2,610 baptisms and 1,702 burials at Auckland St. Helen covering 1762-1812. These are from the Bishop’s Transcript, and we are temporarily missing 1763 and 1766, but  these two gaps will get filled in from the parish register in about a month.

The IGI indexes the baptisms for Auckland St. Helen for 1653-1774 &  1799-1812 but not for 1775-1798, so those records are easily available now, for the first time, here!

Residences mention include Backenside, Bildershaw, Bishop Auckland, Bolton Garth, Bishop Middleham, Brecon Hill, Bruslington (later Brusselton), Burnshouse, Butterknowl(e), Cock House, Copland, Day Gill, Dorothy Green, Esperby or Esperley Lane, Etherley, Evenwood, Evenwood Bridge, Evenwood Mill, Fletcher Hill, Gordon, Greenfield, Haughton House, High Fine, High Gordon, Holm Mill, Humber Beck (Hummerbeck), Hunter Hall and Hunter Hill, Lands, Lough House, Low Fine, Low Gordon, Lutterington, Martin field house, Morley, New Moors, Norleases (Northleazes), Norton Fine, Paddock Mier or Myer, Park House, Pit Close, Ramshaw, Redmire, Rose-house, Shildon, Sloshes, Spring Garden(s), St. Helen Auckland, Staindrop Field House, Stonechesters, Swape Foot, Tile Shades, Toft Hill, West Auckland, Wailesfield, Weatherhill, West Auckland, White House, Wide Open, and Wodas or Wood House(s).

Sample baptisms:

• 30 Jan 1764 Ralph Booth, of West Auckland, child of Thomas Booth
• 10 Nov 1776 John Gricewood, of Evenwood, son of Ann Gricewood
• 24 Oct 1786 George Currey Sanderson, of Haughton House, son of Thomas Sanderson
• 8 Jul 1798 Joseph Brumley, born 27 Feb, 8th son of Thomas Brumley (weaver) by his wife Ann Wright (natives of this Parish)
• 26 Oct 1806 Sarah Hodgson, of Wt. Aukd. [West Auckland], born 21 Jul 1806, 7th daughter of William Hodgson (weaver) by his wife Ann Stoddert (native of Houghton, P. Heighington)
• 26 Dec 1811 Charlotte Hall, of Wt. Aukd. [West Auckland], born 18 Jun, 3d daughter & 4th illegitimate child of Jane Hall (single woman)

In the 2nd-to-last baptism, Ann Stoddert’s birthplace is probably Houghton-le-Side or Houghton Bank, in Heighington parish, just a little ways from St. Helen’s.

In the burials, there are numerous references to the deceased being “insane” or “maniack” from Thomas Smith’s or John Smith’s, which was apparently a private asylum in West Auckland.

Sample burials:

• 23 Dec 1762 Katherine Taylor, of St Helen, Auckland, wife of the Rev. Mr Taylor
• 5 Feb 1771 Barbara Wilkes, of West Auckland, daughter of Edward Wilkes
• 18 Apr 1782 John Warde, son of Richard Warde (a player at West Auckland)
• 9 Aug 1793 Isabella Cooper, of West Auckland, insane from Thomas Smiths
• 13 Aug 1799 Ann Carrick, of Evenwood, age: 33, died 11 Aug, daughter of Joseph Carrick (cordwainer), Pr. [pauper]
• 25 Aug 1803 Isabell Bradley, of West Auckland, age: 104, widow, pauper, died 23 Aug
• 19 Dec 1805 Hannah Brownbridge, age: 39, died 17 Dec, wife of Thomas Brownbridge (miller)

Replaced the index to marriage bonds in the years 1725-1730 with full details, so those 924 records are now instantly available.

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:

• 9 Jul 1729 Cuthbert Lambert (medical doctor), of Newcastle-upon-Tyne obtained a licence to marry Julia Rutter, of St.Andrew, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, directed to St.Andrew
  Surety: John Pawson, merchant, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
  [Note: married 10 Jul at St.Andrew.]

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.

The parish of Holy Trinity was carved out of Darlington St. Cuthbert’s in 1843, as the population of Darlington swelled too large for one church to handle. Here we have 1,086 baptisms and 821 burials from the beginning of Holy Trinity’s register in August 1843 to the end of 1854. (We now have burials here from 1843 to 1937.)

