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I am trying to find any information I can on my gggrandfather William Hopkins b. circa1801-1804 in County Armagh. William's first wife Catherine McGuire died during chilbirth in 1826. William then married my gggrandmother Ellen (Helen, Helena) Lappin (Lappan) b.1804 daughter of Bernard Lappin b. abt.1768 and Bridget Rourke b .unk. William may have been the son of Charles Hopkins b.circa 1756-1758 and Margaret Dowdle b. unknown. William had two brothers, Michael b.1797 and John b. abt.1805. His sisters were Margaret b. abt.1800 and Sarah b.1807. A little additional information I have is that Ellen's brother Patrick Lappin b. abt. 1804 married William's sister Sarah Hopkins

My gggrandparents William and Ellen Hopkins emigrated from Ireland to St. Sylvestre Parish, Lotbiniere, Quebec, Canada about 1830 where my ggrandfather John Bernard Hopkins was born in 1833. I have no idea which parish they belonged to in County Armagh but do believe William was born in Armagh. I do know they were Roman Catholic.

Any information on the Hopkins and Lappin families would be greatly appreciated.

This is my first post on "Ireland Reaching Out" so I hope I provided enough pertinent information.

Thanks, Sean Hopkins

California, USA

Tuesday 9th Apr 2013, 04:39PM

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  •  

    Hi Sean,

    Thank you very much for your message. You have definitely included enough pertinent information! You have obviously done a great job on your family history!

    Unfortunately, it may be difficult to find more information on William without a specific parish of origin. Most Irish record sources- church records, land records, census records- are based on specific locations. Until you know a specific location within Ireland, preferably a parish or place name, it may be difficult to do anything more with these records.

    Do you have any documentation that mentions any place at all-this can include census records, marriage records, letters, old photographs etc. Sometimes a place of origin can be found on tombstones.

    Have you tried looking into the family?s emigration to see if you can find immigration records with a place of origin listed? Here are some links that may be useful when looking into Canadian immigration:

    http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/index-e.html

    https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Ireland_Genealogy_Websites?goback=.gde_3030105_member_230205486#Emigration_Records_.2FPassenger_Lists

    http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/Canadian-immigration-records.html

    There are a couple of places online where you can search for records:

    www.familysearch.org has a huge database of genealogical records including some church records for Ireland.

    www.rootsireland.ie have a large collection of Irish Church records, however you have to pay to use this site.

    You could also try looking for record of the families left behind in Griffith?s Valuation. This is a property valuation survey that was carried out in Ireland between 1848 and 1864. It doesn?t have any genealogical information but it can sometimes be used to tie people to specific places. You can search this here:

    http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=nameSearch

    I did find some Lappins mentioned in the earlier land record called Tithe Applotment Books(1823-1838) for Eglish and Grange parishes in Armagh (check out PRONI website below for information on all parishes), however it is difficult to ascertain whether these Lappins are related to your Lappins:

    http://www.connorsgenealogy.com/Armagh/EglishTithes.htm

    http://www.connorsgenealogy.net/Armagh/GrangeTithes.htm

    There are also Lappans recorded in various parishes on the Flax Growers List. This was part of a government scheme to encourage the linen trade, free spinning wheels or looms were granted to individuals planting a certain area of land with flax. The lists of those entitled to the awards, covering almost 60,000 individuals, were published in 1796, and record only the names of the individuals and the civil parish in which they lived.

    http://www.failteromhat.com/flax/armagh.htm

    Although neither of these links give you anything definitive the parishes mentioned may be places from where to start your research.

    Some other websites that may be helpful are:

    The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/

    The National Library of Ireland http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx

    The National Archives UK ? genealogy search: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/

    The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm

    Genealogy Links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/armagh/index.html

    The Irish TImes: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/index.htm

    Irish Genealogy Tool-kit: http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/index.html

    I hope these are helpful. Remember to post any new information that you find, in particular a parish of origin.

    Kind regards,

    Genealogy Support

    Wednesday 22nd May 2013, 02:23PM
  • Hi Emma.

    Thank you so much for all the information and links in your message.

    Unfortunately I personally do not have any records of the paternal side of my family until the 1851 Canada East Census. Most of the records, photos, etc I have are ones that my second cousin (whos existance I first discovered  through a genealogy board) has sent me. Without her help I would be completely lost. My mother had gathered quite a bit of our family history when she was doing our family tree back in the 1980's or early 1990's but then gave all the records to my sister-in-law before she passed away. My sister-in-law packed the records away while moving to a new home and has not been able to locate them.

    I will give the links you gave me a shot and see what happens.

    Thanks again,

    Sean

    Sunday 9th Jun 2013, 05:06PM
  • Hi Emma.

    Thank you so much for all the information and links in your message.

    Unfortunately I personally do not have any records of the paternal side of my family until the 1851 Canada East Census. Most of the records, photos, etc I have are ones that my second cousin (whos existance I first discovered  through a genealogy board) has sent me. Without her help I would be completely lost. My mother had gathered quite a bit of our family history when she was doing our family tree back in the 1980's or early 1990's but then gave all the records to my sister-in-law before she passed away. My sister-in-law packed the records away while moving to a new home and has not been able to locate them.

    I will give the links you gave me a shot and see what happens.

    Thanks again,

    Sean

    Sunday 9th Jun 2013, 05:08PM

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