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

5,492 baptisms at Sunderland Holy Trinity covering 1821-1826 from the parish register and 1831-1834 from the Bishop’s Transcript.

Three cheers for the clerk or priest who kept recording mother’s maiden surnames and children’s birth dates long after the requirement to do so had been abolished ! Unfortunately he also had difficult handwriting and seems to have mis-heard some names along the way. More on that later ! First, some samples:

• 1 Jan 1821 John Bainbridge Lister, of Queen Street, born 18-Oct 1820, son of Stephen Lister (mariner) & Ann Haggeson Bainbridge
• 30 Oct 1832 William [Reed/Wiseman], of Low Street, born 9 Jul 1832, illegitimate son of Thomas Skipsey Wiseman (gardener) & Elizabeth Reed
• 25 Dec 1834 Sarah Hannah Stonehouse, of Nesham Square, born 1 Dec 1834, daughter of William Stonehouse (cabinet maker) & Sarah Tyzack

Abodes shown are mostly street names in Sunderland, Bishopwearmouth, and Monkwearmouth, plus Southwick, Maling’s Rigg, Mill Hill,  Minorca, the Barracks, the Pier, and a few from Hetton-le-Hole and Newcastle.

While transcribing and checking these, we could not help noticing numerous errors in the LDS IGI for this set. This is not surprising, as the handwriting was appallingly bad and the entries are faint, especially in 1821-1826. Some of the errors appear to be names that sound like other names – the clerk must have been verbally told the name and wrote down what he thought he heard. For example, Pettigrew is written as Pettigrove, Pedigree, and Peregrine, which I guess works if you roll your “r” a little.  Our favorite example follows, and although we are going a bit out on a limb here, we think it hangs together.

First, consider this baptism:

• 16 Jan 1825 Jameson Kay, of Queen Street, born 30-Jul 1823, son of Jameson Kay (mariner) & Isabella Parker

Oddly, we could find no other baptisms for this couple, no marriage for the parents, no other evidence that any of these people ever existed. That got us wondering.

Now consider this baptism:

• 28 May 1802 Jameson Scaith, born 23-Jan 1789, 2nd son of Thomas Scaith (shoemaker) & Barbara Tongs (his wife), an adult

and this marriage at Monkwearmouth St. Peter, which we think is the adult in the 1802 baptism (remember, he was born in 1789, so he’s 26 now):

• 23 Dec 1815 Jameson Scaif (bachelor), of this parish married Isabella Parkinson, of this parish, by banns, with consent of parents
  Witnesses: George Davison, William Robson

Note the similarity of Parkinson to Parker. Then look at these baptisms:

• 17 Mar 1822 Thomas Scaith, of Queen Street, born 1-Jul 1820, son of Jameson Scaith (mariner) & Isabella Parkinson
• 6 May 1827 Isabella [Elizabeth] Scaif, of Queen Street, born 12 Apr 1827, daughter of Jameson Scaif (mariner) & Isabella late Parkinson. Curate’s note: This child’s name should be Elizabeth – the name Isabella was put down by mistake – J.Hayton, curate, May 6th 1827
• from the IGI, a birth on 5 November 1829 of William SCAIFE to Jameson Scaife & Isabella Parkinson

And finally, this burial, presumably of the father, as his age matches a 1789 birth:

• 13 Jun 1837 Jameson Scaife, of Queen Street, age: 48

The widow Isabella can be found in the 1841 census of Bishopwearmouth with Thomas, 20, and William, 10. The daughter Elizabeth was buried from Queen Street as SCAITH in early 1828.

Note that the family lives on Queen Street for the baptisms and the burials. Note how Scaith and Scaife are sound-alike names.

Now go back to the first baptism. Out loud, say “Jameson Scaife” – can you see how the clerk might have heard “Jameson Kay” instead? Based on all this, we have annotated the first baptism as follows:

• 16 Jan 1825 Jameson Kay [Scaife], of Queen Street, born 30-Jul 1823, son of Jameson Kay [Scaife] (mariner) & Isabella Parker [Parkinson]
  [Note: We think the clerk may have mis-heard "Jameson Scaife" as "Jameson Kay", and also gotten the mother's maiden surname slightly wrong, because Jameson Scaife, a mariner, & his wife Isabella Parkinson have other children baptized here, while we can find no records for a Jameson Kay & Isabella Parker. Also, Jameson Scaife (the father) was buried from Queen St in 1837.]

If anybody has evidence to refute or support this conclusion, we would love to hear it. The missing piece is that we still don’t know what happened to Jameson Kay or Scaife born in 1823. He is not with his mother in the 1841 census and we don’t see a Sunderland burial for him. There is another Jameson Scaife who was born in  Sunderland in 1821 to Thomas Scaife & Mary Purvis, and he is seen in the 1841 census with his siblings.

