In addition to their roll in trying criminal cases, the Quarter Sessions had many administrative functions. These have left many useful records for family historians, including: Issuing licences a whole range of activities: from pubs and guns to non-conformist meeting houses. Records of the local militia and
Read more →
Quarter Sessions had two types of functions – judicial and administrative. The types of information in the criminal records are discussed in this article, which is illustrated using the case of Robert Ranson from 1857. Information on the records from the administrative functions of the Quarter Sessions
Read more →
A brief discussion on the history of schooling and the records which are available for researching your family history. If you are lucky you may find a school photograph such as the one above – the trick is to identify your ancestors!
Read more →
Very few of Catholics own records survive much before the mid-18th century and most Catholic parish registers start only around 1840-1850. However there can be useful information in other sources, including Anglican records and court records. This article provides some ideas and sources for tracing your Catholic ancestors.
Read more →
The Quakers or Society of Friends were founded in 1647, with one of the earliest meetings being in County Durham. Quakers kept excellent records and this article discusses the resources available if you are lucky enough to find Quakers in your family tree.
Read more →
Trade guilds or companies to support and control tradesmen in similar professions date back to medieval times, if not before. The North East has excellent collections for records for these Guilds, particularly those of the cities of Newcastle and Durham. This article provides information on these records
Read more →
In the days before the internet, local newspapers were how information on local happenings was communicated. As such, many of our ancestors appeared in these publications at some point in their lives. An appearance could be as simple as a brief announcement of their birth, marriage or
Read more →
Wills can be really interesting for family historians. They give us an insight into the mind of the person who wrote them – not to mention that they can list most of the members of the person’s family! This article gives information on what you might
Read more →
Parish records include many documents other than parish registers which can also be very useful to the family historian. These are known as “The Parish Chest”, after the large wooden chests in which all parish documents were once stored – the picture above shows an example of
Read more →
Until the time of Henry VIII and the Reformation, virtually everyone in England and Wales was Catholic. After then everyone was supposed to be Anglican but in reality there were always people who didn’t conform to the established church, either openly or in secret. Each group left
Read more →