Residences mentioned besides Darlington include Archdeacon Newton, Bishop Auckland, Blackwell, Bradford, Burtree Gate, Cockerton, Faverdale, Hartlepool, Honey Pot, Hope Town, Lowson’s Slack, and Wolsingham.

Sample baptisms (I particularly like the occupation in the third one):

• 1 Jun 1845 Susannah Petch, of Darlington, daughter of Henry (post boy) & Mary Petch
• 15 Apr 1852 Mary Ann Alnwick, of Darlington, daughter of Robert (soda water manufacturer) & Margaret Alnwick
• 23 Oct 1853 John Robson Wilson, of Darlington, son of James Watling Wilson (plush stuff manufacturer) & Margaret

Sample burials:

• 26 Jan 1845 Mary McBean, of Darlington, age: 86
• 18 Sep 1850 Mary Rowlandson, of Archdeacon Newton, age: 33
• 20 Sep 1854 Ben Farrer Cowper, of Darlington, age: 35

416 baptisms at Houghton-le-Spring St. Michael & All Angels, filling a gap we had for 1805 through March 1808. These are from a combination of the Bishop’s Transcript and the parish register. We now have continuous baptisms here for 1762 through April 1923.

Residences mentioned include Bunker Hill, Chilton Moor, Cocken, Collier(y) Row, Cross Fines Row, East Herrington, East Rainton, Hetton, Houghton, Little Eppleton, Middle Herrington, Moorhouse, Moorsley, Morton Fence, Morton Grange, New Lambton, Newbottle and Newbottle Engine, Philadelphia, Pitfield, Rainton Gate, Rainton Meadows, Rainton Mill, Sedgeletch or Segletch, Stot’s Pasture, Torrish Hill, West Herrington, West Rainton, and Wilson’s Row.

Sample baptism:

• 31 Mar 1805 Henderson Price, of Philadelphia, born 27 Feb, 5th son of Henderson Price (pitman, native of Wylam) by his wife Elizabeth Fenwick (native of Morton Grange)
• 6 Apr 1806 William Vardy, of Philadelphia, born [date blank], illegitimate son of Phillis Vardy (native of Newburn)
• 20 Jan 1808 John Allan, of Newbottle, born 25 Jun 1803, 4th son of Robert Allan (Esq, native of Stockton) by his wife Hannah Havelock (native of Sunderland)

The last baptism illustrates how a child may be baptized years after his or her birth – in this case, almost 5 years later. Robert & Hannah Allan baptized four of their children on this date, all born in different years ranging from 1803 to 1807.
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378 marriages at Houghton-le-Spring from April 1800 to the end of 1812. These are mostly from the Bishop’s Transcript, which did not include witnesses. 1805 and 1807 are from the parish register, and the copy we worked from also did not include witnesses. We found out later there is another version of the marriage register that does include witnesses, so eventually we will go back and add them, but for now, at least you get the abode and any other identifying information that may be found in these.

Sample marriages:

• 27 Apr 1801 David Howey, of St Nicholas, Newcastle married Margaret Smith, of this parish, by banns
• 1 Oct 1803 Francis Reed (clerk), of the parish of Morton cum Grafton in the Diocese of Chester married Mary Ann Story, of this parish, by licence
• 26 Oct 1805 James Eggleston, of the parish of Monkwearmouth married Jane Scott (a minor with consent of parents), of this parish, by licence
• 13 May 1812 Thomas Bateson, of the College of Durham, extra parochial married Margaret Greenwell, of this parish, by licence

6,381 burials at Gateshead East Cemetery covering 1862-1869.

In 1801 the population of Gateshead was just 8,597 and there is no reason to suppose it had ever been much higher. The graveyards of the ancient parish church of St. Mary’s and neighbouring Gateshead Fell were barely able to cope. Then came the Industrial Revolution. By 1861 the population had quadrupled to 32,789, the burial grounds were bursting at the seams and something had to be done. The solution was the opening of the massive Gateshead East Cemetery in 1862. Between 1862 and 1873, when Blaydon Cemetery opened, nearly all Gateshead burials must have taken place at the East Cemetery. By 1891 Gateshead had a staggering 84,728 people, a 10 fold increase in 90 years.

