Added witnesses to our existing 319 marriages at Tanfield for 1813-1837, giving you 574 new names to search in.

If you previously purchased a marriage at Tanfield in this period, you can now view the witnesses by clicking My Previous Orders and reviewing the marriage.

Samples:

• 16 Sep 1818 John Thompson (mariner) married Jane Turnbull, both of this chapelry, by banns
  Witnesses: Henry Turnbull, Sarah Snowdon, Gilbert Turnbull, John Blaxton
• 29 Feb 1836 Robert Stott (bachelor) married Ann Blaxton (spinster), both of this parish, by licence
  Witnesses: Robert Leighton, John Blaxton, Mary Stott, Jane J. Thompson
• 7 Oct 1837 John Winship (bachelor, engineman), full age, of Tanfield Lea Colliery, son of Amos Winship (engineman), married Elizabeth Greene (spinster), full age, of Tantobie, daughter of Thomas Greene (schoolmaster)
  Witnesses: Thomas Greene, Margaret Winship

At Washington Holy Trinity in Chester-le-Street district:

• 3,172 baptisms  covering 1768-1812
• 759 burials covering 1798-1812, filling in the gap we had and giving us continuous burials at Washington for 1723-1827

Many residents of the adjacent parish of Lamesley used Washington’s parish church for their life events. Residences mentioned include Ayton [Eighton] Banks, Barley Mill, Barmston, Biddick Burn, Birtley, Black Fell, Blue House, Bogg Hole, Botany Bay, C Row, Camp near Ayton, Chatershaugh, Coxgreen, D Pit, F Pit, Fatfield, G Pit, Galloping Green, Gateshead, Glebe Pit, Glebe Row, Great & Little Usworth, Havannah, High Usworth, Hylton Ferry, Lamesley, Mount, Mount Stables & Houses, New Washington, New Winning, Newcastle, New York, North Biddick, Offerton & Offerton Haugh, Old Engine, Old Stables, Oxclose, Peep I See Thee, Penshaw, Portobello, Red Row, South Shields, Springwell House, Sunderland,, Usworth, Waggon Row, Washington, Washington Engine, Washington Row, Washington Staiths, and Washington Woodside.

In baptisms, for most of 1798-99 the mother’s father is named, and for most of 1811-1812 both grandfathers are named. Before 1798, the amount of information given varies – some baptisms show both parents, some show the father’s occupation, and some only show the father’s name. Sample baptisms:

• 31 Jan 1768 John Ranson, of Barmston, son of Michael Ranson (waggoner)
• 7 Apr 1777 Robert Rogerson, of Ayton Banks, son of Philip & Anne Rogerson (his wife, deceased)
• 14 Apr 1777 George Wylam, of the Stables, son of John Wylam (horsekeeper)
• 28 Sep 1786 Isabel [Maughan/Havelock], illegitimate daughter of Thomas Havelock (supposed father) & Mary Maughan (of Great Usworth)
• 3 Feb 1799 Maria Shorter, born 2 Feb, 6th daughter of Brack Shorter (native of North Shields, Northumberland) by his wife Elizabeth Handyside (daughter of Thomas Handyside, native of Morpeth)
• 25 Oct 1812 John Hepplewhite, born 5 Sep, 7th son of William Hepplewhite (collier, son of Ralph Hepplewhite, native of Gateshead) by his wife Eleanor Reay (daughter of Thomas Reay, native of this parish)

In this pair of baptisms, the second record is nicely tied to the first by the mention of the mother’s first husband:

• 17 Apr 1803 Thomas Craike, born 3 Jan, 1st son of John Craike (native of Houghton-le-Spring) by his wife Mary Grundy [Goundry] (native of Billingham)
• 10 Nov 1811 Margaret Reed, born 26 Sep, 1st daughter of George Reed (pitman, son of Matthew Reed, native of Newburn, Northumberland) by his wife Mary Groundy [Goundry] (daughter of Robert Groundy [Goundry], native of Bellingham, Yorkshire, relict of [blank] Craik of this parish)

Sample burials from this golden age of detail:

• 13 Feb 1798 John Ogleby, of Barmston, age: 35, husbandman, died 12 Feb
• 19 Jun 1799 Anne Birtley, of Waggon Rowe, age: 1, died 17 Jun, daughter of Cuthbert Birtley (pitman) & Barbara Kennedy
• 15 Apr 1801 Thomas Hall, of Washington, age: 8, died 13 Apr, 2nd son of John Hall (schoolmaster, deceased) & Elizabeth Shanks
• 1 Dec 1805 Isaac Bradley, age: 25, died 29 Nov, killed by the firing of Oxclose colliery on the morning of the 29th November (27 in all, 24 of them were interred or carried to Penshaw)
• 11 May 1812 Mary Winship late Jefferson, of Biddick Burn, age: 60, died 9 May, wife of Nicholas Winship (pitman)

