11,542 burials at Oxbridge Lane Cemetery in Stockton-on-Tees in Stockton district, from the cemetery’s opening in 1871 to the end of 1903. This is just the section of the cemetery that was consecrated by the local Bishop of the Church of England. We will follow up with the unconsecrated or non-Anglican burials later.

Some burials, especially in the earlier years, have useful descriptions. Samples:

• 11 Apr 1871 Robert Craggs, of 2 Paradise Road, age: 71, justice of the Peace, merchant
• 27 Sep 1876 John Moon, of Crosby Terrace, age: 47, innkeeper
• 21 Nov 1880 William Fenwick, of Sydney Street, age: 77, coal merchant
• 5 Aug 1895 Edward J. Lawson, of [no abode stated], age: 23, body found
• 4 Jul 1898 Jane Spence, of [no abode stated], age: 35, died at the Hospital
• 8 Dec 1903 Joseph Hauxwell, of Tees Bridge, age: 83

840 marriage bonds covering 1816-1817 in the Diocese of Durham. These are brand new, not previously in our bond index.

Marriage bonds often provide ages, occupations, and place of residence for the bride and groom 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. For example:

• 12 Feb 1816 William Jobson (bachelor, farmer), age 49, of New Town in the parish of Chillingham, Northumberland obtained a licence to marry Ann Vardy (spinster), age 32, of Fenton in the parish of Wooler, Northumberland, directed to Wooler
  Surety: Robert Jobson, farmer of Turvelaws, Northumberland
• 15 Aug 1817 Abraham Shipton (bachelor, yeoman), age 62, of Aycliffe, County Durham obtained a licence to marry Mary Hanson (spinster), age 23, of St.Oswald, Durham City, directed to St.Oswald
  Surety: John Hammond, innkeeper of Durham City

Check out these extremely young, already-widowed individuals:

• 16 Sep 1817 George Foster (widower, pilot), age 20, of Wallsend, Northumberland obtained a licence to marry Isabella Cox (widow), age 21, of Wallsend, directed to Wallsend
  Surety: Thomas Heppell, shipwright of St.Hilda’s Chapelry, County Durham

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 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. Note that “age 21″ means “21 and upwards” in these documents.

At Sadberge St. Andrew in Darlington district, from the Bishop’s Transcript:

• 530 baptisms covering 1813-1859
• 436 burials covering 1798-1859
• In both of the above, we are temporarily missing mid-1857 to the end of 1858, which we will transcribe in the next week or two at the record office. We already had 1762-1812 baptisms and 1762-1797 burials online.

Residences mentioned include Barmpton, Bumper Hall, Darlington, Goose Pool, Great Burdon, Great Stainton, Haughton-le-Skerne, Morton Palms, Newton Grange, Rippon House, Sadberge, Salter Carr, and Street House.

Sample baptisms:

• 8(?) Aug 1819 Picton Blucher Liddle, of Sadberge, son of John (shoemaker) & Elizabeth Liddle
  [Note: Probably named after two war heroes, General Thomas Picton and Field Marshall Gebhard von Blucher, who defeated Napoleon's army at Waterloo in 1815. Picton was killed in the battle.]
• 16 Jun 1839 John Stainbank, of Rippon House, son of John (hind) & Mary Stainbank
• 19 Jul 1857 Louisa Sophia Hunter, of Bumper Hall, Sadberge, daughter of John (farmer) & Matilda Hunter

The burials continue to sporadically list the parents of deceased children in 1813 through 1818. Samples:

• 30 Oct 1798 Mary Metcalfe late Flintoff, age: 80, died 28 Oct, widow of John Metcalfe (labourer)
• 4 Feb 1799 John Corner, age: 11 Weeks, died 2 Feb, son of John Corner (weaver) & Ann his wife late Snaith
• 27 May 1801 Elizabeth Biggs, age: 18, a traveller from Stubbs in the County of Surry, died 26 May
• 21 May 1810 Hannah Herring, of this Chapelry, age: 4, died 19 May, daughter of Matthew Herring
• 22 Jul 1817 Hannah Todd, of Sadberge, age: 7 months, daughter of William & Ann Todd
• 1 Aug 1824 George Meynell, of Sadberge, age: 86
• 16 Apr 1847 Bartholomew Corner, of Barmpton, age: 17
• 19 Jul 1859 Edward Feetham, of Great Burdon, age: 87

Sadberge is not indexed by the IGI, so its records are not widely available – except here !