Because these are cemetery records, not burial records from the parish church, they present far more genealogically useful details. Fully 98% of these records give either an occupation, parent, or husband’s name. Some samples:

• 5 Sep 1862 Thomas Atley, of Cramer Dykes, age: 80, retired Inland Revenue officer
• 3 Dec 1865 William Hedley Chapman, of 11 Grosvenor Street, age: 3 months, son of Elizabeth Chapman (single woman)
• 20 Jan 1867 Charlotte Murray, of Jamieson’s Yard, Swan Street, age: 65, wife of John Murray
• 28 Dec 1869 Harriet Charlton, of 35 Ellison Street, age: 16, daughter of Forster Charlton (deceased)

The oldest person in this period was:

• 4 May 1864 Thomasin Shanton, of 19 King William Street, age: 107, widow of John Shanton

Besides street addresses in Gateshead, residences mentioned include Bensham, Blaydon, Blue Quarries, Bottle Bank, Burney Villas, Carr’s Hill, Chatham near Redheugh, Dunston, Felling, Felling Shore, Friars Goose, Hawks Cottages, High Felling, Hillgate, Hood’s Field, Low Felling, Low Teams, Mount Greenwich, Mount Pleasant, Newcastle, New Gateshead, Oakwellgate, Old Engine, Old Fold Pit, Pipewellgate, Quarryfield, Rabbit Banks, Redheugh, Salt Meadows, Shear Legs, Sheriff Hill, South Shore, Tyne Main, Whickham, Wind Mill Hills, and Wylam’s Field.

Added witnesses to the following Weardale district marriages already online:

• Stanhope 1834-1837 (92 witnesses)
• Hunstanworth 1813-1836 (203 witnesses)

As part of this exercise, we found six additional marriages in mid-1837 at Stanhope that we missed the first time around because they were filed out of order at the end of the register for 1837.

If you previously purchased a marriage in the above places & times, you can now view the witnesses by clicking My Previous Orders and reviewing the marriage. We will continue to add witnesses to existing marriages as time permits.

Added 869 witnesses to our existing 289 marriages at Hamsterley St. James in Auckland district from 1813 to mid-1837, plus added one marriage we missed the first time around. For some reason, folks at Hamsterley were very big on having lots of witnesses at their weddings, far more than in other parishes, and in some cases, there were more witnesses than we have fields for in our database. For example:

• 2 Dec 1815 Joseph Booth, of Escomb married Ann Dixon, of this parish, by banns
  Witnesses: John Corner, Rebecca Stephenson, Thomas Peacock, Judith Dixon, Mary Dixon, Thomas Booth
  [Note: Additional witnesses were John Booth and James Dixon.]
• 15 Mar 1823 Thomas Hodgson (bachelor), of Witton le Wear married Elizabeth Armory (spinster), of this parish, by banns
  Witnesses: William Hodgson, Ann Armory, Jane Langstaff, John Dunn, Robert Littlefair, Anthony Henderson
  [Note: Additional witnesses were William Armory, William Dunn, Mary Ann Henderson, George Armory, Jonathan Armory, Elizabeth Dunn, and Alas Dunn.]

We hope that the herds of witnesses will enable researchers to identify people based on their probable family connections. For example, in the 2nd marriage above, we can follow the witnesses forward, checking for marriages between their surnames, and we find out that Ann Armory married John Dunn the following year, and William Armory married Elizabeth Dunn 2 years after that. Although these are all common first names, it seems probable that Elizabeth, Ann, and William Armory are siblings, and John and Elizabeth Dunn are probably siblings, and William and Alas/Alice Dunn may also be siblings of theirs. These suppositions would be strengthened if their ages in the censuses seemed to place them in the same generation, and by the presence of matching baptisms to the same parents. Note also there is another Hodgson/Armory marriage nine years earlier whose parties may be siblings of the bride and groom in this marriage. Sometimes genealogy is a matter of assembling clues like this and seeing if the picture you come up with makes sense.