361 marriage bonds filed in 1820 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:

• 2 Dec 1820 Lazarus Bowser (widower, yeoman), age 65, of Stranton, County Durham obtained a licence to marry Elizabeth Dennison (spinster), age 52, of Kelloe, County Durham, directed to Kelloe
  Surety: Peter Bowlby Marsden, gentleman of Durham City
• 19 Aug 1820 John Vart (bachelor, minor with consent of his natural & lawful father), age 20, of St. Helen’s, Auckland, County Durham, son of Ralph Vart, obtained a licence to marry Margaret Wigham (spinster, minor with consent of her natural & lawful father), age 20, of St. Helen’s, Auckland, daughter of William Wigham, directed to St. Helen
  Surety: George Brownless, of St. Helen’s, Auckland

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.

Added witnesses to our 651 existing marriages at Auckland St. Andrew from 1822 through 1836, giving you an additional 1,345 names to search in. We now have witnesses in all the Auckland St. Andrew marriages that we have online, which cover 1813 to mid-1837 when civil registration started.

Samples:

• 1 Nov 1823 John Matters alias Matthews, of the Parish of Sedgefield married Ann Goundry, of this parish, by banns
  Witnesses: Margaret Goundry, Thomas Stokoe
• 8 Dec 1836 Thomas Race (bachelor), of this parish married Isabella Hull [Hall] (spinster), of this parish, by banns
  Witnesses: John Race, Ralph Race

Why are marriage witnesses important? Well, if you’re lucky enough to have a witness with an uncommon name such as Bateman Wanless, knowing that he was a witness to a marriage on that date establishes that he was both alive and present in the area on that date. Sometimes a person’s presence as a witness is the only clue we have to their whereabouts at that time. Unfortunately, as you probably know, most people were named from a small pool of names like John, Thomas, and Margaret, which makes it hard to know just which John Race (in the example above) is the witness – a father, a brother, or another relative, or simply a neighbor with the same last name – but for uncommon names, marriage witnesses can be quite valuable.

1,268 baptisms and 512 burials at Denton St. Mary in Darlington district, covering 1813-1882, from the Bishop’s Transcript (except 1850 which came from the parish register). Residences mentioned besides Denton include Archdeacon Newton, Bolam, Cockfield, Cuckoo House near Walworth, Darlington, Denton Gate, Denton Grange, Denton Toll Bar, Dyance, Houghton Bank, Houghton le Side, Ingleton, Killerby, Killerby Garths, Leggs Cross, Limekiln Banks, Morton Tinmouth, Old Shildon, Park House, Peel Acres, Piercebridge, Royal Oak, South Church, Summerhouse, Summerhouse Moor, Thornton Hall, Throstle Nest, Walworth, Walworth Castle, Walworth Gate, Walworth Moor, and White Cow.

These records are more valuable than many of this period because the clerk continued giving the mother’s maiden surname in baptisms from 1813 all the way to early 1847. Many burials show the parents of deceased children and husbands of deceased married women from 1813 to the end of 1821, and occasionally after that.

Sample baptisms:

• 23 Apr 1814 George Lamb, of Bolam, child of George Lamb (labourer) & Margaret Trotter
• 24 Feb 1822 Masterman Pearse, of Denton Gate, child of David Pearse (gatekeeper) & Mary Masterman
• 3 May 1835 George Bowron, of Houghton le Side, child of George Bowron (shoemaker) & Jane Best
• 21 Mar 1846 Annas Robinson, of Summerhouse, child of John Robinson (pig jobber) & Elizabeth Ewbank
• 12 Jul 1860 Joseph Alfred Bowron, of Summerhouse, son of George (carpenter) & Charlotte Bowron
• 30 Nov 1882 Charles Clarkson, of Summerhouse, son of Matthew (sheep doctor) & Hannah Clarkson

Sample burials:

• 12 Apr 1813 Ann Gramshaw, of Houghton le Side, age: 54, wife of John Gramshaw
• 13 Sep 1821 Matthew Thorn, of Killerby, age: 1, son of Joseph & Elizabeth Thorn
• 22 May 1861 Sarah Rutter, of Summerhouse, age: 93
• 29 Oct 1878 Ralph Heslop, of Normanby, age: 67, late of Denton and died at Redcar

We also added the witnesses to the 56 existing marriages in 1813 to mid-1837, giving you 155 new names to search in. A sample:

• 4 Oct 1813 George Swinburn, of St.Nicholas, Durham married Ann Sedgwick, of this chapelry, by licence
  Witnesses: Joseph Sedgwick, Thomas Swinburn

If you previously purchased a marriage at Denton, you can now view the witnesses by clicking My Previous Orders and reviewing the marriage.

