Thursday 13 April 2017

FamilySearch's online image-only Liverpool resources

Followers of Irish Genealogy News will be aware that FamilySearch.org has been digitising some of its microfilm collection and placing the resulting images on its website for free search and view. Its Valuation Office Books and a significant proportion of its Registry of Deeds microfilms are examples. While the former are online elsewhere, the Registry of Deeds collection has never been available online before.

This development prompted Col of Liverpool, a regular contributor to this blog, to take a look at FamilySearch's online image collections for the city of Liverpool, through which so many Irish men, women and children passed or settled during the C18th and C19th. He found the microfilm collections listed below partially or completely available as browsable images.

Please note that in some cases, FamilySearch seems to have filmed the originals twice. From what I can tell, online images are publicly available for one set only. The other set can be viewed online only at a Family History Center:

St Peter's Liverpool, Church of England. Demolished in 1922 and replaced by Giles Gilbert Scott's impressive Liverpool Cathedral, St Peter's was the parish church of Liverpool; people of all denominations were married in it.

St Nicholas Liverpool (aka Our Lady & St Nicholas with St Anne), Church of England. Located near the Pier Head, this is the oldest church in city centre. Again, people of many denominations were married here.

Gore's Directory of Liverpool, 1825-1900. Fifty directories are available during the time span.

(Liverpool Workhouse) Admission and discharge registers, Liverpool Board of Guardians, c1840s-1915. Registers include names entered by surname in alphabetical order, date of admission, age, location admitted to, by whom admitted, settlement and remarks, date of discharge, and conditions of discharge.

During the Famine era period although there were some RC churchyards in the Liverpool area most Irish people were buried in the CE "parish" cemeteries with St Mary's being more associated with people who died in the Famine. There's a plaque commemorating these Famine burials on a wall nearby in Mulberry Street. Neither of these sites are now cemeteries.

St Mary's Cemetery, Burial Registers 1806–1849: This is the Church of England Parish Cemetery in Cambridge Street/Mulberry Street. During the Famine era, many Irish Catholics were buried here. The Register notes the religion of the deceased, usually referring to Catholics as Papist, Roman or Romanist.

St. Martin's-in-the-Fields Cemetery, Burial registers 1829-1861: This is the Church of England Parish Cemetery in Silvester Street. The registers note name, abode location, burial date, age at death, and person performing ceremony.

Many thanks to Col for working through the Family History Library catalogue to find these imaged collections.