I am descended from Colonel Joseph Hall of 'Hall Place' in Lurgan, County Armagh, who was said to have been a prosperous distiller with additional farmland. He invested in property with his son in law, John MacCormac (d. 1811), and was the grandfather of Dr Henry MacCormac (1800-1886), whose mother was a Hall-Mary Ann Hall (1766-1846). I read in the Belfast Journal that Joseph Hall may have fallen on hard times and this may explain why the Halls were not associated with a distillery later on.
If anyone can provide direct information on the origins of this Hall family (or indeed the MacCormac family) in the eighteenth and seventeenth century, that would be helpful. The origins of the Hall family and MacCormacs are unclear-but both, particularly the Halls, were quite well-to-do- seemingly