People I'm Researching: 37 Belmont Road West Derby

My paternal great-grandfather, Charles Neal, was born and raised in West Derby Village, a suburb of Liverpool, England. I have been tracing his line and have found many generations of my Neal, Boardman, Johnson and Burrows families living in the village of West Derby. I have found this particular geographical area to be one of great genealogical records, many available free of charge! A while ago I found something even better about this area. My mother-in-law's partner, Tony, is actually from Liverpool and grew up right next to West Derby.

We found this out after Tony was over for dinner at my apartment one night. I have many old pictures hanging up and one of them was of my ancestor John Neal's green grocer and fruiterer store. Tony asked about the picture and I told him about how I had family who came from West Derby. He got really excited because that was just down the road from where he grew up. It even turns out that his sister lives on the street behind the one where my Neal family was living in 1901.

John Neal's store, probably located in West Derby or Liverpool, Lancashire, England.

Tony was over visiting his sister just a couple of weeks ago and offered to take some photos of the area for me. According to the 1901 English Census John Neal was residing at 37 Belmont Road with his wife Alice and 6 of their children, Lillian, John, George, Charles, Alice Regina and Florence. John's occupation was listed as caretaker at a technical institution and gardener (domestic). Tony went looking for No. 37 Belmont Road, but unfortunately the building has been demolished. It was located right next to the Lido Cinema, a popular hang out from 1914 until the 1990s. at which time it was also demolished. If you click on the link for the Lido Cinema you will be taken to a website with an early picture of the cinema. Number 37 can be seen next to it. Tony remembers cutting across the lawn of 37 Belmont Road to get to the cinema.