Monkwearmouth-Sunderland-England

Dan and Linda Hull
The weather changed during the night and it went from mild to cold and tonight bitter cold. With the wind blowing off the sea it is very cool. We had another great day of searching for Morrisons in Monkwearmouth and talking to local historians at the local library. We also went to St Peter's Church to photogragh it for Debbi and then we head to the Museum to learn about all of the ship building that occurred in Sunderland. In the 1800's, Sunderland was the largest ship building center in the world-so they say. They made hundreds of clipper ships like our ancestors sailed on from Liverpool. The ship was probably made here. About 1900 they started making metal ships or the more modern kind and so the industry changed from wood to metal. Linda's family mostly worked as ship carpenters and they all lived in a place called the Barbary Coast which is where Monkwermouth is.
Tomorrow we travel west through the Lake District and over to the Liverpool area to visit the area where the Rigby side of our family originated. It promises to be quite cool on the last three days but the scenery is supposed to be the most beautiful of England. Kristin is going to take the lead on this part of the trip as Linda did the last couple of days. By time we get back the different families will all be jumbled a bit but with all of the photos, documents and notes we should be able to seperate them all quite well.

A beautiful day in England

Dan and Linda Hull
We had a great beginning with a lovely stoll on the beach with a light breeze and about 60 degrees. We then walked over to the Monkweermouth to the cemetery where the Morrisons were supposed to be buried. It was only a block from the hotel we are staying from so I did very good in my booking the room. We found a couple of Morrison grave sites but not the ones Linda wanted so we moved to the center of town-Sunderland to see what the records office and library had. we first had to tour the National Glass Center where they blow hand blown glass. It was beautiful and very nice. We spent the afternoon chasing down all of the names we could at the local library and we had a great deal of success. This is good training for us as we get near to the Rigby group in Liverpool area. Debbi Parker asked me for the obituary of Samuel Cottam and I was able to find it and we will go to St. Peters Church tomorrow to take pictures and look at it's cemetery, another one of her requests, so at least we accomplished some of the desires of the family. We will be doing bone chasing all day tomorrow and hopefully we will find the right ones. We are still having great fun and getting fat on the lovely restaurants here. The deserts they have here are heavenly.
We did find a memorial to the little children that died in the theatre in the 1800's here in Sunderland-183 of them suffocated when someone yelled fire and they all fell on each other down the stairs and the door was locked. Alexander Morrison, Linda's Great Grand-father jumped up into the window and started to sing and this calmed the children so that more were not killed. Sad story but a good hero and lukily he had a great singing voice for a young boy. Have a good day. Dan, Linda, Kristin(I missed spelled her name before, sorry!) and Dean.

Scotland

Elder Kauhane and Kristin and Dean. This picture was taken in Dalkeith a suburb of Edinburgh.
The Castle of Edinburgh at the end of the RoyalMile
Another view of Edinburgh
The home or place called Glencart, the home where William Gibson Hull was born and where Thomas and Mary lived for a few years. It is located in IN-the-Den, a small mining community, and near Dalry, Scotland.


Dan and Linda Hull
We spent the day in Edinburgh and was able to see the sights-castles, churches and most of the Royal Mile. Linda located where the Morrisons had lived for three or four generations and we went by and took some pictures there. They all must have worked for the queen because they all lived within a stones throw of the Royal Mile, which is the heart of Edinburgh. We then went down to find a place near where a missionary friend of Dean and Kristin was serving and we found a nice place to stay. We invited the Elder Kauhane and his companion Elder Drennan over for breakfast. It turns out that it was his birthday and so we had an early celebration and then we went to church at the Dalkeith Ward. It was small but very nice and Linda even found a few more leads on her Morrison quest.
I think Dean has taken about 1600 pictures and I have another 300 so it will with all of the records and information take us months to catelogue all. We arrived in Sunderland, England tonight about 6 pm and we have a place near the sea so it will be nice and it isn't too cold. It has been stormy the last week so we actually saw the sun most of the day as we traveled across Scotland to England.
We have been gone along time and hope all are well. So far we have placed three testing kits for DNA and I hope to place one more in Leeds, England. We will do research here for two days and then go to the Rigby family site near Liverpool for a few days. Well have a good week. Dan, Linda, Kristin and Dean

