Which records covering Liverpool have I not yet reviewed?

[Edward David Luft]

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I am working on an historical biography, and not my first book, of an infamous character who lived for a short time in Liverpool, only long enough to send for his wife in eastern Prussia or Berlin. They departed together on the American ship Roscius (almost certainly cabin class) of the Collins Line, bound for New York City on 12 April 1851 (I have the ship manifest of their landing in New York the following month.) and thus before the 1851 UK census but after the 1850 US census. I have strong evidence that he was in eastern Prussia sometime in 1850, having just been released from prison there. Apparently unknown to British authorities, he was an escaped convict (with the help of his wife) from Prussia on an unknown date but late in 1850 or early in 1851, when he entered the United Kingdom on a passport borrowed from an unnamed friend in Berlin. I assume that he lived in Brownlow Hill or the Crown Street area despite departing with about £75 for America, an enormous sum in those days. He apparently paid £40 for accommodation for two aboard the ship, exclusive of wine and liquor! My guess is that he never intended to reside in Liverpool but only intended to await his wife before leaving for New York City. He might have known someone in Liverpool from among those in the criminal fraternity there. He was there longer than just enough time to change ships. He already had at least one relative in New Jersey, in a location just across the Hudson River from New York City.

A very patient friend in Liverpool has been kind enough to visit the LRO to do research for me but so far has been unable to find anything. The LRO's holdings of relevant religious records yield no clues. The man is not listed in any Liverpool city directory. In a published interview in 1871 he bragged that the British constabulary never caught him so police records of arrests, etc. are of no help.

Have you any suggestions as to where I might look for other records of his sojourn in Liverpool? Are there any extant Liverpool records that would have been kept of his being in Liverpool at that time for a relatively short time? I have checked the England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 without success, just in case he was not telling the truth, and cannot find him or his wife in UK, Aliens Entry Books, 1794-1921. He used the same first name of “Abraham” or a variation thereof every time (except under that false passport) but constantly changed his surname. He was known in Prussia and in the UK as Lesslauer, Grünthal, Greenthal, and Green up to the time that he left Liverpool, so far as I know. His nickname in Prussia among his confederates was "Holländer Zerbe" while in German and in English he was known as "The General." He was the leader of a criminal gang, which unusually included even his own father in Prussia. He was an expert in stealing on trains, then a relatively new form of transportation.

His wife’s name was Hannah. He was 28 years old when he departed Liverpool, and Hannah was only 20 years old. Both were highly intelligent and career criminals, descendants of the very finest criminal families in Prussia. Both could read and write although only Hannah could write in Latin letters. I do not know if either could read and write English in Liverpool but use of the name Green on the passenger manifest suggests that they could.

They did not have any children until after settling in New York City. Clearly, they had not been married long when they arrived separately in Liverpool although Hannah was pregnant at that time. This is certain because the eldest child was born in New York City before 1 July 1851 but only Abraham and Hannah are listed as having boarded the ship; none of their children is listed. That child is also not listed as having been born on the ship. So the child must have been born between mid-May and the end of June 1851 in New York City, based upon the information in the 1860 U. S. census record, which lists the place of birth as "New York." Since we do not have 20th century census records for this child, apparently deceased before 1900, we do not know the month of birth. This child probably died before 1889, when The General died in New York City.

Thank you for any advice.

Sincerely,
Edward David Luft
Juris Doctor
Washington, DC
http://www.GetCited.org/mbrx/PT/99/MBR/11078005

[MaryA]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Thank you for posting such a full and detailed message, I hope somebody will be able to make some suggestions, I understand that you aren't asking for somebody to actually go to the Record Office, but just suggestions as to what may be available, however, if anybody has records themselves, I'm sure they will do a double check.

I would just like to ask a couple of questions in clarification.

Firstly do you have the names they travelled under both to come to Liverpool and then to travel to New York?

Secondly is there something that makes you suspect they stayed in the Brownlow Hill/Crown Street area?

[Edward David Luft]

Hello Mary,

You are correct in your assessment of what I am asking--just advice at this point. To answer your questions:

1. As I said, Abraham used a borrowed passport and evidently entered the UK on that passport. I checked all "Abrahams" and variations thereof and found nothing in the alien listings. I do not know the name under which Hannah entered the UK, but it was not Hannah or Hanna because no "Hannah" fits her description for the time period in the lists of aliens entering the UK at the time. Interestingly, there was not a single spelling of "Hanna" in the lists.

2. They left Liverpool together on the ship Roscius as Mr. and Mrs. A. Green. the ages matched perfectly, and Abraham filed a declaration of intention to become a citiazen in the USA jsut two weeks after arriving. It all fits exactly.

3. I suspect that at least Abraham lived in the Brownlow Hill/Crown Street area because he was an Orthodox Jew (which I do not understand if his profession was a thief, of course). Still, he observed eight of the ten commandments, which is better than some, and no one is perfect. He would have stayed among that community in Liverpool, judging from what he did both before and after he was in the UK. I assume that that he and Hannah took ship shortly after she arrived in Liverpool, probably less than two weeks after, but that is a guess.

I am wondering if I missed any potential record or failed to properly search some record that I did search.

[Hilary]

I personally think it is very unlikely that you will find any records for someone with such a short stay in the country. The likely records would have been marriage, children or a census but as none of these occurred during their stay I doubt there is anything.

At that time people didn't need passports to enter or leave the country, many people came from Europe and travelled through on their way to America. Also most people would have entered on the equivalent of a ferry and these didn't have passengers lists. The couple could have entered via any port on the east coast and travelled as many did to Liverpool.

The only place I would think there might possible be any mention would be in Jewish records. There is a large collection of these held at Liverpool Record Office. In terms of were they lived the most likely would have been some kind of boarding house which could have been anywhere in the city. If he was under an assumed name and running away I would have thought he would have done his best to keep out of any official records. You're looking for a needle in a haystack!

[daggers]

You could try www.princesroad.org - the website of Liverpool's Orthodox synagogue.
I believe they have a keen historian or archivist.
D

[MaryA]

Well thanks, at least you have come up with a couple of suggestions which is more than I struggled to do considering the short time they would have been here.