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.

The Wealthy Flory Family of Suffolk, part 2

The Wealthy Flory Family of Suffolk The monumental inscription for the family in Tattingstone records Thomas and his two wives, Elizabeth who died in 1777 and his wife of 25 years, Elizabeth Garrod who died in 1835. It also records his mother who died in 1799. Thomas had two children from his first marriage. It becomes apparent from reading the Will of his mother and his will that he had a son Thomas. There is no record of where he is living, nor is there a baptism entry in the Tattingstone Parish registers. There is an entry for Elizabeth’s baptism in 1777. The marriage bond records that Thomas married Elizabeth Southgate in Bacton in 1774. Upon looking at those records I find a Thomas Flora baptized 6 Dec 1774. This is the second time I have come across the Flura, Flora, variant spelling of the surname.

We find a Thomas and Ann Maria Flory having 3 children in Martlesham; Thomas Smith, Ann Maria, and Robert. Then there is, Thomas Flory, a wealthy farmer living in Witnesham with numerous children. The monumental inscription in Witnesham has Thomas Smith Flory, and Robert Flory recorded on it. This tells us that the children in Martlesham and Witnesham are part of the same family. He died in 1835 and left a will that notes some key relationships. His estate was valued at 3000 pounds.
It is the Wills of both Thomas Flory of Tattingstone who died in 1812 and Thomas who died in 1835 in Witnesham that link them together. Thomas of Tattingstone leaves 100 pounds for his daughter Elizabeth Davey. The Thomas of Witnesham leaves money to his sister, Elizabeth Davey, a widow. Without that common relationship between the two wills it would only be a calculated guess. Without the wills we only have his age and the name Thomas mentioned in the wills. There is no mention of Tattingstone or where the Thomas of Witnesham was born.
Interestingly enough we find the marriage of Elizabeth Flory to Richard Davey in Bacton in 1795. No Wills can be found for Richard or Elizabeth Davey.
If you want to read the will of Thomas who died in 1835 it is online. It was probated in the Consistory Court of Norwich. (select Probate - type in Flory in the search box) It is 22 pages.

The Wealthy Flory Family of Suffolk

I recently added a new line branching off of  Richard Flory and Mary Gildersleeve. Thomas their youngest son born in 1724 had remained a mystery like many of these early ancestors. Come to find out Thomas’s line could be considered the millionaires of the Flory line. Richard never mentioned Thomas in his will of 1756, nor did any of the other siblings in their wills. There appears to be no marriage record of his marriage to Mary Broom other than a marriage bond found in the Archdeaconry of Suffolk’s records. It says, “Thomas Flura in the parish of Clopton, age 22 “ also “Mary Broom of the parish of Debach.” The marriage was to take place in Saxmundham some ten miles east of from Clopton in 1749. No record of the marriage can be found in Saxmundham.
Fast forward to the Thomas Flory found in Tattingstone who was a wealthy land owner with many children who was born about 1752. When he died in 1812 he had nearly a 1000 pounds in wealth. There was also another Thomas Flory in Tattingstone that died in 1810 and he left no will. Then we have, Thomas’s mother, Mary Flory who died in 1799 who left a will. Her will was made in 1795 and probated in 1802 in London at the Preprogative Court. She mentions her son Thomas and grandson Thomas and daughter Mary Emmerson. Also her daughter Elizabeth Smith the wife of John Smith of Tattingstone.
There was no way to connect Thomas Flura of Clopton and married in Saxmundham in 1749 to a Thomas Flory in Tattingstone as there are numerous Thomas’s in the records. I decided to check the Broom will’s. I found a will for a Henry Broom in 1780 in Debach. It said, “I give and bequeath unto Mary Flory of Tattingstone.... widow the sum of eighty two pounds.” That one sentence ties the marriage of Thomas Flory and Mary Broom to the wealthy farmer in Tattingstone. Henry Broom was a wealthy farmer in Debach. (check out Henry Broom’s will) As Mary was a widow in 1780 I find the burial of Thomas Flory in Hemingstone in 1770 where his daughter, Mary, married James Emmerson in 1772. It appears that Henry Broom set up his grandchild, Thomas, in the farming business after his father died.
From this point on we find that there is a lot of wealth in the next generations of this family, but it does appear that the Surname Flory was not carried on into the twentieth century through this line.

