Seaham, Durham Genealogy

Guide to Seaham, Durham family history and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
SEAHAM (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Easington, N. division of Easington ward and of the county of Durham, 6 miles (S. by E.) from Sunderland.

Additional information: The parish of Seaham was created from the ancient Parish of Dalton le Dale, Durham and has a Norman church. The dedication of the church was changed from that of St Andrew to St Mary the Virgin. There are references to the church dating back to 1501 although the building shows signs of much earlier construction and is the only surviving building of the original Saxon Village. The church was founded by King Athelston in 930AD. It has both Saxon and early Norman masonry in its nave, a 13th century chancel and west tower. Over the 16th century porch door is a late 18th century sundial with an unusual verse, now illegible, which begins: "The natural clockwork by the mighty one wound up at first and ever since has gone....."

Other places in the parish include: New Seaham, Seaham Colliery, Seaton and Slingley, Seaton with Slingley, and Seaton with Slingsby.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
Seaham parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Records are also available at the Durham County Record Office.

Non Conformist Churches

 * Primitive Methodist
 * Wesleyan Methodist

Poor Law Unions
Easington Poor Law Union,Durham

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Durham Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Websites
Seaham on GENUKI