Replaced the index to marriage bonds in the years 1731-1734 with full details, so those 1,116 records are now instantly available, including 3 we missed the first time around.

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:

• 23 Oct 1734 William Laidler (sadler), of St.Nicholas, Newcastle-upon-Tyne obtained a licence to marry Elizabeth Turner, of St.Nicholas, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, directed to St.Nicholas or Whickham
  Surety: John Laidler, yeoman, of Derwent Haugh
  [Note: married 27 Oct at Whickham]

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.

11,896 burials at Christ Church in Tynemouth (Northumberland) covering 1813-1835. These are a combination of Bishop’s Transcript and parish register entries, for maximum detail.

Tynemouth is just across the River Tyne from South Shields, Jarrow, and Hebburn, and lots of Durham families moved back and forth across the river, following the colliery jobs and port-related work. Residences mentioned (besides streets in North Shields) include Allotment, Alnwick, Backwell or Balkwell, Backworth, Benton Square (Longbenton), Billow or Billy Mill, Blyth, Burdon Main, Carrville (Wallsend), Chirton, Clifford’s Fort, Coble Dean, Collingwood Main, Cullercoats, Earsdon, East Howdon, Flatworth, Gateshead, Half Moon Bank, Hayhole, High Chirton, High Flatworth, Howdon and Howdon Pans, Killingworth, Lime Kiln Shore, London, Low Chirton, Low Flatworth, Low Light(s), Monkseaton, Moor Houses, Morpeth, Mount Pleasant, Murton, New Whitley, New York, Newcastle, North Shields, Percy Main, Philadelphia (County Durham), Preston, Shiremoor, South Preston, South Shields, Spittle Dean, the Poor House, Tynemouth, Tynemouth Barracks, Garrison, and Castle, Wallsend, Whitehill Point, Whitley, Whitley Hillhead, Willington, Wooden Bridge, and various ships moored in the harbour.

The clerk continued recording parents, occupations, and spouses, including the parents of some quite elderly spinsters – see the first example below. Sometimes even the deceased’s birthplace was included. Tynemouth, being a port town, had more than the usual share of drownings, and it was hit hard by the cholera epidemic of 1832. In some cases, the clerk linked the burials of family members with references – see the last burial below for an example.

Sample burials:

• 29 Mar 1832 Mary Bell, of Low Street near the Library Stairs, age: 76, spinster daughter of Thomas (mariner of South Shields) & Jane Bell
• 09 Jan 1813 Ralph Brodie, of Camden Street, age: 3 months, son of Robert Brodie
• 22 Dec 1819 Dorothy Glasper, of Milburn Place, age: 45, wife of Richard Glasper
• 25 May 1827 Isabella Etherington, of Chirton, age: 55, widow of William Etherington
• 01 Apr 1832 John Blake Taaff, of Newcastle, but for the last ten days at Tynemouth Garrison, age: 15 months, son of Christopher & Catherine Taaff, buried at Tynemouth Garrison
• 01 Sep 1831 Roger Grey, of Tynemouth, age: 69, waiter at the Star & Garter, died Tuesday
• 24 Feb 1831 John Davis, of H.M.Ship Samarang now in this harbour, Captain William F. Martin, age: 35, seaman
• 10 May 1833 Isabella Heron, of North Shields, native of Woodhorn, age: 70, wife of John Heron
• 08 Sep 1835 John Turner, of Bell Street, age: 19, son of George (deceased sailor) & Elizabeth Turner, drowned a fortnight yesterday off at Souter
• 09 Jan 1832 George Swaddle, of Union Quay, Low Lights, age: 43, died of cholera, see no 63
  [Note: The reference is to the burial of his wife Jane later this year.]

The oldest person in this set was:

• 13 Jan 1814 Eleanor Gibson, of Whitley, age: 108

This set caused our number of burials to cross the 900,000 mark !

3,930 baptisms and 2,342 burials at Auckland St. Helen covering 1825-1854, from the Bishop’s Transcript.

The clerk continued recording the mother’s maiden surname in most baptisms all the way through this set. We wish all clerks had done the same! However, there was a startlingly high incidence of clerical errors or mysteries in this set. Here are some examples, with the notes we added after researching these anomalies, and our corrections in square brackets as always:

• 3 Mar 1853 John Lamb, of West Auckland, son of Alexander Lamb (labourer) & Mary [Margaret] Brogden
  [Note: Likely a clerical error. The mother is Margaret Brogden in the parents' marriage, an earlier baptism, and in the 1861 census.]
• 7 Nov 1847 Stephen Lamb, of West Auckland, 4th son of William [Alexander] Lamb (labourer) & Mary [Margaret] Broughton
  [Note: Likely clerical error. Alexander Lamb & Margaret Brogden or Broughton had several children in this parish in this period, and Stephen appears as their son in the 1851 census.]
• 18 Apr 1840 William Wilson, of St. Helen Auckland, 2nd son of James Wilson (pitman) & Christiana Hunter [Jones]
  [Note: The mother is Christiana Jones in several other baptisms and in the parents' marriage. Her father was almost certainly Hunter Jones. We don't understand why she is listed as Christian Hunter in several baptisms.]