We found numerous other baptisms that were not in the IGI, or were in it with names so badly mangled that you would never find them in a search, or dates 20 years wrong. So, if you have been relying on the IGI for your Sunderland searches for the 1820s and 1830s, you might find what you’ve been looking for in our new data set !

We expect to have the gap of 1827-1830 filled within a few weeks.

Replaced the index to marriage bonds in the years 1785-1789 with full details, so those 2,065 records are now instantly available.

Marriage bonds often provide ages, occupations, and place of residence for the bride and groom (and sometimes a parent or guardian of a minor) during a period when marriage registers did not provide that information. Please read the Marriage Bonds section of the Transcription Samples page for a description of what information is found in bonds, allegations, and associated documents, and how we present that information. Note that ‘age 21′ generally means ’21 and upwards’ in these documents.

Samples – note the large age discrepancy in the first one, and the information provided about the parents of the groom and bride in the next two – this is all information that is not likely to be present in the marriage record:

• 15 Jun 1788 Robert Simmins (weaver, widower), age 70, of All Saints, Newcastle-upon-Tyne obtained a licence to marry Sarah Bell (widow), age 30, of All Saints, directed to All Saints
  Surety: John Westgarth, butcher, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
  [Note: married 16 Jun at All Saints.]
• 18 May 1786 Thomas Snaith (bricklayer), age 19, of Stockton-upon-Tees, son of Robert Snaith (gardener, of Grindon consents to the marriage), obtained a licence to marry Jane Hutton (widow), of Thorpe Grindon, directed to Grindon
  Surety: Henry Smith, yeoman, of Grindon
• 5 Jul 1788 Thomas Storey (master-mariner), age 21, of Sunderland obtained a licence to marry Dorothy Thomas, age 19, of Sunderland, daughter of David (master-mariner, now in the East Country, who consents to the marriage) & Jane Thomas (witnessed the consent), directed to Sunderland
  Surety: John Storey, sailmaker, of Sunderland
  [Note: married 5 Jul at Sunderland.]

Marriage bonds cover the entire Diocese of Durham i.e. Durham, Northumberland, North Yorkshire. There are a few licences in our collection that were issued by the Diocese of York. Because bonds cover the whole diocese, there is no way to limit your search of bonds to a single district. If you select a district from the District menu, your selection will be ignored when the marriage bonds database is searched.

974 baptisms at Gateshead St. James from 3 Aug 1896 to 10 Feb 1901. These join our earlier St. James baptisms which cover 1865 – 1890. We hope to fill the gap from 1891 through July 1896 in the next month or two.

Address in this set are mostly street addresses in Gateshead, but also include Byker, Carr’s Hill, Dunston, Friar’s Goose, Elswick, Mount Greenwich, New Gateshead, Newcastle, Old Fold, and Tyne Main.

Samples:

• 5 Aug 1896 Ethel Bolam, of 26 Cooper St, born 30 Jun 1896, child of Purvis (miner) & Isabella Bolam
• 3 Aug 1900 Ernest French, of 11 John St, born 7 Mar 1900, child of Ann Eliza French, P.B. [private baptism]

At Lumley Christ Church, from the Bishop’s Transcript:

• 423 baptisms covering Apr 1862 to the end of 1867
• 184 burials  covering Dec 1861 to the end of 1867

The parish of Lumley was carved out of Chester-le-Street parish in 1858 and Lumley Christ Church was consecrated in Nov 1861. Previously, it was difficult for the residents of Lumley to get to the parish church at Chester-le-Street if the weather was bad or if the River Wear was flooding, as there was no bridge in the area at that time, only a ford and a ferry.

Sample baptisms:

• 18 May 1862 Ralph Watson Lonsdale Barrass, of Shop Houses, child of Luke (collier) & Margaret Barrass
• 8 Sep 1867 Elizabeth Ann Hawks, of Chilton Moor, child of Jane Ann Hawks (spinster)

Sample burials:

• 4 Jan 1863 Luke Barrass, of Shop Houses, age: 27
• 15 Oct 1867 John Simpson, of Lumley 2nd Pit, age: 42

8,901 burials at Hartlepool North Cemetery, also known as Hart Lane Cemetery, covering 1920-1991. This concludes our transcription of this cemetery.

Abodes are mostly streets in Hartlepool, but also mentioned were  Catcote, Dock Gate Cottages, Foggy Furze, Longhill, Middleton, Seaton Carew, and Stranton.

