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Proven Surname Ancestry Results

Our indexes 1000-1999 include entries for the spelling 'proven'. In the period you have requested, we have the following 16 records (displaying 1 to 10): 

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National ArchivesApprentices registered in Scotland (1750-1754)
Apprenticeship indentures and clerks' articles were subject to a 6d or 12d per pound stamp duty: the registers of the payments usually give the master's trade, address, and occupation, and the apprentice's father's name and address, as well as details of the date and length of the apprenticeship. There are central registers for collections of the stamp duty in London, as well as returns from collectors in the provinces and from Scotland. (The sample entry shown on this scan is taken from a Norfolk return)

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Apprentices registered in Scotland
 (1750-1754)
National ArchivesApprentices registered in Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1762)
Apprenticeship indentures and clerks' articles were subject to a 6d or 12d per pound stamp duty: the registers of the payments usually give the master's trade, address, and occupation, and the apprentice's name, as well as details of the date and length of the apprenticeship. There are central registers for collections of the stamp duty in London, as well as returns from collectors in the provinces. These collectors generally received duty just from their own county, but sometimes from further afield. The indentures themselves can date from a year or two earlier than this return. (The sample entry shown on this scan is taken from a Bristol return. Each entry has two scans, the other being the facing page with the details of the indenture, length of service, and payment of duty.) IR 1/54

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Apprentices registered in Newcastle-upon-Tyne
 (1762)
Masters of Merchantmen (1804)
The Society for the Registry of Shipping was instituted in 1760, and published an annual register and supplement. The annual register consisted of an alphabetical list of ships surveyed for insurance in Britain and Ireland, together with an alphabetical supplement. The society maintained a Registry Office at which alterations and additions were notified, and members delivering their registers when called for had them updated and returned on the following or the ensuing day. Each ship was given a number within each letter of the alphabet: ships' names were not unique, so within each name a ship was identified by the name of the captain or master at the time of the last survey. Then abbreviations indicate the type of vessel (Bg, brig; Cr, cutter; Dr, dogger; G, galliott; H, hoy; K, ketch; S, ship; Sk, smack; Sp, sloop; Sr, schooner; St, schoot; Sw, snow), and whether sheathed (s) and/or doubled (d) with copper (C) and iron bolts (I B) or over boards (W & C), or copper fastened (c f) or copper bolted (c b), sometimes with a date, such as (17)88. The third column, reserved for masters' names, is not particularly wide; with short surnames, an initial will be given; but longer surnames omit the initials, and even longer surnames are abbreviated. It will be borne in mind that these are the names of the masters not (necessarily) in 1804, but at the time of the last survey. Often new masters had been appointed by the time of re-survey, and their names are added in slightly smaller type under the original master's names in the third column. In the fourth column is the tonnage: where there is a blank under the number this indicates that the ship had two decks; more often the letters S D (B) for single deck (with beams); D W for deep waist; S D W single deck with deep waist; B D W single deck with beams and deep waist. Underneath the entry may run references to recent repairs: Cl. clincher built; Drp. damages repaired; grp. good repairs; len. lengthened; lrp. large repairs; N. (new) B. bottom, D. deck, Kl. keel, Sds. sides or UW. upper-works; rb. rebuilt; rsd. raised; S. rprs. some repairs; or trp. thorough Repair. In italics, the timber of the ship is described - B. B., black birch; C., cedar; H., hazel; J., juniper; L. O., live oak; M., mahogany; P., pine; P. P., pitch pine; S., spruce; W. H., witch hazel. Where the vessel was armed, the number of guns is given, and occasionally a remark such as 'captured' will appear. The fifth column gives the place that the ship was built. For foreign ships this may be as vague as 'Dutch' or 'French'; but nothing in this record specifically indicates the nationality of ship, master or owners, except that an A. under the owner's name indicates that the vessel was United States property. The sixth column gives the year of the ship's age; some were still sailing after 30 or 40 years. The seventh column gives the owner's name, abbreviated in the same way as the master's name. Where the master was the owner, the word Capt. will appear. With vessels owned abroad, the name in this column is sometimes that of the port of origin, not the surname of the owner. Where there has been a change of owner by the time of re-survey, the new name is put underneath in smaller type. The printer sought to avoid confusion by aligning names of ports to the left and surnames to the right, but that leaves longer names doubtful. The eighth column gives the feet of the draught of water when loaded. The ninth column shows the destined voyage for which the survey took place, with the port of survey abbreviated (Be., Belfast; Br., Bristol; Co., Cork; Cs, Cowes; Da., Dartmouth; Du., Dublin; Eh, Exmouth; Ex., Exeter; Fa., Falmouth; Gr., Greenock; Hl, Hull; La., Lancaster; Lh, Leith; Li., Liverpool; Lo., London; Ly., Lynn; Po., Poole; Ph, Portsmouth; Sc., Star-Cross; Tn., Teignmouth; Tp., Topsham; Wa., Waterford; Wn, Whitehaven; Ya., Yarmouth), and the letter C where the vessel was a constant trader between the two ports. The tenth column gives the classification of the vessel (A, first; E, second; I., third - O and U for fourth and fifth are never used) and its stores (1, first; 2, second; 3, third) and the year of survey, e. g. 00 for 1800, or, if surveyed during 1803, the month, e. g. 3 for March. Where the vessel has been re-surveyed, the classification letter and number will be repeated or revised in the final column. The sample scan is from the main list. This is the index to masters in the main list.

