William Bye moved to Blythburgh in 1811

It’s not often that we get a detailed picture of an ancestor’s circumstance. The result of a court case involving his son, John Bye, resulted in the publication of his circumstances in some law books in 1825. These law publications were put online by Google as an eBook. By making a simple Google search I found the court case. Everyone had a parish of settlement. Agricultural laborers were often out of work for some months during the year. Only the parish that they were settled in gave relief. This resulted in people when in hard times were physically removed to a settled parish. The law kept people close to the parish they were born in, thus allowing us to find families in the or near the same place for many generations. In 1824, John Bye living in Blythburgh with a wife and four children where his father lived was seeking poor relief. He was born in 1798 in Chillesford. Under the clause of ‘Hiring and Service,’ under parish law, the churchwardens were through some confusion, actually did have John Bye and his family removed back to Chillesford. A year later the case was overturned in the courts and he was allowed back to Blythburgh. He never did go back to Blythburgh. In another blog entry I’ll explain what happened to his family. Even though the case is about John Bye, the published case focuses on how William Bye came to be in Blythburgh. Was Blythburgh William Bye’s settled parish?

“William Bye, the pauper’s father, being a married man, and settled in Chillesford, let himself to Mr. Taylor, of Blythburgh, better than fourteen years ago, (about 1811) as a shepherd; he was to have for the first year, forty shillings for wages, ten coombs of wheat and two of barley, produced on the farm, the going of thirty breeding ewes, worth 10l. a year, and a cottage in Blythburgh, rent free, worth three guineas a year. W. Bye continued with Mr. Taylor for fourteen years upon the same term… …If W. Bye had not had the cottage, he would have more wages, and it was convenient for him as a shepherd, as it was on the spot. W. Bye hired every year one or two pages, over whom Mr. Taylor had no control, and about nine years ago, when one Jarvis, one of the pages, was to leave, W. Bye, about a week before old Midsummer, agreed with his son, the pauper, who was at that time nineteen years of age, and unemancipated, to serve him for a year, from old Michaelmas to old Michaelmas, in Jarvis’s place, at the same wages 8l. a year, which time the pauper served, and slept in Blythburgh, being then unmarried, in his father’s house. “
There must be some originally documents from which this case was decided and created that would provide even more details, but I have not been able to find anything online. What biographical information!

William Bye 1761 to 1831 - Suffok, England

I have recently started researching William Bye. Mary Bye his daughter is who married Philip Scoggins in 1814 in Badingham. The only clue we have as to where she was born is the 1851 census of Badingham. It says she was born in Orford parish in about 1791. From looking at the available records it becomes apparent that the surname Bye is not very common in East Suffolk. It was quite easy to identify him in the records. He married Mary Saunders in 1791 and the next year, 1792, she was born in Orford. He had 3 more children with Mary until she died in 1797. He then married Martha Randall in 1798 and had five more children. He is found living in the parishes of Orford, Sudbourne, and Chillesford between 1771 and 1811.

Ipswich Journal February 3, 1802
To be SOLD by AUCTION; By John Ashley Rogers, On Saturday, the 17th day of July, at the Chequers in Sudbourn, at Five o'clock in the afternoon, A FREEHOLD Brick and Tiled Dwelling House, situated in Chillesford street; comprising two lower rooms and two comfortable chambers, and a large piece of garden ground, paled in. The premises are in most excellent repair, and well supplied with water; are now in the occupation of Wm. Bye, the owner. Possession may be had at Michaelmas next, For further particulars apply to the auctioneer, Orford. [Michaelmas is 29 September]
We find some valuable clues about William when he sold his house in Chillesford. He lived in a comfortable house and was the actual the owner of his property. His occupation appears to be farmer and shepherd. With the indexing of baptisms by the Suffolk Family History Society it looks likely he will soon be identified in the parish registers. There are numerous articles in the Ipswich papers for those selling land. Findmypast has recently made available these papers. Also the Ipswich Journal is available at the Family history Library 1800 to 1900 on another website.