Many of the burials noted the marital status of the deceased, and some have additional information such as cause of death or place of death. Mothers of stillborn children were named.

Samples:

• 4 Mar 1920 James Edward Brown, of Middle Fens, age: 40, married, died at Bournemouth
• 3 May 1920 Nathan Enslow, of Union Dock, age: 25, found drowned, brought from the Mortuary
• 7 Aug 1922 Mary Teresa Hopkins, of Tower Street, age: 42, married
• 9 Sep 1925 still born Lowcock, of Charterhouse Road, child of Daisy Lowcock
• 27 Mar 1942 Eliza Grylls, of Brougham Terrace, age: 101, widow, died at Howbeck Infirmary

3,529 baptisms and 2,822 burials covering 1837-1858 at Hexham St. Andrew in Northumberland. These are from the Bishop’s Transcript except for 1844, which we transcribed from the parish register.

At this time, Hexham served a large area on both sides of the Northumberland-Durham border. Abodes mentioned besides Hexham include Acomb, Anick, Aydon, Bagraw, Bearl, Beaufront and Beaufront Woodhead, Black Hill, Blossom Hill, Breckon Hill, Bridge End, Broom Haugh, Causey Hill, Clay Holes, Coastley, Coat Houses, Corbridge,  Delegate Hall, Dilston, Dilston Park, Dinnetley, Dipton, Dipton Mill, Duke Willy or William, Fallowfield, Fell Side, Fir Trees, Foggatt, Gateshead, Glendhu or Glendue, Greenridge, Greenshaw Plain, Hackford, the Hagg, Halliwell Dean, Hexham Brewery, High Ford, High Shield, High Side, High Wood, Hole House, Houtley, the Intack, Ivy Cottage, Juniper, Kitty Frisk, Langhope, Langley, Leazes, Linnell’s Mill and Farm, Low Gate, Loughbrough, Low Leazes, Low Stublick, Maiden Cross, Matfen, Moss House, Newbiggin, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, North Shields, Nubbick or Nubbuck, Ordley, Pattern or Peterel Field, The Paise, Post Gate, Prior Thorns, Quatre Bras, Queen’s Letch, Sandoe, Snape, Spital Lodge, St. John Lee, Stagshaw Bank, Stublick, Summerrods Rigg, Sunnyside, Tyne Mills, Wall, Watch Currick, West Boat, West Wood, Westwood Cottage, Wharmley, Widehaugh, the Workhouse, and Yarridge.

Sample baptisms:

• 8 Jan 1837 Samuel Humphries, of Hexham, son of George (moulder) & Charlotte Humphries
• 19 Jan 1849 Ellen Martin, of Hexham Union workhouse, illegitimate daughter of Frances Martin
• 26 Dec 1858 Mary Pearson Darlington, of Hexham Brewery, child of Elias (mason) & Mary Darlington

Sample burials:

• 24 Jan 1837 Dorothy Bootland, of Hexham, age: 70
• 09 Apr 1844 Joseph Tinniswood alias Hetherinton, of Hexham, age: 31
• 24 Oct 1858 Henry Pickering, of [the] Workhouse, age: 78

At Longbenton St. Bartholemew in the Tynemouth district of Northumberland, across the river from Gateshead, we bring you:

• 2,682 baptisms covering 1813-1830
• 570 marriage covering 1813-1829
• 1,621 burials covering 1813-1829

These are from the Bishop’s Transcript with some checking against the parish register.

Abodes mentioned besides Longbenton include Allotment, Backworth, Ballast Hills, Battle Hill, Benton Colliery, Benton Lane End, Benton Square, Bewick Pit, Bigges Main, Bounder House, Burradon, Byker, Byker Hill, Coxlodge, Cramlington, Craster Pit, Earsdon, East Scaffold Hill, East Wideopen, Fawdon, Forest Hall, George Pit, Gosforth, Green Houses, Heaton Colliery, Heaton Pit, Hezzle Rig (Hazelrig), High Barns, High Weetsled [Weetslade], Holystone, Howdon Pans, Kenton, Killingworth, Killingworth Colliery, Lawson’s Main, Letch House, Little Benton, Low Weetsled, Low Willington, Moor Edge, Murton, Newcastle, North Shields, Old Engines, Ouse Burn, Philadelphia, Red Houses, Richard Pit, Rising Sun, Saugh House, Scaffold Hill, Scrogg House, Seaton Burn, Seghill, Shire Moor, Six Mile Bridge, Two Mile Stone, Swallow Pit, Waggonman’s Row, Walker, Wallsend, Weetsled [Weetslade], West Farm, White House, Wideopen, William Pit, Willington, Willington Quay, and Wincomblee.

