John Bilby EPPS OR MERRIKAN

John Bilby EPPS OR MERRIKAN[1, 2]

Male 1848 - 1935  (~ 87 years)

Personal Information    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    All

  • Name John Bilby EPPS OR MERRIKAN 
    Born June Qtr. 1848  St. Pancras District, vol. 1, p 356 Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christened 30 Mar 1861  Ospringe, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Gender Male 
    Died 29 Jul 1935  56 Godwin Road, Cliftonville, Margate, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [4, 5
    Person ID I7771  Young Kent Ancestors
    Last Modified 18 Feb 2013 

    Father John Billy MERRIKEN,   b. Abt 1828, Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Mother Sarah Nutt EPPS,   c. 30 Jun 1820, Faversham, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Dec 1906, Thanet, Kent, England (86y) Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 86 years) 
    Family ID F1225  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • I thought you might be interested in what has turned up about John Billy Merriken Epps, son of Sarah Nutt Epps (daughter of Catherine Nutt). It appears that John (who was the last Tzar's children's tutor) was the illegitimate son of Sarah, born when she was aged 28 and living in London. The father was a chemist - John Billy Merriken and it appears they didn't marry. A couple of years later Sarah married a Mr Macers (I can't find much about him) and they had a son George Macers - half brother to JBM Epps, who always kept the Epps name. It appears Mr Macers then died soon after the birth of his son. Sarah then continued to live with her parents (George & Catharine) and her 2 sons - but I can't locate either a marriage or death for her. All I can otherwise find out about Macers is that a MSW Macers, grand niece, certified JBM's death on his death certificate - indicating that his half brother George must have had a son, who had a daughter (MSW). JBM went to Russia aged 31 in 1880 and did have an English wife (who died in 1896) but I can't find any record of their marriage and don't even know her name. All this has come to light because a parcel of JBM's papers (items he acquired while tutoring the grandduchesses - drawings, notes etc) were apparently left to my great grandfather William (who came to NZ/Australia) when JBM died in 1935. William promptly sent them to London for valuation then lost track of them and they of him. An article in an English newspaper in 2003 described how they had just been rediscovered "in the bottom of a tin drawer" at the antiguarian bookshop in London - and to make a very long story short, I had them handed over to me about 7 months ago. So that is why I felt I needed to know just where JBM fitted into the family, which up until then was a bit of a mystery, because, of course we never expected him to have his mothers name but assumed he was the son of one of Catharine and George's sons. Of those 3 sons William was my forebear, I have tracked down George (married Emma and had a son George) and John - who I had assumed was JBM's father, I now think probably never made it to adulthood. It has all been quite an intriguing outcome of a few people's collective research!

  • Sources 
    1. [S7] Certified copy of an entry of Birth, (England, Kew: General Register Office), St. Pancras District, Vol. 1, p 356, June Qtr 1848.
      Births Jun 1848

      Epps John Billy Merrikin S Pancras

    2. [S58] 1861 Census, England, Office of National Statistics, General Register Office, Kew, Surrey, England, (U.S.A., Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of Utah), Ospringe, Kent, England, E.D. 1d, Class: RG9; Piece: 526; Folio: 13; Page: 20; GSU film#05, 7 Apr 1861.
      Household schedule #110

      George Epps, head, married, 63, born Ospringe, Kent
      Catherine Epps, wife, married, 62, Faversham, Kent, England
      Rosetta Epps, daughter, unmarried, 40, born Ospringe, Kent
      Sarah Mares, daughter, married, 42, born Ospringe, Kent
      John Epps, grandson, unmarried, 12, scholar, London, England
      George Mares, grandson, unmarried, 6, born Ospringe, Kent

    3. [S33] Bishop's Transcript, England, Church of England, Canterbury Cathedral Archives, Canterbury, Kent, England, (U.S.A., Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of Utah), Ospringe, Kent, England LDS Film #1835536, 30 Mar 1861.
      John Bilby son of John and Sarah Merrikan, Ospringe Street, labourer, performed by S. Hiley, Curate.
      The curate who performed this baptism was not the curate who was appointed to Ospringe at that time.

    4. [S11] Certified copy of an entry of Death, (England, Kew: General Register Office), 1935.
      Death was certified by “great-niece MSW Maeers, of 40 Ridgeway, Hayes, Kent

    5. [S39] Calendar of Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice, Her Majestry's Stationers Office, London, England, (Provo, Utah, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.), London Registry, England, 15 Nov 1937.
      1937, EPPS John Bilby Merikin [sic] of 56 Godwin Road, Cliftonville, Margate, died 29 July 1935. Probate London 15 November to Mabel Sarah Winifred Maeers, spinster. Effects GB22 5s 11d.