General Notes

The main evidence for this being the wife of my great great grandfather, James Gray, is that she appears in the Macosquin Presbyterian Church incomplete baptism records as married to a James Gray, the mother of a James Gray, baptised on 22 Apr 1860, from Cullyvenney and my William Gray was born in 1861 and his father on his marriage certificate was a James Gray and his residence was Cullyvenny.  Jim Gray, of Ballylintagh, has confirmed that this (younger) James Gray and my William Gray were brothers, as was Robert Gray - and his mother (Jim's great grandmother) was definitely Eliza Jane Brown.  This seems to indicate that Mary Anne's name is a mistake in the register.  It is worth noting that the register had not been used for fifteen years before 1860, was only used for two months during which only seven people were baptised and then not used again for another 6 years. 

Many of these seven people were idiosyncratic in being adults or having "gone to America" AND - they all have a link to my family!!! On 5th April 1860: There was Joseph Gray, born to James and Isabella of Coleraine - don't know of any precise connection but the name's the same. There are the twins, Benjamin and Barclay Boyd, born to Benjamin and Jane (maiden name Trainer) of Crossgar "(now gone to America)", - for a long time I suspected the older Benjamin's father, also called Benjamin of being the father of the mysterious Mary Anne, and he would therefore have been my link to the Boyds.  Benjamin's wife was called Mary Anne, so his oldest daughter could have been my Mary Anne and she could have been born just before the records began in in 1823.  I now (220605) also know that my great great grandmother, was a Mary Boyd, who was already married to Robert Brewster.  She could have been either the daughter of or indeed the sister of the older Benjamin Boyd, and this may have been what caused the confusion. There was a Sarah Trainer (adult and daughter of the late William and Jane Trainer of Crossgar and also now gone to America), surely a sister of the above Jane Trainer (Trainer is often a Catholic name, hence the adult baptism). There was Mary Jane Kennedy, of Killure - slim connection, but there was a Kennedy Boyd, teacher in Killure school at this time. Eliza Squiggle Campbell of Ardvarness - very slim connection, but my grandmother, Jeannie McClements, came from Ardvarness. On 22nd May 1860: My James Gray, apparently born to James Gray and Mary Anne, Cullyvenny. Hugh Gage MacNeill - slim connection but there is a Gage Kennedy born to a James Kennedy and an Eliza Boyd in 1871. Now call me a conspiracy theorist if you will, but I think these folks were all definitely connected in some way!! A Mary A made her final appearance in the Communicants Roll Book for May 1904 (or maybe 1906).