Military Pay Lists

Findmypast some months ago put online an index of people in the 1861 military pay lists. 245,000 men are listed. This is just a snap shot of who was in the military at that particular time. I was missing a few people between the 1851 and 1861 census. I was wondering what happened to David Scoggins who was born in 1833 in Badingham. He was in the 1851 census and then he just vanished. There is a David Scoggins listed as being in Hazaribagh East Indies in the 77th foot (East Middlesex Regiment) Out of all the military records online there is no mention of him. Next time I make it to the National Archives I will need to trace him through the pay list to see when he joined and when and how he left the military. The pay list are big bulky books that each regiment carried around with them. There not on microfilm. If you want a detailed view of where a military man went in his career then the pay lists will tell you. I sure hope they put some pay list online from the Napoleonic wars. A lot of men disappeared and if they died in the wars the only mention you may find of them will be in the pay lists. There is also a possibility that his birthplace will be found in the lists which would confirm his identity. There are pay lists for every regiment starting in about 1730.

Scoggins Civil Registration Marriages 1837 to 1851

Using FREEBMD civil registration indexes I have located 53 Scoggins, Scroggins marriages between 1837 and 1851. To find all the various spellings I used a wildcard. In the search box I put (scog*) The star or asterisk placed at the end picks up all the letters after. It may be surprising to know that any surname that starts with Scog is going to be a variant of Scoggins, Scoging, etc.
Scoggins and its various spellings are not very common, so it is possible to sort through them. Of the 53 marriages which took place 23 took place in Suffolk or 40%. 38 of the 53 can be traced back into Suffolk through research between 1775 and 1851. This means 75% of them have Suffolk roots. The remaining 25% or 15 marriages are scattered in 7 other counties with London area having 5. I have also noticed that some Northern England Scoggins have unique variants of their own, i.e. Skoggins, Scigens
On FREEBMD it is possible to add postems to each entry, so I have placed a postem for 28 of the 53 marriages. The postem I have included includes a transcription of the marriage record excluding the witnesses as I ran out of space as only 250 characters are allowed. If you have a marriage record, transcribe it and create a postem.
I have also found a marriage church record of William Bye Scogings in 1849 that is not in the civil registration indexes. I found that marriage on ancestry.com London marriage records.

John Ridley in Pay Lists - WO12

When I was at the National Archives many years ago I looked through the Pay Lists for the 7th Regiment of Foot. I knew from the pension records that John Ridley had served 16 Years, 10 months and he was discharged on Oct 21 1821. I ordered a series of pay list that for the 7th Regiment starting in the 1804 -1806 time period. (WO12/2542) I was thumbing through the actual pay list books that the regiment carried with them. I found in the list where John Ridley first appears. It was on May 10 1805 the he joined the 7th regiment of foot, he had volunteered from the militia. Many of the men on the list had joined from the militia about the same time he did. His pay due was 15 shilling. There is a column on the preprinted form that says ‘in lieu of Beer’ He received his pay in beer. Everyone on the page received some of their wages in lieu of beer. The list is dated June 7, 1805 at Wakefield. It appears that he joined the regiment while it was at Wakefield, Yorkshire.
I followed the movements of the regiment through the pay lists. In 1808 the regiment went to Nova Scotia. It was there most of the year. In early 1809 I find a list of men who were killed in the siege of Martinique, 38 privates and 7 officers. Over the next five years the regiment was in Denmark, Spain, Portugal, and France. In 1815 it says they camped near Paris. The 7th was in many battles and suffered many casualties. John Ridley was wounded twice.

Scottish Records Online - 1797 Horse Tax

It has been about three years since I put a transcription of the 1797 horse tax for the Pairh of Urr in Kirkcudbright on a website. Today I have discovered that the horse tax lists for the entire country have been digitized and is now online. There is no searchable index. The images of the lists can be downloaded or saved. The lists are organized by county and then by parish. The name of the man who had the horses is recorded as well as how many horses he had and how much tax was paid. It also records the name of the land or estate that he occupied. Typically parish registers do not record the estate a family lived on. The horse tax is one source of many that one would put on his or her list to look at while at the National Archives. Also on this website is a record of all land owners in Scotland in 1872. I look forward to more records being put online. The guide for these little known or used records is the book, Tracing Your Scottish Ancestors.
At ScotlandPeoples website the probate indexes are available to 1900. They just put Catholic records on their website. The price to access these records is very reasonable and sometimes free. The record that I think would be of most value will be the militia lists created prior to and during the Napoleonic Wars (1800 to 1815). Kirkcudbrightshire has milita records that cover most parishes in the county. I have put the parish of Urr militia records online