RootsChat.Com

Part #1

OK, here's a wee story in 2 parts...

Like many families, we had a drawer stuffed with family photos, including old ones that we as children never thought to ask our parents about. 

Fast forward a few decades, our parents inevitably passed on and given that family photos can get mislaid over time, we decided to scan them all in so all of us children could have a copy.

Amongst the many photos was one clearly marked as our father.  We know everything about him -  that he was born in Connecticut in February 1928 (my grandparents left Northern Ireland to try their luck for a while in the USA - they returned home in 1933).

Anyway, here's the photo:

I am currently tracing my mother's ancestors and have hit that brick wall when trying to trace anyone in Ireland back into the 1800s (because of the destruction of census records etc.)
 
From public records so far, I've established that my mother's great grandfather was a farmer called Moses Campbell.  He died in 1894, was married to a Margaret Brown, had a clatter of children (James, Samuel, John, Alexander, Elizabeth) in the mid 1850s and lived in the Tullylish area of County Down, Ireland (various addresses, including Knocknagor and Drumaran).  Anecdotally, I'm told that the family is remotely connected to the Campbells of Mossley, Northern Ireland, who were major linen manufacturers.  I'm also conscious of a Newry vicar called Moses Campbell in the 18th century but don't have any evidence of a connection... yet.  Can anyone advise of my next move, given the scarcity of records?