Durham Watson

Doug,

In 1835 there was a major split in the congregation of Killinchy Presbyterian church. Half broke away and established a separate church which is the current Non Subscribing Presbyterian (NSP) church. The NSP church in Killinchy today was built in 1845 and, after a lengthy legal battle, the mainstream Presbyterians were left in the original church.  However the NSP congregation kept the church records.

So Killinchy Presbyterian only has records from 1835 onwards. The earlier records (which start in 1812) belong to the NSP church. They are not on-line anywhere so far as I know. The originals may still be held by the NSP church (you would need to check with them) but PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast has some. You can view them there free. A personal visit is required to access them. Here’s what the PRONI collection holds according to their e-catalogue:

“[Includes records relating to Killinchy Presbyterian Church prior to the setting up of the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church in 1835]

Baptisms, 1812-54; marriages, 1813-45 (with gaps); indexes to baptisms and marriages, 1812-54; marriage notice book, 1845-54; pew rent book, c.1785; accounts, 1781-1835 ; lists of names of heads of families and their children, 1841; printed list of stipend payers, 1881-2; typescript history of the church, 1835-1935; stipend and other accounts, 1875-6”.

From the reference numbers in the PRONI catalogue, it looks to me as though PRONI have the paper originals, but as I say you would need to check that with the church. (Usually the originals stay with the church and PRONI keeps a microfilm copy, but sometimes the church just gives all their records to PRONI. Possibly that has happened in this case, because the reference numbers used indicate paper records rather than microfilmed records).

Here’s a link to the NSP church website:

https://knspc.weebly.com

Here’s a link to the tithe applotment records for Killinchy in 1833. They list anyone with land (farmers mostly). So you can see where some Watson & Scott families were living then. However the tithes only list those with land, so labourers, weavers, servants, persons lodging with friends etc, and others without land are not listed. But it’s the only fairly comprehensive set of records available for that period.

http://www.irishgenealogyhub.com/down/tithe-applotment-books/killinchy-parish.php