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I need to try and trace a baptism for my 5 x grandfather. He seems to have lived most of his life in Essex but his birthplace is given as Sunderland, Northumberland! The ages I have on the 1841 and 1851 census and on his death cert are pretty consistent with a birth year of 1760-1762. Given that I can't be any more specific than 'Sunderland', can anyone give me any pointers in the right direction to try and track him down. Thanks Lou

Hi Lou, I've had a couple from Sunderland and have found them listed as Durham, Northumberland and Tyne & Wear, so you need to cast your net wide! Also have you tried the IGI? I found a few Co. Durham christenings there and I also found one on familyhistoryonline - it was pay per view but only a few pence per record and gave me the parents names. Louise

Lou, if you can wait a while, I will *eventually* be going to the records offices up here. I could have a look for you.

Hi Louise I've tried IGI, BVRI, durhamonline, family history online and haven't come up with anything. I don't think I'm going to find him online (if I can find him at all!). Hi Tracy I don't want to put you to any trouble. The reason for posting the thread was to find out from anyone with knowledge of researching the area whether the registers are held at a central place and if I could ask them to search for me. I've never been to Sunderland but I'm sure it would be like someone saying 'He was born in Liverpool' or 'in Manchester', the next question would be 'WHERE in.....?'....and I don't know! Lou

Thanks Maureen I had a look at genuki but it doesn't seem to have much in the way of baptisms. I'm fairly sure he would have got married in Essex as his wife was from Harwich and all the children were born there. Lou

Hi Lou If your ancestor were born in Sunderland, *Durham*, you would be looking for records at Bishopwearmouth or Monkwearmouth, which are on the IGI. However, if he were born in Sunderland, *Northumberland*, that is a different matter. It is actually North Sunderland, Northumberland and there are no records on the Internet. North Sunderland is near the coast between Berwick Upon Tweed and Alnwick. The closest places are Seahouses, Bamburgh and Lucker. This part of Northumberland is not very well covered on the IGI. Morpeth Records Office might have the records and have a research service. I am just on the way out but will get back to you with more details. Have you found anyone on the IGI in Durham or Northumberland with your ancestor's name in the right time period and, if so, where? Talk to you again soon. Lynne x

Still stuck on this one, huh Lou? Was Southampton no help?

Thanks Lynn & Chloe Its definitely Sunderland, it's the WHERE in Sunderland that's causing me the problems. I've looked on IGI and there appears to be records for around the right time frame but nothing for his name. With a name like Stonehouse Stuart, I thought he might be easy to spot but it seems to be prone to mistranscriptions, such as Stoneham and Stourhouse, that I'm now beginning to wonder what the correct spelling actually is! Lou

Hello again Lou I am not sure that it is the where IN Sunderland that matters so much as the where WAS Sunderland! In Durham in the 1700's the parish church would have been Bishopwearmouth, St Michael and All Angels, (or there was also Sunderland, Holy Trinity, or possibly Monkwearmouth, St Peter, which have records for the relevant period). In Northumberland the parish registers for North Sunderland did not start until 1833 so it is a question of identifying the church that would have been used. None of them in that area are on the IGI to my knowledge. Was Stonehouse CofE? There's a lady on the Northumberland Lookup Exchange who has Presbyterian records for North Northumberland - Northumberland Lookup Exchange: http://www.redmire.net/lookup/nbl.html There is no one Records Office that has all the records for Northumberland and Durham. This is the address for the Tyne and Wear Archives Service, which gives their holdings (and a link to their Research Service): http://www.thenortheast*com/archives/guides.html for the records for Bishopwearmouth St Michael's, Monkwearmouth St Peter's and Sunderland Holy Trinity, etc. This is the link for the Northumberland Archives Service: http://www.swinhope.myby*co.uk/NRO/index.html I am not really an expert though and the information above is only from my own research. It might be worthwhile temporarily joining the Northumbria Mailing List at Rootsweb, which covers Northumberland and Durham and see if anyone there can offer any suggestions: http://lists.rootsweb*com/index/intl/ENG/NORTHUMBRIA.html Hope this helps. Lynne x

