Genealogy Chat

Could any of you kind people from Darlo, enlighten a novice like me as to what information i will be able find when i visit your register office in a couple of weeks time.Apart from the obvious BMD records,do they have census returns and electoral rolls? Do they hold records of surrounding districts such as Auckland and Teesdale, or just for Darlington.It will be my first visit to a register office and dont know what to expect.Your help would be appreciated,thank you. Maggie

Hi Margaret It's not the registry office you want to be,it's the Local Studies dept in the Library,Crown Street Darlington they have census,electoral register for Darlington and area but I think the records for Auckland will be at Durham County Records Office. The records for Teesdale according to the Genuki site are also at Durham It may pay you to ring Durham first. Just to save you a wasted trip to the registry office as it's purely for registering BMD and for obtaining Certificates.They like you to fill in and application form or send a letter with what details you have. Hope this of some help mail me direct if there is anything else you want to ask. Ann,Darlingon

Its the library you want to be at... its not far from St Cuthbert's Church, which is well worth a visit because its be there for almost a thousand years. My GGGG grandfather Parkin Snaith gravestone's is to the right of the main entrance to the church yard. At the libray they have Trade Directories for the Durham area going back to 1840s - so if you have an occupation listed (like grocer or confectioner or hairdresser etc (these were my relatives)) - you can find an address. (They have each census returns from 1841 to 1891 for the surrounding area). They have the 1891 Census of Darlington Indexed by surname - so its easy to find whole families. And don't forget that some of Teesdale falls into North Yorkshire's area. The County Hall at Durham contains information from Parish Records for the whole area, as well as what Darlington has. And the parking is free there. What names will you be researching? Paul (researching Baker, Heslop, Johnson, Carter and Snaith of Darlington)

Maggie, Don't know where your from, but I went to the Durham Records a couple of months ago, I come from Berks, and I would definately reccomend it and they hold so much there. I booked a reader for half day but got for a whole day in the end, but to be honest I could have stayed there 2 days or more for the amount of info they have there. I would say definately worth going to. By the way I was research Auckland, but if your family are from Darlington I would start there first. Kim

Thanks folks for your replies, i'm only in Darlington for a couple of days visiting relatives so i don't think i will be able to get to Durham this time around,but i will book a visit to the Darlo Office and definately visit the library and see what i can find.My family only came to Darlington at the end of 1800's and before that from Auckland ,Tynemouth and York areas,with the odd Shropshire and Wiltshire thrown in. Names i'm looking for in the Durham area are Beagle, Gent, Dawson, Heslop Longthorn, Ford and Lane.All my research so far has been done online,now i need to fill in someof the finer details, once again ,thanks for your advice, Maggie.