Hi Migky
George Müller founded a faith-based orphanage in Bristol in 1834 - he made no appeals or advertising, but relied solely on God, through prayer, to meet the needs of the orphanage.
During his lifetime (he died in 1898), he cared for over 10,000 "full" orphans (ie children who had lost both parents or, in a couple of rare cases, one had died but the other was in a mental home with no hope of recovery). From 1901 until the homes closed in the mid-1980s, "partial" orphans were also admitted.
The George Müller Charitable Trust holds the records for all the children who passed through the doors of the orphanages (Müller's own house plus three other rented houses in Wilson Street, from 1834 - 1849, then five purpose-built homes on Ashley Down to the early 1950s, and then to smaller "family" units until we stopped residential care in the 80s).
There are admission registers showing the detail of the child's admission, dismissal registers (cross-referred to the admission registers) for all but the last few years, showing when the child left and where they went, plus files containing assorted paperwork relating to the admission. We don't know what is in each file until it has been retrieved from the archive, but sometimes there are marriage and death certificates relating to the parents, and birth certificates for the child(ren).
For descendants, we do have to make a charge for copying these. Visitors are welcome, but we do ask for a fortnight's notice and we have to charge £20 access fee - but this includes a copy of the admission and dismissal registers. A copy of the file will cost an additional £30.
There is also a small museum at the Trust's HQ in Cotham Park, Bristol.
Contact details are on
www.mullers.org.
Regards
Alan
