BOAT FAMILIES

Burscough Flour Mill

Ainscough's Mill barges - 1950s photo by Ian Moss

SITE HISTORY

We launched this site in March 2010 with more than 3,000 names, mostly families of canal workers on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, all connected via inter-marriages in one tree, Canal Family 1. This tree has grown to more than 70,000 people as it continues to spread from Lancashire and Yorkshire into Cheshire, Staffordshire, Oxford and beyond.

Seven other trees have been merged into Canal Family 1 (see Media/Documents for Subsidiary Trees History), leaving just Canal Families 9 and 10 still unconnected (see under Latest Updates).

SOURCES

Information has been compiled from research by ODFHS members and other contributors using Ancestry, Findmypast and many free sources of information including: Lancashire Archives, Preston; the London FamilySearch Centre, whose microfilms are held at the Society of Genealogists HQ in London; UKBMD; OnLine Parish Clerks and the General Register Office Online Index. Certificates held or seen are indicated in individuals' Life Histories (see Abbreviations in Media/Documents).

SOFTWARE: This website is compiled using The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding, v.13.1.1 (Darrin Lythgoe 2001-2026).

Ormskirk & District
Family History Society

Boat Families Website

The Society is indebted to the small group of enthusiasts who have developed this website. Using it and other ODFHS products; such as the CD of Burscough Boat Families, should enable you to discover many of your ancestors.
Bill Huyton, late ODFHS Chairman Emeritus, March 2011.

The purpose of this site is to assist researchers whose ancestors worked on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal & associated waterways.

HOW TO USE THIS SITE

Use the Surnames link (top right) to see a list of main names in all trees, with an option to select a specific name from the alphabetic panel provided. You can search for a particular person by using the search box, or you can see names in specific trees by changing 'all trees' to, eg, 'Canal Family 9'. At various places you will see a small tree icon, which will show the family tree of your chosen individual. Click on any name shown to reveal their details. Then you can navigate the entire tree, or return to the Group Names page to visit another tree. Clicking on Advanced Search provides drop-down boxes for more specific searches.

COMMENTING ON & ADDING TO THE SITE

We welcome contributions to help expand existing trees. Additional data or amendments can be emailed to boatfamilies[at]odfhs.email using the usual symbol for [at] - and please indicate sources, especially if you have verification by certificates etc. We accept data in any form convenient to you. New trees for consideration can be sent in GEDCOM format as an email attachment.

DISCLAIMER: We have spent much time building & populating this site and have made every effort to produce one that is accurate & easy to use. However, no warranty is given or implied.

Bradford Flyboat

Watercolour by Tim Bostock from a John Vickers photo

LATEST UPDATES

Canal Family 1: 28 August 2026 . . . V213
New Total: 70,440 individuals
New Names: Glanfield 25; Cuckow 22; Evison 7
Main Increases: Brooks +33; Wood +10; Barnett +7; Bailey +4

A surprise link to mariners from Suffolk has emerged: - see Current Updates in Media/Documents.

Canal Family 9 . . . 17 September 2025
Total: 46 individuals Main name: Walls

Family of Benjamin Curry Walls, canal superintendent at Gargrave. See Media/Documents for his entry and The Walls Interviews, a L&L Canal Society book of conversations with Burscough boatmen.

Canal Family 10 . . . 22 October 2021
Total: 97 individuals Main name: Clapham

Family of Samuel and Grace Clapham of Bank Newton and Bingley, apparently unconnected to the Claphams in Canal 1.

UPDATE HISTORY: See Media/Documents for collated summaries dating back to 2010.