Peers
The Peers Family from Cheshire
See the Peers Census return transcripts the Eastham Parish Register transcripts
the Peers Family Tree and the Peers family Photos
other Peers References [until I get around to reproducing these on site, please see this page – includes Peers Wills & Admons in Cheshire plus other parish register transcripts, all originally sent via newsletter by Brian Balderson of Manchester between 1996 and 2002]
The Peers family appear to have been rooted in Cheshire. I am having trouble confirming the origins of the head of the family tree at present. He is Samuel Peers who would have been born about 1789 and he married Elizabeth/Betsey Millington on 22nd December, 1819 at Neston 1. In the 1841 census of Eastham, Samuel is an agricultural labourer and he and Elizabeth are living with John Millington (presumably Elizabeth’s father – most likely baptism for Elizabeth is 6 October 1793 daughter of John Millington and Mary of Eastham 6 ) with daughters Elizabeth and Martha (both 15) and sons John (12) and William (8) 2. It must be remembered that in the 1841 census ages over 15 were supposed to be rounded up or down.
According to the parish registers and census data, Samuel and Elizabeth had the following children 1,6 :
Elizabeth Peers b 1822 Tranmere, bp 24.11.1822 Bebington
Martha Peers bp 9.1.1825 Bebington 11
Mary Peers bp 27.11.1826 Eastham d before 1841
John Peers (Labourer/Carter) bp 11.11.1829 Eastham m 27.12.1848 Neston to Jane Messom d 1901 Birkenhead
Maria Peers bp 29.9.1831 Eastham died before 1841?
William Peers bp 17.5.1833 Eastham bur 7.11.1847 Eastham aged 14
There is no sign of daughters Mary or Maria with the family at the time of the 1841 census. However there are several Mary Peers that were in service in the local area – any one of them could be her. When their son John married Jane Messom in 1848, Samuel was listed as a labourer. Elizabeth died aged 61 at Poulton cum Spittle Workhouse on 12th May, 1850 3. The only Elizabeth I could find was buried at Eastham on 15th May, 1850 but her age is listed as 51 and not 61 6. [I need to see the actual entry to be sure]. Samuel died on 12th December, 1853 at Birkenhead Hospital aged 64. A Thomas Redding was present at his death. He was buried on 15th December, 1953 at St. Mary’s Birkenhead 6. However, I have been unable to find Samuel in the 1851 census, unless he is the one transcribed incorrectly as Samuel Parrie at Poulton cum Spittle Workhouse (where his wife died, so it would make perfect sense). If that is him, then he was born at Burton and that would give us clues as to his origins. [for example a Samuel Pierce was baptised at Burton on 22nd April, 1794, parents William and Mary.]
John Peers, born in 1829 at Eastham married Jane Messam, daughter of John Messam and Margaret Cotteral,, on 27th December, 1848 at Neston 4. [Jane was born at Pentrobin on 2 December, baptised at Buckley, Flintshire on 24th December, 1826 12] They were both living in Hargrave near Chester at the time of their marriage. At the time of the 1851 census they were living at 47 Peter Street, Liverpool, where John was a dock labourer with an infant son, John 2. Their children were:
John Peers (Gas Fitter) b 1849 Frodsham m 1 26.6.1873 Liverpool, St. Marks to Annie Davidson Owens m 2 26.6.1912 Birkenhead Registry Office to Nellie (Ellen) Fowler d 1916 Birkenhead
Elizabeth Peers bp 4.1.1852 Liverpool St Peter d before 1861
Samuel Peers (Blacksmith) b 1853 Birkenhead m 25.12.1872 Liverpool St. Nicholas to Elizabeth Strettle 4 d 1909 Birkenhead William Robert Peers (Decorator) b 1858 Birkenhead m 15.3.1881 Birkenhead St John to Annie Tremble d 8.4.1922 Tranmere (bur Landican ref 6981)
Charles Ralph Peers (Porter) b 1861 Birkenhead m 8.12.1884 St. Matthews, Tranmere to Lucy Matilda Larner d 1.1.1913 Royal Infirm. Liverpool
Susannah Peers b 21.12.1867 Birkenhead m 26.3.1894 Tranmere to Henry Evans d 9.1.1906 Tranmere