At Stockton St. Thomas:

• 3,502 baptisms covering 1833-1845
• 1,787 burials covering 1832-1845
• added witnesses to our 335 existing marriages for 1834-1837, giving you 731 new names in which to search
• 45 new marriages from 1 July 1837 to the end of the year

In baptisms, the clerk continued recording the child’s birth order for this whole period, with very few exceptions. Sample baptisms:

• 1 Jan 1833 Octavius Laing, of Stockton, 8th son of James (shipbuilder) & Sarah Laing
• 25 Oct 1838 Edward Wreaks Hodgson, of Stockton, born 5-Sep, 5th son of Edward (chemist) & Martha Hodgson
• 5 Nov 1845 Henrietta [Markham/Jeffrey], 1st daughter (illegitimate) of Henry Markham (ship owner of Smithfield) & Ann Jeffrey (spinster of Stockton)

There was a cholera epidemic in the summer of 1832 which killed 126 people. Sample burials:

• 2 Feb 1832 Thomas Proud, of Stockton, age: 25, died of Asiatic cholera
• 5 Sep 1837 Esther Whitehead, of Stockton, age: 98
• 14 Mar 1841 Margaret Nixon, of Aclam, age: 90
• 12 Aug 1845 Amelia Laverick, of Stockton, age: 93
• 23 Jul 1837 John Pope, of London, age: 14, died of suffocation on board a vessel lying in the river

Four sailors died in the last incident above.

Sample marriages:

• 22 Sep 1834 Nicholas Chapman (bachelor), of the parish of Norton married Mary Hind (spinster), of this parish, by licence
  Witnesses: Elizabeth Chapman, Ann Skipsey, George Robinson
• 28 Aug 1837 George Iley (widower, cordwainer), full age, of Bishop Street, Stockton, son of Matthew Iley (labourer), married Louisa Morton (widow), full age, of Shoulder of Mutton Yard, Stockton, daughter of Christopher Hall (cartwright), by banns
  Witnesses: Stephen Short, Elizabeth Young, Mary Young

If you previously purchased a marriage at Stockton in 1834-1837, you can now view the witnesses by clicking My Previous Orders and reviewing the marriage.

Residences mentioned besides Stockton include Bishopton, Hartburn, Middlesbrough, Norton, Portrack, Preston, Smithfield, South Stockton (Yorkshire), St. Ann’s Hill, Thistle Green, and Witham Hall near Preston.

These are all from the Bishop’s Transcript except baptisms for 1833 and burials for Apr-Dec 1832, which are from the parish register.

6,921 baptisms at Hartlepool Holy Trinity, a chapelry of Hart St. Mary Magdalene located in Throston, from the beginning of the chapel’s register in April 1852 to 21 Sep 1902. Residences mentioned include Egypt (in Hartlepool), Hart Warren, Hartlepool, Middleton, Sherrington [Sheraton], Stockton, Throston, and West Hartlepool.

Samples:

• 15 Apr 1852 William Gibson Hope, of Hartlepool, child of Thomas (chain maker) & Alice Hope
• 13 Jun 1877 William Paul Rowe, of Middleton, child of William (sailor) & Caroline Rowe
• 11 Mar 1901 William Thomas Cox, of Africa, labourer, an African aged about 37
• 14 Sep 1902 Albert Edward Kestar, of Back Frederic St., Hartlepool, child of Charles (labourer) & Emma Kestar

411 marriage bonds filed in 1818 in the Diocese of Durham. These are brand new, not previously in our bond index.

In this period, marriage bonds often provide ages, occupations, place of residence, and sometimes a father or mother 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:

• 7 Sep 1818 Jamson Tongs (widower, mariner), age 21, of Sunderland, County Durham obtained a licence to marry Elizabeth Teasdale (spinster), age 21, of St.Oswald’s, Durham City, directed to Sunderland
  Surety: Robert Tongs, shipwright of Sunderland

• 2 Feb 1818 William Vasey (bachelor, farmer), age 21, of Whitworth, County Durham obtained a licence to marry Mary Turnbull (spinster, minor), age 19, of St.Andrew’s, Auckland, County Durham, daughter of Thomas Turnbull (her natural & lawful father, who consents), directed to St.Andrew
  Surety: Thomas Smith, watchmaker of Bishop Auckland in the parish of St.Andrew’s, Auckland

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. In the first example above, Jamson Tongs was probably actually about 28 or 29, based on baptism and burial records.