Aghalee Family research

Aghalee-A map of the town in pictures and the main church.

The past couple of weeks I have been inputting all of the Hull family tree for the Aghalee, Antrim, Ireland area. I have used the information that I had previously collected through the Internet and visits to the area. I have also received great help from Cynthia in Australia who has made contact with a Ross Hull who lives down under and he is related to this same group and has sent us a couple of large files of family research with hundreds of names and information such as wills, research notes and genealogy. Rob Hull, our cousin from California, has compiled through research at the LA genealogical library, hundreds of names in lists of Baptisms, marriages and Burials. He sent this along with other great questions and written information that helps me to be able to link all or at least many of the names together in one big family tree.

Paul, our cousin in Belfast, newly connected to us through the DNA tests, has begun to collect names and data from this area because this is where his family originated in the early 1800s. With his added information it has helped me to clarify some of the lines and now I have almost 200 names in one big family tree for Aghalee. I haven't been able to connect Paul's line in yet but we will soon. From here we will need to continue to connect the 300 to 400 names available until we have it all mapped out and connected. This will then allow us to identify the lines that left and went to America, such as John Hull, BJ Hull and Thomas Hugh Hull and also my line that went off to Dungiven area of Ireland and then later immigrated to Idaho and Utah in the US. The Aghalee Hulls came from Lancashire, England from around Preston, just above Liverpool. We have already started to research this area and I have about 3500 Hull names that lived in this area recently and back to the 1600s or sooner.

It is believed that the Hulls came over from England to Soldiers Town, a place about 2 miles from Aghalee in the early 1600's.

We have only been able to accomplish this progression because of the DNA testing and the generous donations made by family members who gave on blind faith and now we are seeing the proof of their faith. We collected over $1800 for the testing and we will have exhausted this fund in the next few weeks and we still have 2 or 3 more $180 tests to do so if anyone can help please send the help to Carol Earl. She has an account set aside for this and she pays the DNA tests from this fund.

Paul Hull, Belfast, is going to help me find a Hull from Aghalee and also several from Blaris which is just across the fence into Down, Ireland. The Blaris Hulls and the Aghalee Hulls have lived next to each other for over 400 years and yet they may be separate, unrelated families. The DNA tests will prove it all out. Thanks again for your contributions and for your help in this research. Dan

DNA results.

On the 19th of January I received notice of the results of the DNA test for Paul Hull of Belfast that I collected when I was there in October. I had already received notice of W Ivan Hull, a Reverend in Belfast, that his DNA did not match the Dungiven Hull line nor any other Hull line that had been tested. Paul, I thought, was a cousin to Reverend Hull but that proved to be not true and Paul ended up being related to our line. The results were reviewed by James Reynold Hull of Arizona and Paul is closely related to our line within the last 300 years. Paul's family is from Soldierstown or Aghalee, just Southwest of Lisburn and Belfast in the County of Antrim. He is even more closely related to one of the other DNA cousins a Thomas Hugh Hull. The next day, the 20th of January, Cynthia Hull our cousin frofm Australia sent documents that she had received from a Ross Hull who shared some of his family information which was about the same Hulls of Aghalee. Cynthia always trrumps any of my discoveries. From the documents that she sent me it shows that the Hulls of Soldierstown/Aghalee came in the mid 1600's to Ireland as soldiers and they came from the county of Lancashire in Northwest England, just above Liverpool. We are just in the early stages of this but if this all proves out the theory I am going to try to prove or disprove is that the DNA cousins in America (Rob, Winfred, Thomas Hugh, Phillip) all probably immigrated from these Aghalee Hulls and the Dungiven Hulls/Richard (Jay, Murray, Jim Hill) all left the same area and immigrated across Antrim to Londonderry during the 1700's or maybe a shade earlier and then went to Australia and the US in the 1800's. This theory would also connect all of these families to the original site of Hulls in Lancashire, England by way of the Belfast area. I have worked on this family line for almost 20 years and this is the first time that I think we have the potential to jump over the barrier of the Ireland Hulls.

This is the inside of the Wigan Historical shop and is where the Rigby's are from. This place in near Liverpool and it just smells like history.
The nest three photos are of the farm are where Joh Rigby lived just before he immigrated to Utah.
The last photo is of Hindley Cemetery where many of our family are buried that lived in the Wigan are including family names of Rigby, Hesketh, Liptrott, Stanley and Taylor. Elizabeth Liptrott Rigby married Robert Hull my grandfather.
 

The Glencart farm where William Gibson Hull was born. Two families shared this farm back in
the 1840's. Glencart is near In-the-Den, Dalry, Ayr, Scotland.

This medallion was given to Maggie Hull for her great work in teaching Sunday School in the Bovevagh Presbyterian Church.

The nest photo is of Rae Hamilton and her husband. She is a cousin and descendent of James Hull who was the brother of Thomas Hull II. The last photo is a clock that belonged to Margaret Hull her grandmother or great grandmother. 

These photos are of some of the collection of farm implements that David Hynds our cousin in Dungiven have collected. He has two or three large farm sheds full of them.

Kristin ready to listen to the cows milk and riding the old Massey tractor. 

These photos are copies of old photos of Maggie Hull and also her brother Tom. Maggie and Tom were the last Hulls to live in the Hillfoot Farm in Ballymakeever.

 

These photos are all taken at New Grange which is just North of Belfast and the formations were made in 3000-3200 BC. Adam was alive when these were made.


 

These pictures were taken by Kristin Cook. The first is a picture of some of the rock formations
and mountains at the Giants Causeway.

This is a fall scene from Lake Wandamere, Eng.

The two tiny people in the very back are Linda and I. Nice pictures Kristin! 

Research and compiling

I have spent many hours since the beginning of November researching and compiling all of the data and information that I accumulated in Ireland. I tried to be very thorough about collecting information but I have a lot to learn in how I keep track of things. When we were in Dungiven, Northern Ireland I got information about the Douglas, Irwin and Millar families. I think I will need two or more trips to do a good job and hooking it all together.
I was able to find the parents of Hugh Irwin that married Susanna Hull, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Hull. Hugh was from the townland of Ballyness which is where Janet Kerr lives. Hugh's father was Samuel Irwin and his mother was a Maria Hull. Susanna probably lived with her uncle William in Scriggan because Thomas and his family had already left for Scotland and were in Pennsylvania on the date Hugh and Susanna were married-21 February 1856. Scriggan is the townland next to the townland where the Hull farm was. Susanna and Hugh moved after marrying to first Australia and then on to New Zealand where their descendents now live. We met some Irwin people who still live in Ballyness.
The Douglas family and the Carnichael families lived to the East and South of our Hillfoot farm. Robert Hull, who was the one who bought our farm in the late 1870's. He married a Margaret Douglas from the farm just to the East of his. This Douglas family is a prominant family even today in the area and several Douglas men and women married into the Carmichael family the family just to the South of our farm. I guess if you live around each other long enough we would all be related. The Semple family bought the Hull farm in the 1960's and also had married into these same families. I collected a large family tree of the Semple/Carmichael families and I continued to increase the tree of the Douglas family. I am including a map that shows the position of the farm on the townlands of Ballymakeever and Tergoland.

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

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