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I'm seeking any information anybody could provide me on James Woods - I've come to a dead end and he's my biggest mystery.

I do know that he was born in 1826 in Belfast (from his death certificate).  He married Mary Watson in Raffrey Presbytarian church in 1844.  Mary was christened in Eglish in 1827.  Her parents were Robert and Mary Watson (to be verified).  They had eight children prior to emigrating - Elizabeth b.1844, Samuel b.1846, James b. 1848, Robert b.1850, Hugh b.1852, John b.1854, Matthew b.1856 and Esther b.1858.  All kids were listed as christened in County Down except Esther who was listed in Killinchy.

They emigrated to New Zealand in 1854 and then had a further six children.  I'm a direct decendent of their son Andrew Russell Woods who was born in 1870 in Killinchy, New Zealand - cool coincidence huh?

I'm after any information anybody can provide on James Woods, particularly his parents and siblings.  Apart from his marriage to Mary, I can not find any records for him other than christenings for the children.  I can not find any records for any relatives in Killinchy/Raffrey either.  Anybody who could help would be loved forever!  Thanks...

Thursday 24th Apr 2014, 08:40AM

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  • Hi Mellie

    I couldn't find a marriage record which should have the parents' names!

    There are 3 baptism records of James Woods 1826 + - 5 years in Down on ww.rootsireland.ie/

    2 are 1831 and 1 1823

    The parishes of the records are: 1831 both Newry RC  & 1823 Kilbroney RC

    None in Killinchy I'm afraid.

    http://ifhf.rootsireland.ie/quis.php?page=1&confirmPageView=Y

    There are also lots of Belfast records in Antrim and there are 2 1825 baptisms of James Woods in St Patrick's RC and 1 in 1826 Aghalee C of I & 1827 Ballynure C of I.

    Given that Mary was C of I it seems more likely that James was too so the Down records seem less likely than the Antrim ones; the Antrim years are closer too.

    I notice that the Garland tree on ancestry has his baptism as Aghalee so maybe this is the one to buy.

    http://trees.ancestry.com.au/tree/31489184/person/18060976480?ssrc=

    You need to purchase credit on rootsireland in order to view the full record which SHOULD have the parents' names.

    If you get the parents' names you can then search for children of those parents without specifying any first name in the search criteria.

    There is a baptism of Mary Watson 1827 in Armagh - parish is Eglish C of I.

    http://armagh.rootsireland.ie/quis.php?page=0&prevStartQuery=0

    Not sure if this is good enough to be loved forever but I tried hard!

    Col

     

     

    ColCaff, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Thursday 24th Apr 2014, 12:16PM

  • Oh you are definitely loved!  Thank you so much.  You've given me a lot of new leads to follow which are so much appreciated.  This fellow has been doing my head in for many years, so just having new leads is so awesome.  I'll let you know if any of them hit gold.

    Thanks so much for your fantastic help.

    Thursday 24th Apr 2014, 08:39PM

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