Greg;

Thanks for your reply, unfortunately there isn't anything at either of the links you provided that helps. There doesn't seem to be any definitive link to a William who removed to the US and there doesn't seem to be any such mentioned in any of the wills that would seem to be of an appropriate date. Would you know whether there is a list of people who emigrated to the US at the early date that I mentioned? Were these types of records even kept that early? What about census records after 1777, I suppose that it is possible that my William returned to Isle of Man after the 1777 Admiralty trial. How often was the census taken on this island?

There is a Philip Kissick who was a relatively successful grocer / vintner who lived in New York City during the same time period. This individual may have had a brother by the name of William, but again there is sketchy information to support this. This Philip died in 1790 and was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church in New York, would this religion be of a comparable variety to what might have been practiced on Isle of Man? Perhaps that would provide one other way to determine whether any of these folks were related.

As a point of fact, the Kissicks who settled in Boston seem to have been mariners of one variety or another and I must assume that they made a name for themselves. I make this assumption due to the fact that the William I am seeking married into the fairly prosperous Whitman family and gained some property that was rather valualble in the Boston waterfront area. I would love to say that the money continued to flow down the family veins, but alas this is not the case!

I also contacted Allan Kissack of the website that you noted, but he tells me that he only collates information on the family and does not do any research of his own.

Those of us here in the US who have been researching the Kissick family have had to work hard to unearth what information we have found. Our ancestors have not made the hunt easy, they seem to have been just under the radar and kept fairly low profiles.

Thanx,
Chris