New Durham records

Holly Cochran, Site Manager of Durham Records Online, has sent a long message about what’s new on the site:

Durham Records Online passed 2 milestones this week (says Holly)! Our 500,000th burial was at Barnard Castle:

• 22 Feb 1842 Elizabeth Bell, of Barnard Castle, age: 14

and our total record count passed the 2.8 million mark!

Gateshead St. Mary baptisms & burials 1813-1818

Our first baptisms and burials at Gateshead St. Mary, from the Bishop’s Transcript, from 1813 to 1818 inclusive:

• 1,945 baptisms
• 1,295 burials

The curate recorded the mother’s maiden name in baptisms until the end of April 1814. After that, he recorded mother’s maiden names once in a while for unknown reasons. Sample:

• 15 Jan 1813 John Dewar, of Gateshead, child of Daniel Dewar (joiner) & Margaret Butler

Gateshead St. Mary was a large parish, serving residents of Gateshead, Gateshead Fell, Heworth, Ayton or Eighton Banks in Lamesley parish, and parts of Newcastle just across the river.

Stockton St. Thomas burials 1762-1797
3,550 burials at Stockton St. Thomas, 1762-1797. Most burials name the spouse of a deceased woman, the parents of dead children, or the occupation of a deceased man. Some burials list the cause of death if it was dramatic or somehow out of the ordinary. Some examples:

• 1 Jan 1762 Thomas Dunn, son of Tobias Dunn (shipmaster) & Eleanor
• 4 Sep 1764 Nicholas Lacey, of the Poorhouse, barber
• 8 Dec 1767 Stephen Storey, apprentice with John Coates an anchorsmith
• 4 May 1770 Catherine Taylor, wife of Joseph Taylor (joiner)
• 30 Jan 1789 Elizabeth Wilson, of Hartlepool, relict [widow] of Thomas Wilson
• 6 Jul 1787 Henry Preston, surgeon, by a fall from his horse

Great Stainton baptisms & burials 1762-1855
At Great Stainton, also known as Stainton-le-Street, from the Bishop’s Transcript with extensive cross-checking against the original parish register, plus some missing records added from the register:

• 366 baptisms 1762 to 1855
• 148 burials June 1762- April 1854

The Stainton register was a mess. Especially in the 1760s-1790s, it seemed to have had numerous baptisms recorded on scraps of paper that were then stuck into the register. We found several baptisms in the Bishop’s Transcript that could not be found in the original register, leading us to assume they were lost from the original register after the Bishop’s Transcript was made. This parish, in Stockton district, served residents of Elstob, Bishopton, Aycliffe, Woodham, and of course Stainton-le-Street. A sample baptism from the detail-rich period:

• 25 Dec 1797 Ann Boazman, born 20 Nov 1797, daughter of John Boazman (of this parish) & Ann his wife late Byers (of Little Staynton, Bishopton)

South Shields St. Hilda baptisms 1830

• 592 baptisms at South Shields St. Hilda’s in the year 1830

Merrington baptisms & burials 1813-1821
At Merrington St. John the Evangelist, also known as Kirk Merrington, 1813-1821, from the Bishop’s Transcript:

• 351 baptisms
• 211 burials
• added the marriage witnesses to our existing Merrington marriages for this period

Merrington or Kirk Merrington parish, in Auckland district, included residents of Butcher Race, Chilton, Ferryhill, Hett, Merrington, Middlestone, Rushyford, Tudhoe, and Windlestone.

Barnard Castle baptisms & burials 1834-1842
At Barnard Castle St. Mary, for 1834-1842, from the Bishop’s Transcript:

• 1,508 baptisms
• 1,147 burials

The oldest person in this burial set was:

• 19 Nov 1839 Mary Longstaff, of Barnard Castle, age: 99

People baptized with the most lengthy interesting names:

• 29 Jul 1834 Richard Darlew Higson Waddilove, of Barnard Castle, son of Richard Darlew Higson Waddilove (cooper) & Elizabeth
• 5 Dec 1842 Louisa Ann Barthropp Shafto, of Barnard Castle, daughter of John Delavel Shafto (spirit merchant) & Anne

As well as Barnard Castle, residences listed include Marwood, Stainton, Startforth. Streatlam, Romaldkirk, Langleydale, Kinninvie, and Westwick.

Durham St. Nicholas burials 1813-1818

92 burials at Durham St. Nicholas 1813-1818, from the Bishop’s Transcript. Occasionally the clerk included parents or occupations for the deceased. St. Nicholas included Claypath, the House of Corrections, and the Workhouse.

