Finding a Durham ancestor using the Bishops' Transcripts.

[Peter L. Mitchell]

I am having a really frustrating time trying to locate an ancestor. Her details:

Name:               Elizabeth Sherlock.
DOB:                 31 December 1848 at 91 High Conside, Conside and Knitsley (now Consett).
Registered:        9 January 1849 in Lanchester District.
Mother:             Isabella Sherlock.
Father:              Blank on birth certificate (illegitimate).

There was another Elizabeth Sherlock who was also born in Berry Edge a little later than this Elizabeth, but I have her birth certificate and census details that show that she was the child of Isabel and Thomas Sherlock and so is not the same child.

Isabella married Robert Dial (pitman) on 16 September 1850 in the Parish Church, Brancepeth County. Their address on the marriage certificate is Willington New Row.

1851 census shows Robert and Isabella living at 86 Willington New Row, Durham. The census also includes Elizabeth aged 2 years and records her as their daughter.

I know from birth and death certificates that the family moved to Sunnyside some time during the early to mid 1850s as they had two daughters baptised at Shotley Bridge (1854 and 1855).

There are no records of Elizabeth in either Durham Records Online or the GRO after 1851. I am assuming that she probably died before Robert and Isabella emigrated to Australia in 1860.

I suspect that the answer lies in the Bishops' Transcripts, but I'm totally overwhelmed by the task of laboriously wading through thousands of documents to find out.

Does anyone know any shortcuts for finding information on the Bishops' Transcripts? All help gratefully received.

Many thanks to all you brilliant people!

Peter

[CaroleW]

So - she is on the 1851 but the family emigrated in 1860.  What info do you have that she did not emigrate with them? 

[Peter L. Mitchell]

Hi Carole.

I have the passenger list from their voyage and both Robert and Isabella's death certificates, none of which mentions Elisabeth at all (Victorian death certificates record all children by the parents). She doesn't appear in any search of the Victorian Births Deaths and Marriages search engine.

I do know from correspondence with the Durham Online people that it was quite common for some deaths to have not been recorded for a number of reasons, and this would explain why neither they nor the GRO has a record of her. This is why the Bishops' Transcripts are really my last port of call without flying to England and personally checking church records (all I know is that they were Presbyterians, and there must be a few of their churches in Durham).

Because Elisabeth was illegitimate I suspect that she was hidden from the family members because of the stigma attached.

Thanks for your message. It's made me give clearer detail.

Peter

[jonw65]

1851 census shows Robert and Isabella living at 86 Willington New Row, Durham. The census also includes Elizabeth aged 2 years and records her as their daughter.

Here they are on FamilySearch, Elisabeth Dial, 2, born Berry Edge
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SGJR-5LV

If you can't find a death for Elizabeth, it makes me wonder if she was left with a relative, or adopted.
This may be nothing, but...
1861 in Seaham, Durham (piece 3751 folio 57 page 8 )
Thomas Halliday Head 35 Blacksmith, born Durham Hetton le Hole
Margt Halliday Wife 32 Durham Jarrow
Elizth Halliday Niece 12 Servant Durham Berry Edge
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-P3NF-C9P4-B
(gloomy image)

1871 census in Willington, Durham (piece 4965 folio 123 pages 9 + 10)
Margaret Halliday Head Widow 42 Dressmaker Durham Jarrow
Elizabeth Halliday Niece 22 Dressmaker Durham Berry Edge
William Patterson Nephew 21
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VBZ5-RM1

Margaret here
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VBZ5-RMB

Marriage?
Sep 1848 Durham 24 85
Halliday, Thomas   
Sharlock, Margaret

Partial transcript
9 July 1848, Lanchester
Her father is Thomas Sharlock
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NJNQ-ZMJ

Then a marriage indexed at Darlington
June 1874 Darlington 10a 76
James Bainbridge
+
Elizabeth Halliday Dial

Could that  be her? I can't see an Elizabeth Halliday Dial otherwise. There are two others with the same GRO ref, but local indexes tell us those two married each other.
After that I've lost the bride!

