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Finding Marshes, Molyneuxs and Whitfields
Finding Marshes Molyneux and Whitfields

On Monday, 28th of January Pool welcomed more than forty people with the surnames Marsh, Molyneux and Whitfield to the Merseyside Maritime Museum.

They had read about the event in local newspapers or invitations which pool posted. One or two had heard about it on the radio at breakfast time and dashed straight down to the Museum to join us.

There were fathers and Sons, mothers and daughters, brothers and sisters, married couples, people tracing their family trees.

They all wanted to know what was special about their names and why we were so keen to meet them.

The theme for the day was Liverpools forgotten history; From the original tidal Pool to the story of when their names became wrapped up in the citys history in 1672.

They were all intrigued to hear the story of the knocking down of Lord Molyneuxs Bridge and the part their ancestors and namesakes had played in establishing Liverpools common rights.

Very quickly people were exchanging old family tales and histories, three or four people brought family trees others brought old birth and marriage certificates

We heard about one Marsh who had spent many years working for a Molyneux.

A gentleman who was startled to find one of his namesakes at the event was the spitting image of his father.

The mystery of Ernesto Valentino Marsh; last seen in Yorkshire in the 19th Century where he disappeared in circumstances as unexplained as the origin of his name.

A married couple who were both born Marshes.

We even had one person named neither Marsh or Molyneux nor Whitfield but was there by proxy as he had friends of all three names.

The Marshes and Whitfields were delighted that they had Liverpool folk heros in their family history.

The Molyneux had no idea that they had ancestors who had lived at Croxteth hall or that Lord street was named after their namesake.

Most importantly in bringing these people together we revealed an important piece of Liverpools history that is largely unknown.

Now there are another forty people out there who know the story of Lord Molyneuxs bridge and theyre proud enough of their history to join us on March 20th for Bridging the Gap

Many thanks to the museum for making this event possible

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