Converted our Easington district records to the modern dating system, to be consistent with the rest of the records at Durham Records Online. Dates from 1 Jan to 25 Mar (before 1752) have been changed to the next year. Customers of purchased records will be notified of any changes. Specifically, this affected records before 1752 at Castle Eden, Seaham St Mary the Virgin, and Dalton-le-Dale. Changed the note on Calendar Reform on the Transcription Samples page to remove the exception about Easington district records.

A new data package at Long Newton St. Mary in Stockton district:

• 764 baptisms covering 1762-1841
• 518 burials covering 1762-1841 (we now have continuous burials here 1762-1912)
• 42 marriages covering 1798-1812

Residences mentioned include Carlton, Coatham, Elton, Fox Hill, Goosepool, Hartburn, Haughton-le-Skerne, Long Newton, Redmarshall, Stockton, and Yarm.

Birthdates are generally included 1783-1812, but the clerk stopped including mother’s maiden surnames in early 1812 instead of finishing out the year with them. Sample baptisms:

• 28 Jan 1762 John Hanson, son of John & Phillis Hanson
• 21 Mar 1784 Eleanor Peacock, born 25-Dec 1783, daughter of Mark & Jane Peacock
• 23 Jun 1797 Richard Steel, born 12-Jun 1797, son of Richard & Susanna Steel
• 4 Feb 1800 Peter Robson, born 30-Nov 1799, 6th son of William Robson & Margaret his wife late Parkinson ([native] of West Auckland)
• 9 Dec 1811 William Ferguson, born 24-Nov 1811, 1st son of Robert Ferguson & Ann his wife late Dryden ([native] of this parish)
• 30 Dec 1821 Elizabeth Steell, of Long Newton, daughter of Thomas (butcher) & Elizabeth Steell
• 10 Aug 1840 Ellen Cowling, of Goosepool, daughter of George (labourer) & Ellen Cowling

Unfortunately the burials for 1798-1812 do not have mother’s maiden surnames as they should. Some sample burials:

• 9 Mar 1763 John Wetherell, servant butler in Mr. Vane’s Family about 60 years
• 9 Nov 1801 Robert Parmerley, of Hartburn, parish of Stockton, age: 1, son of Bartholomew & Jane Parmerley
• 25 May 1810 Elizabeth Carter, of the parish of Haughton, age: 100 years & 10 months, widow
• 22 Apr 1827 Lady Hyacinthe Sophia Henrietta Charlotte Vane, of Wynyard, age: 8 months
• 23 Dec 1841 Catherine Benton, of Long Newton, age: 90

Sample marriage:

• 1 Jan 1798 Bartholemew Parmerley married Jane Pearson, both of this parish, by banns
  Witnesses: R. Pearson, Thomas Inman, John Parmerley

These records are from a combination of the Bishop’s Transcript and the parish register, as each sometimes had details not in the other.

Went over the baptisms at Seaham St Mary the Virgin 1646-1851 and Castle Eden St James 1661-1797 and 1838-1851 and added father’s occupations, abodes, and some missing birthdates. Reviewed burials at both churches to the end of 1812 and made some minor additions and changes, mostly in the father’s occupation or abode areas. Also converted the old-style dates to the new year (i.e. 1 Jan-23 March 1750 becomes 1751) and made some minor spelling corrections. If you bought a baptism from either of these churches before 1852 or a burial before 1813, you might want to review it to see if any details have been added or changed. To review any record you have purchased, log in, click My Purchases, find the record in the list, and click the View button next to it.

131 marriages at Castle Eden St James from the start of the first marriage register in 1698 to the end of 1812, giving us continuous marriage coverage at this church from 1698 to mid-1837.  Witnesses started being listed in 1754. The marriage register for 1795-1812 at Castle Eden was severely fire-damaged, so most witnesses from this period could not be read or transcribed, and the Bishop’s Transcript did not provide witnesses for this period.

