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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Durham => England => Durham Lookup Requests => Topic started by: dodgerpierce on Wednesday 22 April 09 13:58 BST (UK)
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Hello all you genealogy masters,
I have a puzzle here. My great-great-great-grandmother Elizabeth McKey was apparently born in Guernsey 13 Dec 1804 (date from family bible, birthplace from every census she was in). She married Robert Fryar on 20 Mar 1826 in St. Peter's church Wallsend and then spent most of her adult life in Durham (Washington, Usworth, Seghill, Gateshead etc).
Problem number one is finding her marriage info. I think I got this from a distant relation but I have no confirmation.
Number two is finding any info on parents, siblings etc. I have actually contacted a woman doing genealogy research in Guernsey and she sent me some births from the Town Church Register with the name McKey/McKay, Mackie, Mackey but none were Elizabeth. She said that she could have been baptized privately as there was no requirement to register births there in the early 1800s.
She also said that it wasn't a local Guernsey name (obviously Scottish in origin) which I figured. I was working on a possible military/naval/merchant seaman kind of assumption for her father's career. This is probably why she ended up in Northern England if her family were originally from Scotland or Northern England.
Anyway, you people are much more experienced than I with these head scratchers, so I would love some advice or help on this one.
Thanks in advance for any help
Patti
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My understanding is that in 1804, because of the Poor Laws, baptism in a parish gave legal right to residency at a later date. If her parents were in the army, navy etc, and they were 'passing through' they may have decided not to have the child baptised there because of its location.
If at a later stage she was served with a removal order from somewhere on the mainland, her only legal place of abode might be Guernsey which would not have been convenient.
It may be that they waited until they were back in their own town.
Ashley
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She married Robert Fryar on 20 Mar 1826 in St. Peter's church Wallsend and then spent most of her adult life in Durham (Washington, Usworth, Seghill, Gateshead etc).
Problem number one is finding her marriage info. I think I got this from a distant relation but I have no confirmation.
You will find confirmation of the marriage on this transcription from Genuki http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/Transcriptions/NBL/MWAL.html
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Thanks Jen and Ashley
Jen, you are epic as my 14 year old would say. I think you can do genealogy in your sleep. Now that I have confirmed her marriage and her name (spelled McKay in this case), I wish I knew something else about her other than that she blew in to Northumberland somewhere between 1804 and 1826. After 1826, I have lots of info on her. She is very interesting to me-a puzzle.
Let me know if you can think of ways to find her parents. If she was baptized later, the birth date doesn't help much. Hmmmm......
Thanks again to you both for your input
Patti
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Hi again Jen et al
Now that I have confirmation of Elizabeth McKey/McKay's marriage, any idea where I might find the original just in case there is a father's name on the register? Do you know where the record it was transcribed from would be found? Would it be in the new Bishop's transcripts?
Thanks for any more help that any of you can give. You guys are great.
Patti
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Hi Patti
In 1826 there was no requirement for the father's name to be registered - that came in 1 Jul 1837. It is always worth while taking note of the witness names if you can as there are often clues there, so if you can get a view of the original by some means then that may help.
Ashley
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Hi Ashley
Any idea where the original parish records for St. Peter's Wallsend 1826 would be found? I looked at the Bishop's transcripts pilot on familysearch, but Wallsend doesn't go that far back (yet). I may just have to wait as I am in Canada.
Thanks again for your help,
Patti
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Here's a link to Genuki, which shows where the records are held:
http://www.genuki.bpears.org.uk/NBL/Wallsend/ChurchRecords.html
Jennifer
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You could always post a request in the look-ups section of this website - some kind person may have them on fiche or film and be able to help
Good Luck!
Ashley
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Hi Jen and Ashley,
Yes you both have good suggestions. One costs money and the other doesn't. As I have already spent money on Elizabeth without any luck, I think I will try a look up request, and then if that fails, I will go to the government sites that Jen noted which I think will cost between 10 and 25 pounds.
I'll let you both know if I have any luck with either. I may still not find any parent referenced even if I get the full church record, so I will not hold my breath, but I can't leave any stone unturned. Elizabeth McKey/McKay is my mystery right now so I will keep working on whatever I can think of.
Thanks again to you both,
Patti
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Patti,
It was late night opening , last night, for Tyne & Wear Archives, and from Jennifer's info you will know that that is one place where St Peter's, Wallsend church registers are held.
So from film of the original church marriage register....
Marriage, by Banns, 20 March 1826, Robert Fryar and Elizabeth McKay, both of this parish. Witnessed by Joseph Mordue and Jas (or Jos) Jameson
Robert made a decent signature. Elizabeth made "X" as her " mark"
No other bits of info on the register.
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By the way, never mind Guensey, there was no legal requirement here , before 1837, to register births or even to baptise.
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Maybe you might find a snippet in a Trade directory about her/her folk
See web site www.historicaldirectories.org for searchable directories.
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Maybe looking at list of Robert/Elizabeth's children's names could give you clues about grandparents names ( Google " english naming pattern" )
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Michael Dixon
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Michael
Thank-you, you are so kind to look that up for me. Wow. I just discovered this site a few weeks ago and I can't believe how great you all are.
I wasn't really expecting a father's name or even a relative as witness, but I'll add this bit to my file.
Good advice about the trade directory and the naming patterns. I'll look into that. You're probably right about the Guernsey records too, although at least I was able to help out someone else with some Guernsey Mackies so it wasn't a total loss.
Thanks again from Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Patti