1,135 burials at Durham St. Margaret of Antioch, a chapelry in the parish of St. Oswald. This register was in very bad condition; parts of 1773-74 were so faded they were unreadable and there are lots of blank spaces and partial entries.  A few entries had only the date entered, with no names or descriptions attached.  We transcribed from the parish register for Jan-Mar 1765 and Mar 1770-Dec 1787, working from both the microfilm and from the original register when the film was unreadable. Only Apr 1765-Mar 1770 is from the Bishop’s Transcript.

Some samples of one useless and several useful entries:

• 4 Jan 1765 [blank], a strainger child
• 8 Jun 1766 Margaret Busby, widow of Livley Busby
• 15 Jul 1771 Ann Rickaby, daughter of Richard Rickaby
• 9 Apr 1775 George Hines, son of widow Hines
• 28 Mar 1780 Paul Nailer, soldier
• 18 Jun 1784 Thomas Heart, age: 118 years
• 18 Jan 1787 Thomas Coates, lunatick, pauper

Replaced the index to marriages at Whickham St. Mary for 1579-1749 with full details so those 3,199 marriages are now instantly available, including 12 we missed the first time around. Some samples:

• 15 Nov 1579 Anthony Grundy married Flanders Dalkin
• 23 Nov 1650 John Close married Barbary Taylor
• 6 Nov 1701 John Robinson (a soldier) married Jane Harrison, of Whickham, by licence
• 1 Aug 1749 George Bambrough married Elizabeth Wheatly

The third marriage provides a good lesson on how it pays to check the marriage bond when you see that a marriage is by licence. The accompanying bond adds the following useful details:

• 6 Oct 1701 John Robinson (yeoman), of Byermoor Lane, Whickham obtained a licence to marry Jane Harrison (widow), of [Whickham]

Replaced the index to baptisms at Whickham St. Mary for 1820-1851 with full details, so those 4,859 baptisms are now instantly available, including 4 we had missed the first time around. While the clerk unfortunately stopped recording the mother’s father and parents’ birthplaces starting in 1820, he did continue to include the child’s birthdate in most baptisms until mid-1829.

Samples:

• 2 Apr 1820 Ann Watson Smart, of Lowhand, born 10-Jan 1820, daughter of Christopher Smart (keelman) by his wife Margaret
• 15 Apr 1829 Isabella Clasper, of Dunston, born 22-Mar 1827, daughter of Joseph Clasper (keelman) by his wife Ann
• 25 Apr 1830 Catherine Turnbull, of Swalwell, daughter of William Turnbull (smith) by his wife Elizabeth
• 14 Jun 1840 Ann Alice Rotherford, of Bogglehole, Lamesley, daughter of Robert Rotherford (farmer) by his wife Ann
• 3 Oct 1851 Fanny Louise Stevenson, of Whickham, daughter of John Henry Stevenson (surgeon) by his wife Jane