GLASCOW AND EDINBOURGH

We spent yesterday in the area of Ardrossan, Dalry, In-the -Den and Beith. This is where is the Hull's went to after they left Ireland during the potato famine. They went there to work in the coal mines of Dalry. In-the-Den is the exact place where they lived. We first went to the home of the Gilberts who we met thre years ago and helped us find the local history and places. He has a very strong Scottish Brogue and we laughed because after forty years his wife still has a hard time understanding him. He said that he had just talked to a man yesterday about us and the Frew family, my mother's line, and he had given him our information. He was then especially surprised to seee us show up the next day on his doorstep. We then went down to the farm, Glencart, where William Gibson Hull was born. We took lots of pictures and if you want to see the farm go to www.glencart.com It is a horse farm for English jumping training.
We then went to Ardrossan and met with Rae and Tom Hamilton, she is a Strand and a descendent of James Hull the brother of Thomas Hull II. She spent 6 weeks a summer most of her youth at the Hull Hillfoot farm in Dungiven with Maggie and Tom Hull. She had some great stories and she loaned us her pictures of the farm to have them reproduced. She is also going to write a brief history of the farm and what it was like 60 years ago. She helped me with some questions about Christina Hull and Marie Hull of Ardrossan. Well we are in Glascow and Linda and Kristin are at the records office trying to find the records of James Hull and where he is buried. Got to go. Dan

Leaving Ireland and going to Scotland

We had agreat day in Limavdy visiting with George Hull. He is a descendent of the Limavday Hulls and he wasmost warm in receiving us on a rainy night. He told us about his family and about a Margaret Hull who lived in a townland way up on the hill above Limavady and that it was the Adams home before or the farm of the Adams. We went there this morning and with the help of first Janet to get us to George's and then George's help to find the farm we made it to Margaret and her new house high on the hill. The view was breathtaking and you could see across the Foyle or the water to Donegal. She gave us information about the different farms and areas that the Huls lived in during the past 200 years. From her house yu could see mostof the places and her husband is a profesional photographer and he is going to mail me a DVD with photos of the area and I will post them when I get home.We are of to the ferry. Love you all. Dan, Linda, Kristin, Dean

We found Birdstown

We are now at the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland. It is stormy as usual but the ocean is beaauiful and the scenery is spectacular. We went to Londonderry yesterday and visited where the Bensons lived and worked. We walked around the wall of Londonderry that was built by Peter Benson in the early 1600s. Janet, our cousin , told us about how one side still devides the Catholics/Green party from the Protestants/Orange and how the army has to constantly keep things supervised or segregated to keep the peace. We went to St. Colomb Church where the Bensons and Careys went to church. It is a very old church.
After Londonderry we went to Birdstown which is in Donegal. It took us a while but we finally found the Birdstown Estate. It is very beautiful and otu in the rolling hills of Ireland. We wil be fnalizing things tonigt and then heding to Ayr, Sctland by way of Belfast and a ferry.
We learned that m sister-in-law Lois Kakunes passed away. Lois was Rons first wife. Kids please save obituary.
We would like to thank Janet and Wilf for there loving care and the Carmichaels, Cartwrights and Hynds for all of their help and assistance. They are all so kind.

Krisitn's Blog

Saturday night we went to Davie and Betty Cartwright's home and Dan picked their brains about the Millar family and the Smyth family. Thomas Hull, the first, married Elizabeth Millar and James and Samuel Hull married Smyth sisters. James and Samuel Hull were Thomas Hull, the second's brothers. On Sunday, we visited the Bovevagh Presbyterian Church and sat on the family pew with Trevor Hynds. The Bovevagh Church is where our family attended for about one hundred years. We then went to several cemetaries and then over to David and Mary Hynds' home where we saw David's large Ireland "farm implement" collection. We went back to Janet and Wilf and had a wonderful time with about 30 neighbors and cousins around the Dungiven area. We have to listen very closely to them talk and often requested them to repeat what was said for us to understand them. Kristin would watch the faces of Dan and Linda to see if we were able to understand any of the conversations. One of the relatives or neighbor, a Joe Carmichael, agreed to go to the Dungiven Presbyterian Church records. We were able to look at them this morning. We found some really good information and dates that we did not have before. We also learned that the Hullfoot farm has been sold and the Carmichael's would much prefer that we owned it because we would only be a "bother" every two years! We took some really good photos and "looted" by removing a doorknob and a couple of latches from the doorways. Kristin also gained a slate tile...we thought we could bring the truckload and sell them to you for $5 and pay for our trip! Just kidding! We are now at the Limavady Council house where we got a record that says that Suzanna Hull married Hugh Irwin from Ballyness. Hugh's father was Samuel Irwin. We will try to find Samuel's information. Tonight we are going to visit Joe Carmichael to discuss the map of Rob Hull from California. The map is of Ballymacheever and Turgoland. We are having a wonderful time and Janet and Wilf are taking beautiful care of us. Kristin and Dean are finally sleeping through the night!