You wouldn’t think there could be two men named Deemster Hornsby, having children in the same place at the same time, would you? But there are, in these sample baptisms:

• 15 Aug 1813 Hannah Hornsby, of Low Row, daughter of Deemster (pitman) & Margaret Hornsby
• 2 Jan 1817 Deemster Hornsby, of Craister Pit, son of Deemster (pitman) & Dorothy Hornsby
• 14 Oct 1827 John Hornsby, of High Row, son of Deemster (pitman) & Jane Hornsby

Deemster Hornsby married Margaret Wild or Wile at Longbenton in 1803. “Dempster” Hornsby married Dorothy Carnaby in 1812 at Newcastle All Saints. It appears that Deemster who married Dorothy is a different person than Deemster who married Margaret, because both couples baptize several children at Longbenton between 1813 and 1816, in alternating years.

Sample burials:

• 2 Jan 1817 Dorothy Hornsby, of Crastor Pit, age: 25
• 13 May 1816 Dorothy Phillip, of Low Row, age: 108
• 2 Oct 1816 Jane Jowsey, of Walker, age: 103
• 26 Feb 1815 George Newbiggin, of Closden Hill, age: 82

Note that Dorothy Hornsby, who is likely the mother in the middle baptism above, was buried on the same day her son was baptized, so she probably died as a result of childbirth. Dempster Hornsby then married Jane Urron in Newcastle St John in 1818; this is most likely the couple in the third baptism sample. He & Jane started baptizing children in 1819 at Longbenton.

Sample marriages – unfortunately there were no Deemster Hornbys in this set:

• 25 Oct 1813 William Swan, of the parish of Earsdon married Mary Mather, of this parish, by banns, with consent of parents
  Witnesses: Margaret Mather, Edward Mather
• 14 Dec 1829 Richard Humble, of this parish married Mary Steel, of this parish, by banns
  Witnesses: Mary Scott, James Rutter

2,979 baptisms at Bishopwearmouth St. Michael & All Angels in Sunderland district, covering 1821-1828, but also including numerous baptisms that were recorded years after the child’s birth. If you have been unable to find a baptism that you think should be here before 1821, it’s worth checking again to see if it was recorded later. For example, the first baptism in the sample group below was entered 27 years after the child’s birth, and it occurred in an unexpected location.

Samples:

• 31 Dec 1821 Thomas Jefcoat, of Wearmouth, son of Samuel (travelling potter) & Elizabeth Jefcoat, born at Swannington in Leicestershire on June 5, 1794
• 23 Dec 1822 Annamaria Pemberton Holmes, of Demerara, born 4 Nov 1818, daughter of Joseph Henry Hemdon Holmes (advocate) & Mary Anne Holmes, born [at] Demerara
• 10 Mar 1828 James Punshon, of [the] Workhouse, born 4 Mar 1828, son of Sarah Punshon (a married woman living separate from her husband)

Other than a family of exotic births in Demerara, West Indies (now Guyana, South American), residences mentioned are mostly streets in Bishopwearmouth, but also include Ayres Quay, Bainbridge Holm, Ballast Hills, Barnes, Bedlington, Blue House, Burdon, Deptford, Farrington Hall, Fletcher Dubbs, Ford, Fulwell, Garden House, Gill (Galley’s Gill), Glebe House, the Green, Grindon, Hendon, Hetton Staith, Hetton Waggonway, High Barnes, High Plains, Holmside, Humbleton Hill, Hylton Ferry, Low Barnes, Low Grange, Middle Farrington, Middle Hendon, Millfield, Monkwearmouth, New Town, Newcastle, North Hall, North Moor, Octagon Cottage, Old Burdon, Pallion, Pan Field or Panfield, Pans or Panns, Patent Ropery, Plains, Rectors Gill, Ryhope, Silksworth, Southwick, Southwick Boat, Springwell House, Sunderland, Sunniside, Thornhill, Thristley House, Tunstall, Tunstall Hills, Wearmouth (Bishopwearmouth), Wellington Well, and West Hendon.

This register is very difficult to read – the film shows very faded entries, and it is very hard to make out the abodes and occupations. Also,  from roughly August 1822 through March 1828, many birth dates are half-buried in the binding, so on right-hand pages, where the birth date is on the left (bound) margin, it is impossible to see the beginning of the birth date. If our transcription does not show a birth date, it may be possible for you to locate the birthdate in the original register at the Durham County Record Office, if they will allow you to look at it (in general, they only retrieve the original register from storage when the register film is incomprehensible, which may be true in many of these entries).

