James Reid is my 4th great grandfather, father to Catherine (Reid) Lewis. In Catherine’s obituary, this was written of him:
Mr. James Reid, father of the deceased, was a soldier in the King’s army, and after the Irish rebellion in 1799 was crushed, he came with his family to Canada.
A little more information
Her maiden name was Reid, born at Race End, Donegal, Ireland. The clan from which this branch of the Reid family sprang was noted in Scotland in the seventeenth century. Members of the family lived to the patriarchal age of 90 and 100 years.
Additional Reid family history.
So here are my questions for a professional or more seasoned amateur genealogist than myself:
- What is the King’s army that this refers to, and do enlistment records exist for this army?
- Would their travel from Ireland to Canada be catalogued somewhere in a passenger manifest (it was likely around 1830)?
- What are the records available in Ireland or Scotland during the 18th and 19th century, if any?
With a name like “James Reid,” I am not expecting easy results, or really any results, but if military records do exist, that may be the best chance.