Last month I was able to visit PRONI for the first time. This wasn't a research trip per se. I was in Belfast on holiday, but I was able to spend much of one day exploring the records. One of the items I found there involved my ancestor the Rev William Homes of Strabane. In his 1703 will (PRONI D623/B/3/6) James Hamilton of Strabane Merchant asks that "William Maxwell of Strabane aforesaid merchant, Oliver McCausland of Rash Esq., Mr William Homes, minister of Strabane and my son-in-law Thomas Willson merchant to be overseers that this my will be duly performed and to give their best assistance and advice to my said executrix in the management thereof."
Hamiton is one of the very few people from Strabane that are mentioned in the Reverend's diary which seems to commence in 1715 with his move to Chilmark on Martha's Vineyard, but does record the births and deaths of certain family members and others in Ireland prior to their emigration. "Aug 27th 1703 - Mr James Hamilton Senr Straban departed this life, he had been long ill he was a man very affectionat and kind to his friends in his dealings with men and that gave evidence of true piety especially in his last sickness, he left his family in tolerable good circumstances. He died about two of the clock in the morning and was buried the Lord's day following."
It is probably this same James Hamilton who was one of a small group of people that attended the wedding of the Reverend and his wife Katherine Craighead as recorded in the Reverend's diary: "Mr. William Homes [the diarist] and Katheren Craghead were marryed Sept 26th 1693 by the Revd. Mr. Craghead of Londonderry in his own house about 8 at night in the presence of Mr. Thomas Craghead, Mr. James Hamilton, John Wilson, James Smith and his spouse, and those of Mr. Cragheads own family. It was a Tuesday."
Reverend Holmes also appears in the records of other families named in James Hamilton's will. William Maxwell and his daughter Mary Maxwell both left Homes bequests in their 1709 wills (PRONI T581/3 p,192,202), and Homes was a witness to and named overseer in the 1693 will of Thomas Willson's father, Thomas Wilson Sr. (PRONI T1026/6 p.20). This begs the question as to if the John Wilson who attended the Reverend's wedding was John Wilson, brother of Thomas Jr?
The diary of the Rev William Homes of Strabane is available online at the Congregational Library and Archives
