Paul Varney and Anna Austin, Dover, Colchester, Chardon

In his autobiography Charles Emerson Griffin includes what he knew of his genealogy. Of his mother’s line he wrote, “My mother’s name was Abigail, daughter of Paul and Ann Varney.” In February of 1895 Charles received a letter from his father Albert, which seems to be a reply to a request for more family history. Albert writes that he assumes that Charles already has all of the available information on the Varney’s. Albert also wrote, “I was born and you in Essex, Chittenden Co. your mother was born in Colchester Chittenden Co. joining Essex on the West. Your mother’s grandfather’s folks were Quakers their name were Austin.” In chapter twenty of the “History of the Town of Colchester” we find the following, “Samuel Austin, a Quaker came from New Hampshire in 1790. He married Rachael Hawkins and had a family of six children, Abigail, Paul, Solomon, Anna, Stephen and William.” (A number of sources identify the birthplace of the children as Dover, New Hampshire.) Anna was married to Paul Varney and removed to Ohio” In the LDS Church Collections is a work titled “Dover, New Hampshire marriages 1623-1823”. In the volume we find the following marriages listed, “Samuel Austin, son of Samuel and Abigail, b. November 23, 1743, M, March 23, 1765 Rachael Hawkins.” Samuel Austin, son of Thomas, b. August 2, 1698, m. November 23, 1727 Abigail Pinkham, dau. Solomon, b. January 27, 1707.” In 1904 a transcription of the “Friends Society Marriage Records, Dover, New Hampshire” was written. The transcription is an exact copy of the original “marriage Certificates” issued by the Quakers. Each Certificate is about two paragraphs long. Extracted from one of the certificate is the following, “Samuel Austin son of Thomas and Ann Austin and Abigail Pinkham daughter of Solomon and Mary Pinkham, both of ye town of Dover, married in Dover, January 23, 1727/8.” Thomas Austin was born about 1650 in Dover he married Anna Otis. Thomas is mentioned in his father Joseph Austin’s will,” Only I do give unto my sonne Thomas Austin a double portion”. His mother was Sarah Starbuck the daughter of Edward Starbuck. On the title page of the first volume of town records for Colchester is written, “Town Book No 1, From April 10, 1797 to March 19, 1820.” On page 1 of the records we find the following heading, “Grand List for the year 1797.” At the bottom of the list we find the name of Samuel Austin. The names of Samuel and his sons are found frequently in the town records up until his death May 6, 1821. He is buried in the Marrs Hallow Cemetery in nearby Milton, Vermont. Every two years the city held an election for city offices. One of the offices was that of “leather sealer”. Starting with Samuel that office was held continuously by a Austin for twenty plus years. Paul Varney makes his first appearance in Book No 1 on page 21. His name is included on the Grand List for year 1800. The 1800 Federal Census places him in Colchester, Vermont with a household of three people including one male child. In the 1802 Grand List, Paul’s valuation is $33 that of Samuel Austin $113. By 1804 the town started keeping a list of the “young scholars” that each household had in the community schools. In 1804 the school list shows Paul Varney with two scholars. On the Grand List for taxes, each year each man is levied a $20 poll tax. In addition they are taxed for; improved land, houses, oxen, cattle, horses and mules, pasture lands, house clocks, mills and mechanics, equipment. The primary taxable asset was for improved land. In 1800 Vermont was an agricultural society. In order to be eligible to vote a man had to meet the qualifications for and take the “Freemans Oath”. One of the key requirements to qualify was that you own property. On the Grand Lists for Colchester Paul Varney is never listed as being an owner of “improved land”. Paul Varney did not make his living as a farmer. Instead the Varneys, father and sons, according to Paul’s grandson, Charles Emerson Griffin, were all wagon makers, “My mother had three brothers, William, George and Hamilton (Paul) The two former died quite a few years ago, Hamilton moved to Michigan where he was living some seven years ago. My grandfather and uncles were all wagon maker.” Charles apparently did not know the oldest brother Albert who did not move with the family to Ohio. In addition to the poll tax that was assessed to every man Paul was taxed on the number of cattle he owned. In the early days in Colchester he was included on all of the Grand Lists. As time went on the “Freeman” qualifications became more and more important. As the Freeman qualifications became more important we see Paul’s name appearing less and less in the town records. Until 1828 his name does not