Looking for the family Aiken

Hi

Thank you for your message. 

Do you have any further information which may assist others in helping with your research? Do you know much about their emigration? The dates, the reason why they left, who they may have travelled with?..etc..Generally more information was given at the port of arrival rather than the port of departure. If you knew which city they arrived at (e.g. Liverpool, New York, etc.), this could be a good place to find more information. -And perhaps even find out an exact place of origin.

Do you know their religion? Most Catholic records are held locally - One site which might be of use is - http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse/ - where you can ?browse? an overview of available records per county. If you have any difficulty, you could try writing to the parish priest for possible assistance.

 Church of Ireland parish registers for the period up to 1870-are public records. Registers are available for about one third of the parishes, however many were destroyed in the Public Records Office in Dublin in 1922. Most are still held by the local clergy, although some are in the National Archives of Ireland and others are in the Representative Church Body Library in Dublin. A list of all surviving registers is available in the National Archives. http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42 and http://www.nationalarchives.ie/.  The Anglican Record Project is has created an index to their records: http://ireland.anglican.org/cmsfiles/pdf/AboutUs/library/AngRecord/bunclodyunionindex.pdf

Presbyterian registers are held in three main locations: in local custody, in the Public Records of Northern Ireland (PRONI) http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm and at the Presbyterian Historical Society http://www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com in Belfast. PRONI has microfilm copies of almost all registers in Northern Ireland and also lists of records held by the Presbyterian Historical Society. For the rest of Ireland, almost all records are in local custody. It can difficult to locate these as many congregations in the South have moved, amalgamated, or simply disappeared over the last sixty years.

The reality of finding documentation pertaining to births/baptisms/marriages/deaths in Ireland prior to 1800 ? particularly in rural areas ? is that they simply may not exist. Some registers for urban areas pre-dating 1800 may exist ? though often these can be fragmented- as there was an increased need in cities or larger towns to document the population. Please also note that the Church of Ireland was the official church of the country and therefore the bulk of information that does survive for earlier periods is often from these registers. 

If you haven't already - you might try any of the following:

British parliamentary papers on Ireland can be found at: http://eppi.dippam.ac.uk/documents/9824/eppi_pages/215093

The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/

The National Library of Ireland http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx

The National Archives UK ? genealogy search: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/

The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm

The US National Archives: http://www.archives.gov/

The National Archives Scotland- family history: http://www.nas.gov.uk/familyHistory/

Remember to post as much information as you can with regard to the people you are researching. The more information you post, the more likely it is that one of our volunteers will be able to advise or assist you. Also include information concerning which sources you may have already used so others may further your search.

Kind regards,                    

Genealogy Support 

I found more information!

John William Aiken, Sr. immigrated to the USA in 1799 and could have landed in the Charleston, South Carolina port.  I do not know that for a fact, but his brother William Aiken, Sr. paid his way, as well as other siblings to sail to the United States.  He lived in Charleston, that is why I assume my John William entered that port.

John William Aiken, Sr. was the son of James (died in 1798 in County Antrim) and Elizabeth Aiken.  Elizabeth came to the states with her ramining children and died here.

John Willimam, Sr. married Grizzallah Weldon, also of County Antrim, but they married in South Carolina.  I was wondering if they knew each other before they left Northern Ireland.  Maybe Parrish records may have something on her with such a strange name!  John is a dime a dozen.

I would love to know what part of Scotland they came from, what Parrish of part of Belfast they really lived in!! I do know that they had to leave Scotland due to religious persecution according to history, not my family history. What did James Aiken do as a living to teach his children such successful business habits in the USA!

John William Aiken who married Grizzella Weldon is not from the line of James Aiken and Elizabeth Reid and therefore not paternaly related to William Aiken the governor of South Carolina 

Instead he his related to the Illinois Aiken family who also came from Ballymena 

A male descendant of John William Aiken Y700 test puts him in the AF03 group of Akins Project and a male tester from the line of James Aiken and Elizabeth Reid is group AF10 

It is thought that John William Aiken descendant came from Portglenone a village near Ballymena and the descendant of James Aiken and Elizabeth Reid came from Broughshane also near Ballymena , there is another entirely different group AF09 who's ancestor William Aiken and Jenny Burnside came from Ahoghill near Ballymena too 

Thanks to Ydna testing these families are starting to be put in the correct trees 

Brian Eakin co admin of Akins Project 

brianeakin39@gmail.com