1 Jan 2025

Today I’m looking for the baptisms of George Hall and Dorothy Davidson.

From my previous research I have the following information:

• They married in Bedlington on 6 Sep 1795
• First son baptised 17 Feb 1799 in Horton
• George was native to Stannington
• Dorothy was native to either Bowsden, Heaton or Cradham
• Dorothy’s father was James Davidson, a farmer

I suspect George and Dorothy would have been baptised between 1765 and 1776, but I can’t discount them being older and I can’t discount a late baptism either. I ought to check nonconformist records, especially Presbyterian which was prevalent in Northumberland at the time.

I went through the Bishops Transcripts for Stannington from the start of the records in 1758 through to 1780 and noted a few interesting entries:

• 12 Nov 1759, Baptism of Elizabeth, dau of John Hall of Saltwick¹
• 16 Mar 1760, Baptism of Elizabeth, dau of Robert Hall²
• 21 Sep 1760, Burial of Henry Hall of Hartburn Parish³
• 24 Aug 1769, Burial of Frances, dau of Edward Hall of Stannington⁴
• 20 May 1770, Baptism of Edward, son of Edward and Margaret Hall⁵
• 3 Jan 1771, Baptism of Elizabeth, dau of Robert and Isabel Hall⁶
• 24 Jan 1771, Burial of Edward, son of Edward Hall of Stannington, an infant⁷
• 15 Mar 1771, Burial of Joseph Hall of Callray⁷
• 27 Nov 1771, Burial of Christopher Hall of Shievels Moor⁷
• 19 Jan 1772, Marriage of George Hall of the parish of Washington and Ann Buckham of this Parish, by License⁸
• 8 Jun 1772, Marriage of John Barrow and Hannah Hall both of this parish, by banns⁸
• 21 Oct 1772, Burial of John Hall of Cattraw B. Cartery[?]⁹
• 8 Mar 1774, Burial of Margaret Hall of Cattraw¹⁰
• 29 Apr 1775, Marriage of Thomas Greener and Margaret Hall both of this parish, by banns¹¹
• 1 Jun 1775, Marriage of John Hall of the chapelry of Cramlington and Eleanor Grieve of this parish, by licence¹¹
• 15 Apr 1775, Burial of Thomas Hall of Plessey¹²
• 26 Jan 1776, Burial of Matthew, son of George Hall of Plessey, an infant¹³
• 28 Sep 1777, Marriage of Roger Bootiman of the parish of Bothall and Elizabeth Hall of this parish, by banns¹⁴
• 3 Aug 1777, Baptism of Ann, dau of George and Eleanor Hall, of Plessey¹⁵
• 13 May 1778, Marriage of Roger Hall and Mary Davison both of this parish¹⁶
• 26 Jul 1778, Baptism of John, son of John and Ann Hall of Stannington¹⁷
• 3 Feb 1778, Burial of William Hall of Stannington¹⁸
• 26 Dec 1779, Baptism of Sarah, dau of George and Eleanor Hall of Plessey⁴
• 19 Nov 1780, Baptism of Sarah, dau of Geo. and Eleanor Hall of Plessey¹⁹

In 1759 one of the churchwardens was John Hall and in 1770 two churchwardens were Christopher and Joseph Hall. In 1771 and 1779 one of the churchwardens was an Edward Hall.

Catraw was a farmstead about half a mile west of the village of Stannington. Plessey was an area about a mile east of the village that included a mill, quarry and hall .

Clearly there were several Hall families in the parish of Stannington but there is no trace of a baptism of George. It’s possible that he was baptised elsewhere and the family moved to Stannington. Perhaps George and Eleanor Hall fit that bill.

There are several baptisms of George Hall in Earsdon around the right time. From Durham Records Online:

• 26 Dec 1770, Baptism of George Hall, of South Blyth, son of George Hall²⁰
• 31 Mar 1771, Baptism of George Hall, of Hartley, son of Matthew Hall²¹
• 21 Jul 1771, Baptism of George Hall, son of George Hall, private baptism 26th Sep 1770²²
• 21 Sep 1766, Baptism of George Hall, of South Blyth, son of George Hall²³

These records are frustratingly light on detail.

In Hartburn:

• 23 Feb 1772, Baptism of George Hall, of the Grainge, son of George & Ann Hall²⁴
• 11 Dec 1777, Baptism of George Hall, of Thornton Moor, son of Charles & Elizabeth Hall²⁵

The Grainge is probably a farm known as Hartburn Grange, about a mile west of Hartburn, which is itself ten miles northwest of Stannington.

Were the George and Ann here the same George and Ann that married just a month before in Stannington? Their marriage licence is available online. It reads:

George Hall of Usworth in the county of Durham, yeoman, and Joseph Hall of [Lanesly?] in the said County, Weaver….[are bound] … George Hall, bachelor, and Ann Buckham of the Parish of Stannington, spinster… [are licenced to marry]²⁶

This lends some weight to them being the parents of the George Hall baptised in 1772 in Hartburn since one reason to obtain a marriage licence was to avoid having to wait three weeks for banns to be read. Ann may have been almost due to have the baby.

Usworth is in the parish of Washington to the west of Sunderland.

Unfortunately the Bishops Transcripts for Hartburn in 1772 are missing. I went through the remaining pages and found a few Hall baptisms, but none with George as a child or father.

I did wonder whether it was possible that George and Ann are the same people as George and Eleanor who were having children in Stannington in the later 1770s. But there’s not really any way to prove that simply from the parish registers as they exist.

I’ll need to draw on other sources such as land agreements or maybe wills. DNA evidence could help if I can find a connection that has bypassed the mistakes I have made (which are prevelant) or relate to me via an ancestor of George.

For the moment, I think George Hall senior has to be classified as a brick wall. He has a fairly common name and there are too many possibilities without enough evidence to distinguish between them.