Greensleeves Scavenger Hunt...Everyone Welcome To Join In

[youngtug]

  http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42631

[Pastmagic]

That is really a formidable church - and the inside is very grand as well. It makes the whole Robert/Alice/William scenario even stranger....



www.hartlepool-sthilda.org.uk/page2a.html




Another Coulson/ Shadforth church moment:

JOSEPH PACE married MARY ROWNTREE on 2nd Feb 1792 at St Hilda's Church Hartlepool (Witnesses CUTHBERT COULSON and ROBERT SHADFORTH).

From: http://www.nexicom.net/~gtp3066/uk/durham.htm

[Greensleeves]

  http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42631

Thanks for this interesting link, YT.  According to that, at the beginning of the 19th century Hartlepool only had about 900 inhabitants so it really was a relatively small place.  This would back up Deb's suggestion that it was a small town where everyone knew everyone's business and that this matter could have been a major scandal.

[Greensleeves]

Thanks for that info PM.  As you say, the church is really quite a formidable place - more like a cathedral than a run-of-the-mill parish church.  So clearly the Parish Clerk and the Sexton would have been considered stalwarts of local society, I should think.

I am sure there is some connection between the Shadforths and the Coulsons though I have yet to find out what it is.

[youngtug]

Born 7th of march 1788. Is this a transcripted copy or the original. If transcribed it would be best to check the original in case it was 1782/3 instead of 1788. It was not unusual for baptisms to take place years after the birth,  especialy if someone was seriously ill. Alice may not then have died due to childbirth. Not easy to not assume that that is the scenario, but you need proof, or you may be led down a long and fruitless path.

[Pastmagic]

I had a look at the transcription business. It is complicated - several versions. I think they were very carefully done, but no harm to check with Durham as to where the originals are:

http://nd.durham.gov.uk/recordoffice/usp.nsf/pws/durham+record+office+-+durham+record+office+homepage

Maybe send your summary. say you are planning to visit, where should you go in Durham? I had a great response from a similar request to Islington Record office, and they were terrific when I got there, had all the rate books etc. ready, and got into the story - still not quite there, but a good adventure. I also contacted the parish, and they were lovely and helpful.

All the graves surround the church - I looked up the graveyard on Google, You probably are related to a lot of them....

[osprey]

you can get a copy of the parish entry from the record office for £3

www.rootschat.com/links/0656/

I've only ordered from them once and I had the copy in a few days.

[Pastmagic]

just following up on this from the earlier thread:

"Another interesting thing is that one of the Ancestry trees give an address at High St. for Robert - i think it may be yours. British History on line has a great history of the parish:

Church Estate.

The endowments known as the Church property have from time immemorial been leased for the benefit of the church of St. Hilda, the earliest lease extant being dated 25 September 1706. The trust property consists of a dwelling-house and three houses in the High Street, a house and shop on Church Bank, two houses in St. Mary Street, and three cottages known as Fisher Row, and £61 3s. 11d. consols, the whole producing yearly £128 or thereabouts, which is applied to the repair of the fabric of the church.

So Robert and Alice when married may have been living right beside the vestry.....and the Shadforths finances may have been tied to the Church?"

I think Durham University may be a good place to start looking: - just as well you are retired!

http://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=ead/dhc/dhcosurr.xml;query=%22robert%20shadforth%22#1


DHC2/E2/282   5 April 1769
Thomas Shadforth.

DHC2/E2/272   30 July 1768
Robert Shadforth.

To illustrate your point about what a small place it was, this directory from 1827 which features Robert as sexton and workhouse governor:

http://books.google.ie/books?id=uqM3AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA259&dq=hartlepool+street+directories&hl=en&ei=UYUoTdn4PIuFhQebl9WADw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&

[Pastmagic]

Nice atmospheric print. Hartlepool, Original steel engraving drawn by T. Allom, engraved by W. Le Petit. 1832.