When Elizabeth was born in 1852 they were living in Highfield Street, Liverpool. By the time of the 1861 census they were living at 2 Ruabon Street, Tranmere with children John, Samuel and Robert; no sign of Elizabeth. In 1867 when Susannah was born they lived at 65 Thomas Street, Birkenhead and John was a cart owner 5. In 1871 they were living at Seafield House, New Chester Rd, Tranmere where John was now a cart proprietor and in 1881 they were at the same address, John now a team owner 2. Granddaughter Mary Jane was the eldest child of their son Samuel. By the time of the 1891 census, Jane had presumably died [although I cannot find her death entry or her burial] as John was an iron broker and dealer living with his son William at 83 Galloway Road, Tranmere 2 and in the 1901 census John was living with his daughter Susannah and her husband Henry Evans at 20 Seabank Cottages, Birkenhead. He was 71 years old, a widower and noted as a Master Carter. John died in the latter half of 1901 (aged 70 according to freebmd) 7.
Their eldest son John Peers and his family have proved to be a lot more complicated and interesting than I had imagined! He was born at Frodsham in 1849 (np baptism has been found to date) and married Annie Davidson Owens, daughter of Thomas Owens and Ann on 26th June 1873 at St. Marks, Liverpool 7, 2. However, this does not quite tell the whole story. Annie was in fact already married! I had been looking for the couple at the time of the 1871 census, as I had assumed they were married by the time they had their daughter Beatrice. I could not find them anywhere. I then saw a hint in one of the ancestry public trees that alerted me to the fact that Annie Davidson Owens was living as Smith and already had a daughter, Ada Davidson Smith 18 . When I researched this it appeared that Annie was indeed Annie Smith, a dressmaker at 17 Albion Road, Birkenhead with her parents and a son Edgar Smith born in 1868. Also present is a visitor called John Smith born 1849 and a Gas Fitter, who in all but surname fits the description of our missing John Peers who is to be nowhere else at that time! Could this be him? 2 . Either that or he is a relative of James Smith and maybe worked with John Peers?? Of course, Beatrice was born later that year, perhaps more evidence that John Peers was present?
I also found Ada Davidson Smith born 1870 living with her uncle James Owen 2. Once I found births and baptisms for these children it appeared that Annie had married James Smith in 1867 7 and they had two children: 6,7:
Edgar Smith b 1868 Birkenhead, bp 1.11.1868 Birkenhead Methodist Chapel
Ada Davidson Smith b 1870 Birkenhead, bp 13.3.1870 Birkenhead St. Mary m 10.4.1887 St Michaels, Toxteth to Joseph Dooley
She was definitely “Annie Owens” when she married John Peers, so this was clearly a bigamous marriage. This may explain why they married over in Liverpool where they were not known? At the time of the 1881 census, Ada was still with her uncle John Owens and Edgar was living with his father James Smith, gardener at Eastham and his new wife Eliza 2.
By the time of the 1881 census, when John and Annie were married and living at 16 Beaconsfield Rd, Tranmere; he was a Gas Fitter aged 31 and Annie was a dressmaker aged 30 and born in Liverpool 2. They had five children:
Beatrice Louisa Peers b 1871 Birkenhead, bp 3.10.1880 Birkenhead St. Mary (aged 9) m 1 28.1.1892 Birkenhead St. Mary to John Henry Robinson m 2 no marriage 1897 to John Holmes d 1897 Birkenhead
William Henry Peers bp 3.12.1876 Birkenhead St. Mary Ernest Rudolph Peers bp 2.4.1878 St Paul, Tranmere d 1878 Birkenhead
Herbert Francis Peers bp 3.10.1880 Birkenhead St Mary m 1900 St Paul, Seacombe to Edith Line Thomas Sydney Peers b 5.9.1881, bp 11.10.1881 Birkehead St Mary 11 bur 19.11.1881 Birkenhead St. Mary 6
By the time of the 1891 census they had moved to 2 Pines Terrace, Birkenhead. Daughter Beatrice Louisa was a milliner aged 19 (She was baptised when she was about 9 years old).
