James [c1855 - Bellaghbeddy & Maddykeel, 1867 - Bellaghbeddy, 1873 - Maddykeel] Boyd

GV Ballighbeddy GV Map Ballighbeddy GV Modern Map Ballighbeddy GV Aerial View Ballighbeddy GV Map Ballighbeddy James Boyd Plot 9 GV Aerial Biew Ballighbeddy James Boyd Plot 9

James' father was John Boyd and his mother was Elizabeth ????.  His paternal grandparents were ???? Boyd and <Unknown>. He had three sisters named Letitia, Matilda and Mary.

• Death Notes

  Probably NOT him:
  Registration number    Forename of deceased    Surname of deceased    Date of death    Age at death    Date of birth    Sex of deceased    Registration district    
  D/1884/27/1005/10/112    James    Boyd    29th February 1884    82        Male    Ballymoney(pre-1973 Q4)
  
  This man is from Drumreagh with a James Boyd, son, PAD, he is married and a farmer.  I do not think this is him because I doubt my James Boyd had any children.... unless mine married twice.  Drumreagh is a few townlands north of Bellaghbeddy and Maddykeel. 
  
  This is also probably him in the GV:
  riffiths Valuation Record Information
  Tenant
  Family Name 1    BOYD
  Forename 1    JAMES
  Landlord
  Family Name 2    BENNETT
  Forename 2    THOMAS
  Location
  County    ANTRIM
  Barony    DUNLUCE, UPPER
  Union    BALLYMONEY
  Parish    BALLYMONEY
  Townland    DRUMREAGH
  Place Name    DRUMREAGH
  Place Type    TOWNLAND
  Publication Details
  Position on Page    33
  Printing Date    1861
  Act    15&16
  Sheet Number    16,17
  Map Reference    15
  And he had a sister, Letitia, just as mine did but I still do not think it is the same man.  Strange that he died in the same year as mine too.........  Hhhmmmm.... interestingly, his wife was also called Margaret!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  She died in 1885, aged 77, from Drumreagh, widow of James Boyd, son, James Boyd of Drumreagh PAD.  BUT, she could NOT marry in 1873 and have a son PAD in 1885!  So, has to be all coincidence.
  
  Oh, one more coincidence....my James married a Margaret Jane Henry and this James lived next door to a James Henry.

• General Notes

  Source:  the GV which does not have a John Boyd in Bellaghbeddy where Matilda Boyd was living when she married but does have a James Boyd: BOYD  JAMES  BALLAGHBEDDY  ANTRIM  FINVOY who holds 9/2/10 arps.
  
  When Matilda Boyd from Bellaghbeddy married William McKay in 1853, the marriage was witnessed by a James Boyd.  If Matilda was born in 1825, her mum was 40.  She must have had earlier kids.  One I am now assuming, was James of the GV. 
  
  I have merged the James Boyd from Maddykeel who married Margaret Jane Henry in 1873 with the James Boyd in Bellaghbeddy for these reasons:
  - the father of James Boyd of Maddykeel, according to his marriage record, was a John Boyd
  - a William McKay witnessed the marriage of James to Margaret Jane Henry
  - James Boyd of Bellaghbeddy was the executor of the will of Robert Boyd of Maddykeel and I think Robert Boyd of Maddykeel was the brother of Matilda Boyd's father, John Boyd.  I have now seen the will and Robert Boyd of Maddykeel describes James Boyd of Maddykeel as his nephew.
  - the James Boyd who holds the land in Maddykeel does not appear to live there so I am assuming he is the one in Bellaghbeddy
  
  This is what the GV tells me about the James Boyd in Maddykeel:
  Source, the Griffiths Valuation, where he holds Plots 4A and 4B of less than 8 acres.  He lives on Plot 4A, leasing it from Rev Wm C O'Neill, who seems to be the chief landlord in Maddykeel.  It includes a brickfield.  He also holds a small cottage and garden on Plot 3C, designated House e, on the Plot of land belonging to a Robert Boyd.  Were these men brothers (or uncle and nephew!)?  Did someone split a Boyd farm between them?  In fact, I am not convinced he actually lives here in Maddykeel at all.  The building designated a on Plot 4A is not a house according to the valuation column.  In fact there is NO valuation given to any building on this land that James held which suggests he did not live here at all.  Nor is there any house shown on the GV map in either Plot 4A or Plot 4B.  I am wondering is this James Boyd actually the James Boyd who lives in Bellaghbeddy?  This also would suggest that if the Boyd home IS in Maddykeel, then it was in Plot 3Ca.
  
  I now think that John Boyd, the father of Matilda Boyd actually was the same John Boyd who held a 36 acre farm in Maddykeel in the TAB.  I think he had brothers Robert and Alexander in Maddykeel and that Maddykeel was the original Boyd home.  John must have acquired land in Bellaghbeddy, which was held in the GV after his death in 1859 by his son, James, who also held land in Maddykeel at that time but lived in Bellaghbeddy.  This is the same James who was the nephew and executor of Robert Boyd of Maddykeel when he died in 1867.  Matilda Boyd was living with her brother (or father) in Bellaghbeddy when she married and her brother, James, and her sister, Letitia, witnessed the marriage as William McKay, as a policeman blow-in did not have his own witness.  I need to get the GVRBs to see what happened to the farm in Bellaghbeddy because there are no Boyds there by 1901.  The James and Robert Boyd who appear in Maddykeel in the GV are nephew and uncle respectively.  Robert's land in Maddykeel went to his grandson, Robert Brown McCurdy in 1867 because I suspect, he only had daughters and I do not know what happened to James' land in Maddykeel.  There are no McCurdys in the 1901 Census so yet again, the GVRBs are needed to see who got this land.
  
  he GVRBs for Ballaghbeddy show:
  Book 1 - 1864-1866 - no change
  Book 2 - 1867-1885 - In 1884, James Boyd is scored out and is replaced by a Thomas Bellingham (yep!).  There can be little doubt that this is my great grand father.  He would have been the husband of James Boyd's sister's daughter, Rachel Georgina McKay.  Oddly, the house on this plot is scored out and described as "down" in 1883.
  Book 3 - 1884-1897 - Once again, in 1884, James Boyd is scored out and replaced with Thomas Bellingham.  In 1893, Thomas Bellingham is scored out and replaced by Wm Cunningham.  (It is only land in this book, the housd having vanished - we know it was pulled down by 1883, anyway.)
  Book 5 - William Cunningham built a house on the plot in 1900 and it passed to Maria Cunningham.
  
  The GVRBs for Maddykeel Lower show:
  Book 1 - 1864-1866 - Robert Boyd holds Plot 3 and James Boyd holds Plot 4.
  Book 2 - 1867-1884 - Robert Boyd is scored out of Plot 3 in 1869 and replaced with James Boyd.  This is consistent with Robert dying in 1867.  James Boyd is then scored out of Plot 3 in 1884.  He is also scored out of Plot 4 in 1884 and both Plots go to a John Cunningham.  THIS PROVES CONCLUSIVELY THAT THIS JAMES BOYD IN MADDYKEEL LOWER IS THE SAME JAMES BOYD WHO HELD PLOT 9 IN BALLAGHBEDDY BECAUSE BOTH ARE SCORD OUT IN 1884.
  Book 3 - 1884-1897 - Henry Cunningham joins John Cunningham as the leasee of both Plots 3 and 4 in 1892.
  Book 4 - 1897-1912 - Still John and Henry Cunningham on both plots.
  
  
  
  
  
  

Details of James' family with Margaret Jane Henry