WANTED PLEASE! - NDFHS

1 CONTENTSVol 25, No 4 Winter 2000 Editorial ..106 Thank You ..106 Letters to the Editor ..107 News ..109 Waskerley School ..by Joyce Wilson112 Did People Divorce in the 1850's? ..113 Book Reviews ..1141861 Census: Missing Page ..115 French Proverb ..115A Pinch of Salt ..by James Parker116 Bolbec Hall Christmas Closing ..116 Message in a Bottle ..by Bill Mustard117 Executions in County Durham 1732-1860 .. __ ..__byJoy Walker118A Tragic Family ..by J Ken Brown119 From Darlington to New South Wales .. _,..byLesley Bramble120 Notice to all Course Organisers & Course Members .. ,. ,. ,..,.. Marriages ..121 Northumberland and Durham Family History Society Conference ..,.. ,. ,.. 122St Brandon's Church, Brancepth ..by Peter Hull123 Wallsend Pit Disaster ..by Colin Wanless124 Bell Family Bible ..125 NDFHS Checklist (3): Marriage Registers - West Northumberland 1837-1936.

2 126 Directory of Members' Interests ..127 Chatham Convict Prison - 1871 Census .. ,by Stephen W Maddison 128 Stop Press: News from Years Ago ..129 Willie Harding (1820-1898) and the Blaydon Races .. by Dennis Harding130 Tricycles and Steamers ..by Susan Watson131 Northumbrian Stalwarts ..131 Members' Interests and Queries ..132 Advertisements ..138 Diary ..140 please note any advertisements have been accepted by the Northumberland and Durham FHS, as a service to members, and in good faith. TheSociety is in no way responsible for any services performed and cannot become involved in any way, or in any disputes which may arise. TheSociety reserves the right to refuse any advertisements, without giving ITEMS IN THIS JOURNAL 2000 NORTHUMBERLAND AND DURHAM FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY AND ITS you renewed yourNDFHS Membership?

3 Members are reminded that this is the lastNDFHS Journal that they will receive aspart of their 2000 subscription and tocontinue their membership they shouldreturn their subscription for 2001 as soon aspossible, preferably with the renewals formthat was included with the Autumn editionof the PLEASE! BOLBEC HALL needs moreVOLUNTEERSto staff the Centre and help new mornings and Tuesdays especially, butoffers for any weekday will be muchappreciated. Shifts last 3 hours, 10am-1 pm and1pm-4pm. please contact Sheila Senior orGerry various ongoing projects, two large card indexes bequeathedby Don Mason and Bill Rounce; transcribingparish registers in Record Offices; inputtingdata (very easy!). please contact Gerry Langleyat Bolbec Hall if far back is it possible to trace one's family? This isa favourite question whenever genealogists gettogether, and my Spring 2000 Editorial pointed to oneproblem, that of missing parish and other registers,which may have contained the only written record ofone's humbler antecedents.

4 Without these records, onecan not get back further in time. Correspondents in thisand other Family History journals have also remindedus of the human frailty factor. There must have beenthousands of babies born to married couples whosefather was not the name on the baptismal register orbirth certificate. It is small wonder that somecommunities have in the past trusted only thosegenealogies that showed descent from mothers todaughters over the generations. But despite suchquibbles, one can still yearn for a reasonably reliableline that goes back beyond the mid-18th century, sooften the graveyard of our tidying my office recently, I came across a bookthat had long lain hidden behind a stack of papers:Pedigree and Progress,by Sir Anthony Wagner,published Phillimore (1976). This collection of essays ingenealogy by the then Garter King of Arms included achapter entitled 'Bridges to Antiquity'.

5 In this essay,Wagner endeavoured to show that there were certainkey persons in British history who acted as gateways orbridges to lengthy genealogies stretching back to theearlyMedieval period and even into the Dark Ages. Ifanyone reading this article is descended from GeorgeWashington, you may be interested to know that thereis a half-plausible line that stretches back to a youngerson of Gospatrick III, Earl of Dunbar (died 1166). Onecan trace from him to King Duncan, murdered byMacBeth in 1040, and from him again, back to the HighKings of Ireland. Of these, the earliest known is Niall ofthe Nine Hostages who died in 405!This may seem just a bit fanciful especially if you arestill struggling to find John and Isabella Cannyboddy inthe 1891 census. But it can be done, with a lot of luck, itseems. The trick is to find some proof of descent fromcertain aristocratic families, and to go from there.

