Merchants from London and Exeter trading with Livorno in 1704: source transcript. Thursday, Nov 24 2022

This contribution of mine is a simple transcription of a primary source useful for finding the names of merchants with business and family interests in Livorno. The printed booklet is available online on the platform ECCO (Eighteenth Century Collections Online) and its full title is: “The answer of the merchants-petitioners, and Trustees for the Factory at Legorn, To The Account of Damages, Laid to the charge of The Great Duke of Toscany, by Sir Alexander Rigby, Mr. Will. Shepard, and Mr. Will. Plowman: Together with Their reply, and The Merchants-Petitioners Second answer thereto. As also Divers Original Papers and Proofs; Deliver’d in Writing to Sir John Cooke, Judge Advocate, and John Pollexfen, Esq; The Delegates appointed by Her Majesty’s Special Command, to Hear what the Petitioners had to say; and to make Their Report thereupon. With several other Matters and Papers since come to Hand from Legorn.“, printed in 1704 in London. Unfortunately the ECCO platform is only available to selected Universities and libraries worldwide and not to the general public or freelance researchers like me, so when I had a chance to access it, I fully transcribed the following three parts which reveal the names of the people I am interested in:

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Livorno Non-Catholic Marriages’ index (1818-1865) completed! Saturday, Aug 3 2013

The Livorno’s Non-Catholic Civil Marriages’ Index (1818-1865) has been completed in the past few days; after the initial release of several sections, it is now fully published online. The index is comprised of 3288 single entries, representing 1644 different marriages, and a little over 1000 different family names.

Some more information on this source can be found here (also accessible from the blog homepage), otherwise you can  directly access the

Marriages’ Index.

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Livorno Non-Catholic indexes (1818-1865) silently updating… Sunday, Dec 2 2012

The Livorno’s Non-Catholic Civil Births’ Index (1818-1865) has been silently updated in the past few days, after the initial release of letters A-E, and is now fully published online. The index is comprised of 6666 single entries and a little over 1000 different family names.

Some more information on this source can be found here (also accessible from the blog homepage), otherwise you can  directly access the Births’ Index.

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Livorno Non-Catholic Birth, Marriage, and Death indexes (1818-1865) are online. Monday, Nov 19 2012

For the first time this fundamental source for the history of Livorno is being gradually published on this blog. The first batch of the Births’ Index is already online and it includes letters A through E totalling a little more than 2000 individuals.

The plan is to publish the totality of the three indexes (Births, Marriages and Deaths) in batches like the first one, a few letters at a time. Once completed, it will be a priceless source covering nearly 50 years (1818-1865) of  existence of the non-catholic minorities in Livorno. All births, marriages and deaths of any individual professing a non-catholic faith were recorded and indexed in these civil registers, including but not limited to: Jews, Dutchmen, Germans, English, Huguenots, Waldensians, Muslims, Orthodox Greeks, Protestants, et al.

Some more information on this source can be found here (also accessible from the blog homepage). There you will find answers to the following questions and, of course, the links to access the indexes:

– What are the “non-catholic indexes” of Livorno?

– What information do they include?

– What information can I expect to find in a full act?

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If you already know the answers you can click directly on the Births’ Indexes.

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UPDATE (Nov. 21st, 2012): Added letters F – G – H – I – J – K

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Anonymous writer identified: a new source about Tuscan life in the 1840s Thursday, Mar 8 2012

Few days ago I stumbled upon a curious and intriguing citation on the “Church of England Magazine” issue for October 31st, 1857, p.287:

“NOTICE OF BOOKS:

AMONG the books which have lately reached us are the following: 

The Bow in the Cloud a Memoir of MEH. By her Sister, London: Hatchard, 1857. This is the account of a young lady who lived, for the most part of her life, and ultimately died, abroad. The pity we feel for those, whose lot it is to dwell far from their fatherland, augments the interest with which we peruse such records. The disadvantages, social, political, and religious, of the continent, are obstacles and stumbling-blocks which to many have proved of ruinous effect. And yet, in spite of them, God has often been pleased to cherish the spiritual life of his people, and render such sojourners the means of usefulness to those around them. Thus it seems to have been with the subject of this memoir. An accident in early life destroyed the sight of one eye; and subsequent ill-health was a continued chastening from the Father of her spirit. She was brought into believing union with the Saviour; and the copious extracts from her journal depict very touchingly the working of her inner life. Her last hours were peace; for Christ sustained her; and she sleeps (having died in her 27th year, a few weeks after her father, and a few months before her mother) with her parents in the British cemetery at Leghorn, in sure and certain hope of joyful resurrection. We cheerfully give our testimony to the value of this little volume; and we think it likely to be acceptable and useful, especially to young persons.“

I was not yet sure whether this information on the author and her family was true or invented and I went

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Reminiscences of Mary Thompson, daughter of the British Vice-Consul in Livorno Wednesday, Feb 29 2012

by Piero Posarelli, edited by Matteo Giunti.

On the Internet site www.bristowefamilies.com, we can read the passage Reminiscences of my young days, written by Mary Thompson, daughter of Frederick Thompson who was British Vice-Consul in Livorno from 1839 to 1852. The first part of the Reminiscences speaks about Mary’s memories of that period, when Livorno was full of revolutionary ideas that brought to the battle of Porta San Marco in 1849. On the site we can also find information about her father and her family.

There is little known about the first years of Frederick Thompson’s life. We know that  he was born about 1805 in Maldon, Essex, England, and that for some unknown reasons he went to Malta where he opened a school. In Malta he met and married Mary Ann [Mary Ann Bingham born 1810, NdR], who was born there from English parents [William Bingham and Eleanor Temple, NdR], and had two children: Fred (born in 1833) and Mary (born in 1835). It is from the information that Mary left us in the form of reminiscences written in her later life in Charlcombe, Somerset, England that it is possible to piece together some of the events surrounding the life of this family.

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