Hi Bruce,
the Eng-Liverpool is a Rootsweb genealogy mailing list for the city of Liverpool, it's a little quiet at the moment as people start to go on their summer holidays but they are a good bunch and you may get some hlep there.
If you go to this pg: http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/ENG/ENG-LIVERPOOL.html
you just need to follow the online instructions and join. You can also search the vast archives from there too.
Post your surname intersts and good luck, I'll keep an eye out for the names you mentioned.
Happy hunting and shout if I can help.
Regards Val.