Hi,
I am trying to find information about my 2x Gr Grandfather William Hanna. He was born in County Down on 27 May 1830. After moving to Quebec, Canada he married Margaret Neely on 18 April 1855. He died on 14 March 1892. Margaret Neely was born on 2 March 1831, and her parents were John Neely and Isabel Carr from Tyrone County. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank You!
Statutory birth registration didn’t start in Ireland till 1864, so you won’t find a birth cert for William born 1830. You might find his baptism but to do that you would need to know his precise denomination and also roughly where in the county he came from. Ideally also his parents names which you might get from a marriage or death certificate.
Hanna is a very common name in Co Down. Looking at the 1901 census of the county I see 1442 people of that name, 95 of whom were named William. Without some additional information I can’t see any easy way of tracing your ancestor, other than DNA perhaps.
The majority of the Hannas in the 1901 census were Church of Ireland or Presbyterian. Only 14 were RC. So that broad profile suggests your ancestors probably came to Ireland from Scotland, sometime in the 1600s.
Chipperman:
Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!
I checked on Roots Ireland and the only 1830 baptism record they had in Co. Down is the one below. The date is different. Without his parents names, you can't confirm any records. What religion were your ancestors?
I was unable to find the baptismal record for Margaret.
Roger McDonnell
Name:William HannaDate of Birth:15-Oct-1830
Date of Baptism:03-Nov-1830Address:DromaraParish/District:1ST DROMARA PRESBYTERIANGender:MaleCountyCo. Down
Father:John HannaMother:Molly McCready
Thank you both for the replies. I've tried tracking down the marriage record in Quebec using online resources, but thus far have struck out. As for his religion I can't be entirely sure, but I know his son, Robert James Hanna , was Methodist. I fear this branch may be a dead end. : (
I believe the Hanna family, of John and Molly plus children Campbell, William and John, emigrated to Toronto in 1851. John Hinnecke has a family tree on Ancestry that will provide some information for you. Good Luck, David Edwards
The Hanna’s have been in Ireland from very early days. It’s a bit hard to be sure but around 1625 when Tyringham was in charge of a ‘newly raised company of foot’. He was Governor from 1626-?31. A merchant named Lawson “obtained permission from Sir Arthur Tyringham to place his newly raised regiment at Lisburn, under the charge of his two lieutenants, Clugston and Hanna, and of his quarter-master Stewart; His shipment of butter was detained in Derry and after being freed, the ship ended up being used to evacuate 500 people to Scotland.
Found an interesting article on the Hanna’s of Castle Sorbie , some of whom settled in Ireland. I also remember reading somewhere that the Hanna’s opened one of the first banks in Newry.
https://archive.org/stream/hannaofcastlesor00hann/hannaofcastlesor00hann_djvu.txt
I'm attempting to find information about my great grandparents. William Irwin resides in County Tyrone, Ireland.