In Thursday’s post, I listed several fantastic websites for Sheffield Family History research. Today I’m visiting Ancestry and searching the card catalogue for Sheffield specific resources. Find them at Ancestry by dropping down the Search menu and choosing Card Catalogue and then doing a keyword search on Sheffield.
A complete history of the great flood at Sheffield on March 11 & 12, 1864
In 1864, the Dale dam burst and Sheffield suffered an horrific flood. This digitised book by Samuel Harrison is available on Ancestry. It has been scanned with OCR, to make searching family names possible but can also just be read by browsing the pages.
The description in the ancestry database reads:
Harrison, Samuel. A complete history of the great flood at Sheffield on March 11 & 12, 1864 : being a true and original narrative, from authentic sources, comprising numerous facts, incidents, and statistics never before published : to which are added official lists of the dead and missing, giving the names, ages, and residences of all the victims, when and where found, and where interred : official returns showing the number of buildings and houses destroyed and injured in each locality : Mr. Rawlinson’s report to government on the causes of the flood : full report of the inquest, measures of relief, the water company & its liability, &c., &c.. London: S. Harrison, 1864.
The Sheffield Local Register 1830-1908
While not apparently searchable, the Sheffield Local Register is a browsable 2,637 page treasure-trove of information about Sheffield including lists of names such as “A list of the Merchants and Factors carrying on business in the year 1797” or an analysis on the businesses in Sheffield in 1787. As examples from the latter, there were six persons or firms in Sheffield manufacturing Inkstands that year and three making Lantern Lights.
Reminiscences of Old Sheffield
Again, this resource is not searchable but the 395 page image set can be browsed. It is a compilation of history about Sheffield by the author and is a great read.
Robert Eadon Leader. Yorks – Reminiscences of Old Sheffield (1876) (385pp). Sheffield, England: Leader and Sons.
Guide to Sheffield (1903)
This browsable image set is 315 pages and is similar to our modern day yellow pages with listings of local businesses and their offerings.
Sheffield Handbook & Guide 1908
This 200 page volume of browsable images lists buildings and attractions around Sheffield and often includes a history of each.
Other Resources
Also found in the search are a few directories that probably only contain a mention of Sheffield but these two appear worthy of exploring later:
Leeds and Bradford, Yorkshire Area Directory and Gazetteer, 1853
The Visit of Queen Victoria to Sheffield – May 21st 1897