[Peter L. Mitchell]

Hi Jon.

Yes, I've seen the Elizabeth Sherlock/Shawlock who was registered in Berry Edge. Her parents were Thomas and Elizabeth (nee Hill), and she was born at around the same time as my Elisabeth. I've followed the trail and it appears that Thomas died some time between 1851 and 1861 as he doesn't appear in the later census. From memory, he was a groomsman. My great-great grandmother Isabella's mother's maiden name was Pringle. The Halliday surname doesn't appear in our family tree at all.

It seems bizarre to me that two Sherlock women with the same christian name would give birth in the same area and give their daughter the same name, but stranger things have happened. The research I've done convinces me that they were two separate families and that my Isabella went on to marry Robert Dial in 1850.

As for what happened to little Elizabeth, like you I've considered the possibility that she was adopted out and given a new surname. From what I know of the family they were very religious, and part of me likes to believe that it would be inconceivable for them to inflict such trauma on a child of two or three. Given that, the more I learn about my Dial ancestors the more I suspect that they were a family that kept secrets. Maybe this is one of them. I'm happy to be wrong.

Thanks for doing some research on familysearch. I will go back and check to see if I've missed anything.

Peter

[JenB]

I know from birth and death certificates that the family moved to Sunnyside some time during the early to mid 1850s as they had two daughters baptised at Shotley Bridge (1854 and 1855).

Are you speaking of Margaret and Mary Ann Dial?

I have taken a look at Margaret's baptism, and she wasn't baptised at Shotley Bridge. Her Baptism, which is from the Primitive Methodist records, took place somewhere within the Shotley Bridge Primitive Methodist Circuit, which covered a pretty wide area.

At the time of the baptism the family were living at Sunnyside, Crook, which was some 12 miles south of Shotley Bridge, and only a short distance from Willington.

[heywood]

Hi Jon.

Yes, I've seen the Elizabeth Sherlock/Shawlock who was registered in Berry Edge. Her parents were Thomas and Elizabeth (nee Hill), and she was born at around the same time as my Elisabeth. I've followed the trail and it appears that Thomas died some time between 1851 and 1861 as he doesn't appear in the later census. From memory, he was a groomsman. My great-great grandmother Isabella's mother's maiden name was Pringle. The Halliday surname doesn't appear in our family tree at all.

It seems bizarre to me that two Sherlock women with the same christian name would give birth in the same area and give their daughter the same name, but stranger things have happened. The research I've done convinces me that they were two separate families and that my Isabella went on to marry Robert Dial in 1850.

As for what happened to little Elizabeth, like you I've considered the possibility that she was adopted out and given a new surname. From what I know of the family they were very religious, and part of me likes to believe that it would be inconceivable for them to inflict such trauma on a child of two or three. Given that, the more I learn about my Dial ancestors the more I suspect that they were a family that kept secrets. Maybe this is one of them. I'm happy to be wrong.

Thanks for doing some research on familysearch. I will go back and check to see if I've missed anything.

Peter

I don’t quite understand this. I thought Elizabeth’s mother was Isabella whose parents were Thomas and Elizabeth.
I can’t see any Sherlock/Hill birth 

Jon’s research looks very likely. Isabella had a sister Margaret.

[Girl Guide]

James and Elizabeth's daughter?

BAINBRIDGE, SARAH  ANNIE     DIAL 
GRO Reference: 1876  D Quarter in DARLINGTON UNION  Volume 10A  Page 15

Baptism from Family Search

Sarah Annie Bainbridge christened on 28 September 1876 at St. John, Darlington, Durham

Parents are James and Lizzie Bainbridge

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J3BR-6PT

There is a Sarah on the 1881 census living at 3, Louisa Street, Darlington, Durham.  Have a look at the people in the household and see what you think.

Registration district   Darlington
Archive reference   RG11
Piece number   4884
Folio   119
Page   20

[heywood]

That’s good and all coming together.