Susan: Just a couple of points. The regional family history society is the Northumberland and Durham Family History Society, so its usual abbreviation is the NDFHS. Don't forget that "N". It is important, even if your main interest lies in Co Durham! I would also pick you up when you say that records are sketchy for the 1650s. On the whole, that is true. Parish registers were not well kept during the "Commonwealth" period, and marriage registers, in aprticular, were affected by Parliament's Puritan ideas. Some registers of that period seem to have been "lost" (AKA destroyed) at the Restoration, so there are lots of parishes whose registers begin only in 1660. However, don't forget the Hearth Tax records of the 1660s, for which there is now an on-line index, and the Northumberland ones have been printed in the various volumes of the New History of Northumberland. Also the Protestation Returns of 1641 have been printed by the Surtees Soxciety, in a volume available for free download via the "Project Gutenberg" and associated pages. The Protestations amount to a census (ie a list of names) of all able-bodied males between the ages of 16 and 60 in each parish. The Surtees Society have also published, in two volumes, the 1647 Parliamentary Survey of the Bishop of Durham's estates in Co Durham, which lists all the copyholders, together with a lot of other information about them and about each place. Parliament had confiscated those estates and wanted to know what precisely thair ill-gotten gains amounted to. They have also available on the same site as the Protestations, but are still in copyright and have been placed there by Google Books, so there is a charge for downloading them. In addition there were still Wills being proved at Durham. True, nothing like as many during the "Commonweallth" as had been usual, but many families seem to have held back on doing so, only to "catch up" after the Restoration in 1660, so my hint would be to be sure to look at the first few years of the 1660s when seeking the Will of someone who died in the 1650s. The LDS say they are "going to" put facsimiles or even transcripts of all the Wills proved at Durham on line, but so far have failed to do so. However, what we do now have, is an informative list of all those which exist, so that is well worth looking for. Another useful source, and another Surtees Society publication available from Project Gutenberg is the Records of the Committee for Compounding with Delinquent Royalists. That covers mainly Co Durham but there are Northumberland entries in it as well. It is not necessary for your ancestor to have been a "Delinquent Royalist" - ie one who had had lands confiscated because of their loyalty to their King: the value of such lands depended to some extent on the rents payable by their tenants, so the book includes for many estates long lists of tenants and what they paid, if the land is not dismissed by just giving its "YVBW" ("Yearly Value Before the War"), which I find has a surprisingly modern ring to it, as "Before the War" in Britain still means pre-1939. Also, don't forget the County Histories, ie for Co Durham those of Surtees an earlier one by Hutchinson and a later one by Forsyth, pluis the recently-reinvigorated Victoria County History project, which can give a lot of background to what went on. Good hunting, Geoff Nicholson -----Original Message----- From: Susan C <[email protected]> To: northumbria <[email protected]> Sent: Sun, 14 Apr 2013 22:50 Subject: Re: [NMB] Sunderland Hi Geoff, Thank you for that, I do appreciate it. You are quite right, "Information Highway" (as we called it in the 1980's) was a vision to students, historians, professionals or just to some interested people looking for information on the internet. In the 1970's everything was done the hard way, with typewriters, driving to another city or state, or flying to another continent to look for an ancestor was a challenge indeed. A brother to my grandfather commissioned a genealogist to England and Scotland to research our family in 1862. Can you imagine the length of time it took for the travels and the mail in those days? My family letters show ancestors in England back to the year 1655, records then are sketchy, we are lucky to find any scrap of information about anyone. Anything before that is harder to track, but, isn't that what research is all about? I will look into the DFHS, and the Sunderland Antiquarian Society, I have not heard of the SAS, but it sounds like an interesting group worth investigating. Regards, Susan USA ________________________________ From: Geoff Nicholson <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, April 14, 2013 4:42 AM Subject: Re: [NMB] Sunderland Susan: Brian is quite right. However, as in other regions, there is a certain amount of overlap of "Lists". I am surprised, for instance, that Brian didn't mention that Northumbria covers the Sunderland district, so I would expect you to be quite welcome to post your Sunderland queries here. The Northumberland and Durham Family History Society, which operates its own (non-Rootsweb) List, as well as an on-line Forum, also covers Sunderland and, indeed, until not too long ago it did have a Sunderland Branch. There is also Sunderland Antiquarian Society, now with its own permanent premises in Douro Terrace, Sunderland, which has a web-site with a "members-only" section, which includes some people very knowledgeable indeed about the City of Sunderland. As for tracking down the 18th century and earlier records, once again, Brian's comments are quite correct, but what he doesn't mention, presumably because you asked about on-line ones, is that our local County Record Offices are full of them. Both Durham County Record Office and Tyne and Wear Archives have on-line catalogues and both operate in-house research services and in addition will normally, subject to the usual contraints with delicate materials etc, be willing to send you a photocopy for a moderate fee. As far as I'm concerned, and in general terms with many exceptions, research back to 1837 can tend to be a matter of "looking up" the GRO records and census material, all of which can be very straightforward these days with what is on-line. It is with pre-1837 material that the "real research" begins, and that is what makes it all the more fascinating. Progress may not usually be as quick as it can be for the later period, but that is one of the reasons why family history research can last a lifetime! Don't be put off, then, by the lack of ease of access. It isn't long ago that there was nothing "on-line", because there was no internet anyway. We still managed to get things done! Subscribers may care to note that pre-1837 research in South Tyneside is precisely the topic of a meeting of the S Tyneside branch of the NDFHS (of which I am Branch Chairman and on this occasion will also be the speaker) which is being held in South Shields this coming Wednesday evening. I can send more details off-list to anyone who would like to contact me in that way about it. Geoff Nicholson Geoff Nicholson -----Original Message----- From: Brian Pears <[email protected]> To: northumbria <[email protected]> Sent: Sun, 14 Apr 2013 3:21 Subject: Re: [NMB] Sunderland Susan C <[email protected]> wrote: >Are the records (for Sunderland) you mention available online? Susan The list I gave wasn't for Sunderland, it is a general list for any location, though not all classes of record survive in every area. Hardly any is available online. Brian -- Brian Pears (Joint List Admin - NORTHUMBRIA Mailing List) .. Please remember to snip most of the earlier message before you post any reply...... Thank you! The NORTHUMBRIA FAQ page is located at http://www.bpears.org.uk/NorthumbriaFAQ/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message .. Please remember to snip most of the earlier message before you post any reply...... Thank you! The NORTHUMBRIA FAQ page is located at http://www.bpears.org.uk/NorthumbriaFAQ/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message .. Please remember to snip most of the earlier message before you post any reply...... Thank you! The NORTHUMBRIA FAQ page is located at http://www.bpears.org.uk/NorthumbriaFAQ/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message