Replaced the index to marriage bonds in the years 1740-1744 with full details, so those 1,432 records are now instantly available, including 1 new bond that was not in our original 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:

• 21 Feb 1740 Ralph Crow (shipwright), age 24, of All Saints, Newcastle-upon-Tyne obtained a licence to marry Ann Charleton, age 19, of All Saints, daughter of Alice Lawson (widow), directed to All Saints
  Surety: Alice Lawson, widow, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
  [Note: married 23 Feb at All Saints]
• 1 Dec 1744 Benjamin Wilson (gentleman, widower), age 48, of St.Nicholas, Newcastle-upon-Tyne obtained a licence to marry Mary Clark, age 40, of Gosforth, Northumberland, directed to St.Nicholas or Gosforth
  Surety: George Liddell, of Gateshead
  [Note: married 25 Dec at Gosforth]

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.

593 baptisms and 471 burials at Norton St. Mary in Stockton district, covering 1835-1846, from the Bishop’s Transcript. Residences mentioned besides Norton include Carlton (YKS), Darlington, Elton, Grindon, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Seaton, and Stockton.

Sample baptisms:

• 30 Mar 1835 Henrietta Elizabeth Wilson, of Norton, child of Charles Calvert Wilson (sailor) & Elizabeth
• 21 Apr 1839 Ventress Dixon, of Norton, child of James (miller) & Jane Dixon, aged 9 years
• 1 Oct 1846 Arthur Gibbons Brady, of Norton, child of Henry (paymaster & engineman) & Christiana Brady

Sample burials:

• 13 Sept 1844 Ann Donkin, of Norton, age: 99
• 24 July 1842 Margaret Worthy, of Grindon, age: 88
• 28 Aug 1835 Henry Stapylton, of Norton, age: 81

13,644 burials at Gateshead East Cemetery covering 1875-1884.

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:

• 18 Sep 1875 Bridget McDermott, of Sheriff Hill, age: 87, wife of Patrick McDermott
• 1 Jul 1877 Martha Millen, of Old Engine, age: 101, widow
• 12 Jan 1879 Thomas Young Hodgson, of 1 Lincoln Street, age: 15, son of Henry Hodgson
• 13 Aug 1880 Eneas [Aeneas] Pearce, of 15 Prince Consort Road, age: 34, railway guard, killed near Berwick on Tweed
• 25 Jan 1882 James Lamb, of 12 Queens Terrace, age: 45, ship builder
• 30 Dec 1884 Elizabeth Beaty, of 19 Hawk’s Cottages, age: 68, widow of John Beaty

Besides street addresses in Gateshead, residences mentioned include Allheusen’s Village, Backfield Farm, Bensham, Bill Quay, Bottle Bank, Busy Burn Quay, Carr’s Hill, Chatham, Cramer Dykes, Deptford House, Dunston, Felling, Felling Gate, Felling Shore, Friars Goose, Greengates, Hawk’s Cottages, High Felling, High Teams, Low Fell, Low Felling, Low Teams, Mount Greenwich, Mount Pleasant, New Gateshead, Newcastle, New Gateshead, Old Engine, Old Fold, Quarryfield, Rabbit Banks, Redheugh, Salt Meadows, Sedgefield, Shear Legs, Sheriff Hill, Shipcote Farm, South Shore, Teams, Tyne Main, Wind Mill Hills, Windy Nook, and Wrekenton.

379 baptisms at Whitburn St. Mary in South Shields district, covering 1798-1812 (the golden era of baptism detail). The Whitburn clerk was apparently a little slow to catch on to Bishop Barrington’s new requirements, as he did not start adding the father’s occupation until July 1798 and finally the mother’s maiden surname and nativity in October 1798. After that, he gets bonus points for including the name of the mother’s father!

Samples:

• 18 Feb 1798 Christian Reah, born 18 Jan, daughter of Jacob & Eliz. [Elizabeth] Reah
• 23 Sep 1798 Keziah Nott, born 6 Jan, daughter of John (of the Surry Militia) & Rebekah Nott
• 9 Oct 1798 John Fishwick Gibson, born 29 Jul, 1st son of John Gibson (gentleman) by his wife Mary Fishwick (daughter of Richd. Fishwick, native of Kingston upon Hull)
• 3 Dec 1811 Margaret Allan, born 4 Nov 1809, 9th child and 3rd daughter of Peter Allan (shoemaker, native of Gledmore, East Loudon, North Britain) & Jane late Kinley (daughter of Archibald Kinley, labr., native of Ternant, N.B.)

Whitburn is an ancient parish of County Durham, surrounded at this time by Monkwearmouth to the south, Boldon to the west, and South Shields to the north. Residences mentioned include Boldon, Cleadon, Harton, and Whitburn. Generally in this period, the current residence of the parents is not mentioned; instead, their birthplaces are given.