316 baptisms covering 1770-1859 and 139 burials covering 1769-1859 at Dinsdale St. John the Baptist in Darlington district, from a combination of the Bishop’s Transcript and the parish register for maximum detail. Abodes mentioned include Ashes, Aycliffe, Cockerton, Darlington, Dinsdale, Fighting Cocks, Fish Locks, Neasham, Over Dinsdale, Sockburn, Stodda or Stodhoe, Thorntree House, and Woodhead.

Sample baptisms:

• 10 Jul 1786 Robert Addison, born 7-May, son of William Addison (Rector of this Parish) by his wife Anne
• 12 Jan 1798 John Horseman, born 28-Dec 1797, 1st son of William Horseman (millar, native of Darlington, Durham) by his wife Elizabeth Ditchburn (native of Neasham, Parish of Hurworth, Durham)
• 14 Aug 1808 William Robinson, born 2-Aug 1808, 5th son of Ralph Robinson (native of Long Newton, Durham) by his wife Rebecca Gascoyne (native of Yarm, Yorkshire)
• 31 May 1822 Augusta Frye, of Dinsdale, 1st daughter of Percival Frye (clerk) & Laura Augusta Hastings Frye
• 19 Nov 1843 Christopher Longthorne, of Dinsdale, son of John (husbandman) & Mary Longthorne
• 5 Apr 1858 Robert Consett Dryden Pallister, of Fighting Cocks, son of Robert (joiner) & Catherine Pallister

No baptisms were recorded from mid-Aug 1824 to early June 1826 and Jan-Oct 1854. Since this was a tiny parish, numerous years had no burials.

Sample burials:

• 29 Nov 1769 Catherine Rowntree, daughter of John Rowntree (farmer)
• 1 Aug 1796 Thomas Darling, fisherman
• 6 Feb 1799 Elizabeth Hutton late Watkin, of Low Dinsdale near the Mill, age: 75, died 3 Feb , widow of John Hutton (fisherman)
• 19 Feb 1803 Ward Chapman, age: 11th year, a youth, died 17 Feb of a most virulent scarlet fever & could not be kept.
• 11 Jul 1830 Elizabeth Ditchburn, of Fish-locks, age: 95
• 19 Apr 1855 George Beadnell, of Fighting Cocks, age: 20, farm servant, killed by pony, fell off & hung in stirrup – Inquest

918 baptisms at the Presbyterian chapel on Robinson’s Lane in Bishopwearmouth, covering 1800-1825 plus 2 entries from January 1826. At that time,  the congregation moved to the newly built St. Georges chapel on Villiers Street.

This baptism register is one of the most difficult we have ever transcribed, which is why it has taken us many months to recheck and correct it. We’re not sure how the information was entered into it – from the number of mistakes that were made in the register, we think perhaps individual ministers kept their own records and then turned them over to another person, perhaps a clerk, for entry into the register, and apparently their handwriting was not always legible, so the clerk made mistakes when entering the records into the register. Otherwise we can’t imagine how there could be so many instances of entering “Mary” for the mother’s name when other baptisms and marriage records show the mother’s name to be “Margaret” (probably abbreviated as “Marg.” which looks a lot like “Mary”). We have tried to research all the anomalies we found and annotate the records with our findings, hoping to lead researchers in the right direction. For example:

• 26 Sep 1805 Margaret Carson, born 06 Sep 1805, second daughter of William Carson (mariner, native of Sunderland) & Mary [Margaret] Brodie (native of Sunderland)
  [Note: This mother is Margaret in other baptisms and in this child's burial.]

