Dyer of Bath

[Kells]

I am searching for the family of William Dyer born c1811, a tailor born in Bath who later lived in Bristol. Information from his second marriage suggests his father was also William Dyer, a tailor.

I have found a possible match of a brother for William named James, born c1801. James appears in the 1841 census in Bath St. James as a tailor, with his daughters, and 65 year old William, also a tailor, and presumably the father of the William born 1811.

I am having no luck finding a baptism for William jnr. or any other family details. James appears in the 1851 census with a birthplace of Stonehouse, Devonshire, which offers some clues to the family origins before Bath. Searches of online parish records have proved fruitless.

Can anyone help? Anything much appreciated.

[Hystericalwriter]

This might be a complete red herring, but Dyer is a Gloucestershire (Stroud) name, and there is a Stonehouse (near Stroud) in Gloucestershire too............

I haven't access to Glos indexes, but it might be worth looking?

Anne

[Kells]

Thanks, something to consider I suppose, if the Devon links don't work out.

[DRH123]

Hi Kells,

James Dyer's children were all recorded in the register of the  Baptist Church in Somerset Street, Bath which raises the possibility that his parents were also Baptists and so he and William would not appear in any parish register.

The nearest match in the Non-conformists registers that I can see is a James Dyer born in 1805 in Plymouth (very near Stonehouse) but with father John. The same parents had a son William in 1808, but in Devonport, not Bath.

David

[Kells]

Thanks, that was something I had not fully considered, very likely indeed and a probable reason for the absence of my William born in 1811 from any parish records I have been able to search online.

I may have to accept this as the end of the line for my research for now, or perhaps inquiring of the Bath record office research service. Searching online is limiting in so many ways, as good as records have become.

Thanks both for your assistance.

[DRH123]

I may have to accept this as the end of the line for my research for now, or perhaps inquiring of the Bath record office research service. Searching online is limiting in so many ways, as good as records have become.

FreeREG has very good coverage of Bath. The only parish baptism register missing from the period around 1811 is Bathwick 1801-1812, and that has recently been entered and will appear after the next update. There was a John Dyer there in 1811, son of Samuel and Elizabeth, but no William. FreeREG has some non-con records, and as far as I am aware, any existing ones that we don't have are available on the Non-Con BMD site, with the one exception of the Roman Catholics. It's not very likely that William was born a Catholic if his brother was a Baptist, but not impossible I suppose.

Other possibilities include, he was not baptised where he was born - Stonehouse would be the most likely alternative , he was actually born in a village outside Bath but near enough to put that as his birthplace - but nearly all those are on FreeREG as well, or he wan't baptised at all.

I see the witnesses to James' wedding include a Mary Dyer. Could be sister or mother. Have you traced her at all?

David

[Kells]

Thanks David,

These are some elusive ancestors in that case! I have tried FreeREG many times and it does seem to be very comprehensive in the coverage of Bath and near areas. I had a look through the Non-Conformist site you recommended, without paying to view, as nothing stands out as a match. Always a possibility of no baptism, as you say, or any number of areas outside of Bath or Devon. Throughout the years of the census, William gives his birthplace of Bath, but alas no baptism means no progress.

I had not seen the record of James Dyer's marriage, I only knew his wife's name from the baptism records for his children. That could be very helpful. A pity the witness was Mary and not something a little less common but I will try looking for her.

Thank you.

[Kells]

Not sure if it might be of relevance that William Dyer's children were baptised at St. Philip and St. Jacob, and also St. Peter, in Bristol? Not likely to have been Baptist and changed religion? His wife was baptised in St. James, Bristol, so appears to have been C of E.

[FerrierAJ]

Hi Kells posted a PM.

I'm researching the Dyers of Stonehouse Plymouth (William Dyer b.1744) who's son Richard then moves to Bath in 1790 to set-up a bakery. (His daughter also marries a tailor.)

Regards, Andrew