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WILLIAM STAPLETON was my great grandfather. He came to New South Wales in 1837, probably from a place in Kent about twenty miles out of London. Family legend has it that it was from a manor house, but this is uncertain. It is known that he had an elder sister who visited Australian relatives around the turn of 1900. Nothing can be identified as to his birth or parental circumstances, but he was about 18 when he reached Sydney, therefore born c.1818. The vessel he arrived in might have been 'Fairlie'. He married Sarah Leonard in Bathurst, NSW in 1840 and they had five children, Frances, William, FrederickThomas, Emily and Arthur. He became an inn-keeper then engaged in taking horses to Calcutta for sale to the British Army, but he disappeared after July 1860, allegedly being killed by pirates during his last visit to or from Calcutta. There is no record of his death or will. ANY RELEVANT INFORMATION WOULD BE APPRECIATED. John Dugdale.