Hello,
I am searching for the ancestry of my husband's direct paternal ancestor, a tailor named William Dyer. William was christened William Dyer Lee in Bath 2 June 1811 to William Lee and Maria Pulman. Sometime afterwards the whole family dropped the surname Lee and were known as Dyer (except for one daughter). This has been confirmed but raises other questions.
William and Maria married in Stoke Damerel on 29 May 1798. They had a son James Pulman Lee baptised here in 1800 (who later, as James Dyer, gives his birthplace as Stonehouse in the census). Then I found them in Liskeard in Cornwall, where two daughters, Jane and Mary, were born in 1803 and 1805. William Lee, then a tailor of Liskeard, was convicted for stealing beef in 1805. This may have driven the move to Bath.
I know William Lee (Dyer) senior died in Bath in 1848 aged 73 which puts his birthdate at approximately 1775. I have successfully traced Maria's lineage in Cornwall, but can't find a match to him in either county, though I suspect he has origins in Devon.
Given the name change, would you suspect he was illegitimately born? I have searched Devon records on FindMyPast but nothing really stands out. I have checked DNA matches on Gedmatch with the surname Lee in Devon several of which do match with my husband, the highest at 29cM. We joined a Dyer surname project but his DNA doesn't match anyone there. He'd really like to know the true paternal lineage, Dyer or Lee!
Thanks in advance, any help much appreciated.