• 31 Jan 1699 John Walton married Elizabeth Readhead, by banns
• 1 Jan 1752 John Rawling (bachelor, gentleman), age 21, of St Oswald’s, Durham City married Anne Robson (spinster), age 21, of St. Mary le Bow, Durham City, by licence, marriage bond dated Dec 28th 1751
• 27 Jan 1794 Anthony Foss (bachelor), of the parish of Merrington married Elizabeth Cummings (spinster), of this parish, by licence
  Witnesses: Michael Scarth, Thomas Pattison
• 31 Jan 1803 Robert Elstob, of this parish married Dorothy Chapman, of the parish of Easington, by banns

265 marriages at Seaham St. Mary the Virgin from the start of the first marriage register in 1652 to the end of 1799, giving us continuous marriage coverage at this church from 1652 to 1967. Occasionally an occupation or marital status was provided. Witnesses started being listed in 1756.

• 14 Feb 1661 Henry Shaw (widower), of Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland married Jane Fell (single woman), of Ryhope, County Durham
• 23 Nov 1701 John Watson (butcher), of South Shields married Margaret Martin, of Seaton
• 3 May 1756 John Wood, of the parish of Seaham married Elizabeth Tunstall, of the parish of Seaham, by banns
  Witnesses: Joseph Coxon, Thomas Robinson
• 25 Jul 1799 Lewis Legg (gentleman), of the parish of Penshaw Staiths married Lucy Lowson, of this parish, by licence
  Witnesses: Catherine Legg, Archibald Douglass

Added a new category of records – 229 marriage banns – for Hart St. Mary Magdalene, covering 1754-1812. Typically, banns were called on 3 (usually successive) Sundays in the local church, and were followed by the marriage, which might occur on the date of the last banns or later. Often, banns do not provide any more information than the marriage record, but sometimes the subsequent marriage never got entered into the marriage register or the marriage register was lost or damaged, so the banns may be the only record of the couple’s intent to marry. If you find a couple sharing a surname and having children, but you can’t find a marriage record, it’s always worthwhile to check the banns register if it still exists – if banns were called for the couple, chances are they married shortly afterward.

Samples:

• 1756 Thomas Moody, of this parish & Mary Pattinson, of Monk-Hesleton, banns called 2 May, 9 May, 16 May
• 1808 Thomas Angles (farmer), of Kirkby Ravensworth, York & Mary Pickering (spinster), of this parish, banns called 26 Jun, 3 Jul, 10 Jul, married 11 Jul, 1808

The second example has a marriage date because they married at Hart. The first example does not have a marriage date because they did not marry at Hart; they married at Monk Hesleden.

These will appear in the Search Results as Marriage Banns so you can tell the difference between banns and completed marriages.

We have added the ability to search for a spouse by surname. There is a new Spouse Surname field on the search form. We have also removed some restrictions from the search, so you can now enter a father’s first name or last name (before, both were required); likewise for mothers. These changes enable you to search for the following combinations of people:

• all marriages between two surnames.  This is useful for many reasons, but especially for when you think a middle name might be the maiden surname of an earlier ancestor. For example, upon discovering an ancestor named Luke Fish Seymour born in 1780 to William & Martha, you might search for all marriages between the surnames Fish and Seymour, and you would indeed discover the marriage of William Seymour and Martha Fish in 1774.
• all the children of a couple by using only their first names. This is useful for a couple whose surname has many wildly variant spellings and mis-readings. For example, let’s say you have a couple named Robinson & Caroline Hay, but their name is often misread as Kay. You could search for all the children of Robinson & Caroline without specifying a surname, and this might even turn up some anomalies such as entry that was read or recorded as Ray.
• marriages where you know only the surname of one party – for example, you’ve been told that Great-Uncle Ralph Chapman married an Ainsworth girl, whose first name you don’t know – now you can search for that marriage by specifying Ralph Chapman and just Ainsworth for the spouse’s surname

We hope you will find the new searches useful.

