Hi Terrence,

Two things - it is easier working backwards generation by generation from the known family, looking at wills, censuses, and land records to be as certain as possible, before trying to make the earlier ones "fit", and secondly please don't give exact dates/years before parish records started because we usually don't know when they were born. (Write b.c. or about.) Sometimes wills mention "elder" or "younger" son or daughter, which is another reason to check these first. Wills of siblings also help, and aunts and uncles were sometimes named in these.

Many original wills are now free to see on FamilySearch.com and transcribed ones can be found on
mannincloud.info and mathjim.ca/IOM1/Wills.html. Summaries of many are on Manx Notebook. All these should be checked against the originals on FamilySearch.

I have a note: "Children of John RATCLIFF & Jane TEARE in wills:

1. James eldest son and heir, married 22 Nov.1720 Andreas Mary CHRISTIAN Ballayonaigue d.1755 [will]

2. Richard d.1741 m. Margaret QUARK. “The second son Richard (d.1741) married Margaret Quark, and was the originator of the “Billy Dick family” [Constance Radcliffe].

CR wrote:
"Richard Radcliffe, second son of John Radcliffe and Jane Teare of Belfast, married Margaret Quark, and died, aged about 40, in 1741. Three sons survived him, the second of whom, also Richard (1735-1818), married Elizabeth Stevenson, by whom he had nine children, the sixth of whom, William, (1775-1849) was Parish Sumner for a long period. Three of the other sons, including the fifth child, Richard, (1772-1849) were joiners by trade, and all of them lived on parts of Ballacross. If any family can ever be said to enjoy inherited skill, this family has been, and still is, endowed with a gift for working in wood. William (1798-1878), joiner and millwright, according to the Census Returns, who married
Esther Killip (1801-1870), was the first to live at Cronk Glass (Green Hill) by Bayr ny H'ayrey at St. Jude's, still in the possession of the family. To distinguish him from the multitude of other William Radcliffes, he was known as
Billy Dick, a patronymic which has stayed with his descendants, so that his great-grandson, who lives on the island, is known to some as Dickie Richie Richard Billy Dick".

Sue