We have included some records where the fathers were crossed out, and two records that were completely crossed out, on the theory that they may provide clues to actual events.

We recently discovered that Greatham St. John the Baptist has a second set of registers, which duplicate the registers we have already transcribed, but contain far more detail. In baptisms,  the mother’s maiden surname, birthplaces of both parents, and the child’s birth date are given from 1813 to early March 1855. In burials, spouses, parents, occupations, and even former marriages are noted, for a shorter period.

For example, the Greatham register that we first transcribed had these baptisms:

• 5 Jan 1814 Rebecca Musgrave, of Greatham, child of Ralph (butcher) & Elizabeth Musgrave
• 15 Feb 1838 William Stonehouse, of Greatham, child of Cuthbert (grocer) & Jane Stonehouse
• 7 Feb 1855 John William Bradforth, of Greatham, child of John (labourer) & Elizabeth Bradforth

while the enhanced register has the same three baptisms like this:

• 5 Jan 1814 Rebecca Musgrave, of Greatham, born 23-Dec 1813, 7th daughter of Ralph Musgrave (junior, butcher, native of this parish) by his wife Elizabeth Carr (native of the parish of Hart)
• 15 Feb 1838 William Stonehouse, of Greatham, born 11-Feb 1838, son of Cuthbert Stonehouse (grocer of this parish) by his wife Jane Rose (native of Maltby, Yorkshire)
• 7 Feb 1855 John William Bradforth, of Greatham, born 27-Jan 1855, son of John Bradforth (labourer, native of Stainton, Yorkshire) by his wife Elizabeth Forster ([native] of this parish)
  [Note: parent details have been added from the 1854 baptism of another child of the same parents, as directed by the register.]

The last baptism above illustrates another oddity of this enhanced register, which is that m any baptisms after 1846 do not actually state the parents’ birthplaces and mother’s maiden surname, but instead refer the reader back to an earlier baptism of another child of the same parents for these details. For example, in the enhanced register, the last baptism above actually says:

• 7 Feb 1855 John William Bradforth, born Jan 27th, baptized Feb 7th, son of John & Elizabeth Bradforth. Vide 1067.

where “vide” is Latin for “see” and 1067 is the number of a baptism of an earlier child of this couple, and that earlier baptism gives the parents’ abode, birthplaces and mother’s maiden surname. This referencing notation is only used for second and later children of a couple;  the first child of a couple gets all the details in their baptism. For ease of searching, we have chosen to copy and paste the details from the referenced earlier baptism into the later baptisms, with the above note explaining this. If we handled this like the register does, omitting the details, our customers would not be able to filter their search by father’s or mother’s name for these baptisms.

Child order (1st son, 7th daughter, etc.) is given in nearly all baptisms (as it was in the 1798-1812 period) from 1 Jan 1813 until about 1820, when the frequency of this notation starts to decrease and we see a mixture of “1st son”, “2nd daughter”, and just plain “son” and “daughter”. By the beginning of 1831, child order notation has disappeared in favor of just “son” and “daughter”. After the mid-1830s, some baptisms are missing the mother’s maiden surname or the birthplaces of the parents, but the majority of the baptisms still have them, until early March 1855 when the register reverts to the standard terse style, with no explanation for the change in style.

In the enhanced register, most of the burials from 1813 to July 1839 contain more detail. For example, these burials in the first register:

• 4 Mar 1813 William Forest, of Sheraton in the parish of Monk Hesleden, age: 17
• 21 Jan 1816 Jane Corner, of this parish, age: 46
• 20 Dec 1836 John Harperley, of this parish, age: 60

look like this in the enhanced register:

• 4 Mar 1813 William Forest, of Sheraton in the parish of Monk Hesleden, age: 17, died 2nd Mar, son of John (labourer of this parish) & Margaret Forest (his wife)
• 21 Jan 1816 Jane Corner late Harperley, age: 46, died 18th Jan, wife of Thomas Corner (tailor of this parish), formerly wife of John Ross, master mariner of Sunderland
• 20 Dec 1836 John Harperley, of this parish, age: 60, blacksmith

After July 1839, a few burials in the enhanced register have additional detail such as cause of death or if the deceased was a Sister or Brother in one of the hospitals, but parents and spouses are no longer listed.

We don’t know why there are two separate registers that cover the same period of time, with vastly different treatments of the data. We have decided to replace our Greatham transcriptions for this period with this “enhanced” register, to give our customers the greatest possible level of detail. If you have previously purchased a Greatham baptism or burial in this period, you should log in, click on My Previous Orders, and check the baptism to see if there are additional details. We also corrected minor spelling errors. If a more significant correction was made to a record you viewed, you will be emailed about it.