DURHAM FAMILY HISTORY

The aim of this site is to trace

(1) all, or as many as possible of, the author’s ancestors, of which WILLIAM DURHAM (born 1750’s?) is the principal one, and

(2) all, or as many as possible of, their descendants

 

As contact has recently been made with some Durhams in Australia, descended from the DURHAMS OF SCOTLAND, this family is also included, although there is at present no known connection with our family.

 

Any other Durham lines that emerge will also be gladly included – we would therefore be interested to hear from members of other Durham families.

 

the site is constantly being updated, especially now that the 1911 census of England is available, so drop by again occasionally

DURHAM TREES ON ANCESTRY.COM:

 

1

2

3

 

care must be taken when consulting some of these trees, as some data is formulated differently, for example “June 1933” might really mean “Q2 1933”, ie. the quarter Apr-May-June, not the actual month of June; “Newham, Essex” might really mean “Newham, Essex Registration District”, not the actual place called Newham – trees to which there is NO link here may contain serious mistakes

A WIGLEY FAMILY HISTORY

A GAY FAMILY HISTORY and BUNKER FAMILY HISTORY

A CYNDI'S LIST OF GENEALOGY SITES ON THE INTERNET

Arms of Durham County Council

the arms of

COUNTY DURHAM

the DURHAM kilt, Scotland

(no known connection, but it’s a nice thought)

one of many roads, cities and counties named after the family

 

CONTENTS

INDEX TO PAGES

ƒ

AUTHOR’s CHIEF ANCESTORS

PHOTOS

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF NAMES

PUBS ASSOCIATED WITH THE DURHAMS

CEMETERIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE DURHAMS

ˆ

WILLS OF THE DURHAM AND ASSOCIATED FAMILIES

E M I G R A N T S

PEOPLE WHO EMIGRATED, OR MOVED WITHIN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Š

S T R A Y S

SOME DURHAMS NOT CONNECTED WITH THE MAIN DURHAM FAMILY, OR WHERE NO CONNECTION HAS BEEN FOUND

 

 

11

 

WORLD WAR CASUALITIES

 

 

12

 

S I T E   M A P

NOTES

 

EACH FAMILY’S TREE IS AVAILABLE AS A .pdf

 

SEVERAL BIRTH/MARRIAGE/DEATH CERTICATES

ARE AVAILABLE FOR THE PEOPLE LISTED

 

LIVING PEOPLE ARE NOT SHOWN UNLESS THEY REQUEST TO BE

 

DATES OF BAPTISM ARE ONLY GIVEN WHERE KNOWN AND WHERE THE DATE OF BIRTH IS NOT KNOWN

 

IN CENSUS PAGES, ALL ADDRESSES ARE IN ENGLAND UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED

“SERVANT”, “LODGER”, ETC. MEANS WAY FROM HOME, AT ANOTHER ADDRESS

 

PLACES IN ENGLAND ARE SHOWN AS IN THEIR HISTORICAL COUNTIES, SO LONDON IS SHOWN AS BEING IN MIDDLESEX, WHILST THE REST OF PRESENT DAY GREATER LONDON IS SHOWN AS BEING DIVIDED BETWEEN ESSEX, KENT, MIDDLESEX AND SURREY

THE ENGLAND AND WALES BIRTH, MARRIAGE AND DEATH NATIONAL REGISTRATION SYSTEM

REGISTRATION DISTRICTS, REGISTER OFFICES AND QUARTERS

A ALSO THE UKBMD SITE FOR AN EXPLANATION

The indexes to the national registers, which started in 1837, when the national registration system began, and which are freely available to the public, also online, show the REGISTRATION DISTRICT in which the event happened, NOT THE ACTUAL PLACE – registration districts can often cover wide areas - even places in more than one county – and often have a name which has little bearing to the places it contains. They also often change. The birth/marriage/death certificate, which must be paid for, shows the actual place in which the event happened – for example, the marriage register might show:

SMITH, JOHN       STROOD [REGISTRATION DISTRICT]

whereas the actual certificate will say he got married in Northfleet, Kent. So he didn’t get married in Strood, Kent, but in Strood, Kent Registration District, (or Northfleet, Kent if the actual place is known) – there’s a big difference!

Northfleet, Kent is a good example of the registration district name being misleading – Northfleet, although a medium sized town in its own right, over the years has been in the North Aylesford, Strood, Strood & Hoo, and Dartford registration districts, although it is some distance away from all of those towns

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


The REGISTER OFFICE is the main office in the registration district, and is the place where non-church, or civil, weddings, take place.

 

QUARTERS: until 1984, there were four registers per year, one for every quarter (Q1 Jan-Feb-Mar, Q2 Apr-May-June, Q3 Jul-Aug-Sep, Q4 Oct-Nov-Dec). The register will show, for example, a marriage in Apr-May-June – this means that the marriage took place in the SECOND QUARTER, NOT NECESSARILY IN JUNE – again, a big difference.  Marriages are listed in the quarter that they actually took place – births and deaths can however be REPORTED AFTER THEY TOOK PLACE, so if for example a birth or death is shown in the register for one quarter, it may actually have taken place in the previous quarter, and if it happens in December of one year, in may actually show up in the register for the first quarter of the following year.

Since 1984, the actual month of registration has been quoted, not the quarter.

BAPTISM and BIRTH DATES

Before 1837, in most cases only the date of BAPTISM was recorded, NOT THE DATE OF BIRTH. Although the baptism normally took place shortly after the birth, the latter can sometimes have taken place some time before – there are often examples of two or more children being baptized on the same day, without their being necessarily twins – perhaps the parents got a bulk discount for having them all done together. Also, as with the national register of births, children baptised in, say, January might have been born in December of the previous year. So, if a child is BAPTIZED IN YEAR X, although it was PROBABLY BORN IN THE SAME YEAR, IT IS NOT DEFINITE – again, a big difference, which some researchers ignore. So any cases where a child is shown as born in a particular year, especially before 1837, may mean that is was really BAPTIZED in that year, and that the ACTUAL YEAR OF BIRTH IS UNKNOWN.

Care must therefore be taken when consulting  certain people’s data, as it is often formulated differently, for example “June 1933” might really mean “Q2 1933”, ie. the quarter Apr-May-June, not the actual month of June; “Newham, Essex” might really mean “Newham, Essex Registration District”, not the actual place called Newham – trees to which there is NO link here may contain misleading information or serious mistakes


AUTHOR: LES DURHAM

 

COMMENTS AND CORRECTIONS WELCOMED

 


 

SITE ORIGINALLY SET UP JULY 2008


PAGE UPDATED 3 MAY 2013