appear on the Freemans Lists. We see Paul’s name appear on the Grand Lists for 1809 and 1810 then we see very little evidence for him until the 1816 list. In the 1810 Federal Census his family in Colchester has two boys and three girls. In the years 1818/19 the town published two years of a very detailed tax assessment. Paul’s name appears on those two lists and every subsequent list until he leaves Vermont for Ohio. It appears that Paul never owned any improved land in Colchester his taxable assets, as we mentioned, consisted of the cattle he owned. One of the items listed as taxable was, houses. Only about one in ten men had an assessment for “houses”. Most histories written for Paul Varney include a mention of his service in the War of 1812. The most commonly referenced document is from the “Military History of the State Of New Hampshire”. It lists a Paul Varney with a date of enlistment of March 29, 1813 with duration of service of 5 years. In the collection titled, “U.S. Army, Registry of Enlistments, 1798-1914 we have an original document that records the enlistment of a Paul Varney. The information included is; Paul Varney, Eyes/blue, Hair/dark, Complexion/light, age/41, ( birth 1772) Occupation/tailor, When/ March 29, 1813, Period/5 years. Under place of birth it lists Rochester, New Hampshire and Colchester, Vermont. The place of enlistment is Burlington, Vermont. The commonality between the various documents is the enlistment date of March 29, 1813 and the duration of 5 years. The description in the documents certainly seems a match for Paul including an age of 41 in 1813. It is certainly plausible the soldiers recruited in the young state of Vermont would serve in units from next-door New Hampshire. The occupation of “tailor” is not a match for family histories that remember him as a wagon maker but does match the tax records that indicate that he did not make a living as a farmer. We do not have any original documents for the birth or marriage of Paul Varney. In many surviving family traditions Paul’s birth is estimated to be in 1767. The Varney Family Bible, held by R.G. Varney of Albuquerque, New Mexico lists a date of birth for him of March 25, 1772 in Rochester, Strafford, New Hampshire. The Bible has a date of birth for Anna Austin, born in Dover, New Hampshire, of July 15, 1778. Those same dates are commonly used in family traditions that stretch back multiple generations indicating that multiple families held that recorded history somewhere in their family papers. Paul and Anna are buried in the Larned Cemetery just outside Chardon, Ohio. His headstone records his date of death as October 11, 1851. Anna’s headstone indicates a date of death April 10, 1847. Paul’s headstone also contains the notation 79 years and 7 months. It you do a quick calculation that suggests a date of birth in March 1772. The 1850 census also suggest a date of birth in 1772. Where did Paul Varney and Anna Austin marry? Family histories list the birth of their first child, Betsey as April 16, 1797 in Milton, Chittenden, Vermont. Their second child, Albert, was born June 13, 1799 in Colchester. With the Varneys and Austins both living in Dover for multiple generations it seems more likely that the young couple married there, Paul and Anna then following her father Samuel to Colchester. The Varney children are listed as, Betsy, Albert, William H., Moses, Esther Ann, Caroline, Abigail, Paul Hamilton, George Charles, Artemesia.______________ Clearing up confusing genealogy for Paul Varney: There is another suggested marriage for Paul Varney. The marriage is found in the Quaker marriage records. The Quaker records are the most detailed and reliable marriage records in New England, “Joshua Varney son of Moses Varney of Wolfborough in the County of Strafford, and the state of New Hampshire and Anna Austin daughter of Andrew Austin, of Berwick in the county of York, the state of Massachusetts And Mary his wife, Feb 25, 1796.” This second Varney/Austin marriage, which shares enough similarities to cause confusion, has created a second fictitious Paul Varney referred to as Paul Joshua Varney.__________________ Sarah Starbuck has the following family trees; _______________ Edward Starbuck-Katherine-Sarah Starbuck / Joseph Austin-Sarah Starbuck / Thomas-Anna Otis/ Samuel-Abigail Pinkham / Samuel-Rachael Hawkins / Anna Austin._________________ After the early death of Joseph Austin, Sarah Starbuck married Humphrey Varney. Edward Starbuck-Katherine-Sarah Starbuck / Humphrey Varney-Sarah Starbuck / Peter-Elizabeth Evans / Benjamin-Martha Tibbetts / Moses-Ester Chick / Paul Varney. The essence of our story is the marriage of Paul Varney and Anna Austin both grandchildren of Sarah Starbuck. NOTE: see documentary trail in separate post