Who Was Kaziah Varney's Mother?

Sarah Varney Cutler was born 4 Jan 1830 in Dover Furnace, Dutchess co, NY. She was the daughter of Calvin C. Cutler and Kesiah Varney and married William Hooker in June of 1854. Sarah died 4 Dec 1908 and is buried in Wingdale, Dutchess co, NY

Sarah Mother , Keziah Varney can be found under a variety of spellings: Kesiah, Kasiah, Keziah and Kaziah.  Varney occasionally shows up as Verney or Varny so finding her in records hasn’t been that easy.

Kaziah Varney Cutler is buried with her husband Calvin Cook Cutler in the Chestnut Ridge burying ground in Dutchess co, NY. Her tombstone says Kaziah was died 26 April 1858, which means she was born about 1797. Other than her husband and Step mother Priscilla Varney, she does not appear to have any family buried in the same cemetery.

Nahum Cutler in James Cutler and his descendants says Keziah is the daughter of John Varney, and Edward Hooker concurs in Descendants of Rev. Thomas Hooker although neither seems to show where that information came from. The Settlers of the Beekman Patent also links Keziah with her father John Varney but there is no mention of her mother. LDS Records state Kesiah had a sister, Sarah Jane, which is confirmed in John Varney's will.

John Varney, Keziah’s Father is buried in the Quaker Hill cemetery in Pawling, NY. His wife Priscilla can be found in a few Quaker records so it would seem Priscilla at least was a Quaker. In 1800 a record states she is changing meetings from Nine Partners to the Oblong and there is no problem with her marriage engagement. In 1814 Priscilla is mentioned again in these records, and the name given for her Spouse is _______Varney. Therefore it appears Priscilla and John were married between 1800 and 1814.

This does not however solve the problem of who was Kaziah’s mother, as Keziah was born Feb 9, 1797, three years before the earliest date Priscilla and John could have been married.

Of course, If we knew where this particular John Varney came from it would help us in our search, but we are still looking for that information. Did John Varney come from Columbia County, or Dover, NH, or Rochester MA or somewhere else completely? Did his wife die before he moved to the Dutchess county area, or after? Who was she and where is she buried?

From John’s tombstone we know he died 31 May 1841 and was born sometime around Nov 1768. This means he was probably married between 1784 and 1797, and his wife was deceased by 1800. Other than his impending marriage to Pricilla Hiller, we have no idea why he would have moved to this area or what occupation he had.

If you have any possible clues or ideas concerning John Varney, his daughter Kesiah, or his first wife, please send me a note at mizrebecky@gmail.com. It could be an idea where to look, a possible marriage for John, a detail on his hometown or his Occupation, maybe a John Varney from somewhere else that appears to be the same person. I would love to know more about this part of our family.