28 Jan 2025

I’m continuing my examination of George Carr born in 1790 in Dotland Park. Many people have him being baptised on 7 Mar 1790 in Houghton Le Spring, Durham, the son of Matthew and Margaret Carr. ¹

However there is a more likely baptism on 9 Jan 1790 in the chapelry of Whitley, Hexham, the son of Henery Carr.²

There is also a baptism on 2 Feb 1789, again in the chapelry of Whitley, Hexham, the son of George Carr.³

I think I found Henry Carr in the 1841 census aged 75-79, a labourer, living at High Park House with John Carr, aged 40-44 and John’s family.⁴

By coincidence I ordered the death certificate of a George Carr in 1870 aged 80. He was a farmer of Shield Green, Hexham but the informant was John Carr of High Park House in Hexham. I suspect that John and George were brothers, the sons of Henry.

Shield Green is a house less than a mile north of Dotland (map). High Park House is about four miles south of Dotland near Lilswood (map).

Given this, I suspect that my George is the one baptised in 1789 son of George Carr,.

There are quite a lot of Carrs being baptised in the Whitley Chapelry between 1785 and 1799.

• 14 Aug 1785, Jane dau of George
• 3 Dec 1785, John son of Samuel
• 12 Feb 1786, Sarah dau of George
• 16 Jul 1786, John son of John
• 14 Oct 1787, Elizabeth dau of Henry
• 10 May 1789, Joseph son of Joseph
• 1 Feb 1789, Mary dau of John
• 2 Feb 1789, George son of George
• 9 Jan 1790, George son of Henry
• 25 Dec 1791, Thomasina dau of John
• 9 May 1792, Mary dau of Henry
• 26 Aug 1792, John son of George
• 10 Mar 1793, Mary dau of George
• 18 Jun 1793, Thomas son of John
• 4 Jan 1795, Henry son of Henry
• 5 Jul 1795, John son of Thomas
• 13 Nov 1796, Barbara dau of George
• 12 Nov 1797, Thomas son of Thomas
• 25 Dec 1798, John son of Henry

George the elder’s family is then at least: Jane (1785), Sarah (1786), George (1789), John (1792), Mary (1793) and Barbara (1796)

Henry’s family is: Elizabeth (1787), George (1790), Mary (1792), Henry (1795) and John (1798)

It’s interesting that the names Jane, Sarah, George and John appear in George the elder’s family and in my George’s family

There are three Carr marriages between 1765 and 1785 in the Whitley Chapelry:

• 22 Nov 1778, Margaret Carr and Robert Rowland
• 4 Jun 1772, George Carr and Jane Robson
• 22 May 1779, George Carr and Isabel Liddell

I looked at the Carr baptisms in the Chapelry for the period 1765-1784

• 1 Jan 1766, Henry son of George
• 23 Jul 1767, Joseph son of John
• 30 Apr 1767, James son of George and Jane
• 11 Jun 1768, Sarah dau of James
• 14 Aug 1768, Hannah dau of George
• 3 Sep 1769, George son of John
• 23 Dec 1770, Frances dau of James
• 21 Apr 1771, Elizabeth dau of George
• 28 Jun 1772, Hannah dau of John
• 12 Apr 1773, Mary dau of George
• 21 Aug 1774, William son of Jane
• 4 Sep 1774, Jane dau of George
• 9 Apr 1775, Elizabeth dau of John
• 1 Jan 1776, Jane dau of George
• 20 Apr 1778, Deborah dau of George
• 16 Jul 1780, Elisabeth dau of George
• 24 Sep 1780, Margaret dau of George
• 25 Aug 1782, George son of George
• 21 Apr 1783, Hannah dau of George
• 7 Mat 1784, George son of John

There seem to be two Georges having children at the same time.

I can’t find any burial entries in this area.

Going back to the Houghton Le Spring baptism, almost all Ancestry trees that include George Carr use this baptism, despite the census entries that state his place of birth as Dotland Park. They give his parents as Matthew Carr born in 1749 in Chester le Street and Margaret Bainbridge, born 1755 in Chester le Street. Matthew’s parents are Joseph Carr and Ann Atkinson. Margaret Bainbridge’s parents are Bartholemew Bainbridge, born 1703 in Chester le Street, and Mary Surtis also born in 1703 in Chester le Street.

