I am a direct descendant of Eardley Epton (b 1849 Thurlby In Bilsby) and his wife Sarah Hides/Hydes of Addlethorpe.
Walter Epton was his brother, b1855 Thurlby in Bilsby and married Sarah Hides/Hydes older sister, Susannah......
Hi An65!
I am descended from Annie Billinger, Walter Epton’s third wife. She is my Great Grandmother through her youngest daughter Ivy Elizabeth. I didn’t know the children from Walter’s first marriage, only that his eldest son Levi had a son also called Walter who was of a similar age to his half-nephew Tobias [born 1916] who in turn was the only child born in wedlock to Annie from that third marriage.
My Great Grandmother brought along four illegitimate children with her: Emily [born 1901], May [born 1905], William Henry “Harry” [born 1911] and Ivy Elizabeth [my Grandmother, born 1911].
Even my Mother didn’t realise this as neither my Grannie [who was always called Elizabeth or Lizzie] nor my Aunty May would talk about family, but my Grannie was born Ivy Elizabeth. The story goes that the name Ivy was dropped when Annie got married to Walter Epton as he already had a daughter called Ivy [born 1904 I believe] by his second wife, Catherine. Catherine had another daughter, Maud[e], in 1907 but died giving birth to a son Frank [who also died] somewhere about 1910.
If that hasn’t confused you, think how confusing it was working it all out backwards!
My Great Grandmother was a Billinger and was actually born Henrietta after her father Henry, whom she was living with at the time of the 1901 census. By the November of that year she was in the workhouse giving birth to Emily.
Any information of this branch of the Eptons would be gratefully received. Otherwise I will post a message under the Billingers of Old Bolingbroke.
By the way, my Grandmother, by then Elizabeth Featherstone, ended her days in Alford and died in a nursing home in Huttoft in 2002.
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