed emigrate and where he and his group settled. I'm trying to trace my Holmes ancestry and I feel he is connected to one of the Holmes mentioned in the petition.