Esther Varney dau. of Moses Varney / Esther Chick

Esther Varney was the daughter of Moses Varney and Esther Chick. Based on family chronology her birth is placed in 1756 in Rochester, New Hampshire. Esther married James Place May 23, 1776 in Rochester. Even though the marriage record has survived there is a real lack of information about the marriage, or the existence of any children in the Varney family historical traditions. With most of their contemporaries their children left a large enough footprint that their existence can be traced. Such is not the case for the marriage of Esther Varney and James Place.----------- There are three sources for information that supply us with some details of the marriage. All of them however are attached to her husband James Place. One of them is referenced as the “Guy S Rix manuscript of Place Genealogy. It can be found in the open source library on the Internet. That volume often quotes a second source the, Journal of Elder Enoch Hayes Place. The third source is the history of the Hayes family, “John Hayes of Dover, N. H., A book of his Family”. Both of the books were published at the turn of the Twentieth Century. It should be noted that the authors make note that many of their sources had first hand knowledge of the people they were recording their personal experience reaching way back into the 1800’s.----------- The Place Genealogy is the most informative. There are substantial details for James and his family tree. The genealogy notes that James Place was the son of John (Lucy Jeness), born in Rochester, N.H. Feb 25, 1755. It notes that he married first Ester Varney, May 23, 1776. It notes that after her death he married Abigail Hayes, Sept 26, 1785. Given the traditions of the time Esther probably died within 1783/84. The history gives a date for death for James Place January 2, 1837. The Hayes history uses a date of January 24, 1837. ---------- Of the marriage the Place genealogy records;----------- “He married first, Esther Varney by whom he had six or eight children, none of whom lived three months.”---------- James Place and his second wife Abigail Hayes had eight children. Their lives are record in detail in both family histories. That fact supports the notion that Ester’s children did not survive very long.----------- The Place genealogy notes that James Place was buried on the farm he purchased in1783 on Dry Hill in Rochester. It also notes that there was no headstone there for Esther. It remains for some researcher to find her burial in Rochester. Hopefully it is surrounded by six or eight small headstones.