Matthew Carr and Margaret Bainbridge appear to have married in 1782 in Chester le Street and had three children: George (1790), Margaret (1792) and Thomas (1793).

Margaret Bainbridge was buried on 15 Jul 1798 in Penshaw. Her entry reads:

Margaret Carr, late Bainbridge of Wharton’s Row, wife of Matthew Carr, Pitman

All of this ignores George’s stated place of birth. Maybe there is some attraction in that he ended up in Waldridge which is just a mile or so from Chester le Street. Maybe the farm here was somehow associated with the Carrs in that area and he inherited it in some way.

There are quite a lot of DNA matches on the Carr side that lend weight to the evidence I have.

I have 14 confirmed matches who share George Carr (1820) as a common ancestor with me. I am descended from his daughter Elizabeth Emma (1849), and the matches descend variously from her siblings George (1842), Margaret (1857) and Andrew Robert (1846)

I have six matches who share George’s father George Carr (1790) as a common ancestor with me. These all appear to descend from his sister Jane (1816).

I don’t seem to have any matches that descend from this George’s parents whoever they are, but there are four DNA matches who Ancestry believes descend from Bartholemew Bainbridge and Mary Surtis via their children Robert (1738), Bartholemew (1749) and Rachel (1751)

It’s odd that there are no DNA matches to George’s supposed parents Matthew and Margaret Bainbridge, but they only seem to have had three children so perhaps there are very few descendants from that line.

Interestingly, one of the most prominent Bainbridge/Carr trees on Ancestry is by lesleylou1 but she does not appear to be a DNA match with myself or Sheila. Her profile states that is looking for DNA matches so she has clearly taken a test. She is a descendant of Bartholemew Bainbridge and Mary Surtis via their son Bartholemew, so perhaps it is too distant and we do not share any DNA.

There is another link to Chester le Street. My ancestor George Carr (1820) seems to have had one child born there. Margaret Ann was born in 1857 at High Rows, Pelton Fell, Pelton. At the time George was a coal miner. He registered the birth and was shown as being able to write his name. Pelton Fell is a mile west of Chester le Street and a mile north of Waldridge (map). It is the site of a colliery, perhaps where George was employed at the time.

What drew George to Chester le Street? Could it have been family connections. in his early years he was a hind or husbandman but by 1857 he had switched trades to become a coal miner possibly because of increasing industrialisation in the area. His timeline looks like this:

• 1841 lived in Cockle Park, Northumberland with his father George and family. In Dec he marries Margaret Robertson in Hebburn, his occupation is recorded as husbandman and he is of Cockle Park.
• 1842 son George born in Stannington, his occupation is hind.
• 1844 son John born in Tranwell near Morpeth, his occupation is farm servant.
• 1846 son Andrew Robert born in Holywell near Hartley, occupation is husbandman.
• 1849 daughter Elizabeth Emma born in Cowpen Quay, occupation is labourer
• 1851 recorded in census in Cowpen Quay and birth of son Wilson, occupation is husbandman
• 1853 son Charles Thomas born in Derwent Crook, Durham, occupation is husbandman
• 1857 daughter Margaret Ann born in Chester le Street, occupation is now coal miner
• 1861 recorded in census in Seaton Deleval, occupation is coal miner
• 1865 son Joseph Robertson born at Ashington Colliery, Bothal, occupation is coal miner
• 1871 recorded in census in Waterloo, occupation is miner
• 1881 recorded in census in Cowpen Colliery, occupation is coal miner
• 1887 died at Cowpen Colliery, occupation is coal miner

It’s clear that his work as a husbandman took him to various locations near his place of birth in Hartburn, Northumberland. In 1851 he is living in Cowpen Quay while his father is living in Bothal, just a couple of miles to the north.

However just two years later he has moved south of the river to Derwent Crook in Gateshead, still a husbandman. By 1857 he has moved five miles further south to Chester le Street and is now a coal miner which he remains for another 26 years.

By 1861 he has moved back to the Cowpen and Bothal area, while his father and some of his siblings have moved to Waldridge, just a couple of miles from Chester le Street.

Ashington Colliery opened in 1867. Cowpen Colliery opened much earlier, in 1782. Seaton Deleval Colliery opened in 1838, a new pit, Forster, opened in 1859. This could have been an opportunity for George to return to his home area. He would have heard the news that a new pit was opening in a familiar area and took his family back with him.