The story goes that three HATRICK brothers went over to Ireland with William of Orange. We don’t know whether they came from Europe (possible as there seem to be a number of HATRICKs of Germanic descent) or from Scotland (more likely as we have records of HATRICKs there going back to pre-Battle days).

After the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, they were granted lands by ‘King Billy’ – at Creggan, Glendermott and Mabuoy (all in
Northern Ireland). Descendants still live in these areas.

A number of descendants of these families live in New Zealand and when I started researching family history (about 35 years ago) I worked with some to try to work out how we were connected. We couldn’t – and decided that my ‘Scottish lot’ must be a different line from the ‘Irish lot’.

DNA CHANGES EVERYTHING

However, my brother Michael did a Y-DNA test which has thrown up a curve ball – a match to a HATRICK who is definitely descended from the Irish line. So there must be a connection after all though it must be from a long way back – probably 17th century.
I haven’t really looked again at that Irish connection as I had two other mysteries to solve.

OTHER MYSTERIES

The first is also Irish, but closer to home. I had been told by my father’s sister about a visit she made with her mother (my grandmother) to visit some relatives at Islandmagee near Belfast. She didn’t know how they were related.

I managed to contact them, and my sister and I visited in 2016. It was amazing – Rosemary (whose grandmother was Mary Ann (Minnie) HATRICK and the one my aunt had visited) said she grew up knowing more about Wanganui in NZ than she did about Dublin, as family stories were all about the riverboats and the family there. She also had a christening cup given to her father, Alexander Hatrick ENGLISH, by my great grandfather, Alexander HATRICK. It is inscribed “to AHE in Ireland from AH in New Zealand”.
Rosemary’s uncle Robert Allan ENGLISH (Roy, now deceased) whom I had written to many years ago, remembered hearing about Alexander HATRICK visiting with his daughters. I have a copy of a letter my great grandfather sent to the ENGLISH family thanking them for their hospitality, but unfortunately not specifying the relationship.

My great grandfather https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2h20/hatrick-alexander

Rosemary also remembered a long exchange of letters and Christmas cards between her parents and HATRICKs in New Zealand. Also that my great grandfather had asked her parents if they would like to emigrate to NZ.

It would appear, but we cannot absolutely prove it, that her great great grandfather John HATRICK moved to Belfast from Glasgow, and that his brother Alexander was my great great great grandfather. John was a sawyer, as was his father Alexander, and so was another brother, James, who moved to the Birkenhead area in England. We have several DNA connections between my immediate family and descendants of John HATRICK.

Adding to the circumstantial evidence, John Hatrick ROSS (son of Margaret HATRICK – sister of the above named Mary Ann (Minnie) - died in Fairlie, NZ after a 2 month illness. My great grandfather Alexander was appointed Power of Attorney by JHR’s mother and stepfather, to settle JHR’s affairs in New Zealand. I have copies of the court documents, but again unfortunately nothing states explicitly what the relationship was.

Also, about 40 years ago, we received a visit out of the blue from Patricia Ann Hatrick FERGUSON, granddaughter of Hannah HATRICK, another sister of Margaret and Minnie. She also grew up with the stories about the HATRICK relatives in NZ and the Wanganui riverboats. At that time I hadn’t really thought about family history much, so while it was a pleasant visit I now think I wasted the opportunity to learn more from Ann. I haven’t been able to contact her since, unfortunately.

My sister has recently had a new DNA match come into Ancestry, showing a Victoria LLOYD is DNA linked to our earliest proven ancestors Alexander HATRICK and Helen ADAM. Victoria comes from Alexander HATRICK and Jane McCAULL (this Alexander being the son of John HATRICK, the above-mentioned sawyer, and Catherine O’NEILL).

DNA tests prove the relationship between the families, though have not as yet been able to pinpoint exactly where the connection is. However the circumstantial evidence is so strong that I believe it is reasonable to say that John b. 1801 was the brother of Alexander b. 1799 – sons of Alexander HATRICK and Helen ADAM.

NEXT MYSTERY

The other mystery I have is another HATRICK family who originated in Glasgow but moved to London. In my early research I came across a woman, Lilian HATRICK, whose husband Jim had come to NZ as a young man and worked on the riverboats in Wanganui for his relations. Again she didn’t know how the families were connected, but I think we can be assured her story was correct. She gave me a number of family photographs and an envelope that Jim had sent from Wanganui in 1905 to his sisters in London.

I have just recently met with a member of the above family and she has just taken an Ancestry DNA test – this has not shown any direct connections, but there are shared matches in common that need further investigation.

My goal is to find out just how we are connected to these two families, and then move back to the Irish connection.

I so far haven’t ventured into the American HATRICKs (except for known late 19th century immigrants) as there seem to be so many and from New Zealand it is very difficult to work out the original immigrants and where they came from.

But the more DNA matches that come in, it looks likely that all Hatricks are probably related from a long way back.