Beatrice married John Henry Robinson, Steward son of Joseph Robinson on 28th January, 1892 at St. Mary’s Birkenhead 4, 6 . She had been living at 87 Church Street at the time of her marriage and he at 50 Ivy Street. A witness was Albert Robinson, John’s brother 4, 2. They had a son John Hamilton Robinson baptised on 1st September, 1895 at St. Mary Birkenhead 11. They may have had other children before. From information taken from the 1901 census, we know that Beatrice had a second child with another man. I had initially presumed that John Robinson had died and that she married John Holmes although I cannot find any record of either. Beatrice and John had a daughter Mabel Dorothy Holmes born on 7th October,1897 and baptised on 24th January, 1898 at Liverpool St. Peter 11 . At the time of the 1901 census John and Annie were living with both of these grandchildren at 18 Laurel Road, Birkenhead 2.
I have found a Beatrice Louise Robinson who died aged 28 at Birkenhead in late 1897 7. It looks very much like:
1. Beatrice did not marry John Holmes and
2. Beatrice probably died in childbirth (or soon after) and Mabel was baptised after her death, although the baptism register makes no suggestion of this. If it wasn’t for the fact that John and Annie had these two children with them, I would have dismissed them as having different mothers!
Although I have found John Henry Robinson at the time of the 1891 census living with his parents at 175 Old Chester Road in Tranmere2, I was unable to find him in 1901. He may also have died or remarried or been at sea? And who was John Holmes? I cannot find him either.
Annie died in 1906 and at the time of the 1911 census, John was living at 11 Mounsey Road, Tranmere, a widowed gas fitter with just his grandson John Hamilton Robinson aged 15 for company 2. Mabel, who was not with her grandfather at the time of the 1911 census may have been a pupil at Bishop Oreilly’s Memorial Poor Law School, Leyfield, West Derby. This seems the most likely 2, 6 . Sadly, his grandson John enlisted in the Kings (Liverpool Regiment) in world war 1 and he died in Flanders on 20th September, 1917 14 ,15. In John’s war records it states that he is “Grandson of Mrs. Ellen Peers, of 11, Mounsey Rd., Birkenhead, Cheshire” 15.
This was a breakthrough, as it was the same address as John had been living in, in 1911. Further research shows that John married Nellie Fowler, daughter of William Fowler, Chemist, on 26th June, 1912 at Birkenhead Registry Office 4, 7 (the name Nellie was interchanged with Ellen). John’s brother William Robert and his wife Annie were witnesses. John and Ellen then had a son:
John Robert Peers born 27th August, 1912 and baptized on 18th September, 1912; parents John Peers and Nellie Peers of 11 Mounsey Road! 6
It looks as though John died in 1916 aged 73 (although he should be about 67 then) 7. So the following year it was his new wife that was notified when his grandson died. At the time of the 1939 Register, Ellen is living with her son John still at 11 Mounsey Road, Birkenhead. She was born in 1868 (so was 19 years younger than John and would have been 44 when she had her son) 2. The entry states that John Robert had enlisted with the RAF Volunteer Reserves and was awaiting call-up. He enlisted at Padgate between September 1939 and February 1940 and was appointed as Class F Reservist 16.
Ellen died in 1944 at Birkenhead aged 76 7. John Robert, thankfully survived the war and died at Birkenhead in 1988 aged 77 7 .