Replaced the index to marriages and burials at Bywell St. Andrew (Hexham district, Northumberland) with full details, so these records are now instantly available:

• 913 burials covering 1668-1812, including 7 burials we missed the first time around.
• 323 marriages covering 1685-1812, including 3 we missed the first time around plus the addition of 48 marriage banns called there but not married there (most of whom were probably married at Bywell St Peter)

As usual, the 1798-1812 burials contain the most detail. Some sample burials:

• 11 Feb 1671 Margaret Kell, of Styford, wife of Edward Kell
• 6 Mar 1711 Ann Sanderson, of Bywell, widow
• 16 Oct 1759 Matthew Younghusband, of Styford
• 31 Oct 1798 Ann Charlotte Charlton late Upsall, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, age: 22, died 29 Oct, wife of Peter Charlton (linen-draper)
• 7 Jul 1801 Esther Bainbridge, of Riding, age: 28, died 5 Jul, daughter of William Bainbridge (esquire) by his wife Mary Algood
• 7 Mar 1811 Margaret Cuthbertson, of Brough House, age: 65, died 5 Mar, spinster

Sample marriages:

• 28 May 1685 Thomas Callandar married Ann Chatta
• 25 Nov 1706 John Richley, of Corbridge married Ann Proud (widow), of Broomhaugh
• 26 May 1757 Thomas Forster, of Newton Hall, Bywell St.Peter married Mary Wardale
  Witnesses: William Jobling, Henry Ridley
• 30 Oct 1800 Simon Lightford, of Newburn married Mary Henderson, by licence
  Witnesses: Joseph Ridley, William Towns

At the ancient parish of Elwick Hall St. Peter in Hartlepool district:

• 1,644 baptisms 1592-1900
• 1,094 burials 1594-1900
• 352 marriages 1592-1812 and 1838-1900 (we already had 1813-1837 online, so we now have 1592-1900)

Elwick Hall is not indexed by the IGI, and has not been widely available before this, so researchers may make some major discoveries in these records. Early records are in Latin, with Latin forms of names, for which we have provided translations. Residences mentioned include Amerston Hall and Hill, Benknowle, Billingham, Brancepeth, Bruntoft or Burntoft, Cole Hill, Dalton Piercy, Elwick (Hall, Lane, and Mill), Ewe Hill, Greatham, Grindon, Gunner Vale, Hart, High Barns, Hill House, Hole House, Kelloe, Lambs House, Middlesbrough, Middleton House, Newton Hansard, North Urn, Parton or Pawton Hill, Planetree Hill, Poplar Row, Red Gap, Redmarshall, Seaton Carew, Sedgefield, Stob House, Stockton, Stotfold (High, Middle, and Low, and Stotfold Moor), Stranton, Sunderland Lodge, The Close, Three Gates, Tofts, Wolviston, and Yarm.

In 1798-1812 baptisms, the clerk often provided the name of both sets of grandparents of the child being baptized – a truly wonderful boon for future researchers.

Sample baptisms:

• 5 Feb 1593 Robertus Ranson, filius [son] of Johanis [John] Ranson
• 23 Jun 1634 Gulielmus [William] Watson, of Elwick, filius [son] of Jacobi [Jacob] Watson
• 27 Aug 1706 Maria Readhead, of Elwick, filia [daughter] of Richardi [Richard] (Curati [curate]) & Honoriae Readhead, [bap'd by] Joanna KEARSLEY, Vicar of Greatham
• 27 Feb 1753 Joseph Weddell, bastard childe of Jane Weddell (servant to William HETT at Bruntoft)
• 18 Aug 1799 John Lowes Dryden, born 17 Mar 1799, 2nd son of Simon Dryden (farmer, of Haltwhistle, Northumberland) by his wife Ann Lowes (daughter of John Lowes, native of Brawith, Leek, Yorkshire)
• 30 May 1812 Catharine Henderson, of High Stotfold, born 20 May 1812, 3rd daughter of Thomas Henderson (farmer, son of John & Catherine Henderson, native of Middleston, Bishop Auckland) by his wife Ann Bamlet (daughter of Joseph & Grace Bamlet, native of East Murton, Sedgefield)
• 26 Dec 1847 Thomas Wright Lee, of Elwick, child of William (labourer) & Margaret Lee
• 2 Jan 1898 Edith Mary McKinley, of Elwick, born 20 Nov 1897, child of Stephen (policeman) & Alice McKinley

