Rev. William Ryder, Minister of Ancroft Moor Presbyterian Church (1845-1857)

[Les57]

Greetings from Ireland. I'm compiling a history of our local Presbyterian Church in Bailieborough, Co. Cavan. In FASTI of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland part 3, I find the following:

William Ryder educated at Queens College, Belfast. Licensed in Bailieborough Nov. 9th 1843. Ordained as First Minister of Ancroft Moor in the Presbytery of Berwick, August 20th 1845. Built a church which opened October 4th 1846 and a church hall which was also used as a school. Resigned August 25th 1857.

He returned to Ireland and assisted in various churches including Bailieborough where he died c1903. The last 'Ryder' to live in this area died in 1930.
I suspect he grew up in the congregation of 2nd Bailieborough as there were Ryder families connected to this congregation back then but as yet I do not have any information confirming this.

Is there anyone who might have access to records from Ancroft Moor Church? From an on line search I see there are records held at the following:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=757-burp19&cid=-1#-1

I also note that a communion token exists with the date and initials: 1846 W.R. Rev. Perhaps a church history was written which included details of Rev. William Ryder and where he was born. Many thanks in advance if anyone can assist.
Regards, Les. http://bailieboroughpictorialpast.blogspot.ie/

[stanmapstone]

If you go to http://www.experiencewoodhorn.com/catalogue/ and search for Ancroft you get three results including ANCROFT MOOR PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: RECORDS, you can choose to view the full record. Any image displayed can be downloaded for £4.25

Stan

[c-side]

They come under the reference BUR/P/19 which contains 16 files.  Only two would cover the dates you are interested in - the baptism records from 1845 and the minute book from 1846 - 1884.

This latter would probably be more interesting to you (ref. BUR/P/19/2).  Unfortunately there is likely to be more than one image so you would need to get a quote - I would imagine it would be expensive.

If these records were at Woodhorn I'd offer to look for you but they are held at Berwick which is a few miles too far for me to drop in!

Perhaps one of our more northerly northumbrians could do this

Christine

[c-side]

Hi Les

Out of curiosity I checked Ancroft Presbyterian records at Woodhorn today and, despite what the catalogue says, there are microfilm copies there.

The Kirk Sessions from 17th March 1846 deal mainly with church business and the part which covers when William Ryder was in office consists of 39 pages.  The meeting which starts on page 37 and continues to page 38 deals with the resignation of William Ryder.  Some is difficult to read but here are a couple of extracts.

“…no suitable residence for the minister nigher than four miles distant where he had been obliged to live during the past 8 years at a distance so great as to render it impossible to discharge with satisfaction or comfort to himself the duties of his office…”

“…to further imperil his health by exposure to all weathers”

 He had obviously had enough of the harsh Northumbrian environment!

Although it is written in the third person, as minutes are, it is in his own handwriting.

Christine

[Les57]

Hi Christine, many thanks for taking the time and making the effort to go and view the information in Woodhorn. I appreciate what you did and interesting to find out those little snippets of information about Rev. Ryder.
Regards, Les.