4,939 baptisms on the Stanley Primitive Methodist Circuit from March 1902 (plus one in 1899) to November 1924.
Many towns did not have Methodist churches, so the Methodist preacher rode around his local circuit, baptizing children as he went. Circuits often covered a fairly large geographical area. In this data set, residences mentioned include Annfield Plain, Beamish, Blackhouse, Bloemfontein, Burnhope, Burnopfield, Catchgate, Chester-le-Street, Co-operative Villas, Craghead, Dipton, East Stanley, Edmondsley, Frosterley, Grange Villa, Greencroft, Hanging Stone, High Hold, Holmside, Iveston, Kyo, Kyo Laws, Lanchester, Leadgate, Maiden Law, Newfield, Oxhill, Pelton, Pelton Lane Ends, Quaking Houses, Shield Row, South Moor, South Pontop, Stanley, Tanfield, Tanfield Lea, Tantobie, Twizell, West Pelton.
Sample baptisms:
- 1 Apr 1902 Thomas Hardy Ward, of Hanging Stone, born 11-Jan 1902, child of George F. Ward (miner) & Eunice
- 19 Dec 1905 Ada Maltby, of Stoney Heap, Leadgate, born 23-Nov 1905, child of Robert Maltby (insurance agent) & Mary Emma Maltby
- 7 Aug 1907 Thomasine Mona Hannah [Parker/Evans], of Wood Row, Burnhope, born 21-Aug 1907, child of Walter Parker (soldier) & Elizabeth Evans (spinster)
These baptisms are from Registers 4 to 9 and 13 to 16. We are trying to do these in roughly chronological order, but since Primitive Methodist Circuit registers are not kept in strictly chronological order, the next set we transcribe will have some chronological overlap with this set. For example, we still have the following books to transcribe:
- Book 10 1924-1928
- Book 11 1928-1931
- Book 12 1933-1937
- Book 17 1923-1930
- Book 18 1930-1936