Boyd & Kelly - Ballynure

Robin,

Statutory birth, death and marriage registration (in some jurisdictions called Vital Records) only started in Ireland in 1864, save for non RC marriages which were recorded from 1845 onwards. So you probably won’t find statutory birth, death or marriage certificates in Ireland for this family. For earlier years you usually need to rely on church records, where they exist. You obviously need to know the precise denomination in order to search the correct records. Not all churches have records for that period and not all are on-line.

RC records are mostly on-line on the nli site:  

https://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx

For other denominations, the churches usually hold the originals but there are also copies in PRONI, the public record office, in Belfast. A personal visit is required to access them. Access to the records there is free. This link explains what records exist, parish by parish:

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/publications/proni-guide-church-records

If you are unable to go yourself, you could employ a researcher. Researchers in the PRONI area: http://sgni.net

You haven’t said what Andrew’s occupation was in Ireland. If he was a farmer, he is likely to have been listed in the tithe applotment records. (The tithes were a land tax and so most farmers are listed). There is an Andrew Boyd listed for 1834 farming in Ballynure. He lived in the townland of Ballymena.

http://www.irishgenealogyhub.com/antrim/tithe-applotments/ballynure-parish.php

(That townland’s full name is Ballymena Little. It is not the same place as the town of Ballymena 15 miles away. Ballymena Little is a mile or tow east of Ballyclare. The modern Drumadowney, Rushavale & Lisglass Rds all run through it. It’s still a rural area today).

Griffiths Valuation for 1861 shows a John Boyd living in Ballymena Little. He had just a house and small garden, not a farm. So he’d have been a weaver/labourer. And there are no other Boyd properties in the townland. So that tells us there was no longer a Boyd family farming there by that year. (There’s only about 12 farms in the townland).

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml

I can’t say that the Andrew Boyd in the tithes is your ancestor but it might be if he was a farmer. You need to know his precise denomination and then search the church records for the family. There are a lot of Presbyterian churches in that area. Not all have records for the years you need. And most of the surviving records are not on-line. So a trip to PRONI would be required.