Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland
Spent an exciting afternoon at my local LDS center reading the 1861
census
for Dreghorn and Irvine in Ayrshire, Scotland.
(The first part of this message discusses my own Boyds but the latter
part
gives names and ages for other Boyds found in these two villages
in 1861 as
well.)
I love the census data because of the images you get of a real family.
One
day, someone knocked on their door and there they were, James BOYD,
Master
Tailor 28 years old, his wife Elizabeth, 29 and there is little
James, my
great great grandfather just seven years old -- was he blond with
blue eyes?
who knows. Where is Marion, their firstborn? She must have died.
There is
little sister Elizabeth, 5, John 3 and David at 10 months. This
particular
census asks for the number of schoolage children and the number
of rooms in
the house that have more than 2 windows. An interesting question
-- these
Boyds had two rooms with more than 2 windows.
It also lists the birthplaces of each person in the house.
So, there it was, James, the elder, was born in Beith. That enabled
me to
look again at the Scottish Church Records and low and behold, I
could narrow
him down -- there are far too many Boyds named James. BUT only one
born in
Beith who would have named his eldest son James!
So, I now have the next James BOYD on my tree. He is:
James BOYD b Irvine, Ayrshire (1810-11) married Elizabeth ALLAN in
Beith,
Ayrshire, Aug 31, 1833.
They had three children in Beith:
James BOYD b Oct.30,
1833
John BOYD b Aug 18, 1835
David BOYD b Aug 26,
1838
Then I believe they moved to #55 High Street, Irvine, Aryshire, Scotland
where they had Barbara (Abt 1841), George (Abt 1843), Anne (Abt
1845), Mary
(Abt 1848), William (Abt 1851), Joseph (Abt 1853), Elizabeth (Abt
1856) and
Margaret (Abt 1858). These latter are conjecture but they appear
in the 1861
census with a James and Elizabeth of exactly the right ages, occupations
and
birthplaces.
Sound familiar to anyone?
Other Boyds in Dreghorn in 1861:
Hugh Boyd, 51 born Kilmaurs
Agnes Boyd 53 b Kilmaurs
Alexander Boyd, 18 b Ayr
Janet Boyd, 24 b Paisley
John Boyd 70 b Craigie
Ellen 63 b Riccarton
Mary 20, b Symington
Thomas 17 b "
John Boyd 28, b Syminton
Mary 25 b Dreghorn
BOYDs in Village of Irvine 1861:
Jane A.W. Boyd 55 b Sour, Ayr
Joseph Boyd 51 b Irvine
George 7 b "
Robert Boyd 46 b Irvine
Janet 46 b "
Jessie 11 b "
Elizabeth 10 b Irvine
Robert 7 b "
Alexander 30 b Ireland
Agnes 31 b "
Sarah 8 b Ayr
Alexander 4 b Irvine
Mary 2 b "
Elizabeth Boyd 48 b Dundonald
Jane Boyd 20 b Kilwinning
Elizabeth Boyd 61 b Irvine
Elizabeth 35 b "
Jeannie 31 b "
Mary Anne 29 b "
Elizabeth Boyd 72 b Irvine
If any of these sound familiar to you I can give you a bit more info
on them
-- their house address, occupations and (in case you wanted to know)
how
many rooms in their house had two windows or more.
Chris Boyd
Calgary Canada
From: cboyd@telusplanet.net