2,542 baptisms and 1,635 burials at Sedgefield St Edmund the Bishop in Stockton district, from the start of 1813 to the end of 1854, from the Bishop’s Transcript with some cross-checking against the original parish register.  We also added the witnesses to the 270 marriages here from 1 Jan 1813 to 1 July 1837, giving you 681 more names to search in.

We noticed Sedgefield seemed to have been a healthier place to live than the ports and coal mining villages, as many of the residents lived to a ripe old age:

  • buried 11 Oct 1816 Jane Coltman, of Embleton Old Hall, age: 94
  • buried 24 Sep 1821 Ann Spearman, of Bailey, Durham, age: 95
  • buried 1 Feb 1837 Ann Mitchell, of [the] Poor’s House, age: 111
  • buried 27 Apr 1852 John Pyles, of Sedgefield, age: 101

We also noticed a higher-than-average number of illegitimate births to the local squire:

  • 15 Jun 1817 William [Beckwith/Carr], of Fishburn, son of William Beckwith (Esq., Warrington(?)) & Jane Carr (single woman)
  • 24 Mar 1825 John [Pyles/Beckwith], son of William Beckwith (Esquire of Trimdon House) & Ann Pyles (spinster of Sedgefield)
  • 27 May 1827 John [Beckwith/Pyles], son of William Beckwith (gentleman of Trimdon House) & Ann Pyles (single woman of Sedgefield)

The Pyles women (sisters?) Ann, Elizabeth, Jane, Ellen, Sarah, and Margaret collectively had 13 illegitimate children in this period. The Gladson/Gladstone women Elizabeth, Isabella, Margaret, and Jane also had 13 illegitimate children between them. There were 268 illegitimate children baptized at Sedgefield in this period (either identified as illegitimate or assume to be illegitimate because the parents had different surnames or only the mother was listed). 5 or 6 of these couples eventually married. That gives Sedgefield an illegitimacy ratio of just over 10%. At this time, the illegitimacy ratio was around 7% for the whole country, with northern counties generally having higher ratios. (We are doing a little study of illegitimacy rates in different parishes around 1801, which we will publish in our literature library when it is done.)