HENRY HUNTER and MARTHA SLOAN from Derry

Hi Jill

I didn't have any luck on www.rootsireland.ie/ for any of the Hunter birth/baptism records or with Martha or the marriage!!

I had a look on ancestry and the Ham Family Tree has Henry born 11 Aug 1751 in Derry.

HOWEVER, both sources they cite for this record give his birth in the US!!

His father John H born 11 Aug 1700 Derry (unsourced) Father Alexander H 4 Jul 1666 Ayrshire Sco Father John 1650 Tilcoultry Clackmanshire

Father William 1619 Midlothian & on it goes to a John in 1474!

The owner of the tree is 3doxielee so might be worth contacting her if you can get access to ancestry. Col

Jill,

It?ll be a tricky search. Though there are at least 100 Presbyterian churches in Co Derry, I don?t think any of them have records for the mid 1700s. They were either never kept or have been lost. There are very few records in Ireland for the 1700s generally, and I would be cautious about assuming that because you have found someone with the same name it is yours. It might be, but statistically speaking it?s probably not. Looking at the 1901 census for Co Derry there were 487 people named Hunter and 108 named Sloan(e), so fairly common names. Researching in Ireland in the 1700s is notoriously hard going.

Bleach greens were very common in Ulster. (A huge segment of society made their living from linen making). Practically every townland or village would have one. So unfortunately that doesn?t narrow the search. (Bleaching is an essential part of linen making, at least for posh linen (ie white linen). Poor people wore grey linen which hadn?t been bleached, as it was cheaper.

Have you checked to see what records exist on the Rev Humphrey Hunter in Canada? In Ireland and Scotland, the career details of Presbyterian Ministers are kept in a series of books known for short as ?Fasti? and often include some family details eg their place of birth. Perhaps the same is true in Canada?

Elwyn

Thanks for the information Elwyn,

I know it will be hard going for any concrete records....I am hoping to find someone searching this same line...there are many of us searching form the US but cannot find one in Ireland....Maybe we will....Rev. Humphrey Hunter settled in North Carolina along with Henry and some of the other brothers....He did write his memoirs but never mentioned the names of his parents! He mentioned a little about Ireland and then it was his adult life once he was in the US....

Jill

Jill,  Conrad Hunter here. You already know this but there was a Humphrey Hunter listed in the Protestant Rolls of 1740 living in the Desertlyn a parish, in the barony of Loughinsholin, county of Londonderry. (Also a James Hunter in the same parish) There's a good chance this is our ancestor since Humphrey was not that common of a first name and due to it's continued reoccurance in our family line. Destertlyn has several bleach-greens and the town of Moneymore or Ardmore could have been their family residence prior to emigrating to North Carolina. Lots of Hunters on the 1740 roll but only one Humphrey.

I am in the Henry Hunter, Mecklenburg County, NC, USA line..

Biography of Henry Hunter

Updated: August 4, 2012 | North Carolina | 0  |     

Henry Hunter was born in the county of Derry, Ireland, on the 11th of August, 1751. About the time he became of age, he married Martha Sloan, and, after remaining a little upwards of one year longer in Ireland, he emigrated to America, and landed at Charleston, S.C., after a long and boisterous voyage of thirteen weeks. After reaching the shores of the New World, to which his fond anticipations of superior civil and religious privileges had anxiously turned, on surveying his situation, grim poverty stared him in the face; for, his stock of cash on hand was just “one silver half dollar.” Yet, being raised to habits of industry, he did not despair, feeling assured that, “where there is a “will” there is a “way”” to act in earnest, and battle against the adverse fortunes of life.

Finding in Charleston a wagon from North Carolina, he made suitable arrangements with its owner, and accompanied it on its return to Mecklenburg county, whither his mother and four brothers had emigrated several years before, and settled in the neighborhood of Poplar Tent Church. Here, by strict economy, and persevering industry, he was prospered as a farmer; blest in his “basket and his store,” and soon enabled to purchase a comfortable homestead for himself and his rising family.

When the war of the Revolution broke out, being deeply imbued from childhood with the principles of liberty, and the justness of the American cause, he did not hesitate to assist in the great struggle for freedom.

He first entered the service of the United States as a volunteer in Captain William Alexander’s company, Colonel George Alexander’s regiment, and marched to suppress a large body of Tories assembled under Colonel John Moore at Ramsour’s Mill, near the present town of Lincolnton, but failed to reach that place before the battle had been fought and the Tories signally routed by Colonel Locke and his brave associates.

He next entered the service under Captain Thomas Alexander, and was ordered to Charlotte for the purpose of guarding the public magazine in that place. Captain Alexander succeeded in having it removed to a place of safety on the evening before the entrance of the British army into Charlotte on the 26th of September, 1780.

He again entered the service a short time afterward, in Captain William Alexander’s company, and Colonel George Alexander’s regiment. The rendezvous of the regiment was about four miles south of Charlotte. After this service, on account of severe local injury, he was honorably discharged by Colonel Alexander.

Henry Hunter had twelve children, ten sons and two daughters. He was signally blest to see them all attain the age of maturity, and settle on comfortable homes around him. His wife, Martha, the worthy partner of his joys and sorrows, and whose earthly pilgrimage was protracted beyond the usual bounds of life, died on the 30th of September, 1832, in the eightieth year of her age.

He was long a consistent member and ruling Elder of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. Like a sheaf fully ripe in its season, he met his approaching end with peaceful resignation. On his tombstone, in a private cemetery, on the old homestead property, is the following inscription:

“In Memory of Henry Hunter, Who departed this life on the 18th of May, 1836, in the eighty-sixth year of his age, leaving a posterity of eleven children, and one hundred grand children, with thirty great-grand children to mourn his loss.”

Surnames:
Hunter,

Topics:
Biography,

Locations:
Mecklenburg County NC,

Collection:
Hunter, C. L. Sketches of Western North Carolina, Historical and Biographical. 1877.