A request for help from our Geordie friends please.

[perranmaid]

Can anyone tell me please which office would be the most likely to hold the records for St Bennets Catholic Church Monkwearmouth.

I have the marriage certificate for 11th May 1867 but wondered if the church record would show more details??

Thankyou

[Uncle John]

Meridian Line is the expert but Monkwearmouth is in Sunderland.

[perranmaid]

Thankyou Uncle John

[Uncle John]

And Sunderland is most definitely not Geordieland!

[Southwick]

St Benet's

Follow this link, the repository is Blandford House, Newcastle.

Tyne & Wear Archives Service

[Olde Crone Holden]

Perranmaid

A marriage certificate is an exact copy of what is in the church register, so I really don't think there would be any more detail to be had.

It might list the dates the Banns were read, but not much else.

OC

[perranmaid]

Sorry UJ,
That's a shame OC I have a bit of a dilemma.

GRO have excelled themselves time wise and I have recieved the death cert of what I hope is my GT GT Grandmother the age is out, but husband and address is correct. On the death cert the daughter Mary Halpin is the informant. Now the only marriage I have found and which I have the cert for is Mary Boylan to John Halfpenny right age right area and right parent for Mary.

Cannot find a Halfpenny on the censuses following the marriage but I have found a Halpin family right ages etc.

Dilemma is the marriage cert wrong??? and should be Halpin??

[Olde Crone Holden]

Surely Halpin is the local pronunciation/mishearing of Halfpenny?

OC

[perranmaid]

Never thought of that............

[Pippa Doll]

Apparently Halfpenny is a variation of Halpin!

[perranmaid]

Well that explains a lot then. Still no clue where to start in Ireland though. So whilst I have filled some gaps and fluffed them out, there's still a brick wall with no cracks. Ah well have to find a bigger chisel...........

Thankyou all.

[Southwick]

St Benet's

John Halfpenny at 3 Office row? (FreeCen 1861) seems a prime candidate. It could be worth looking for the children or the grandson in 1881 and seeing if you can work backwards to find your Mary. Looking at the various birth places, Sunderland, Shotley bridge, and Kelloe they were following the work. If John stayed in the area you could look for christenings in St Benet's books, I found some of my clan there and the godparents (friends, neighbours, relatives) listed were really useful.

[perranmaid]

Hi Southwick

Where did you find the books please?

[Southwick]

Hello, at St Benet's, but since then they are at TWAS as the link above, if they still hold their own copies the address of St Benet's is there as well. As the church was only opened in 1864 your people would have been one of the first marriages in a new church.

As a by-the-way the north side of the Wear was called the "Irish bank" have a click through the 1841, 51, 61 census and see what I mean.

[perranmaid]

Thankyou very much will give it another go. I was finding it difficult to navigate the site and find anything.

[Meridian Line]

Hi Linda,

I don't claim to be a Sunderland expert, but my Dad has some of the records.

Are your John & Mary Halpin , the coal mining couple in Ryhope, first son Patrick? What information are you looking for?

[Durham Lady]

St Benets still have most of their registration books in their safe. Wonderful if you can look at them. My B in L's family used the church and when I was helping him to research his family we went to the church to see his brothers name on the war memorial plaque in the church. A very kind lady who helped out in the church office opened the safe and showed us his brothers marriage certificate and photocopied it for us.His brother was killed during WW2 and my B in L was only 6 yrs old so knew very little about his brother or his wife. We actually found his wife and were able to meet her. She was so pleased to see my B in L as she had lost touch with his mum after a few years.

[perranmaid]

Morning all back to it,

Louise yes I believe that is them but as I say above the marriage certificate says Halfpenny, so I am not 100% sure. That is why I would like a check on the church records. I am also desperate for a clue as to where in Ireland this family come from so that I can hopefully get back some more.

Daphne thankyou for that I am going to contact the church and hope for some added detail.

[JBee]

Oh I wish there was a magic wand to say whereabouts in Ireland my lot from Sunderland came from.

Didn't know that it was called "Irish Bank" but heard that St Patricks RC parish was not deemed a good address in mid 1850's. My lot eventually moved up to St Mary's and St Josephs but I've only researched briefly in the Tyne & Wear archives (1 day).

[Meridian Line]

Linda,

if that is the right couple on the census...it looks like John Halpin/Halfpenny was born in Sunderland...have you looked for his birth on FreeBMD?

What info do you have on the marriage cert?. Fathers names & occupations , & witnesses names? It might help us narrow down some of the families.