Sample burials:

• 5 Aug 1606 Aelcea Halemin, daughter of Thomi [Thomas] Halemin
• 27 Jul 1656 William Gibson, of Bruntoft, son of Antony [Anthony] Gibson
• 31 Jul 1705 Catherine Harrison, of Elwick Hall, daughter of Robert & Eleanor Harrison
• 12 Jun 1751 Frances Kilvington, of Amerstone, wife of Christopher Kilvington
• 27 Jun 1802 William Shadforth, of Elwick, age: 78, late farmer, batchelor, died June 24
• 3 Nov 1812 Margaret Frizell, of Thorp Bulmer, age: 10, died Nov 3, daughter of William Frizell (farmer) & Sarah late Martindale
• 20 Sep 1840 Ann Lodge, of Red Lion, Dalton Piercy, age: 90
• 19 May 1896 Eleanor Trotter, of Dalton Piercy, age: 86

Dozens of marriages in the 1590s through 1630s are nearly unreadable. Witnesses are included where they existed in the marriage record. Sample marriages:

• 21 May 1604 Christoferus Felton married Agneta Cleasbie
• 15 Jun 1704 Humphrey Arrowsmith, of The Close, son of W’m [William] Arrowsmith, married Mary Rhea, of Poplar Row, daughter of Edw. [Edward] (lately deceased) Rhea
• 13 Oct 1750 Bartholomew Potter (servant to Robert HALL of Middle Stotfold) married Elianer Lackenby (servant to Robert HALL of Middle Stotfold)
• 15 May 1808 Cuthbert Brunton, of Hurworth on Tees married Elizabeth Fairless, of this parish, by banns, groom made his mark, bride signed her name
  Witnesses: Christopher Brunton, J’o Adamson
• 2 Sep 1855 William Appleton (bachelor, labourer), full age, of Bruntoft, son of David (labourer) Appleton, married Magdalene Elizabeth Thompson (spinster, farm servant), full age, of Burntoft, daughter of Joseph (labourer) Thompson, by licence, groom signed his name, bride made her mark
  Witnesses: Thomas Thompson, William Robinson
• 29 Jul 1899 Arthur George Magee (bachelor, miner), age 30, of Hutton Henry, son of Felix (hawker) Magee, married Annie Innes Lax (spinster), age 30, of this parish, daughter of George (carpenter) Lax, by banns, groom & bride both signed their names
  Witnesses: John Laws Beaden, Sarah Annie Mary Innes

204 baptisms at Cockfield St Mary covering 1806-1812, filling a gap we had, so we now have continuous baptisms at Cockfield from 1762 to 1867 inclusive. These are a combination of the parish register and the Bishop’s Transcript, for maximum detail. Burials from June 1812 to 31 Dec 1812 are missing from the parish register, so those are all from the Bishop’s Transcript. In 1806-1811, some burials in the Bishop’s Transcript contain nativity details for the parents that are not found in the register.

Samples:

• 5 Jan 1806 George Moses, of Cockfield, born 16 Aug 1805, 2nd son of John Moses (joiner, native of this parish) by his wife Margaret Parkin (daughter of George Parkin, native of this place)
• 20 Dec 1812 William Teasdale, born 16 Dec 1812, 2nd son of Daniel Teasdale (spirit merchant, native of Chester-le-Street) by his wife Elizabeth Trotter (daughter of Robert Trotter, farmer, native of Staindrop)