John Pye

Level 2

Elizabeth Pye on 29th July 2018

I note Phil Hands contribution comes directly from my webpage Blog "Discovering my ancestors". Next time please acknowledge where you've copied your information from. New information. Sarah Pye formerly Lees married a second time to Joseph Dain in 1839 in Staffordshire, and they had a daughter named Sarah Ann.

Level 54

Phil Hands on 1st July 2017

Tried and convicted at the Lancaster Quarter Sessions of stealing malt and hops, sentenced to transportation for 7 years, he was sent to London and held on the prison hulk "Justitia" which was moored on the Thames at Woolwich. The prisoners were engaged in dock works and other similar works prior to transportation. After about eleven months on the Hulk John Pye left Woolwich on 25th May 1836 bound for his transportation vessel. Left England on 11th June 1836. Ship:- the 'Lady Kennaway' sailed with 300 male convicts on board of which 2 died during the voyage. Arrived on 12th October 1836. John Pye, born on 4th August, 1809, was the middle child of Joseph and Mary Pye of Rickerscote, Staffordshire. John appears to have been a strong-willed youth who was determined to marry the girl he wished as the young couple married in St Peter's Collegiate church in Wolverhampton and not in their parish church of St Mary's, Castle Church near Stafford. The year was 1826. They were both recorded as being of 'full age' however, John Pye was only seventeen years of age when he married and his bride, Sarah Lees, was probably of a similar age. They returned home to Rickerscote and two children were born to them; John junior in 1828 and Mary in 1831. Both children were to die in 1831. It appears that John and his family moved to Lancashire and it was in this county in 1835 that John Pye was convicted, jointly with a man named William Shaw, of stealing malt and hops. John was described as a farm servant of Rixton-with-Glazebrook, Lancashire. The two men were convicted and sentenced to transportation to the Colony of New South Wales for a period of seven years. What became of Sarah and their two daughters (recorded on John's transportation record; unnamed and presumably born in Lancashire) is unknown. John Pye and William Shaw were sent to London and held on the prison hulk "Justitia" which was moored on the Thames at Woolwich. The prisoners were engaged in dock works and other similar works prior to transportation. After about eleven months on the Hulk John Pye left Woolwich on 25th May, 1836 and arrived in New South Wales on 12th October, 1836. The Lady Kennaway's shipping list states that John Pye was a 26 year old Farm servant, 5' 4' in height. His distinguishing marks were a scar on the left side of forehead and scars on top of the middle and third fingers and they were much disfigured. When John Pye arrived in Sydney at the end of 1836, the convict population had increased to 31,186 (of a total population of 77,096). Of these some 1,152 were 'on the roads in irons', 4,480 held ticket-of-leave, and 20,934 were 'in private service'. John Pye was assigned to William Brown of Pitt Town near Windsor. John Pye received his Ticket-of-Leave on 9 January, 1841, five years after his arrival. He received his Certificate of Freedom on the 11 October, 1842. John married the native born Elizabeth Wood on 17 April, 1843. Elizabeth was sixteen years old when she married John, who was 33 years of age. Elizabeth's father was John Downing Wood who had been convicted in the Old Bailey for forgery and had arrived in the Colony on the 'Admiral Gambier' in 1811, her mother was E£lizabeth Bond, also a convict, shge arrived in the 'Mary Ann' in 1816. At the end of his sentence John Wood gained employment as a teacher. Though John Pye was not a widower, he was legally able to marry again if a period of seven years had elapsed from the separation of his wife 'by distance and time'. John and Elizabeth had twelve children, two of whom died as infants. All ten surviving children married and raised their own families. As evidenced by where their children were born, it appears that John and Elizabeth first lived at Kurrajong, were their first two sons were born, before moving south to Braidwood where the third son was born, before returning to the Windsor district where he farmed at Cornwallis. After the great flood of 1867, in which 13 members of two Eather families drowned, John and his family moved up above the river flat to Newtown, a part of Windsor town. According to the 'Parliamentary Return of Landholders 1885, Windsor District' John Pye had 31 acres of land, 4 horses, 2 cattle and 4 pigs. He was also the Church Warden at St Matthew's church, Windsor. When John Pye died at Newtown, Windsor on 20th December, 1892 at the age of 83, he was described by Rev. Gerard D'Arcy Williams of St Matthew's as "an aged Saint" His Will showed that he was able to leave houses and blocks of land in Windsor to his sons and daughters.

Level 94

Dennis Nightingale on 4th April 2015

Born at Rickerscote, Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom. Convicted of stealing Malt and Hops. Married Marriage to Elizabeth Wood 17 Apr 1843 St James C of E Bathurst St Pitt Town, Hawkesbury, New South Wales, Australia. Certificate of Freedom issued 11 Oct 1842.

John Pye was a younger brother of Thomas Pye, 1797-1880 (also convicted). John Pye was married to Sarah Lees and had two daughters when he was convicted. John Pye married a second time when he was in Australia - to Elizabeth Wood, they had twelve children. John and Elizabeth Pye lived in the Cornwallis & Windsor district of NSW.