Belfast Friends and DNA testing

Kristin, Kathleen, Dan and Linda
Fiona and Paul Hull, and me
Reverand Ivan and Mrs. Hull in reverse

We went to Belfast and met Paul and Fiona Hull who are the family we have been trying to find since three visits back. Paul's dad and mom were serving a Temple mission in Preston, England when we went 4 plus years ago and two years agao,James, his dad had just passed away and so we didn't want to interupt so this time we found Paul home but his mom, Kathleen was working in the temple in Preston again and he said we would miss her if we went there on our regular schedule of ten days from then. It turned out that she stayed longer and this is a picture of her with Krisitn, Linda and I. Paul agreed to do the DNA test and he has since submitted it and he should have the results in a month or so. We also met a Reverand Ivan Hull and this is a picture of he and his wife and he agreed to have his DNA done also. Reverand Hull and his wife live a couple of blocks from the Publice Records House in Belfast. His will come out a couple of weeks later. Kathleen Lueg's cousin, George is also going to get someone from their family to test. I am slow but determined. Thanks to these kind friends for their help and kindness.

Friend and family in Dungiven and Limavady

This is Suzzane and Oscar Armstrong. Suzzane is Janet's sister. Below is Trevor Hynds, Suzzane and Janet's brother. Krisitn and Dean Cook from Mesa and I are standing in the church of the Hull family in Bovevagh, Dungiven, Ireland.
The third picture is Kathleen and Jochen Lueg. Her mother was a Hull from Limavady. She lives up high on the hill where you can see across the Foyle(river) to Donagal and in the opposite direction to Dungiven.

Our friends and family in Ireland

Joe- center,Emma-left and Joanne (Millar) -right Charmichael
The Chick and the Rooster
Hazel Carmichael and Linda
The Boys-David the third from the left
Wilf and Janet
Dan and Linda Hull
I am including some nice photos of some of the family and friends we visited with in Northern Ireland.
The first is Janet and Wilf our hosts in Dungiven. Janet is a descendent of Peggy Jane Hull, daughter of Thomas Hull II.
3rd-Hazel Carmichael and Linda-Hazel lives next to our family farm.
5th-Joe, Emma and other daughter-Hazel's family. Emma is e-mail pal of Alisha Pruess, Rosalie's grand-daughter, my niece.
2nd-The Irish boys, David Hynds, the third from the left is Janet's dad.
5th-The Irish chick, Janet, and of course Wilf.

Photos and research

Tom and Maggie Hull
The Hull Hillfoot Farm House in about 1950
Dan at the PRONI
The wall around Londonderry. This wall was constructed by Peter Benson and is the wall referred to in the song "There is a Green Hill far away without a city wall. It was written by a local Irish lady

We have been home for a couple of weeks now and everything is a little boring compared to the trip but we must go on.
I have put together a pretty good photo show of the trip and started to digest all of the information. I am glad we have prenty of modern conveniences such as digital cameras, computers and scanners that help me keep track of everything. I am going to visit with Robert Parker and his wife Debi tomorrow to try to finalize some of the webpage structure and uploading so that we can get everything we collected made available to all that want it.
After reviewing the former way our ancestors used to collect and share information the new ways make it more simple.
The DNA study group has received two of the three DNA test kits so that will be fun to follow and hopefully with the contacts we made on the trip we can go forward to learn more about our family history and those who still live in Ireland, Scotland and England. I am enclosing a couple of pictures from our trip. The first picture is of Tom and Maggie Hull, the last residents of the Hillfoot farm in Dungiven, Northern Ireland. They are brother and sister. The second is an old photo of the Hillfoot farm aback in the lat 1940's early 50's. The third is a picture of me standing in front of the PRONI in Belfast, Ireland. This library is the main research library in Northern Ireland. The last is a picture of the part of the wall that is around Londonderry and was built by Peter Benson, the ancestor of Mary Benson, the wife of Thomas Hull II. Dan

Kristin's Blog-Wild Times @ Wigan

Yes, as Dan mentioned, I did the blog on thursday and it was lost due to internet failure. But I would like to take the opportunity to add a few comments to that days travel that Dan didn't mention....

Wednesday morning, we left "Master The Tempest Is Raging" behind us in Sunderland. The sky was clear, the air bitter cold, and the waves pounding against the jetty and lighthouse near the B&B where we had stayed. We learned that Dan would much rather be caught in the middle of a raging storm, than lounge on a beautiful sunny beach, any day. Dean was being chased by the surf as he tried to capture the perfect photo of the waves reaching the top of the lighthouse and crashing over the jetty.... the waves were huge. Dan was in 'tempest heaven' and Dean was having a 'photo hayday'. Linda and I had to pretty much drag the guys away.

