Where to look next for John Nye?

[Archimedes]

Hi, I'm very new on here and offer my apologies if I've got this on the wrong board. Please be gentle with me and point me in the right direction.
I am looking for some advice on how to proceed. My Gt Grandfather was John Nye and I have found him on a number of Census' In 1871 he is in Herefordshire as a farm servant and he says he is born in Cuckfield Sussex, the next time in 1881 he was now in Whitchurch Shropshire and says her was born in Herefordshire, and he says the same again in 1891 still living in Shropshire. But by 1901 he is in Liverpool and on that census he says he was born in Cuckfield Sussex again.

I am convinced it is the same man as he gets married in Shrophire and he and his wife have about 16 children and they link up throughout the later census'

What I'm trying to find is his birth registration according to his age on all the census' he would have been born in 1853 or 1854. But I can't find him on the 1861 census nor in the indexes of births. I have checked with the parish clerk for Cuckfield and and there is no John Nye in that period.

On his marriage cert it says his father was also John Nye a stonemason. I know that Nye is a Kent and Sussex name coz as a child my parents moved from Liverpool to Kent. How surprised were we to discover that there were lots of Nye's, in Liverpool we were related to almost all the Nye's in the city! Dad says that there was a family story that his Grandfather came from "Down South" but I just don't know how ro proceed now the obvious channels coming up blank.
I would go to the record office but I don't even know what to ask for to look at.

Any suggestions gratefully recieved.

[lizdb]

First of all, welcome to Rootschat!

Free BMD had Frederick John Nye born Oc/Nov/Dec 1850 and John Nye born Oc/Nov/Dec 1858, both Cuckfield.

HAve you ruled these two out? Census ages can be several years out!

Looking at it logically - if there is no John Nye born in Cuckfield in 1853/4, (and you have checked that out)then one aspect must be incorrect, so you need to work through them logically. Either it is the name, the date, or the place! (or more than one, in which case you are really stumped!)
So, starting with the date, you could investigate the ones I noted earlier.

by the way - Have you just looked on the free BMD data base? Or have you been through the full birth indexes quarter by quarter for these years?

[Archimedes]

Thanks Lizdb.

I don't think I'd discounted either of these John Nye's just had sort of thought that since he was always so reliable about his age over 40 years that it might be right.  But i take your point and and am off to investigate the web site you memtioned. Uptill now I've only used the Ancestry co uk birth search and the index lists but with these perhaps I have been working in to small a range of dates.

Thank you I've been going round in circles looking for John Nye's on the census with Stonemason/Bricklayer fathers and getting no where.

[sillgen]

Hi
I am sure I posted an answer to this earlier today but it seems to have disappeared.   Cannot remember all my words of wisdom now either!
There were several churches in Cuckfield at that time - some independent ones as well as Holy Trinity.  Did the Online Parish Clerk check all those for baptisms for you?
There are quite a few Nyes living in the Cuckfield area in 1851 and 61 but not the one you want as far as I can see but there are many small villages around that come under the Cuckfield umbrella as it was the main town of the area at that time so he may be in one of those.
Is there any chance that his father might have left a will?     Have you found any likely candidates for his father in 1851?
Andrea

[sillgen]

I see that by 1901 he has gained the middle initial H.  Does that appear on his marriage or death certificate?    The names of his children are unusual.   Beatrice, Rose, Grace etc so they may be a clue - unless they all come from his wife's family.
Andrea

[Archimedes]

Hi Andrea,

I'm fairly sure that the H is for Henry as his eldest son was John Henry Nye.
On the Marriage cert he is down as just John Nye.

I have looked at all the possible Nye familys in Kent and Sussex in 1861 for a father John and Son John combination with out success. But there is a death of a John Nye in Cuckfield in 1853 (I think) so I wondered if his dad died and his mother remarried before the 1861 census.

I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and spend the £ on possible birth cert and death certs to sort this out.
I don't know if the online parish clerk only checked the parish church records. But thinking about it John Nye and Eliza Wright were married in a Weslyian Methodist Chapel in Cheshire, so he would be more likely to be on the methodist church register. That might be the place to look. Do you know if that would be on line or would I need to go to the west sussex record office?

Thank you for all the leads I will write them out and check them all out in a systematic fashion, instead of snarling every time my family ask how I'm doing with John Nye. LOL

[Archimedes]

Using the wider date range for John Nye I have come up with a possible result but not in Cuckfield. I've found a John Neigh born 1848 in Wales with a dad George Neigh who is a Mason on the 1851 Wales census. Do you think this is a possible or am I clutching at straws?

Also there is a George Henry Nye born in Wales in 1854 registered Cardiff. Goes from famine to feast.

[lizdb]

Hmmm I would innitially say this is clutching at straws.
but sometimes you have to do that in genealogy, and sometimes - just sometimes - one of those straws turns out to be the vital link!

I would put these Welsh findings to one side, keep them safe (NEVER throw anything away in this game! you really never know when it might become relevant) and pursue other lines first.

If, in the distant future, you suddenly come up with a link to Wales, I dont know something like you find John's Grandfather came from there or something, still a family of stonemasons, and had another son, George (I am making this up as I go along!) you can immediately say 'OOH I have something on him that might tie in'

Or it might stay in your 'miscellaneus' file for ever, along with lots of other snippets of irrelevancy!!!!!

that's how it goes!

[Archimedes]

Thanks. Working one your own means that little stuff gets out of perspective unless you get to talk it over with someone.