Lynne Many many thanks for this! Stonehouse was buried at the same church all his children were baptised at which is C of E and I'm hoping, at some point, to be able to locate his marriage to Elizabeth at the same church! So I'm hoping that he was baptised as C of E as well, although I don't understand too much about the religion side of things and whether he would have married C of E if he had been baptised Catholic! I'll follow up all your suggesions later. Haven't had too much success with Rootsweb up to now, I find it very hard to find my way around but will have to take a deep breath and be brave! Lou

Hi Lou To the best of my knowledge, marriages of non-conformists (Presbyterians, Methodists, Catholics) had to be performed in the Church of England until some time in the 1800's (not sure of exact year) but children could be christened in the non conformist church. Those who did not want to comply with this would often go to Scotland and marry there in a non-conformist church, Lamberton Toll being one. Certainly in the period when Stonehouse was married (prior to 1800?) he would have married in the Church of England. I don't suppose Stonehouse had a daughter called Grace did he, and a son James? Clutching at straws here!!! The marriage is a bit late though - on 20 October *1765* Grace STONEHOUSE married James STUART at St John the Baptist, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northumberland. :) Lynne x

Hi Lynne Where did you find that??? The names Grace and James run through every generation (although I guess they're not that uncommon!). I have been wondering about the whole Stonehouse thing and I'm not convinced that was his given christian name. It seems to be some kind of naming tradition within the family although I've yet to establish a pattern to it cos it's NOT the eldest son that automatically gets it as you would normally expect. On the 1841 census, my 4 x grandparents Henry and Sarah (Henry being Stonehouse's son) have a 1 year old Stonehouse with them yet there's no birth record for a Stonehouse Stuart and no baptism record. Why baptise the other EIGHT and not the youngest? If you type Stonehouse Stuart into ancestry, you get hits for Silvester Stonehouse Stuart, but I can't link any of those to mine. Grrrrr!! Lou

Hi Lou, 1700's narrows the field to one church at Bishopwearmouth, one at Monkwearmouth and one at Sunderland. If you can hang on till Thursday I am booked in at Tyne&Wear archives and will check the relevant years. Regards Tony

Tony That would be wonderful, thank you. However..... A very kind lady on the Northumberland look up exchange has checked baptisms for me and couldn't find anything for Stonehouse Stuart. I've been smacking my head against the wall for the last 3hrs with this now (literally...my desk is under the stairs which is handy for times like this!) and I'm becoming more convinced that Stonehouse wasn't his given christian name. There are 4 Stonehouse Stuart's thru the generations yet not one birth or baptism for any of them. But lots of Silvester/Sylvester Stonehouse Stuart's. I'm wondering if Lynne is onto something with the 1765 marriage of Grace Stonehouse and James Stuart. Was he illegitimate and called ****** Stonehouse at birth, took on his father's name when they married (3-5yrs later) and for some reason chose to call himself Stonehouse. Probably barking up totally the wrong tree but I'm prepared to consider all options here. Anyone got any thoughts on that one before I cause a bruise!!! Lou

OK Lou, will check for both as Surnames. Regards Tony

Lou,
Hi there, I was really interested in your Stonehouse Stuart enquiry and wondered whether our Stuarts might be the same.
Am I able to make contact any other way?

kind regards

n

The (untranscribed) Durham Bishops transcripts are online (and free). However, Monkswearmouth only goes back to 1766 and Sunderland to 1769, so at best you'ld only catch sibs, not himself.
To access go to the usual IGI site:
http://www.familysearch.org/eng/Search/frameset_search.asp
and select search records - record search pilot from the blue bar at top.

Thank you for that. I am trying to identify LOU who was asking all the questions about Stonehouse on here about 3 years ago. Have had NO luck at all....if anyone at all can help please get back to me.

cheers
ssIII