If anyone can shed any light on the above mysteries, please let us know.

There are also a number of baptisms that first appear to exhibit problems, but for which an explanation can be found. For example, at first glance, this pair of baptisms seems to show two marriages for Henry Armstrong, first to Elizabeth Rand and then to Elizabeth Teesdale:

• 24 Jun 1834 Henry Armstrong, of West Auckland, 1st son of Henry Armstrong (pitman) & Elizabeth Rand
• 26 Aug 1844 Esther Armstrong, of West Auckland, 3rd daughter of Henry Armstrong (pitman) & Elizabeth Teesdale

but a little research reveals that there is just one Elizabeth, causing us to add this note to the first baptism (and index her as Teesdale so searches for her maiden name will find her):

• [Note: Elizabeth Teesdale married William Rand in 1831, then married Henry Armstrong in 1834. She is called Teesdale in other baptisms to this couple.]

This illustrates how sometimes the name recorded is actually the mother’s maiden surname, and sometimes, it is her previous married surname. One wonders how this happened. Was it the husband, remembering that when he married her, she was called Rand ? Or the clerk, remembering the same thing and entering the name from his own memory? Surely Elizabeth herself would have said her maiden surname was Teesdale. Yet there are two more baptisms for this couple in this record set, one listing Elizabeth as Rand and one listing her as Teesdale, so the same thing happened at least once more.

Just to make things challenging, there was also a family in this parish who went by Bell, Howe, and Bell alias Howe ! We don’t know if the child below was part of that family, but it’s an interesting baptism either way:

• 1 Jan 1825 William Howe, of Bridge House, 2nd son of John (hay stealer, for which he was transported for the term of 7 years at the Michaelmas Sessions at Durham in the year 1823) & Hannah Howe

This baptism illustrates another problem with this register:  sometimes the mother’s maiden surname is listed as being the same as her married surname, which may or may not be true. It’s certainly possible that Hannah Howe married John Howe, but often an examination of other baptisms to the same couple will reveal a different maiden surname for the bride. If you come across a case like this, don’t assume the maiden surname is correct until you gather more evidence, which may be conflicting !

The burials up to the end of 1837 are highly valuable because they give pre-1813-style details:

• 4 Feb 1825 Mary Worth, of Etherly Lane, age: 4, 1st daughter of Thomas (stonemason) & Elizabeth Worth
• 26 Dec 1826 Matthew Eales, of St. Helen Auckland, age: 57, parish clerk for nearly 20 years
• 23 Dec 1834 Elizabeth Vasey, of Evenwood, age: 36, wife of Thomas Vasey
• 22 Nov 1850 Charlotte Greg [McGregg/McGregor], of West Auckland, age: 35
  [Note: McGregor in the GRO death index.]

The oldest person in this set was:

• 27 Apr 1834 Elizabeth Collingwood, of West Auckland, age: 104, widow

Residences mention include Aycliffe, Bildershaw, Bishop Auckland, Bolton Garths, Blue House, Brecon Hill, Brusselton, Burns House, Butterknowl(e), Cockfield, Cockton Hill, Cox House, Crook, Day Gill, Etherley, Evenwood, Fielding or Fylands Bridge, Gagers Arms, Gordon, Greenfield, Hilton in Staindrop parish, Humber Beck (Hummerbeck), Hunter Hill, Hunwick, Ingleton, Lands, Lutterington, Morley, New Moors, North Leases, Oaks, Raby, Ramshaw, Rowntree, Shildon, Sloshes, Spring Garden(s), St. Helen Auckland, Staindrop Field House, Sugar Hill, Sunny Brow, Toft Hill, Weather Hill, West Auckland, White House, Widehope, Wide Open, Windlestone, Witton Park, Wood End, and Wood House(s).

384 marriage bonds filed in 1819 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:

• 11 Jun 1819 Thomas Heppell (bachelor, mariner, minor with consent of his natural & lawful father), age 20, of Wallsend, Northumberland, son of Richard Heppell, obtained a licence to marry Ann Simpson (spinster, minor with consent of her natural & lawful mother), age 19, of Wallsend, daughter of Jane Wanlas, directed to Wallsend
  Surety: Richard Heppell, shipowner of Wallsend

This bond tells us that Ann Simpson’s mother is now called Jane Wanlas, so she has gotten married, and it also tells us that Jane is still alive and probably living in Wallsend. It also gives us the groom’s father and his occupation and location (assuming the father is the surety). Having the ages of the bride and groom makes it easier to locate them in the 1841 and later censuses, and helps identify who they are if you are looking at several people with the same names but different ages. Note that “age 21” means “21 and upwards” in these documents.

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.

Continuing to fill in some previously omitted information, we added the occupations to 909 baptisms at Houghton-le-Spring for the years 1824 and 1830. We apologize for the seeming randomness of the years; we fill in occupations when we have some spare time and happen to be in the register for some other reason, and 1824 and 1830 happened to be where we had work to do. If you previously purchased a baptism at Houghton in 1824 or 1830, you can now view the father’s occupation by clicking My Previous Orders and reviewing the baptism. We will continue to add occupations to existing baptisms as time permits.

