Home towns of Ulster families, 1691-1718

Since the ministers of dissenting congregations had little or no legal standing during the earliest years of the emigration to New England their records of births, marriages and death do not appear to have been preserved, except in isolated cases. But the records of presbytery and synod were kept with great care, and the latter have been printed to the year 1820. They give the name of the ruling elder in each congregation for the year of the general synod, and often the names of commissioners sent to the synod to represent local interests. Names of witnesses in cases which came before the synod also help to establish the home towns of Presbyterian families. Names of Ulster towns are usually given here as they are spelled in the records. A complete list of Irish townlands was printed at Dublin in 1861 under the title " Census of Ireland. Index to townlands and Towns, Parishes and Baronies." The meeting houses stood in the towns here given, but some parishioners lived in adjoining towns. The site of the meeting house and the bounds of each church's influence were subjects for contention at the meetings of presbytery and synod.

R. E. means Ruling Elder.
C. stands for Commissioner.
W. stands for Witness and P. means Petitioner.

The Cathedral records of Londonderry have been copied from the supplement to Mr. Morrison's History of Windham. A few references to families may be found in the Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead in Ireland. Additional information might have been gathered from the Ulster Journal of Archaeology.

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