Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Hello everyone, I am a new member to the Society.
I have just read with interest the posts about finding a death - I am trying to trace Ellen Lodge, maiden name unknown. William Lodge (b abt 1776) was a stone/marble mason in Liverpool up to about 1811, when he sold his house in London Road. He could have lived elsewhere in Liverpool until 1814. Before that he had been struggling with bankruptcy in 1807 and 1809. I believe he and his wife Ellen had a number of children - John lodge born 27 April 1806 and baptised at St John, Haymarket. Margaret Lodge was baptised in the same church in 1804, and it is possible he had a son Enoch Lodge, with a Methodist christening in 1808 and a son William born about 1812 (baptism not yet found).

William married Anne Edwards (formerly Foulkes) on the 2nd Jan 1814, Liverpool St Nicholas. Anne already had a number of children by her first husband Edward Edwards, a butcher - and I can't find his death either!! William and Anne then went on to have children together first in London (9 months later, Robert), then in Birmingham, where William made a new business which Anne carried on after his death.

However it is Ellen I am interested in - having the births of children in Liverpool, and the other information from newspapers and the London gazette regarding his bankruptcies, I get the impression that Ellen died in 1812 or 1813 and it's possible she died in Liverpool. I can't find a death for her. I have found the Lancashire online parish clerk fantastic, and wondered if records for burials are still being transcribed? Can anyone tell me?

Its also possible she died in Birmingham, or some other place - William's origins are unknown to me too. The three blended families seem to have been quite close with visits (recorded on censuses) and family members listed as executors of wills. I hope someone can help, or point me in a useful direction. I have searched newspapers, the NBI etc.

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I suspect there are many churchyards that haven't yet been transcribed by the OPC, sometimes there are other resources, such as Gibson's Epitaphs.

Unfortunately in Gibsons there are no entries for either Ellen or William, there are 11 entries for the surname Lodge, dating between 1796 and 1874, mainly in either St James Cemetery, St James Church, Toxteth Park or St Michaels Pitt Street.

I have to go out in a moment but if you think these might be of interest to you, I can let you have the details tomorrow.

Thank you so much - I would appreciate a look-up of 'Gibson's Epitaphs' for Ellen Lodge. Any clues could help. William Lodge died in Birmingham in 1824 and was buried there, so he will not appear - William and his 2nd wife Anne seem to have moved to Birmingham from the date of their marriage in 1814. But I may find a reference to Anne's first husband Edward Edwards, who must have died sometime in late 1811 or 1812, because of a baptism which gives a birth date for a child, Thomas Edwards in May 1812. The family - 3 blended families really - is proving complex but I am slowly adding data confirming relationships. Thanks again!

MaryA wrote: Unfortunately in Gibsons there are no entries for either Ellen or William,

Sorry no luck in Gibsons on entries for either Ellen Lodge or Edward Edwards at the date you are interested in. One resource checked off your list anyway.

There are many links on this site, searching through them all, I have been lucky in the past and discovered an entry I thought evaded me. http://www.old-merseytimes.co.uk/ Hope you get lucky trying it if you haven't already.

Comma wrote:

I have found the Lancashire online parish clerk fantastic, and wondered if records for burials are still being transcribed? Can anyone tell me?

I'm a transcriber for LANOPC & as far as I know we have run out of burial registers for Liverpool. Records for B.M&D have been ordered from the LDS (where we get them from) for over 12 months. My Coordinator received some last week that were ordered last December but there are loads that we are still waiting for from before then. I don't know yet which records are ordered or have arrived but keep checking the site you might get lucky soon

Thanks for looking up the epitaphs - I appreciate it! I'll find something one day, and will do as you suggest and explore that website. I can't complain about the rate at which I am finding information - in the space of about 4 weeks I completely rectified my previous erroneous early information on the Lodge family (I followed an assumption with a birth date that fitted without checking supporting information because I did not know where to get it from). Now that I have learned about some brilliant online databases for the UK, I have a better chance of checking relationships and it taught me a real lesson! It was a jigsaw puzzle and I am still piecing it together, but I am so grateful that the family were in trade (got to love those record-keeping, advertising and careful will-making ancestors!) and secondly the transcribers of information who put it on the web.