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Hello Bec03: I am a descendent of the Espins of Sudbrooke, Fiskerton, Washingborough, Horsington and Horncastle (Thomas, John (1775), Richard (1817), Richard Cornelius (1849) but there are other Espin branches in the Lincoln / Horncastle area that are not directly related - most notably the Barlings Espins. Although I can take my direct line back to 1775 there have been Espins in the Lincoln / Horncastle area since the 1600's or earlier. My suspicion is that they came to the area from Spain or the Spanish Netherlands but I have never found any facts or evidence to support that theory. It seems obvious though because Espin is a Spanish surname that actually means "Spain". I have  a reasonable amount of information about my direct line and all the branches of it  If this information is of interest to you and co-incides with your own branch please let me know.

Paul: I'm not sure how the Templehouse Gunnings of Ballymote fit in but I am very pleased that you have responded to my post on Rootschat. It seems very strange that only yesterday I sent you a personal message via Ancestry.com after seeing some of your Ancestry posts about the Gunnings of Sligo.

Like all genealogists I would like to get all the information I can about my specific ancestors but sometimes the only way to see the picture is to understand the entire family/ entire surname line in a given geographical location. That's the stage I am at with the Gunnings of Sligo, so any information about any Gunning family in Sligo or Roscommon is helpful - they are all pieces of the jigsaw.

The other tack I am taking is to try focus on James Gunning's father William Gunning as the name William is probably slightly less common than James in the Sligo area.

Happy New Year to all you Varney watchers. I have been having a look at the Hull Varneys and thought I should share a bit of information with you.

Previous posts have shown that in the 1881 census Henry Varney was living in Hull with his wife Mary Elizabeth (nee Colley), sons Arthur and Walter and daughters Louisa and Alice. After trying to find out what happened to each of the children, and failing to find any trace of Arthur Varney, I discovered that Arthur was not Arthur Varney at all. He was in fact Arthur Colley - Mary Elizabeth's (much) younger brother. She was the eldest of 12 children and Arthur was number 11.

So of the Varney "children" appearing in the 1881 census Arthur COLLEY married Emma in about 1890. Walter married Annie Elizabeth Goulding in 1894, Louisa married James Craig Walker in 1894, Alice married Walter Steele in 1906.

I've come across this sort of "adopted" name in the census many times, but it still throws me for a while. I hope this new information helps.

 Hello Folks. I have a bit more information for you.

Firstly, thanks Bovar for pointing out that Samuel (2) was married to Isabella in the 1841 census. He's not indexed in Ancestry, so for the benefit of others he and Isabella are at census district 10 page 5. I have found his marriage record to Isabella Wain in the IGI for 27th September 1810. His age (65 in 1851) and marriage to Isabella from 1810 to 1841 enable us to rule him out as the father of Woodhouse Varney.

Secondly, I now believe that the Samuel Varney who died in Rotherham in 1840 was actually married to Mary Lander in Duffield (Belper?) on 12th June 1835 (source IGI). This is supported by the fact that Thirza / Thursa / Thorsey Varney who was born in Rotherham in 1840 was living with her uncle John LANDER in Gascoignes Road, Derby in 1861. Alice Varney (her sister) was also living elsewhere in Derby in 1861 as a lodger with George Garrett and his wife. I haven't found any trace of their sister Harriet or mother Mary after 1841 - perhaps she married again. Another fact that supports the Mary Lander theory is that in 1841, Mary, the presumed widow of the Rotherham Samuel Varney, was living next door to George LANDER in Swinney Lane, Belper. George was her brother.

So, my current view of the life of Samuel Varney is: born in 1799, married to Ann Jackson in 1821, twice charged with Assault in 1821, had three children with Ann (Martha, Woodhouse & Elizabeth), charged with theft and sentenced to transportation in 1826, released from prison ships in Chatham in 1833, returns to Belper and marries Mary Lander in 1835, had children Harriet and Alice born Belper, Thirza born Rotherham, Samuel dies Rotherham 1840. Widow Mary returned to Belper under Poor Law provisions before 1841. My guess is that Mary and her three children moved to Derby prior to 1851 as I can't find any record of them in the 1851 census at Commonside, Swinney Lane, Gutter, Laund Hill etc.

The only problem with this scenario is that Julie Workman in New Zealand and to an extent the IGI attribute Harriet, Alice and Thirza to another Samuel Varney (b 1808) and Mary Hunt - there is a suitable marriage record in the IGI for 2nd September 1832 at Pentrich. I can't believe that two Samuel Varneys both married to Mary, both christened their three children Harriet, Alice and Thirza.  For me the critical piece of evidence is that in 1861 Thirza was living with her uncle John LANDER in Derby. Julie also attributes the christening of William H Varney in Chesterfield in 1838 to the same Samuel Varney and Mary Hunt and this is definitely not correct. This William H Varney was living with his parents Samuel Varney (b 1816 in Rudford, Nottinghamshire) and Mary (b 1813 in Mansfield) in Sheffield Brightside in 1861

For the record Thirza Varney (b 1840) went on to marry Jno Ramsey in 1866 (Burton on Trent) and eventually moved to London. She is recorded as Thirza Ramsey in the 1901 census in Wandsworth, London as widow and mother-in-law of Edward Bassano.

I hope this all helps. The question is does it sound right?

I am researching Wilhelm Robert Hermann Fricke (born 1846 in Prussia) who appeared in the 1881 census at 189 Horton Road, Bradford as a "Merchants Clerk foreign correspondent" - probably in the wool trade - and married Maria Elizabeth Head in York in 1883. He then emigrated to New Zealand about 1884 where he had three children - Doris, Otto and Alma. he later returned to live in Sheffield where he appeared in the 1901 census as a "foreign correspondent in the steel trade". He died in Sheffield in 1904. Does anyone have any more information about him, especially where he came from in Prussia and his ancestry there?