Herbert Francis Peers was born on 11th August, 1880. He married Edith Line in 1901 at St Paul’s Seacombe. By the time of the 1901 census Herbert was a crew member of the ship Crizner; and able seaman. in 1906 he was and Able Seaman on board the Haverford and discharged from this ship on 29th June 9 . He was away at the time of the 1911 census also, as he wife of ten years was living in Seacombe with her parents 2. At some point he went out to Beunos Aires as we see him returning on 10th March, 1917 on the ship Amazon, a Royal Mail Steam Package Co. ship, as an Engineer’s storekeeper 9 . By the time of the 1939 Register, he is living at Runcorn and a Ship Owner’s Storekeeper2 with wife Ethel born in 1898. I have not been able to find any evidence of him remarrying.
Samuel Peers born in 1853 was a Blacksmith. He married Elizabeth Strettle, daughter of James Strettle blacksmith, on 25th December, 1872 in Liverpool St. Nicholas 4. He was living at Vauxhall Road, Liverpool at the time. They had five children, the first four of which were baptised at Prescot where they were living at the time 17:
Mary Jane Peers bp 10.10.1873 Prescot bur 2.8.1881 Prescot aged 7
John Peers bp 7.5.1876 Liverpool St Peter
James Peers bp 7.10.1877 Prescot m 24.9.1889 Bebington St. Paul to Harriet Salt 11 William Henry Peers bp 9.2.1881 Prescot m 8.12.1901 St Paul, Tranmere to Hannah Leck Oswald Charles Peers b 1882 Birkenhead m 8.10.1911 St Nicholas, Liverpool to Margaret Humphreys 11 d Dec 1928, bur 2.1.1929 Anfield Cemetery 11
At the time of the 1881 census they were living at 20 Sewell Street, Prescot 2. By the time of the 1891 census they had moved to Birkenhead where they were living at 6 West View, Tranmere 2. However they had probably moved by late 1882 as this is where son Oswald Charles was born.
At the time of the 1901 census they were living at 19 Oak Tree Place, Birkenhead; their married son James was living next door 2. Samuel died in 1909 at Birkenhead. Elizabeth, his widow was living at 8 Rankin Street, Poulton [Cum Seacombe] at the time of the 1911 census with her grand daighter Elizabeth aged 10 (daughter of James and Harriet) 2. Oddly, the grand daughter was counted twice on the census as next door at 9 Rankin Street she is there with her parents James and Harriet and sister Mabel aged 3 2! (Apparently this is not the first time someone has been counted in two places at the same census.
William Robert Peers was born in 1858 at Birkenhead and worked as a painter and decorator. He married Annie Tremble, daughter of William Tremble, on 15th March, 1881 St Birkenhead St. John 6. At the time of the 1881 census they are both aged 24, newly married and living at 39 Cobden Street, Tranmere where William was a painter and paperhanger 2. However by the time of the 1891 census they were living at 83 Galloway Road, Tranmere with William’s father John Peers and two young daughters 2. By the time of the 1901 census they moved to 29 Greenway Road, Tranmere still with two daughters although a daughter Sarah had been born in 1894 and died the following year. We also know from the 1911 census (at the same address) that they had six children in total and four had died 2, so there are another three children born earlier in their marriage to account for but I can find none in the parish records:
May Peers b 1888 Birkenhead
Beatrice Peers b 22.3.1891 Birkenhead 2 Sarah Peers bp 31.7.1894 Freehold Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Tranmere d 1895 Tranmere
His daughter May was an elementary school teacher and Beatrice, a shorthand writer and typist 2. William died on 8th April, 1922 at Tranmere and is buried at the Landican cemetery (ref 6981). I do not know what happened to Annie or May but her daughter Beatrice remained unmarried until at least 1939 when she was living at 26 Gorseyville Road, Bebington as a cashier shorthand typist 2.
Charles Ralph Peers, born in 1861 married Lucy Matilda Larner, dau of Samuel Larner, on 8th December, 1884 at St Matthews, Tranmere 4, 6. They had two sons that we of plus another two children that had died [ref 1911 census];
Ralph Eli Peers b 1886 Birkenhead m 1907 Birkenhead to Mary Farrell d before 1918 in USA?
