Looking to connect William Brooks circa 1720-1750

Hi Judith

Could this be William's bones? There is a baptism record of William Brooks - 1690 in Antrim on www.rootsireland.ie/ There are no other records nearer to 1720 for him.

There are also an Ann & George both 1715.

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

You need to purchase credit ti view the full record but it will give you the parish and MAYBE his parents' names.

Col

There were water powered mills, plus some wind powered ones, all over Co Antrim in the 1700s. Every farmer needed one within a reasonable distance in order to get his corn ground. There would have been hundreds of them, not just in Muckamore. So I wouldn?t focus in on that area alone unless you have something else to link to your ancestor with the place.

As far as church records are concerned, the Reformed Presbyterian Church (ie Covenanter) didn?t really get going in Ireland until the Rev William Martin was ordained in 1757. He was the first Covenanter Minister in Ireland. So prior to that, apart from the odd open air service led by visiting Covenanter Ministers from Scotland, your ancestor would surely have attended and been baptised in a mainstream Presbyterian Church.  By 1750 there were probably 150 Presbyterian churches in Co Antrim but I only know of about 4 today that have any records for the 1720s (when William would have been baptised). They are Antrim 1^st, Larne NSP, Carnmoney & Lisburn. The others either didn?t keep records at that time or they have been lost due to fire, negligence etc.

The reality is that there are very few records in Ireland for the mid 1700s save for a few major land owners, and it?s nigh on impossible to trace someone who left at that time.  But good luck anyway.