Croxdale baptisms 1787-1812 & marriages 1798-1812
From Croxdale St. Bartholomew, in Durham district, serving Croxdale and the adjacent parishes of Brancepeth, Bishop Middleham and Kirk Merrington:
25 marriages 1798-1812, including witnesses, from the parish register
176 baptisms 1787-1812, from the Bishop’s Transcript and the parish register. Here’s one from a large family:

• 22 Jan 1804 Stephen Greenwell, born 26-Dec 1803, 11th son of William Greenwell (native of Merrington) by his wife Mary Sedgewick (native of St. Andrew, Auckland)

Croxdale is not indexed by the IGI, so may provide some new discoveries for researchers.

Durham St. Giles baptisms & burials 1813-1818
237 baptisms and 191 burials at Durham St. Giles from 1813 to the end of 1818, from the Bishop’s Transcript. In 1818, for some reason, the clerk returned to the old practice of listing a child’s parents in a burial, and the spouse of a deceased woman, plus some occupations. For example:

• 21 Aug 1818 Thomas Tilly, of St. Nicholas, age: 3 weeks, son of John Tilly (weaver) & Elizabeth
• 7 Jul 1818 Eleanor Moody, of St. Giles, age: 73, wife of William Moody (blacksmith)

Burials and baptisms here included residents of St. Oswald, St. Nicholas, Milburn Gate, Framwellgate, and North Bailey. There were several births to women in the House of Correction (gaol), and parents from places as far-flung as Ireland (a soldier in the 4th Irish Dragoons) and a silkweaver from Glasgow, Scotland.

Darlington burials 1798-1812
1,848 burials at Darlington St. Cuthbert’s in the detail-rich period of 1798 to the end of 1812, from the Bishop’s Transcript. You can expect to discover the parents of deceased children, mother’s maiden surnames, married women’s maiden surnames, and much more. Some examples:

• 28 Aug 1801 Ann Headlam late Umpleby, of Leeds, Yorkshire, age: 87, died 25 Aug, widow of Thomas Allan, a labourer, and of Thomas Headlam (woolcomber)
• 11 Nov 1800 John Chipchase, of Darlington, age: 6 months, died 9 Nov, son of George Chipchase (printer) & Jane his wife late Matters [Matthews]
• 18 Feb 1798 Mary Smith late Plews, of Barnard Castle, age: 39, died 16 Feb, wife of John Smith (weaver of Darlington, native of London), died of childbed

In addition to Darlington, residences listed include Archdeacon Newton, Auckland, Aycliffe, Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland, Blackwell, Cockerton, Cockfield, Denton, Egglescliffe, Gainford, Haughton-le-Skerne, Hurworth, Staindrop, Stainton, Stockton, plus the Yorkshire communities of Ainderby Steeple, Appleton-le-Wisk, Barton, Croft, Eryholme, Hudswell, Long Cowton, Masham, Marske, Northallerton, Richmond, Romaldkirk, Thirsk, and Yarm, and some Westmorland communities as well.

There were several epidemics in this period of smallpox, scarlet fever, measles, and whooping cough, which killed many children, but the most frequently stated cause of death was “decline”, which covered any wasting disease, most often probably consumption (tuberculosis). “Convulsions” was cited as the cause of death for many infants. There are also frequent cases of apoplexy, consumption, dropsy, fever, childbirth, and a few cases of accidents, burnings, drownings, suicide, intemperance, hydrocephalus, and the unpleasant-sounding “worm fever”.

Hamsterley burials 1813-1819
115 burials at Hamsterley St James 1813-1819, from the Bishop’s Transcript. The clerk was kind enough to continue the practice of including the occupations of deceased men, the parents of deceased children, and husbands of deceased women. For example:

• 24 Dec 1819 John Hardy, of Stonechester, age: 73, blacksmith
• 21 Mar 1818 Jane Best, of Southside, age: 10 months, daughter of John Best (gardener) & Sarah
• 12 Feb 1816 Ann Baxter, of Gibsnees, age: 52, wife of Robert Baxter (farmer)

These have actually been online for a few weeks, but we forgot to announce them!

Ryton baptisms 1640-1681 updated
Replaced the baptism index for Ryton Holy Cross 1640-1681 will full entries, so the details of those 3,062 baptisms are now instantly available. Added 4 newly found baptisms in this period.

Coming Soon:

• Heighington marriages, baptisms, and burials
• Methodist baptisms for Crook and Tow Law areas
• Hart burials and marriages
• Sunderland cemetery burials 1865-69
• various records from Houghton-le-Spring, Auckland St. Helen, Byers Green, Trimdon, Wolsingham, Gateshead Fell, Jarrow, Kelloe, Norton, Staindrop, Shildon, Hurworth, and Washington

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