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To attempt a resurgence of interest in this thread, let me just mention the Bann Valley Henrys.  I believe Rachel Henry b abt 1767 near Dirtagh could well be considered a Bann Valley Henry.  My question now is to John Henry b 1763 - could he also be a Bann Valley Henry?  And if not, how might he have developed a relationship with Rachel sufficient to lead to marriage in abt 1787?  At age 24, his means of transportation were scarce - and pretty much limited to Shank's mare, if not the mare herself.  Perhaps an 'arranged' marriage?  Other ideas?

My Henry ancestry going back from current times appears to stop in county Derry or possibly county Cavan in Ulster.  Since we believe our Ulster Henrys emigrated from Scotland - most probably Ayr. Ayrshire, et al, there is the possibility that someone in Scotland has Henry information that we might use to 'come together' in Ireland and complete the missing links.

My gg gm Rachel Henry (b. abt 1767) was born and raised on a farm called Flower Hill bordering  Dirtagh townland, or possibly more accurately, in Newton Limavady, Derry County.  Her parents were Matthew Henry and Jennie Long.  Mathew's ancestors were purportedly Presbyterian Covenanters who left Scotland in the early 1600s and settled in Ulster.

My gg gf was John Henry (b. 20 Mar 1763) from either Derry County - or possibly from a townland named Derry in Cavan county.  John's parents were Presbyterians Robert Henry and Mary Woodburn.  While we think their ancestors probably came from Scotland in the 1600s also, we are less sure of that than we are about Rachel's ancestors.

In any event, John and Rachel (both with the surname Henry) somehow got together, were married in 1787, emigrated to America, and I have a lot of data on them from that time forward.   So the point of my search is for Henry data in Scotland that is believed to precede and perhaps join the Henry data I have from Ulster.  I have data on many non-Henry ancestors back to the 1600s, but on those bearing my surname Henry, I'm effectively stopped in the late 1700s.

Any specific help or good leads would be appreciated.  DrHenry

 

You well may be right - I don't want to become so enamored of the County Cavan possibilities that I walk away from our search of long standing in Derry County.  Nevertheless, I think I'll start a "Henrys of Derry, Cavan County - Pre 1800" parallel thread just in case we can turn up something there.  After all, unless Rachel Henry in Flower Hill, Newton Limavady, was a cousin or other family relative of Robert Henry, Mary Woodburn, and their son John Henry b. 1763, how would they have negotiated the lengthy courting distance between Cavan and Derry Counties?  However, I guess True Love has managed such distances and greater in the past!  DrHenry

The evidence appears convincing that Rachel Henry (b. abt 1767) came from Flower Hill (Newton Limavady) in Derry County; her parents were Matthew Henry and Jennie Long; and she (Rachel) married (in 1787) John Henry (b. 20 Mar 1763), bore his children, and in due course emigrated to the U.S.

And the family lore I'm familiar with says that John Henry came from somewhere in Derry County - presumably within 'courting' distance of Flower Hill - and that his parents were Robert Henry and Mary Woodburn.

In trying to gain more specific info about the origins of John, I looked at the family trees in Ancestry.com which include John, AND show his parents as Robert Henry and Mary Woodburn.  (There are a number of contemporary John Henrys, so I narrowed the search to specifically include Robert and Mary as his parents.)  There are on the order of 20 family trees recording 'our' John Henry - and the variances in his reported locations of origin are worth noting.  You can't weight them according to the number of times used because many are presumably just copies of the others - and I suspect there is no proof for any of them.  While about half said John was from Derry County, the others either said he was from Antrim, or Derry, Cavan.

As I understand it, both Antrim and Cavan are other counties in Ulster.  Does this suggest that perhaps we should be looking in those two counties, in addition to Derry, for 'our' John Henry?  Or I wonder if 'Derry, Cavan' means something else - such as perhaps he was born in Cavan County but later moved to Derry County.  Have any of you heard of Antrim or Cavan Counties somehow associated with John Henry or his parents, Robert Henry and Mary Woodburn?