Durham County Record Office County Hall Durham DH1 5UL Telephone (0191) 383 3253 e-mail: record.office@durham.gov.uk website: www.durham.gov.uk/recordoffice USER GUIDE 7 : GUIDE TO CENSUS AND PARISH REGISTER MICROFILMS Issue no. 2 April 2002 CENSUS RETURNS All the census microfilms which are held in the Record Office are listed in the index books with blue labels reading CENSUS RETURNS. The places in County Durham - towns, villages and hamlets - are listed in alphabetical order and for each census date (1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901) the numbers of the microfilms which contain those places are given. All 1841 census microfilms have a number beginning M27/, 1851 census microfilms are numbered M3/, 1861 are numbered M9/, 1871 are numbered M18/, 1881 are numbered M54/, 1891 are numbered M76/, and 1901 are numbered M81/. A sample of the list is as follows: Place Microfilm reference 1841 Census 1851 Census 1861 Census 1871 Census 1881 Census 1891 Census 1901 Census Aycliffe M27/5 M3/3 M9/1 M18/3 M54/2-3 M76/4 M81/6-7 Aykley Heads M27/12 M3/17-18 M9/12 M18/28 M54/17 M76/30 M81/32 Barmpton M27/7 M3/12 M9/5 M18/1-2 M54/4 M76/3-4 M81/24 Barmston M27/13 M3/4 M9/11 M18/1 M54/6 M76/8-9 M81/8-9 Castle Eden M27/5 M3/6 M9/15 M18/4-5 M54/12 M76/12 M81/10 Once you have identified the microfilm which includes the place in which you are interested you should consult the relevant detailed list. For each census there is a street list (street and other names from the census in the order in which they appear on the films) and a street index (alphabetical index to the street list). For 1841, 1851 and 1861 the street lists and indexes are both in one binder for each year, but for 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 the lists and indexes are in separate binders. For 1841 the index indicates the microfilm on which a street or place can be found. For 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901, in addition to the microfilm number, the index also indicates the Public Record Office piece number and folio(s) on which the place can be found. The census microfilms can be found in the microfilm cabinet with blue drawer labels and headed CENSUS RETURNS. When you take the microfilm box (which will have a blue number) out of the cabinet you should replace it with the numbered block corresponding to the microfilm reader you are using. Once you have loaded the microfilm on your reader, you should wind through the film until the required Public Record Office piece number (which will be prefixed HO 107/ in 1841 and 1851, RG 9/ in 1861, RG 10/ in 1871, RG 11/ in 1881, RG 12/ in 1891, and RG 13/ in 1901) appears at the side (1841-1871) or bottom (1881-1901) of the microfilm frame. Indexes of names are available for some places on one or more of the censuses and these are to be found on the open shelves in the corner of the microfilm reading room. Handlist 5 contains a list of all census indexes which are available in the County Record Office. An index on microfiche is available for the 1881 census. PARISH REGISTERS All the Church of England parish registers which are held in the Record Office are listed in the index books with red labels reading PARISH REGISTERS ON MICROFILM. The parishes are listed in alphabetical order by town or village (if there is more than one parish in the town, then they are listed alphabetically by the dedication of the church - St. Paul followed by St. Peter followed by St. Stephen, etc.) Once you have found the parish that you want, the registers are listed in a set order - baptisms, banns, marriages and burials - and in date order within each type of register. BEAMISH, ST. ANDREW Created from Collierley, Lanchester and Tanfield in 1873 Indexes & transcripts Original register reference Microfilm reel reference Baptisms December 1876 - February 1897 276 EP/Bea 1/1 M42/602 Baptisms February 1897 - August 1908 276(pt) EP/Bea 1/2 M42/602 Banns February 1877 - February 1898 EP/Bea 1/12 M42/604 Marriages February 1877 - August 1893 EP/Bea 1/5 M42/603 Marriages August 1893 - October 1904 EP/Bea 1/6 M42/603 Burials January 1877 - June 1961 EP/Bea 1/16 M42/605 Burials June 1961 - April 1967 389 EP/Bea 1/17 M42/607 To find a particular register in the microfilms you should note down the microfilm reel number (4th column) and the original register number (3rd column). All the parish register microfilms have a number beginning M42/ and can be found in the microfilm cabinets with red drawer labels and headed PARISH REGISTERS. When you take the microfilm box (which will have a red number) out of the cabinet you should replace it with the numbered block corresponding to the microfilm reader you are using. Once you have loaded the microfilm on your reader, you should wind through the film until the required original register number (which will always begin with EP/) appears at the bottom of the microfilm frame (in a few cases these numbers are only present at the beginning of the register). There are a number of registers on each film, so when you begin to look at it you may find registers from a parish other than the one you were expecting - you have not made a mistake, carry on winding through the film and you will find the one you want. If the parish in which you are interested does not have registers which are early enough for your purposes you should refer to the information which appears under the name of the parish at the top of the page. This tells you the parish(es) from which that parish was created and you can then search in those parishes. If one parish name appears in bold type, then that is the main parish from which the later parish was created. Indexes or transcripts are available for some registers and these are indicated by a number in the 2nd column of the parish register list. This is the number of the appropriate black-bound book on the open shelves in the corner of the microfilm reading room. 'IGI' in the 2nd column of the list indicates that the register has been indexed on the International Genealogical Index, a copy of which is available on microfice in the microfilm reading room. If the place in which you are interested is not a parish it will not appear in the PARISH REGISTERS ON MICROFILM index, however the Record Office publication Durham Family History Gazetteer (1996) contains a list of townships, villages, hamlets and other settlements and provides details of the parish(es) in which they have been included. HANDLISTS:USERGUIDE07.DOC/25-Aug-04/16:19 page 1