Some entries were repeated, and in some cases, it looked like part of the information had been copied from one entry to another. Here is an example of two misleading and confusing entries, which occurred together, to which we have added notes and alternate names:

• 4 May 1801 Mary Spence, born 04 May 1801, first daughter of Henry Spence (native of Kirkwell, North Britain) & Eleanor Cassap [Chrisop] (native of Sunderland)
  [Note: Mother was Chrisop in 1786 marriage.]
• 4 May 1801 Adam Mossman, born 16 Apr 1801, first son of Adam Mossman (native of Berwick) & Eleanor Cassap [Legertwood(?)] (native of Sunderland)
  [Note: The mother is Eleanor Cassap or Chrisop in the record directly above this one. It seems unlikely that 2 mothers in a row, married to different men, would have the same name. There is a marriage of Adam Mosman to Eleanor Legertwood in 1795 in Cornhill, Northumberland - that *may* be who this mother is supposed to be.]

The good news is that this register continues the 1798-1812 level of detail all the way through, so you get mother’s maiden surname and parents’ birthplaces, even after 1812 when those were not usually listed in Anglican registers:

• 12 May 1810 Elizabeth Kidd, born 23 Apr 1810, second daughter of Peter Kidd (printer, native of Sunderland) & Elizabeth Ward (native of Sunderland)
• 18 Nov 1815 Matthew Jolliff, born 17 Nov 1815, fifth son of William Jolliff (cartwright, native of Brotherton) & Elizabeth Dryden (native of Sunderland)
• 4 Feb 1821 Ann Rantoul, born 11 Jan 1821, sixth daughter of Thomas Rantoul (shoemaker, native of Sunderland) & Alice Boyle (native of Gosport Town, Lincolshire)
• 16 Nov 1825 Richard James Dewer Cooper, of Bishopwearmouth, born 19 Mar 1825, fourth son of John Ibbetson Cooper (coal fitter, native of Arundel) & Elizabeth Douglas (native of Sunderland)

Many of the members of this congregation were of Scottish extraction, arriving in Sunderland as seamen, shipwrights, etc. , so we assume the extra level of detail is due to the fact that this was common practice in Scotland.

2,013 burials at Brancepeth St. Brandon  in Durham district, covering 1599-1669. Residences mentioned include Biggin, Billy Row, Boggle Hole, Brancepeth, Brandon, Broom, Burn, Burnigill, Crook, Croxdale, Dicken House, Durham, East Brandon, East Park, Hare Holme, Helmington Row, Hett, Hill House, Holywell, Ivesley, Jobs Hill, Langley, Letch, Little Burn, Little White, Low Wooley, Morley, Mown Meadows, Oakenshaw, Page Bank, Primrose Side, Quarry Hill, Scouts House, Sleetburn House, Stanley, Stob House, Stockley, Stockley Burn, Thornley, Tudhoe, Unthank, Waterhouses, West Brandon, West Park, Wheat Bottom, Willington, and Wooley.

Samples:

• 23 Aug 1599 John Farrow, of East Brandon, son of Anthony Farrow
• 12 Aug 1609 Ralph Fatherstonhaugh, of Brancepeth, son of Mr. Ralph Fatherstonhaugh
• 14 Mar 1619 [blank wife] Rawe, of Stockley, wife of Rowland Rawe
• 29 Sep 1629 Hercules Trewhat, of Tudhoe, died 28 Sep, octogenarian
• 30 Jun 1638 Nicholas Halson, of Stockley, age: 87, died 29 Jun
• 26 Feb 1649 Jane Stedman, of Tudhoe, wife of Richard Stedman
• 14 Nov 1659 Michael Hull, of Biggin, son of Isabel Hull (widow)
• 11 Jul 1669 Robert Duckett, of Stockley, junior