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Masters of Merchantmen
 (1804)
South County Durham Poll Book: Darlington District (1832)
A poll for two Knights of the Shire to represent in Parliament the Southern Division of the county palatine of Durham was taken on 21 and 22 December 1832. This poll book sets out all the electors by polling district (Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland, Darlington, Middleton-in-Teesdale, Sedgefield, Stanhope and Stockton) and gives registered number; full name (surname first); place of abode; nature of qualification (such as House as occupier, Land as occupier, Copyhold Property, &c.); and the name of the parish, township or place where the property is situate. The votes are set out in the right-hand columns, under P. (for Joseph Pearse, jun., esq.), B. (John Bowes, esq.), and S. (Robert Duncombe Shafto, esq.), the three candidates. A voter could choose two candidates, in which case a dash is put in each of the two appropriate columns, or plump for just one - where a star is placed in that candidate's column. This was the first election after the Reform Act, which extended the franchise in the counties to all adult men possessing freehold worth 40s a year or more, or copyhold or long leasehold of £10 or more, or being tenants or short leaseholders of £50 or more.

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South County Durham Poll Book: Darlington District
 (1832)
National ArchivesBritish merchant seamen (1835-1836)
At this period, the foreign trade of ships plying to and from the British isles involved about 150,000 men on 15,000 ships; and the coasting trade about a quarter as many more. A large proportion of the seamen on these ships were British subjects, and so liable to be pressed for service in the Royal Navy; but there was no general register by which to identify them, so in 1835 parliament passed a Merchant Seamen's Registration Bill. Under this act this large register of British seamen was compiled, based on ships' crew lists gathered in British and Irish ports, and passed up to the registry in London. Each seaman was assigned a number, and the names were arranged in the register by first two letters of the surname (our sample scan shows one of the pages for 'Sm'); in addition, an attempt was made to separate out namesakes by giving the first instance of a name (a), the second (b), and so on. But no effective method was devised to prevent the same man being registered twice as he appeared in a second crew list; moreover, the original crew lists were clearly difficult for the registry clerks to copy, and some of the surname spellings appear to be corrupted. A parliamentary committee decided that the system devised did not answer the original problem, and this register was abandoned after less than two years: but it is an apparently comprehensive source for British merchant seamen in 1835 to 1836. The register records the number assigned to each man; his name; age; birthplace; quality (master, captain, mate, 2nd mate, mariner, seaman, fisherman, cook, carpenter, boy &c.); and the name and home port of his ship, with the date of the crew list (usually at the end of a voyage). Most of the men recorded were born in the British Isles, but not all (for instance, Charleston and Stockholm appear in the sample scan). The final column 'How disposed of' is rarely used, and indicates those instances where a man died, was discharged, or deserted his ship during the voyage.

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British merchant seamen
 (1835-1836)
Patentees of New Inventions (1862)
Abstracts of British patents for new inventions applied for and granted from 1 January to 31 December 1862: giving date, name and address, and short description of the invention. It is then stated whether 'Letters patent sealed' or 'Provisional protection only'.

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Patentees of New Inventions
 (1862)
Patentees of New Inventions (1870)
Index of patentees and applicants for patents of inventions in 1870: giving full name of patentee (surname first); number of patent (in bold); date (within 1870); and subject-matter. Where the patentee was acting as agent for third parties, their names are given in italics in the subject-matter column.

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Patentees of New Inventions
 (1870)
Unclaimed Money and Property (1870)
Gun & Co. of 6 Prince of Wales' Road, London, in about 1870 published this fourth 'List of Next of Kin & Heirs, &c., who have been Advertised for in the English, Irish, Scotch, United States of America, Canadian, Australian, East and West Indian, and other Newspapers, since 1704. Money & Property to the value of many Millions Sterling want Claimants'. The list of 4,128 names gives surname, christian name, and, occasionally, locality. Copies of the actual advertisements were furnished to enquirers by the company at a cost of six shillings.

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Unclaimed Money and Property
 (1870)
Debtors, Insolvents and Bankrupts (1880)
Bills of sale (binding assets to a creditor/lender), insolvencies and bankruptcies in England and Wales, January to March 1880

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Debtors, Insolvents and Bankrupts
 (1880)
Missing Next-of-Kin and Heirs-at-Law (1880)
The Unclaimed Money Registry and Next-of-Kin Advertisement Office of F. H. Dougal & Co., on the Strand in London, published a comprehensive 'Index to Advertisements for Next of Kin, Heirs at Law, Legatees, &c., &c., who have been Advertised for to Claim Money and Property in Great Britain and all Parts of the World; also Annuitants, Shareholders, Intestates, Testators, Missing Friends, Creditors or their Representatives, Claimants, Unclaimed and Reclaimed Dividends and Stock, Citations, Administrations, Rewards for Certificates, Wills, Advertisements, &c., Claims, Unclaimed Balances, Packages, Addresses, Parish Clerks' Notices, Foreign Intestates, &c., &c.' The original list was compiled about 1860, but from materials dating back even into the 18th century: most of the references belong to 1850 to 1880. For each entry only a name is given, sometimes with a placename added in brackets: there may be a reference number, but there is no key by which the original advertisement may be traced. The enquirer of the time had to remit £1 for a 'Full and Authentic Copy of the Original Advertisement, together with name and date of newspaper in which the same appeared'.

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Missing Next-of-Kin and Heirs-at-Law 
 (1880)
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