Hi everyone,

What a great site!!! I've only found it by chance whilst researching my family history, and wondered if any of your members might be able to help me.

I've discovered that my family, whose surname was Liedbetter (changing to Leadbetter in the 1800's), originated in the Speke and Halewood areas, and I've found online records showing my earliest ancestors John Rice, and John Goodall, going back to the late 1600's at Speke. If anyone knows how I could get info on these people before that, I'd be very grateful!!

Another question is to do with the reason I started all this in the first place. My Nan always used to tell us that we had part-Spanish ancestry, which came from a Spanish sea-captain marrying our ancestor's daughter. Her father was supposedly a groundsman for the Earl of Sefton, but I can't be sure that this wasn't just a romantic tale my Nan cooked-up for the grandkids!! But I have found a possible link with this story in the family of Robert Liedbetter, baptised in St Mary's RC Church, Woolton, who married a Helen b.1744, whose daughters were named Marie and Petoria, which don't sound like typically Liverpuddlian names to me!
If anyone has any suggestions on how I can find out more about Helen and her parents, or workers at the Sefton estate, or even Spanish ships docking in Liverpool, it would be a big help.

Apologies for the length of this post, but I thought I should give as much info as possible. But even if you can't help, I hope you've found it an interesting story!!

Best wishes,
Anna