Far Away & Long Ago
Finally got round to getting going with the family history stuff again yesterday. Looks like it was July I last did anything! So it took a little while to get back up to speed with where I was (which was part of why I was putting it off), but I've now finished transcribing all the info on baptisms & burials that I'd found but not put in the database. And I've got as far as I can get with the online resources for the Gibsons, Spences, Robinsons, Millburns & Bailes. That sounds more impressive than it is - three of the familes have a single member (a mother of someone) that I can't then find a baptism for. They are all Jane Gibson (b.1866)'s paternal relatives & Jane herself is J's great-great-grandmother, his father's mother's mother's mother. The Gibsons I've got back to a Thomas Gibson (b.~1766), but this is too common a name even in Middleton in Teesdale to be sure which of the Thomas's baptised within a couple of years of 1766 he is. His wife, Nanny Spence, was also apparently born in 1766, but I can't find any record of her baptism at all. For the Robinsons (Jane's father's mother's family) I've got another couple of generations - I've found a transcription of a baptismal record for Henry Robinson (b.1732), so I think his parents were "John Robyson & his wife Margaret". This John Robyson was Jane Gibson's great-great-great-grandfather. I have no age for Hannah Milburn (Henry Robinson's wife), so haven't looked for her baptism & Henry's daughter-in-law Ann Bailes wasn't born in the Diocese of Durham so the Bishops' Transcripts of the parish records for where she was born aren't online.
The Gibsons & the Robinsons were made relatively easy because they stayed in the same place for quite a bit - the Gibsons lived in Friar House Farm (which is between Newbiggin & Forest in Teesdale) then Widdybank Farm (in Forest) & the Robinsons lived in Force Garth Farm (between Friar House & Widdybank).
What I need to do next, is write that up properly & send a copy off to J's great-aunt Phyllis, as she was interested in anything I could find out about her mother's relatives. And get some certificates so I can find out about Jane Gibson's mother's family (need a maiden name for her mother yet) & Jane's husband Thomas Storey's family (need a marriage certificate for his parents to get parents names for them).
The Gibsons & the Robinsons were made relatively easy because they stayed in the same place for quite a bit - the Gibsons lived in Friar House Farm (which is between Newbiggin & Forest in Teesdale) then Widdybank Farm (in Forest) & the Robinsons lived in Force Garth Farm (between Friar House & Widdybank).
What I need to do next, is write that up properly & send a copy off to J's great-aunt Phyllis, as she was interested in anything I could find out about her mother's relatives. And get some certificates so I can find out about Jane Gibson's mother's family (need a maiden name for her mother yet) & Jane's husband Thomas Storey's family (need a marriage certificate for his parents to get parents names for them).