James the Grocer - The Vayro Ancestry
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James the Grocer
Before I became involved in tracing my family ancestry one of my main interests was collecting Victorian bottles, and by the mid 1970's I had a good variety of stone ginger beers and black embossed beer bottles. Despite wide searching I could not find anyone linked to my own ancestry. I did however find a James Vayro in Trinity Street, Hull a grocer who also retailed beer and spirits between 1890 and 1910, and more importantly I have traced his ancestors and descendants.
According to Paul Gibson, who has written about the history of Hull see http://www.paul-gibson.com "The picture postcard of the J VAYRO Shop shows a view of Derringham Street, Hull, looking north towards Spring Bank. In the foreground is the point where Trinity Street crossed Derringham Street east to west. On the left at no.80 Trinity Street was the shop of James Vayro grocer, wine & spirit merchant and beer retailer - an excellent example of an off licence c.1905. The Vayro's had been at No.80 since only the late 1890s and had moved on by C 1910. However no.80 had been a beer retailer for many years prior to their arrival. This area was gradually flooded with pubs and off-licenses and Vayros appear to have found the competition too much; they were listed simply as grocers at a shop on Beverley Road by 1915."
This particular James Vayro, Grocer, was born in 1873 the illegitimate son of Esther Vayro whose parents in turn were James Vayro and Isabella Horner. This earlier James, who was a qualified carpenter, had moved from Fearby near Masham to Beverley, but had died of tuberculosis in 1856 during the year when Esther was born, so could not be the original owner of the off - license or grocery business.
In 1881, James (aged 8) his mother Esther and his sister Rose were in the Beverley Union Workhouse, so how he came to be a named shopkeeper in the 1990's when he would be less than 20 years old is a mystery yet to be fully resolved. His mother Esther is known to have died of Bright's disease in Hull Royal Infirmary on 24 April 1891.
Whilst looking on the 1891 census for Hull I found a James Vayro aged 17 and in 1901 he is shown as aged 27 (with wife Frances also aged 27 daughter Ethel 5) These would certainly "fit the picture" and by 1905 when the photograph is thought to have been taken James Vayro would have been 33 and perhaps his wife's family had provided the capital to open the business.
Briefly therefore the ancestry of J Vayro, the shopkeeper in Hull is as follows :-
Richard Varo / Varah and Jane Horner Coverham (my G7)
William Varo / Varah and Grace Hardcastle, Coverham (my G6)
William Vayro/ Varo and Esther Lye, Ellingstring (my G5)
James Vayro/Varo and Mary Walker, East Witton (my G4)
James Vayro and Isabella Horner
Esther Vayro, Hull
James Vayro, and Francis M Kelly, Beverley, near Hull
James had a sister Rose, who in turn had a daughter Ethel Vayro who married a Frank Cooper. Their daughter Joan married Norman Walker, whose son Steven has assisted my research on many occasions.
On closer examination of the photograph of the off-licence or grocers shop, James Vayro may be standing in the shop doorway with his children, while his wife Francis nee Kelly may be the vague shadow at the back of the group. In 26 years of family ancestry research I have come to realise that original parish records and census returns can be misleading and often transcribed incorrectly. A photograph however "never lies"; but as far as I know James and Francis only had one daughter. So who are all these other children in front of their shop?
Below TRANSCRIPTS FOR BEVERLEY, Confusion over surname spelling variations
VAREY SUSANNA Dau BRYAN and DINAH VAREY
Bap 05-02-1826 St John and St Martin
VARY MATHEW Married MARY ANN THOMASON
Mar 24-12-1832 St Mary and St Nicholas
VARY JOHN Son JAMES and ISABELLA VAREY
Bap 26-01-1848 St Mary and St Nicholas
VAIRY JANE Dau JOHN and MARY VAIRY
Bap 23-06-1840 St John and St Martin
VAREY JAMES Son JAMES and ISABELLA VAREY
Bap 07-04-1849 St Mary and St Nicholas
VAYRO JAMES Son JAMES and ISABELLA VAYRO
Bap 25-12-1850 St Mary and St Nicholas
VAREY GEORGE MALAM Son BRIAN and DINAH VAREY
Bap 14-08-1828 St John and St Martin
VAREY ELIZABETH Dau THOMAS and EMMA VAREY (nee EYRE)
Bap 25-10-1857 St John and St Martin
VARY BRIAN Son BRIAN and DINAH VARY
Bap 13-01-1831 St John and St Martin
VAREY BRIAN WALKER Son THOMAS and EMMA VAREY (nee EYRE)
Bap 25-10-1857 St John and St Martin
VARY AARON Son` JAMES and MARY VARY
Bap 10-07-1831 Lund near BEVERLEY
VARY ABRAHAM Son RICHARD and ANN VARY
Bap 09-03-1833 Lund near BEVERLEY
VARY ABRAHAM Son MARY VARY (no father shown)
Bap 16-04-1864 Lund near BEVERLEY
Below A Series of Unfortunate Events January 2013 Your Family Tree Magazine
