Not quite sure what happened to my message, but this is what I was trying to post: I am seeking information on John COLLYER, a painter, glazier and later plumber who lived in Gosport c. 1809-1821 (and in West Cowes, Isle of Wight during the end of that period and possibly in Portsea earlier than that). I think he married Mary Ann WHITEHOUSE in Portsea in 1804. If this is the right John COLLYER then he was a widower at the time of that marriage but I don't know anything about his first wife. His children by the second marriage included Thomas COLLYER, baptised in 1816 in Gosport, from whom I am descended. In 1809 John COLLYER's business partnership with John KNELLER was dissolved (they were corn merchants and hackney-men, Kneller went bankrupt in 1812). During 1816-1821 John COLLYER, painter and glazier, also went bankrupt and various notices regarding this appear in the London Gazette, the Times and the Hampshire Telegraph. He had a son, Samuel, baptised in Portsea in 1822 but by 1839, when his son Thomas married, the family had moved to Stepney/Hackney, in east London. John COLLYER, by this time a plumber, died in the early 1840s. There is a Southampton line of COLLYERs, also glaziers, plumbers and painters but I am not sure how (or whether) they are connected. The senior member of this line - also called John COLLYER - was born btw 1796-1801 somewhere in Hampshire. In 1823 he married Maria Jane STAPLES. He was in business (as Staples & Collyer) with Jane STAPLES and Edmund STAPLES, though this company was dissolved in 1828. John continued in business with Jane STAPLES until 1839. (His wife Maria Jane had died in 1837.) The 1841 census finds John living in Southampton with his second wife Sarah. It appears John died in 1848 by which time the couple had moved to the Isle of Wight (where his widow can be found in the 1851 census). I also have information on this John's two children including his son (another John !) who went into business with his uncle Charles STAPLES, but they went bankrupt in 1854. There are papers in the Southampton Archives relating to contracts and disputes between John COLLYER and the Southampton Waterworks Commissioners, 1837-40 - I'm not sure if this is John senior or John junior. One of the sureties mentioned in these papers is Joseph LANKESTER who later became Mayor of Southampton, I think. As I say, I am not sure if the Southampton COLLYERS are related to the Gosport COLLYERS - it could be that the Southampton John COLLYER born c 1796-1801 is the son of the Gosport John COLLYER by his first marriage but that's just conjecture. Most of the information I have here is from online sources - I haven't been able to get to any of the Hampshire record offices to search further. I am interested in making contact with any other COLLYER researchers who have a connection with the Gosport John COLLYER - the Southampton lot are of interest to me if I can find a link to my Gosport ancestors. By the way, if you are interested in the STAPLES family of Southampton or John KNELLER of Gosport I can pass on the information I have on them. Many thanks, MARK ____________________________________ **************