Thank you all for responding so generously to my query about the location of my folks in Belfast in the 1800's. Their names were JAMES & MARIA (BEATTIE) HANNAH. On an 1867 letter, they wrote thier address as: Abbotsford Place, 243 York St, Belfast. James worked for the McDonnell family, Earls of Antrim, as an agent. I notice from your information, that a Mrs McDonnell lived at No. 2 Abbotsford Place in 1852. Maybe they lived in that home calling it "Cherrymount" & James worked in an office around the corner in the commercial district James describes, or at No.143 suggested by Chris, on York Street. Cherrymount, Belfast, is the only address that's on their gravestone in Ballymena where they are buried with their daughter, JANE STUART HANNAH, & Maria's parents, DR WILLIAM BEATTIE & JANE (STUART) BEATTIE. Thanks to your help, I now have the area where they lived circled on my Belfast map & a good idea of what it might have been like when the Hannah family lived there. We'll know where to visit whenever we can get a chance to make a trip to Belfast. You're terrific! Colleen > James, I noticed your kind reply to the NIR-ANTRIM post regarding information > about the location of Tyrone St in Belfast. Perhaps you could also help me > locate the whereabouts of some ancestors who lived, according to a letter > they wrote in 1867, at Abbotsford Place, 243 York St, Belfast. According to > their gravestone, when they died in 1891, they had lived at Cherrymount, > Belfast. I've looked at a contemporary map of Belfast but couldn't quite > figure out where these addresses were. Thanks for any help. ~ Colleen in St > Paul, Minnesota, USA <<<<<In a message dated 4/4/02: << Colleen, This will not be of much help to you. But it might give you the flavour of the location. The only street I'm familiar with is York Street which still exists and is the northern extension of Royal Avenue running through the city centre. I've looked for Abbotsford Place and Cherrymount (St.?) and found nothing. Now on the 1920 map of Belfast I can see that 243 York St. didn't exist. In fact this address is on the east side of York Street where the Midland Railway was located. So I would guess that whatever existed between Whitla St. and Milewater St. was cleared for the railway. This distance is just over 1/4 mile. According to extracts from the 1920 directory: Hanna Street intersects York St. then going north on York St. 220 E. McFall, Publican 222 Express Dairy and Tea Stores (A.Armstrong Ltd.) 224 F.Smith, Confectioner and Greengrocer 226 G.Hart, House Furnisher 228 Wm. McKnight Hairdresser 230 Jane Bowman,Hardware Dealer 232 S Barrett, Painter 234 A.Loughridge, shoemaker 236 Mrs. Agnes Anderson 2361/2 G.H.Hart, Stores 238 H. Armstrong, Bootmaker 240 Jos. Gourley Grocer and Egg merchant 242 Samuel Compton, Confectioner 244 M&E Hart Drapers 246 Mary McConville. Tobacconist 248 Sarah Harrison, Confectioner and Tobacconist The Queens Picture House 258 Salvation Army Hall 260-62 Robert Wilson and W.R.E.Wilson MDs 264 Ulster Bakery If you go to the map that Barbara referred us to yesterday at http://www.belfast.net/mo/belfast.JPG 243 York St. was just about where the "R" of York St. appears but on the railway side of the street. Good luck. James >> In a message dated 4/4/02: << Working from the 1852 Directory, Abbotsford Place comes after 141 York Street. 139 was Mrs Eagleson, 141 John Wm. M'Cracken, notary public, (his business address was 25 Corporation Street), then there were two new houses building, then a new shop building, then Fleet Street, then Abbotsford Place and then Ship Street. Soon after that it became York Road - and still was on the 1920 map, and today. By 1920 Abbotsford Place was invisible, although Fleet Street and Ship Street were still there. I'd suspect you are actually looking for 143, not 243, York Street, which would have been one of the houses being built in 1852. Nos. 141-153 are listed in the Central Belfast Historical Gazetteer as being of early 19th Century construction, still surviving in 1959. If anything has survived it will be opposite the Yorkgate Shopping Centre, with railway and motorway immediately to the east and almost parallel to York Street. Chris Morgan Sheffield >> In a message dated 4/4/02: << In the 1852 Belfast Street Directory, Abbotsford Place is listed as at "The lower end of York street" It had 6 properties and the occupiers at that time were: 1. Robert S Lepper, proprietor of cotton spinning mills, New Lodge Road 2. Mrs McDonnell 3. Abraham Bell, ship agent 4. Robert Mackenzie, merchant 5. Samuel Woolsey, flax merchant 6. Edmund Getty, Secretary, Harbour Commissioners In the 1972 Street Directory, houses up to 239, which is at the corner of Trafalgar Street, are standing. Then 241 - 271 York Street is shown as vacant ground. Then there is Earl Street, then numbers 273 - 283, then North Thomas Street. If you go to http://www.belfast.net/mo/belfast.JPG you can see Earl Street and North Thomas Street and a bit of Trafalgar Street, which I think at a time would have run on to York Street opposite Sussex Street. There is no sign of Cherrymount, which sounds like the name of a house or estate - where are your folk buried? would that give a clue to Cherrymount. Hope this helps Barbara >> >>>>>>