The drive east to the Lakes District and Windemere Lake was beautiful! I've been in awe this entire trip with the absolute beauty of the countryside everywhere we've been. I hope the photo's we've taken do justice to what we've actually seen in person.

We only had part of a day in Wigan/Hindley/Ince, so we decided we would try to trace some of the footsteps of my grandfather (Robert Rigby Hull) and grandmother as documented in his book, and get familiar with the area. We started looking for Victoria Hotel were they had stayed in Wigan. It is now Burnell's Pub/Bed & Breakfast, but still has "Victoria Hotel" written on the top of the side wall of the building. We took some photo's of the Wigan Parish Church which is actually a different church then the one grandpa has pictured in his book. We then went to the History Library/Store there in Wigan. It's a lovely old building with shelves and shelves of old books, records, and maps. Dan said it "smelled like bones"... he was salivating at just the thought of the hours he could spend there doing research....well, next time. There were two very nice gents there who pulled out some maps to show us the area and direct us to the local cemetaries. The cemetaries were large and wonderful. Grandpa has written that Elizabeth Hesketh (Grace Liptrot's mother) was buried in Hindley. We didn't come across her grave marker, but many other Rigby's, Hesketh's, and Liptrot's. Many of the grave stones were dated in the 1800's... so it was a good day! Grandpa has found the address where John Rigby lived in 1851, and we actually drove by the little street while looking for cemetaries and churches. Of course, there are modern homes there now. But we learned that Rigby's had continued to live on the street, and just up the street on Hilltop Farm, until just recently. Anyway, we have alot to look forward to doing in that part of England on our next visit.

I am so grateful for this opportunity I've had to "walk where my ancestors walked"! I had an absolutely wonderful time! Many thanks to Dan and Linda for inviting us to go with them. And thanks to my husband, Dean, for going along with me and being the photographer. I'm already looking forward our next trip there.

Dan and Linda Hull

Liverpool, Whales and home!
Wayne, my brother , picked us up at the airport tonight at 9:30 pm and we are finally home in Salt Lake. We had a great time and we found hundreds of new people, saw many new family sites and renewed old acquantances with family and friends we met on earlier trips. One thing is for sure we have a great family no matter where they live and we love you all.
Our flight home was long but exciting because we almost missed our connecting flights in Philidelphia and Baltimore and we were so close in Baltimore that my luggage didn't make it home. Tomorrow maybe. I kept all of the documents and computer with me as carryon so clothes lost are okay for a day or so. Kristin and Dean, our traveling partners are in seperate places as I write, Kristin is home in Mesa and Dean is in Italy for some business. Kristin did the blog on Thursday but the internet failed just as she was to upload so we didn't have one after we had gone to see Adrian's wall in the center of England, a Roman built wall across England from coast to coast and then we visited the Lake District and saw lake Wandamere and some pretty sights there and then we visited Wigan where Grandma Elizabeth Liptrott Hull was from. Wigan has the best history for three families of ours, the Rigby, the Liptrott and the Hesketh families. We found a lot of information and some great web sites for searching and we took tons of photos of family grave markers. I hated to leave. We went to the Preston Temple to do a session and we went there at night and guess who was helping at the clothing counter but Kathleen Hull, Paul Hull's mother, and she invited us over for a short visit because it was late at night. She was so kind and after 3 plus years of trying to find her we finally met her there. She gave us a tour went on a session with us and the temple is beautiful.
On Friday we left at 7 am and drove down to Liverpool and visited a Beetles sight at the docks area and also where the Hulls left for America. We then drove west across Whales clear to the far west tip at Holyhead to catch the ferry to Dublin which we did and we got to our room packed and left to the airport Saturday morning and here we are home safe and sound and not having run into anyone on the wrong side of the rode for over 1700 miles. Thanks to Linda as the map person, Kristin the director and Dean the gps man who told us when we were lost and got us back to a good place, we are home safe. But best of all thanks to our friend upstairs who directored our travels, help us find good people and protected us from harm. I will start uploading pictures tomorrow and letting you see what we saw. Dan

Dan and Linda Hull

Dan and Linda Hull
Well we are in Shannon, Ireland on our way home to the US. We are just in the airport waiting for the customs part. We had a great trip and we really appreciate all of the help from Dean and Kristin. We will send you updates as we process them over the next week or so. Dan and Linda