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Ann Maria Hood

Hi,

I am researching my family history and I am trying to locate a birth or baptism record for my 3rd Great Grandmother, Ann Maria Hood. She was born in 1821. Her death certificate states she was from Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Her parents were not listed in the death certificate. She came to Australia in 1841, with possibly her sister Ellen. 

I did have a reletative state that Ann Maria might alson have been from Donegal. I believe Ann Maria might have moved to Fair-head Antrim and worked as a servant for a Protestant Minister. But I have not been able to find any information .

Would love if some one could help me and break the brick wall.

Thanks

Debbie
 

debbie_cooper@…

3 replies

Debbie,

For someone born c 1821, there are no birth certificates. They only started in Ireland in 1864. You have to reply on church baptism records. Not all churches have records for the 1820s and of those that do, not all are on-line.

You don’t say what denomination Anna Maria was but looking at the 1831 census of Co. Londonderry there were about 10 Hood households and 9 were Presbyterian and 1 Church of Ireland. (Presbyterian usually indicates Scottish origins normally in the 1600s. Half the population of the county are of similar descent.). The 1831 census only names the heads of households so neither Anna Maria nor Ellen would be listed themselves. 

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/

Does Londonderry mean the city or the county? If it means the county, then that’s a lot of church records to look at. If it means the city then there are about 3 or 4 churches with records for the 1820s. There are copies in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast.  If you are unable to go yourself, you could employ a researcher. Researchers in the PRONI area: http://sgni.net

You mention that Anna Maria may have gone to work for a Protestant Minister near Fair Head. That’s the parish of Culfeightrin. There’s a Church of Ireland in Ballyvoy and another in Cushendun, but somehow I can’t see them still holding records of a servant who worked there 180 years ago. I think this will be a hard family to research without more information.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Hi Elwyn,

Thank you. I do not have a lot of information, only what Ihave supplied. 

I do have immigration records stating that she was from Donegal. Not sure if that was her last place of residence or it was actually where she was from. 

I will keep trying. I am on the road that she might have been from Moyle and not Glenmoyle, which is what I was originally told, but could not find any records on Glenmoyle. While I was searching on the weekend I found records from Moyle. So that is my next step to see what I can find.

Thanks

Debbie

debbie_cooper@…

Debbie,

I don’t know anywhere in Ireland named Glenmoyle. The Moyle is the general area around Ballycastle and Rathlin.  There’s a narrows nearby between Fair Head and Kintyre in Scotland which we normally call the North Channel but in earlier times it was apparently known as the straits of Moyle.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

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