Dungiven II

I am trying to save some pictures for you to see. Yesturday when we were at the New Grange place Some people had carved their name inside the special chamber before anyone had started to preserve it back in the 1800's and right there next to the most sacred area was the name: J Hull. I guess it was fate or something.
Today while we went around visiting we talk to a man who said that someone had sold the one acre lot that is where the original Hull/Hillfoot farmhouse is for 240,000 pounds or about 400,000 dollars and there would soon be a new house there. They passed a new zoning rule that you can't build in the country unless it is your own farm or it is your child or it replaces an old home. I guess progress is coming to Northern Ireland. The house was bought including the land for 430 pounds back in 1887 for the first time after leasing it for almost a hundred years. The price has gone up.
We made some headway in finding some of the other lines such as Millars and Smyths and tomorrow we are getting together with a bunch of the neighbors for dinner and we will pick all of their brains for a few hours. Janet and Wilf are feeding us way too well, we will need to diet for sure after this week. We visited Betty and Davey who are distant cousins through the Douglas family, Robert Hull, the brother of Thomas Hull II, and they were very nice and helpful. I will try to upload some pictures and if I can't I will send them to Robert for his expert help. We are going to church at the Bovevagh Presbyterian tomorrow. That is where Thomas Hull I and his family went up until the 1950's. Talk to you tomorrow. Dan

Arrived in Dungiven

We have had a rough time finding internet access so we missed Thursday and Friday. Thursday we were headed to Dublin and there was no internet at the B & B and evrything else was closed and Friday when we arrived in Dungiven our cousins Janets internet didn't work so we are at the Dungiven Library. We did get to go see the Reverand Hull on Thursday. I first walked there but walked almost and hour and when I got to his address I had picked up the wrong piece of paper and I didn't have his exact address and by time I returned he had left but he did leave his 4 generattions of genealogy and I visited him a couple of hours later and he agreed to do the DNA test. He was very kind and I got a picture of he and his wife. I returned to the Proni and we got the 7 maps we had found and they had put them on a CD so we will be able to upload them later. The next morning after our drive to Dublin from Belfast we picked up Kristin and Dean and first we went to the New Grange an ancient site near Dublin. I will upload pictures later. The site was beleived to be a worship site dated about 3200 BC. Adam could have been alive then. It is really cool. Then we drove over to Dungiven taking about 5 hours to do so and we arrived at about five and went in to see the Dungiven castle and then droves 4 miles to Janet's house. We took a quick trip to the Hillfoot Hull farm before dinner because it promises to rain for three days. It was almost dark but each time we go the house caves in a little more. Then we had a great supper with Janet and Wilf-Irish stew without the Irish andTruffle and other good things and we retired early. I must save this blog or loose it so goodby until tonight. Dan

Meeting with Paul Hull and the Reverand Hull

We had another fun day at the PRONI doing research and trying to find all of the lists of refences and maps. We found some very good documentation and maps of the Hulls in Lisburn and Belfast and some maps to tell us where they lived. As I said yesturdy, that we saw a Presbyterian Church with the Reveran W. I Hull listed on their markee, so tonight at 7:45 p.m. I went to their community meeting and when I walked in and introduced myself as a Hull they all said that the Reverand and I looked a lot like each other.
As predicted the nose was one of the trademarks. His isn't as big but it still has the hook.He came in a few minutes later and I told him what I was up to and that I would like him to do the DNA test and give me his family tree information. He seemed agreeable and we made an appointment for 9:30 in the morning to meet at his home and he would make copies of his family information. Then at 8:30 p.m. Paul Hull called who is the son of a man we tried to contact three and half years ago when we came before. His family are Mormons and Rob Hull, our DNA cousin from California, was able to find him through writing letters to many Hulls in Northern Ireland. Paul and his wife said they would come over so they did and we had a great visit and he took the DNA kit and signed the release so mission accomplished plus he agreed to help me to do more research with the families here in Belfast and Lisburn. He is married to a lovely lady from Brazil and they have one son.
It has been avery good day even though it was stormy most of the day the sun came out for a while and things went well. The PRONI is in a very nice suburb that back in the days of our family was called the linen district or the Lagan Valley. There are many nice homes and the reason the PRONI is in this area is because the Irsih rebellion group blew up the records house in the early 1920's and so the government didn't want it in an area where the rebels lived or could have easy access to blow it up again. I am including a few pictures of houses near the records place and a rugby filed at the Royal Academy of Belfast which is just around the corner. Well it is getting late and we are off to the appointment, then the PRONI for a few hours then over to the Lisburn cemetery to document that area again and then to the Airport B & B to await Kristin and Deans arrival the next day. Thanks again to the great family to be part of and for Robert Parker in keeping things working on the web.

