52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - A Challenge

Week 8: I can Identify


For many years my research into my father's family line stopped at the marriage of Thomas Chicken to Elizabeth Carter by banns on 5th Sept 1807 in the parish of Jarrow with Heworth. They were the parents of 4 children over the next few years, including my GG Grandfather, John. But who was Thomas? There was no clue in the marriage record that I could find, but it was only the Bishop's Transcript, not the original parish register. However, in the baptismal entries for their children Thomas was described as "of Tanfield". In my ignorance I thought that was where he was living at the time so didn't pay too much attention to it. A distant cousin whom I never managed to meet sent me some information that he had about a Thomas Chicken, baptised in Nov 1782 in Ryton, son of George Chicken. He believed that this was our ancestor. Meantime I found a baptism of Thomas and John, twin sons of John Chicken of Fryerside. This baptism took place in November 1783 in Tanfield. Could this be our ancestor? Further research was called for. Lots of reading around the different parishes in the area, helpful pointers from members of Northumberland & Durham Family History Society and things started to fall into place. The Bishop Barrington registers (1798 to 1812) required that the place of birth of the parents be shown on the baptisms of the children. So the Tanfield on those baptismal entries refers to Thomas' place of birth, and  consequently the 1783 baptism is my GGG Grandfather. So a decade after first finding that he was called Thomas I now know which Thomas he is and know that my 4xG Grandfather was John Chicken of Fryerside who must have been born some time before 1765.

So, having identified the right Thomas I now have to identify the right John. I'm looking forward to the Durham County Archive office re-opening after its move to a new site so that I can go and peruse the original records to see what I can find.

Writing this article was prompted by the 52 Ancestors challenge set by Amy Johnson Crow 

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