Person:William Varney (1)

Birth of William Varney

The frequently seen assertion that William Varney was born in Middle Claydon, Buckinghamshire, England, seems to have come from (or at least have been perpetuated by) Collacott,^[5] who states that William "may have been" a relative to Thomas Verney, son of Sir Edmund Verney [emphasis added]. It is not mentioned in the earlier work by Tingley.^[6] However, there is no evidence to support that assertion. In the Parish Registers for Middle Claydon^[9][10] there is no William Varney, nor is there any William Varney in the adjacent parishes of East Claydon and Steeple Claydon.^[9]

The alternative, that he was born in Windsor, Berkshire, is based on his probable marriage there in 1629. More documentation would be helpful. Unfortunately, the Bishop's Transcripts for New Windsor don't begin until 1612.^[11]

Marriage and Barbados

Most accounts give Bridget Knight as the wife of William Varney, with a marriage date of 29 May 1629, based presumably on Tingley^[6] or people who have followed Tingley. However, Tingley, like most early family historians, does not give any sources, and as Barber & Delory^[4] discuss, Tingley's statement lacks credibility both in terms of Bridget's age, and in terms of the logistics of time and place.

Other accounts, such as Collacott^[5] suggest that William and Bridget married in Barbados, where Bridget was a young widow of the father of Jeffery Parsons. However, as both Barber & Delory^[4] and Willis Parsons^[15] discuss, Bridget cannot be the mother of Jeffery Parsons nor the widow of his father. Without the connection to Jeffery Parsons, there is no other evidence to suggest that the Varney family was ever in Barbados. At this point, without further documentation, it is just as likely that the family came directly from England, perhaps even from (New) Windsor, where Windsor Castle became the headquarters for Oliver Cromwell's army shortly before William and family came to Massachusetts.

Footnotes

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Information from Ferrin Leavitt
   GEDCOM received Sep 1999.
2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England before May.
3. ↑ Marian Frye/Harold Frye, The Tingley Family Revised being a record of the descendants of Samuel Tingley of Malden, Mass. in both the male
   V.1, p.20.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6} Barber, Kathleen Canney, and Janet Ireland Delorey. William Varney of Ipswich and Gloucester, Massachusetts. The American Genealogist. (Jul 2006)
   Jul 2006.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3} Collacott, Margaret Oliver. The ancestors and descendants of Zephaniah and Silence Alden Hathaway: with notes on allied families. (Mentor, Ohio: unknown, 1961).

   Material on Varney family based on undocumented research done by Herbert Clarkson Hathaway (1875-1947), a descendant of Humphrey Varney

6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5} Tingley, Raymon Meyers. Some ancestral lines: being a record of some of the ancestors of Guilford Solon Tingley and his wife Martha Pamelia Meyers. (Rutland, Vermont: Tuttle Publishing Co., 1935).
7. ↑ ^7.0 7.1 Massachusetts, Probate Court (Essex County). The Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts. (Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1916, 1917, 1920)
   Vol. 1, p. 173; FHL #1033717.

   Estate of William Varney of Ipswich
   Administration on the estate of William Varney, intestate, granted Mar. 28, 1654, to his widow, Bridgett Varney, He left three sons and one daughter. Ordered that the eldest son have 8li. within three months, and the other children 4li. each at the age of twenty-one. (Source: Ipswich Quarterly Court Records, vol. 1, page 45).
   Inventory of the estate of William Varney of Ipswich, taken 1:1:1653, by George Gidding and John Cogswell: 2 flock beds and flock boulster and 2 pillows, 2li. 10s.; 2 blankets, one sheet & other beding, 1li. 12s.; his weareing aparell, 3li.; bushels of wheat, 15s.; 2 bushells 1-2 ofIndian corne, 8s.; in lumborments, 5 s.; in axes and tooles, 15s.; a brase pot & frieing pan, 11s; house & land, 25li.; in cattell, 22li.; in bookes, 6s. 8d.; total, 57li. 2s. 8d. Debts owing from the estate, 6li. (Source: Essex Co. Quarterly Court Files, vol. 2, leaf 132).

8. ↑ ^8.0 8.1 Massachusetts (Colony). Quarterly Courts (Essex County). Records and files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts. (Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1911-1925, 1975)
   Vol 1, pp 178, 179.

   p. 178 - Thomas Cooke to be whipped or fined for his abuse of the ministry and magistrates, . . . . Willm. Varney bound for him.
   p. 179 - Willm. Varney and Tho. Cooke given liberty to reside in this jurisdiction.

9. ↑ ^9.0 9.1 Church of England. Parish Church of Middle Claydon (Buckinghamshire). Bishop's transcripts, 1575-1821. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1995).
10. ↑ Church of England. Parish Church of Middle Claydon (Buckinghamshire). Parish registers, 1538-1877. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1995).
11. ↑ Church of England. Parish Church of New Windsor (Berkshire). Bishop's transcripts, 1612-1836. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1986).

    There are no Baptisms or marriages for 1629-April 1631, April 1632-April 1634, October 1634-1670

12. ↑ Barber & Delory Source: Probate Records of Essex County
13. ↑ See also, probate record
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1 14.2} Barber & Delory Source: Essex Quarterly Court Records
15. ↑ Willis S. Parsons. “Jeffery Parsons of Loddiswell, Devonshire and Gloucester, Massachusetts”. The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 142:(July 1988)