Tracing John Stonehouse

[pascoegreg]

Looking for any available details for John Stonehouse's parents and ancestry etc.

John was born 8/9/1791 Stockton, Durham and died 11/8/1876 Aycliffe, Durham.  Married Mary Moor 10/7/1819 Heighington, Durham.

I believe his father was William Stonehouse baptised 1768 Elwick, Durham.  Mother was Ann.

Any further info would be appreciated.

 

[Irene B]

Did he live in Northumberland?  Have you found him on census returns?  Or have you posted on the wrong county?

irene

[pascoegreg]

Hi Irene

He mostly lived in Heighington, Durham being Innkeeper at the George and Dragon I believe.  I have located his entries in 1841 to 1871 census.   I have also posted this request under that county.  Because of proximity and as my research has shown family members in both areas I included an entry under Northumberland.

[Irene B]

If he was an innkeeper you might find him mentioned in some directories - have you looked at

http://www.historicaldirectories.org/

Not that it will help with his ancestors, but it might help you work out how long he was the innkeeper.

Irene

[Michael Dixon]

You quote John as born STOCKTON.

But three of the four censuses that he appeared on
( 51,61,61) have him born elsewhere ?

C51=Stranton
C61=Greatham
C71= Greatham

(Census 1841 only specifies county of birth ... Co Durham in his case)

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I do not know who is the first born child of John/Mary, but Christopher born c.1822 was born in Aycliffe/Heighington area.

And John is in Heighington for all those four censuses. So he was not a wanderer !

Mary, his wife was born Heighington, as you said.

Where did John/Mary marry ?

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It looks to me as John lived his life in the south of County Durham.

You are trying Northumberland "because of proximity". But it is Yorkshire ( call it North Riding if you like) that is in the proximity of the south of Co Durham, not Northumberland !

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If you are mainly after ascertaining the parents of John, then his baptism should provide his parents names.

So maybe focusing on the parish records of Stranton and Greatham might provide the answers.

Michael Dixon

[pascoegreg]

Thank you for your comments Michael.

John/Mary Moor were married Heighington 10/7/1819.  First child possibly was Alice also Heighington, baptised 1819.  Christopher was second Aycliffe following by a number of others but all Heighington.

Mary Moor was born Coniscliffe 27/8/1801.

I am unaware as to the exact lay of the Durham land (I live Western Australia) but maps show Northumberland as the next county south, and many of the Stonehouses, including the second child Christopher, did move to the Newcastle area.  Hence my inclusion.

My search for John Stonehouse's baptism included a query on the FamilyHistoryOnline site which seems to have a very good coverage of Durham records.  A full search for the county for John Stonehouse with variants for the whole of Durham from 1780 to 1799 inlcusive returned one finding - Born 8/9/1891 Stockton Baptised 20/1/1792 parents William and Anne.

I then searched Stranton, Greatham and Stockton on Google Maps and noted their close proximity; given no alternative evidence, it was reasonable to assume these details for John Stonehouse.

From the FHO site I do also have a possible for William Stonehouse baptism 1/8/1768 Elwick but no marriage or other siblings to John.

Still trying!!

 

[Michael Dixon]

P/G,

You must have had your map upside down, LOL, Northumberland is County Durham's neighbour to the north.

A rough guide for the border between the two counties is the River Tyne.

Newcastle city, was in Northumberland until c1970s. About 40 miles north from Stockton.

Greatham about 7 miles north east of Stockton. Stranton, a few miles north east of Greatham.


A walk over the bridge less than half a mile from the centre of Stockton, over the River Tees, landed you into the County of Yorkshire ( Yorkshire was so big it was divided administatively into thirds, called Ridings... Stockton therefore neighboured the North Riding of Yorkshire)


But to the important issue.. --- where was your John born/baptised--------- !... I think it seems likely that he was born/baptised in the Greatham/Stranton area.


Have you searched the parish records of Greatham and Stranton for John's baptism ?


I now live in Newcastle, but lived in Stockton for over 25 years. I am in Darlington for a week from this Saturday.(cat-sitting) I will probably have the chance to visit both Stockton and Darlington libraries ( both with good local/family history sections) and browse around the parish records for John's bapt.

I will change topic to the English Naming Pattern (ENP). This was a convention that forced/encouraged/persuaded parents to name their children to a set pattern.

In the case of John/Mary... if they followed the ENP... they would have named their first son after John's father, their second son after Mary's father, their first daughter after Mary's mother, their second dtr after John's mother.

The "rules" continued up to fifth son and fifth dtr. ENP was starting to be ignored by 1900s.

The way couples named their children, gave us good clues as to the names of the couples parents first names.

But infant deaths that we may nothing of, can knock our view of the pattern out of kilter.

Michael Dixon,
Newcastle

(PS go to www.genuki.org.uk to see helpful "live" maps of parish boundaries within County Durham and also Northumberland, etc, showing history, where church records are held, and even some on line church records.) etc.....)

[pascoegreg]

Hi Michael

Your comments are noted and background and geography provided appreciated.

Firstly, I was aware that Northumberland was the northern most county and I must apologise for depicting it South(umberland) of Durham.

At your suggestion I searched the Greatham LDS entries and located following children of James Stonehouse and Alice ?

William Stonehouse bn 3/4/1785 chris 6/4/1785
James Stonehouse chris 13/4/1788
John Stonehouse bn 21/7/1790 chris 27/7/1790
John Stonehouse bn 30/9/1792 chris 15/10/1792

No marriage or death records available.

Alice was first child of my John.  Given this John bn 1792 is more than likely my ancestor.  First John prob passed on.

I have also never heard of the ENP before. 

Good luck with the cat sitting.

Gregregards

[Michael Dixon]

Greg,

I have an apology to make to you (well sort of !)

My clever brother, who loves getting a dig at me, believes I gave some duff gen in my last mail.

He's right (well sort of ! )

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Up to 1844 there were bits of territory lying within the borders of the County of Northumberland, that belonged to and were administered by the "Prince Bishops" od County Durham.

These "enclaves" were ISLANDSHIRE (south of Berwick-upon-Tweed, NORHAMSHIRE (bordering Scotland to the west of Berwick-o-T) and BEDLINGTONSHIRE ( south-east of Morpeth)

These bits of Co Durham lying within Northumberland, at the time where referred to as " NORTH DURHAM"


Impact for modern reseachers...........
Censuses (1841)for these places would be within the set of Co Durham's, not Northumberland's. Folk born within these enclaves were deemed to have been born in Co Durham, not Northumberland.

So if I was say, using Ancestry census index for a search of 1841 census, I would have to enter residence county and/or birth county as "Durham".

But by Census 1851, all reverted to be Northumberland
(although some folk and census enumerators continued using " born in Co Durham" for a while)


I only gave you a summary of the first part of the English Naming Pattern. You can see the complete "pattern" via Google. You can also compare the Scottish, Irish, etc versions ( and try to spot the difference ! )


Thinking of ENP, and whether John/Alice were yours (two Alices.. good indicator)....

James/Alice should name their
first son after James's dad
second son after Alice's dad
third son after James himself
fourth son after James's eldest brother
fifth son after Alice's eldest brother
(dtrs vice-versa)

So, it is POSSIBLE that there was an earlier son born/bapt elsewhere, before they came to Greatham parish territory...

.... leaving William ( a second son ? ) names after Alice, his mother's dad ?

..... and James, the third son named after his father, James

.......... and the two Johns, born 1790 and 1792, forth sons, named after their father's eldest brother.......

As I am sure you will realise, all this is highly speculative... an earlier birth and death, would mess up this retro look at their family

Michael Dixon