6 This isnot so fanciful. The aristocracy's younger sons andEDITORIALTHANK YOUdaughters were married quite often into the yeomanryor into 'trade' if no better could be found, and theirdescendants are legion. We might have to attempt totracemany lines back in the hope of finding one suchlink. I have so far completely failed to do this with myfamily! But if you could find, say, a link with such aman as James Stanley, Earl of Derby (1607-1651), thenyou could have a reasonably sound tree stretching backto Luis Duke of Savoy (d. 1468) and from him back tothe ancient kings of Armenia. You could numberamong your ancestors such men as Ashot theCarnivorous (806-826) whose short but doubtlesscolourful life was just one episode in the history of theArmenian royal family which stretches back, with afew dotted lines, to the reign of Artavazd I, Prince ofthe Mamikonids, circa a less ambitious scale, it ought to be reasonablyfeasible to find a link with a local family whosebranches go back to a 'gateway' ancestor, generally ayounger son or daughter of landed gentry.

7 Forexample, some Thorntons of Rothbury and area weredescended from Nicholas Thornton ( ) a landedgentleman who could count among his ancestry suchfamiliesastheSwinburnes of Capheaton,Widdringtons of Widdrington, and Percys, earls ofNorthumberland. This is not to forget Nicholas's ownfamous ancestor, Roger Thornton, a commoner whomade good in late 15th century Newcastle and whosemonumental brass in All Saints' Church is one of thefinest in is fair to say that anyone who did trace his familyback as far as William the Conqueror, let alone Ashotthe Carnivorous, would have so tiny a proportion ofthe royal blood in his veins that one might ask whetherall the effort involved was worth it. For many,however, the rewards obtained just by hunting makethe pursuit of genealogy worthwhile, and discoveringone's roots simply increases the pleasure 2001 prove to be both rewarding and enjoyable forall our members, to whom the Chairman and Councilextend our warmest good wishes for Christmas and theNew Furness would like to thank all the members who wrote volunteering their services for the 1891 Census very pleased to hear from you.

8 If you have not heard from me yet, I will be writing in the near future. Work onNewcastle, North and South Shields and Gateshead is going well but volunteers for areas of Northumberland arebadly ,CCiDWiENiSMr Colin A Nesbitt, of 16 Western Way, KidderminsterDY11 6JF, writes:I read with interest Geoff Nicholson's article on page123 of the Winter '99 issue of the NDFHS magazine. Idoagree that every care should be taken in handlingoriginal is it then that, in programmes such as BBC'sHistory File & Channel Four's Time Team, we seemany people including Doctors and Professors, whoshould know better, examining books, manuscripts etc.,withbare hands?THOSE GIBSONSMr Keith Armstrong, of 71 Brantwood Avenue, WhitleyBay, Tyne and Wear NE25 SNL, writes:Many thanks for publishing my article "Weddings asEntertainment" (Journal Vol 25 No 3 p83).

9 As a result ofyour Note at the end of it, I have received a letter withcopies of the Marriage Certificate forWilliamGibson(the newspapers got the first name wrong) and the permission of my informant, who does notwish to be named, the following information can was born in Sunderland, and almost nothing isknown about that part of her life. Children of herbrother, John Sherwood, moved to Darlington, wherethey had a forsook the normal family business of slatingand odd jobbing for work with his cousin-in-law as achimney sweep. This apparently allowed him to carryon his hobby of rowing without interference from hisfamily. At the marriage, James Renforth, the championsculler stood as Witness. After the wedding, the couplelived in Shieldfield before moving to Hinde Street inScotswood, then to George Street where Eliza took inlodgers and William pursued his business (andpleasure).

10 They had two sons, James Henry and William Henry forsook chimney sweeping, marriedEliza's servant girl against his mother's wishes andbecame a successful Turf Accountant whilst his newwife founded a chain of Greengrocery shops. He diedin 1933 at the age of 63. Until 1998, there has been a JimGibson, Turf Accountant at every major northern RaceMeeting. William Goodall Gibson followed his fatherinto the chimney sweeping business. He died of lungdisease at the age of died in 1903 at the age of 58, of PthisisPulmonalis (Tuberculosis).LETTERS TO THE EDITORE liza died in the Hospital For Incurables in 1912 ofParalysis Agitans, possibly Parkinson's Disease at theage of apparently won a number of cups andtrophies for his rowing. These have been missing sinceabout 1970 following the death of a , James Renforth was as much revered inhis day as Shearer is today, rowing being as popular asport then as football is this will jog a few memories, and we may nowhear from descendants of "The Black Knight of theBottle", and his bride "The Tea and Coffee Duchess".