Merrington, Durham Genealogy

England Durham  Durham Parishes

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

Parish History
MERRINGTON (St. John the Evangelist), a parish, in the unions of Auckland, Durham, and Sedgefield, S. E. division of Darlington ward, S. division of the county of Durham.

Additional information: St John the Evangelist church Kirk Merrington was rebuilt in 1851 on the site of the ancient parish church. The parish is a peculiar belonging to the dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral; the parish includes Chilton, Hett and Middlestone.

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

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections DDR/EA/PBT/ 2/158 1762-1884 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at FamilySearch Historical Records.

The dates of the post-1760 transcripts have been noted in detail and sometimes only cover years. For most parishes in the collection there are gaps in the sequence of transcripts. It is advisable to consult the original parish registers for these years and events.

The Parish Registers for the period 1579-1967 are deposited at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL (EP/Mer).

Poor Law Unions
Auckland 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