Sample baptism:  10 Oct 1824 Ann Watson, of Newbottle, daughter of Richard (flint miller) & Elizabeth Watson

6,191 burials at Gateshead East Cemetery in Gateshead district.  Besides street addresses in Gateshead, residences mentioned include Bensham, Bill Quay, Bottle Bank, Burney Villas, Carr’s Hill, Chatham, Cross Keys, Felling, Felling Shore, Friars Goose, Gateshead Low Fell, Hawks Cottages, High Felling, Hood’s Field, Low Felling, Low Norwood, Low Teams, Mount Pleasant, Newcastle, New Gateshead, Old Engine, Old Fold Pit, Rabbit Banks, Redheugh, Salt Meadows, Shear Legs, Sheriff Hill, South Shore, Tyne Main, Wind Mill Hills, and Windy Nook.

Because these are municipal cemetery records, not church burial records, they present many more genealogically useful details – 99% of these records give either an occupation, parent, or husband’s name. Some samples:

• 17 Oct 1871 Jane Shaw, of 48 Ann Street, age: 94, widow of Bernard Shaw
• 7 Sep 1870 Joseph Ingham, of High Street, age: 88, provision dealer
• 14 Mar 1871 Mary Purvis, of Ellison Street, age: 84, wife of Joseph Purvis
• 28 Jun 1871 Mary Ann Glendinning, of 3 Coburg Street, age: 28, daughter of John Glendinning (deceased)
• 28 Aug 1870 George Slight Roy, of 11 Grahamsley Street, age: 17, son of Thomas Roy (deceased)
• 9 Sep 1871 Michael Gilroy, of Oakwellgate, age: 57, cooper, died of smallpox

The oldest person in this period was:

• 7 May 1870 Daniel Markey, of Hillgate, age: 99, labourer

253 baptisms and 157 burials at Bywell St. Andrew in Hexham district, Northumberland, covering 1813-1843 plus one burial in Feb 1844, from the Bishop’s Transcript. Residences mentioned include Acomb, Bearl, Birches Nook, Brocksbushes or Broxbushes, Broomhaugh, Bywell, Bywell Hall and Vicarage, Corbridge, Entry Well, Hall Moor, High Shilford, Holerow, Lee, Minsteracres, Newton, Ovington Lodge, Ovingham, Riding, Riding Hills, Riding Mill, Shilford Cottage and Fell, Stay-the-Voyage, Stocksfield Hall, Styford, White Hembles, and Whiteside.

In the burials, the clerk continued recording pre-1813-style details such as relationships until the end of 1819.

Sample burials:

• 27 May 1813 William Daglish, of Broxbushes, age: 9, son of William Daglish (hind)
• 17 Dec 1818 Mary Marley, of Styford, age: 48, wife of Ralph Marley (steward)
• 15 Dec 1836 Margaret Fenwick, of Bywell, age: 90

Sample baptisms:

• 1 Apr 1821 Bella [Rowell/Waugh], illegitimate daughter of Alexander Rowell (millwright of Barrowsford) & Saray [Sarah] Waugh (of Bywell)
• 28 Aug 1831 Hannah Brown, of Riding, daughter of Clementson (carpenter) & Margaret Brown
• 18 Jun 1841 Lucy Grey, of Styford, daughter of Charles Bacon Grey (esquire) & Emily

We also added 67 marriages at Bywell covering 1813 to June 1837 when civil registration started. Here’s a sample:

• 2 Nov 1830 William Havelock, of the parish of St Hilda, South Shields married Jane Richardson, of this parish, by licence
  Witnesses: John Havelock, William Richardson

3.082 baptisms and 1,343 burials at Stockton St. Thomas covering 1846-1858. Baptisms for 1846 and Sep 1855-Nov 1858 and burials for 1846 and 1855-57 were transcribed from the parish register; the rest are from the Bishop’s Transcripts.

As in the last set of baptisms we uploaded for this parish, the clerk kindly continued recording the child’s order within the family, which is very helpful to us researchers trying to restructure the families of the past. However, don’t rely on this information, as the clerk (or parents) did not always get it right. Sometimes children who died were not counted later, so you may find 2 entries a few years apart, both claiming to be the “2nd son” of the same couple, because the first “2nd son” died in infancy.

Sample baptisms:

• 7 Jul 1850 Emma Quinton, of Stockton, 10th daughter of James (sailor) & Elizabeth Quinton
• 18 Jul 1857 Sophia Banks, of Stockton, 12th daughter of Joseph (weaver) & Jane Banks
• 27 Aug 1848 James Holmes Barrett, of Stockton, 8th son of Thomas (flaxdresser) & Jane Barrett

Sample burials:

• 15 Feb 1847 James Moss, of Stockton, age: 80
• 26 Jul 1857 Mary Greenwood, of Stockton, age: 91
• 1 May 1853 John Skipsey, of Leeds, age: 21, died from an accident on the railway, near Yarm Junction

Residences mentioned besides Stockton include Darlington, Hartburn, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Norton, Portrack, Preston, South Stockton (Yorkshire), St. Ann’s Hill, and Yarm (Yorkshire).