Belfast and our first visit to the PRONI

we arrived in Belfast on Monday and went to our Bed and Breakfast and rested and studied up on all of the things we needed to research. We are staying about a mile from the PRONI which is the research or records office of Northern Ireland. We walked there this morning, Tuesday, and started to look up the lists submitted to us by Rob Hull our DNA cousin and Cynthia, our cousin from Australia and a few of my own. Linda started out finding the 23 page article called "The Benson's of Donegal" that Uncle Bob found back in the 70's and tried to hand copy because they wouldn't allow copying then. This time we were allowed copies and I just got through reading the paper and it has a lot of information about the Bensons and one is that Peter Benson the builder comes from Northern England near a place we are going for three days on our trip. Linda, my wife, requested that we go to the site of her Morrison line which is in Sunderland, England. Peter Benson's family live a short distance and Debbie Parker's family, wife of our famous web host, Robert Parker, family lives in Sunderland also so we have a bunch of research ahead. Today we also got the deed to the Hillfoot farm when it was first puchased from the Skinner Company by Robert Hull Robert is the brother of Thomas Hull 2nd and he married a Margaret Douglas. The Hull family, Thoma Hull 1st, leased the land and farm from about the early 1800's to the purchase. We will be visiting several relations from the Douglas family on our trip both in Dungiven and in Scotland. The deed shows we bought the farm from the skinners in 1887 for about £450.00 pounds. We paid about 10% down and then agreed to pay over time and a second deed is recorded that says that the debt was to beforgiven because of the family being indentured or something like that. All of the properties around our farm were purchased by their tenets about the same time and all were forgiven the debt about the same time. We also got a copy of the map of the landowners of our farm in Ballymackeever and Tirgoland the one next door and a map of all of the townlands held by the skinners. These are only available here in the PRONI. We will continue to pursue the research tomorrow and Thursday morning. This evening we went walking to get some food and to get an adapter for the 240 power they have here and we walked by a Presbyterian Church and guess who is the Priest a Reverand Hull. So tomorrow at 8 p.m. we are crahing their meeting to see if we can get his genealogy and do a DNA test on him. I am sure he will think we are crazy but if I have to I will tackle him and have Linda do the swabbing before he can protest. Across the street from where we are staying is another Presbyterian Church and it turns out that this parish has a copy of all of the Northern Ireland parish records. They are just housed a couple of miles from here so we will make an appointment and go there. I can definetly feel Mary Benson and the family helping us and if I don't get put in jail for illegal swabbing we should do really well with all of our leads. I will include some pictures tomorrow but not much to see so far.

Trip to Ireland

Linda and I are leaving the 15th for Northern Ireland. We will first be going to Lisburn/Belfast to work in the PRONI, a library of records for Northern Ireland, and also will be searching in that area for descendents of Samuel Hull, the brother of Thomas Hull II and his great uncle James Hull, the brother of Richard Hull. We will be taking 4 DNA kits and some permission sheets that will allow us to gather DNA samples to help prove the lines. Over ten cousins back in Utah have helped us raise funds to pay for the tests so this should make it easier to convince them to participate. We already have three families in the US that we have connected to using the DNA testing program.
On the 20th we will pick up at the Dublin airport Kristen and Dean, Kris is Bill Hull's daughter from Pocatello, and they will join us as we go from Dublin over to Dungiven where our family originated. Dungiven is about 20 miles East of Derry (Londonderry). We will be staying with Janet Kerr and Wilf her husband, she is the Great Grand Daughter of Peggy Jane Hull, the ist daughter of Thomas Hull II. We will continue our research for relatives with the name of Benson, Miller and Hull and also trying to find the descendents of John Hull an immigrant to Australia who left two children and his wife in Dungiven to go to the Gold fields in Victoria where he died. After 5 days in this area we will travel to Ayr, Scotland to a little hamlet called In-the-Den which is part of Dalry to visit the birth place of William Gibson Hull and do research and visiting of relatives of James Hull, the brother of Thomas Hull II and Margaret Hull the sister of the same. We will be close to Glascow and will do a day or so of research there.
On about the 28th we will drive across part of Scotland to NorthEast England to visit the are of Durham/north Cumberland where my wife Linda's family lived and then after a few days down to Liverpool are where we will visit the home area of the Rigby's, Chadwicks and Hespeths. This is my grandmother's family. After a few days of research we will take the ferry across to Dublin and fly home.
I would like to thank my Uncle's and Aunts and cousins before me that were so faithful in their research and seeking out our family. I have and will continue to use the book published by these relies to guide me in our travels and research. Cynthia and Murray, our cousins in Australia, and Rob Hull, our DNA cousin in California have all given assignments and directions to follow as we go on this trip. That is so helpful to me. Robert Parker and his wife and brother and have been extremely helpful with the website, posting of pictures and records and supporting this whole project, and my Sister Carol who is patiently collecting histories contacting cousins and keeping us all connected. Linda who is so patient with my obsession of doing this reseach is a great companion and willing to travel far from her home and children. Thanks Linda. I will try to update this blog with info and pictures each day as we travel across the country. Talk to you later. Dan