LEPINE

[jonwicken]

Actually with the Lepines there is quite a lot of information on them. It's all helped out by the court case of 'Mad' Maria Lepine who died in testate and as a lunatic in 1798.

An advert in the Times newspaper made all the Lepine familiies in the UK and they all tried to prove descent from the same family. So lots of families did alot of research and spent a fortune going through parish registers and so on.

This is why the Lepine chart was made in the 1850s all as part of the aim to claim the money. Nobody did of course and as I have found, all the Canterbury Lepines who tried were barking up totally the wrong tree. No one ever claimed the money but there was a big court case in 1927 which made the national newspapers at home and abroad.

Several of the Canterbury Lepines were recipients of the Jane Basse and Ester Coqueau Charities administered by the French Church and some became inmates of the French Protestant Hospital. All this is documented so once you build your tree take a trip to the Huguenot Library in London. They have a great deal there.

But bear in mind many people researching didn't have access to all the records we have now so were often barking up the wrong tree. Always feel free to check with me though.

I am afraid in as far as how the Canterbury Lepines lived I have not done any research on this. I am not of this line so have kept to just the genealogical details so maybe contact a historical society in Canterbury along with a visit to the library.

Last year I purchased through an auction some papers which relate to the Canterbury Lepines dating from the late 1700s to a newspaper article of the 1927 court case. There aren't alot of papers but they are most fascinating and include a short statement written by Catherine Lucas, wife of Daniel Lepine (1711-1781).

There are Lepine papers stored away by lots of branches in fact and I just wonder what else might be out there undiscovered. The whole court case was a huge benefit to us as everyone kept all the papers and gathered up more.

The papers in the Society of Genealogists are one example and what is fascinating to me is that the papers that instigated the 'Lepine in Chancery' article are the other side of this correspondence. Sadly the man who had them has now died and I have no idea where they went to. I great shame as I would love to have read the other side of these letters.

Kind regards,
Jon

[nicolegoode]

Great thanks thats loads to keep me going. I have the 'lepine in chancery' document and I have just received some discs from the Huguenot society although I haven't had chance to look at them yet. I will follow up the information you suggest and hopefully find out lots more. It is a very interesting side to the family tree.
Thanks for taking the time to help out.
Nicole.

[jonwicken]

The Lepine in Chancery article is interesting but unfortunately the Canterbury Lepines were not related to Maria at all, even though they thought they were.

They thought they must be due to the surname without realising there were different branches. As the Lepine in Chancery article says, a great deal of money was spent by all sides to try and get hold of her estate.

The court case was not brought by any Lepines though, this was bought by a family in Yorkshire claiming they were descended though the sister of Maria's mother Mary Jency Eccles.

They seem to have bankrupted themselves and as my research has shown they were totally incorrect in their case. Why a solicitor/barrister ever thought they would get anywhere is beyond me, but it seems the leader of all this Miss Amy Knight Mason just refused to give up.

We have alot to owe her for, even if she was totally incorrect, as it kept many Lepine lines aware of the family and researching and keeping old papers. The research she did came to be in the court papers deposited at The National Archives at Kew.

The one very sad thing is that one exhibit with her petition was a copy of a letter in the family sent to a relative (her grandmother I think offhand) which is why they 'knew' they were related to Maria.

Unfortunately this exhibit is missing in the files at Kew so I assume someone before me took it. What is said I have no idea and I have not been able to find out what became of Miss Mason's own papers. I hope one day they may turn up somewhere.

I would suggest googling "Daniel Lepine" and any other names of the Lepines in italics that interest you as you will probably find alot about them ranging from internet posts of other researchers to all other sorts of historical documents.

You may already have seen this page:

http://www.machadoink.com/All%20Saints%20Graveyard.htm

This lists grave stones at All Saints Canterbury and one of them is for your Daniel Lepine (1767-1826) and his wife Hannah. According to this web page the broken stone reads:

In Memory of Daniel Lepine

died February 24th 1826 aged 38 years

Also Nancy widow of the above died May 30th

Aged 18[45] 7[6] Years

Left surviving Hannah wife

and William Welby

This is also a good post listing Lepine BMDS in the same parish:

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/HUGUENOTS-WALLOONS-EUROPE/2000-10/0970512831

Good luck with your research and feel free to come back to me with anything.

Jon

[Platform10]

Hi Jon,
.
I am researching my Lepine family connection and have come to a stop - the info that i have is as follows:-
My Grandmother Rosina Lepine born 1904
her parents Charles Lepine born c1873 & Harriet Tyler born c1873
All of the above were born in Islington, London
.
Charles's father was Jules Lepine born in Gisors France c1817 and he was married to Marie Alexandrine Evrevin born in Rouen France c1842 -
I have managed to track down his Birth Registration from a French web site dated 14 March 1817, in this document his father is shown as Ambroise Lepine and his Mother as Rosalie Julie Soit-de vire.
.
If you have any info on this line of Lepine's i would be very interested to hear about it.
.
Regards
Tony

[jonwicken]

Hi Tony,

I have seen these Lepines but as they came to the UK in the 1800s, I have not really looked at them much yet.

Sorry i can't be any more help, but I assume you have seen that many of the French departments have put their parish registers online for free, so have you checked out the department for Rouen as you might be able to find her c1842 baptism.

Kind regards,
Jon

[luder]

Also as you say, I have Hannah Welby, having a daughter Sara Guy who is my great great grandmother.  My family remember her very fondly.  She had a son Arthur Worsnip 1892 and his son John was my grandfather.

Forgive me Nicole, but I think I have been chasing you around Mundia! I am descended from Hannah Welby's brother Robert who had 5 daughters- Fanny, Kate, Edith, Helena and Laura. Edith is my g grandmother. We had a mourning ring for Daniel Lepine that my mother gifted to the Museum at Canterbury a few years ago- mostly to avoid squabbles over who should inherit it!
There are some photographs of them on my tree on Mundia.

Best wishes, Hilary

[Helen10]

Hi Jon
My many times great grandmother was Elisabeth Lepine who married George Nutting on 11 Jan 1751 in Chislet, which is not far from Canterbury. It was George who was from Chislet and there is no indication from where Elisabeth came from, other than there do not appear to have been any Lepines in Chislet before this time.
Best wishes
Helen

[jonwicken]

Hi Helen,

I have just seen you r reply to my post and was just about to look it up in my online tree when ancestry was down!

I will try and check back here when ancestry is up and running again.

All for now,
Jon

[Helen10]

Thanks Jon.

Best wishes

Helen