Sydney George Peers b 1896 Birkenhead d 1902 Birkenhead aged 6 11
At the time of the 1891 census they were living at 15 Blackpool Street, Birkenhead, Charles was a dock porter. At the same address in 1901, Charles was a cotton warehouse porter and eldest son Ralph was an apprentice plumber 2. Their son Ralph Eli Peers married Mary Farrell in 1907 and had a daughter Gladys later that year. Sometime after this Ralph apparently emigrated to America [I was told this by his descendant Keith Hammond that he had emigrated to America at some point]. On 25th June, 1910 Charles and Lucy went to New York on the Campania; their final destination being Philadelphia 8. The ship’s manifest confirms that they are visiting their son Ralph at 339 Fitzgerald Street, Philadelphia. They also give their next of kin as William Peers of 29 Greenway Street, Lower Tranmere (Charles’ brother) 8. They returned on 26th July 1910 on the Lusitania into Liverpool 9 . At the time of the 1911 census they were living at 5 Holt Hill, Birkenhead, Charles was an engine man 2. This census return states that Lucy had had four children in total and only one has survived – this would be Ralph. I have no idea about the other two children. Charles died on 1st January, 1913 at the Royal Infirmary, Liverpool and left a will proved on 11th February, 1913 in which his brother William and a friend Harry Cushing were joint executors and he left his entire estate to his widow Lucy 10, 13. The will did not mention any sons. It is possible that he and Ralph had fallen out.
I have not been able to find any evidence of Ralph Eli emigrating and indeed, his daughter Gladys Lucy Peers married in Birkenhead in 1930 and her mother Mary remarried in 1918 in Birkenhead, so we can only assume that Ralph went over between 1907 and 1910 and died in America before 1918? However, we do find that Lucy, now widow of Charles did go back to the USA shortly after his death on 5th April 1913 on the Campania, arriving on 12th April in which her final destination is recorded as 28 Sole Street, Sarasota, Florida, her son Ralph’s 8,9 . I can find no record of her coming back.
Susannah Peers (1867 – 1906)
Susannah Peers was born on 21st December, 1867 at 65 Thomas Street, Birkenhead 5. She was baptised on 12th February, 1868 at Brunswick Wesleyan Methodist Chapel Tranmere 6. By the time of the 1891 census, Susannah was living with two elderly sisters Elizabeth and Priscilla Towers as a servant at 130 Bedford Road, Tranmere 2.
Susannah married Henry Evans, son of William Evans and Ellen Jones on 26th March, 1894 at St. Paul’s Tranmere 4 and they had three sons (one set of twins where one sadly died). Susannah’s father John Peers was living with them at the time of the 1901 census. Susannah died on 9th January, 1906 at 20 Seabank Cottages, Tranmere aged 37 3. She was buried at Bebington cemetery on 12th January.
See the Evans family page for more on Susannah and Henry.
I do have some mini family trees of other Peers branches in Cheshire, predominantly from Storeton, Bebington and Seacombe plus another Eastham family that I cannot link.
1 Cheshire Parish register project (CPRdb)
2 Census Returns from ancestry.co.uk, incl 1939 Register
6 Parish records and census returns at familysearch.org (incl Eastham parish records)
7 freebmd
8 Ellis island passenger lists
9 ancestry passenger and Crew lists
11 Baptisms, marriages and burials on ancestry.co.uk
12 Baptisms, marriages and burials on FindMyPast
13 Will of Charles Ralph Peers 1913.
14 Ancestry.co.k military records
15 War Records of John Hamilton Robinson from Forces War Records
16 War Records of John Robert Peers from Forces War Records
17 baptisms Lancs opc
18 Ancestry Public Member Trees (Beware! Not always very accurate – needs corroborating, but often a useful tool).