Saturday, January 14, 2017

The Family of Thomas Fryer 1729-1779

I had some time to complete another page for my book which will feature my ancestors who lived in Winster, Derbyshire.
This page focuses on Thomas Fryer , my 7x Great Grandfather. I am quite interested in the fact that he was a Master Baker. I would like to learn a bit more about him and find out where he lived in Winster. I hope when I visit there later this year I can find out some more.

Thomas Fryer was born in Thornton Leicester, according to Settlement examination records dated 1758. In these records Thomas states he is the son of John Fryer and had  arrived in Matlock some 20 years earlier and then subsequently moved to Elton which is where John Fryer had died in 1737.  The Settlement examinations also stated Thomas, at the time 28 or 29 years old, had married Jane Woolley 9 years earlier. This tallies perfectly with a marriage record from All Saints Church Youlgreave  on 20th June 1749.
Also mentioned in the settlement examinations was that Thomas and Jane had 3 children, John, Ann and Henry.
In 1746 Thomas had been bound as an apprentice to Anthony Cooper who was a Baker.
By 1753 Thomas was himself a Master Baker and had indentured apprentices himself, and was still employing apprentices as late as 1777.
Not a lot is known about Thomas Fryer except the information in the Settlement Examination . The district that a person had legal settlement was important, as in the case of need, entitlement to help from the parish went to those who had legal settlement in that district. You could obtain legal settlement if you were born in the district and by several other methods including by being ‘bound an apprentice by indenture’ to a parishioner, no prior notice being needed.
Clearly due to the fact Thomas had both been an indentured apprentice, and then also later become a Master Baker with his own apprentices meant that he and his family would be taken care of by the parish should the need exist.
Records show that Thomas  died in 1779 and was buried on July 7th of that year . Jane died 5 years later in 1794 and was buried on April 28th 1784.
Eldest son John was buried in 1768 aged 18, but there appear no records for marriage or death for Ann, Thomas or James . They may have moved away from the district. Son Henry though, stayed in Winster and married Ann Twigg .

1 comment:

  1. Hello, Found my way to the Fryers through researching the Wharton family tree, Got stuck on Thomas Fryer's wife though. You refer to Jane Woolley and marriage to Thomas at Youlgreave on 20th June 1749 (as do other family trees) but I can only find evidence of a marriage between Thomas and Grace Woolley of the same date, also at Youlgreave. Do you have any evidence that Jane and Grace are the same person or of another marriage to Jane Woolley?
    Stuck for hours on this, hope you can help!
    Thanks Mark

    ReplyDelete