Elizabeth Nye

Elizabeth Nye, eldest child of Thomas Nye and Ann Walker, was christened 1 September 1776 at the parish church in Leigh, Kent. Her name on the christening record is Eliza but her marriage and death records both have her as Elizabeth.

On 13 December 1796 she married Samuel Kite in Horton Kirby as recorded in Pallott's marriage index. Horton Kirby is in the Dartford area and it is possible that Elizabeth went there to find work and when she met Samuel she stayed. Samuel Kite was christened 4 Aug 1765 at Hothfield, Kent, England a son of Samuel and Mary Kite.  (Source FHL film 1751915.  Family History Library = FHL)

Their first five children, namely Esther born abt 1800, Elizabeth 1802, William 1804 and twin boys 1806, who were not named, all died shortly after birth.

Finally the sixth child Samuel Kite Jr. who was born abt 1808 and christened 25 April 1813 lived until adulthood. Next another son named Charles was born and died in 1809. Child #8 Harriet was born in 1812 and was alive during the 1841 census but no further information has been found for Harriet.

Again the family was to have the heartbreak of another early death when Robert was born and died in 1813. Child #10 Maria was born in 1814, her christening took place on 6 March 1814; Eleanor was christened 1 July 1816 these two girls lived to adulthood but child #12 Hester who was born in 1819 died at the age of 15.

Elizabeth Nye Kite died 30 Mar 1840 at Horton Kirby at the age of 63, the cause of death according to the death certificate was disease of the heart.

Death Certificate for Elizabeth Nye Kite

On 22 Apr 1849 Samuel Kite Sr. was buried. He had been employed as a shepherd, a factory laborer and a laborer during his lifetime.

Imagine the heartbreak of giving birth to twelve children and only having 3 of them live long enough to marry and have their own families. Following is information on those three children.


Samuel Kite Jr.

Eliza Farrell Kite, wife of Samuel Kite Jr.
photo courtesy of Brian Skinner

Samuel Kite Jr
son of Elizabeth Nye and Samuel Kite
photo courtesy of Brian Skinner

Samuel Kite Jr. was married to Anna Maria Lott on 28 April 1833. She was christened 30 Jul 1815 in Luddesdown, Kent (FHL film 1469432 - 1813-1862 christenings). They were blessed with a son they named George William Kite in 1835. Anna Maria died sometime before 1840.

Samuel Kite Jr. then married his second wife Eliza Farrell on 30 August 1840 and they produced eight children. Eliza died 18 September 1874 at the age of 58. Tragically their son Samuel III drowned in the river Darenth on 15 July 1852 at the age of 10.

There is a monument in St. Mary's Churchyard at Horton Kirby which reads as follows:

"Eliza wife of Samuel Kite [Jr.] of this parish died 18 September 1874 aged 58, Samuel son of the above who was drowned in the river Darenth 15 July 1852 aged 10. Also Caroline infant daughter of Charles and Caroline Kite R.S. who died at Nasseerabad, Bombay, India 17 July 1872 aged 3 months 18 days. Also Samuel Kite died at Wilmington 13 Feb 1879 aged 71". Erected by surviving families."

This record can be viewed at St. Mary's Churchyard Monumental Inscriptions 1461-1989 fiche 6359799 #3 North West Kent Family History Society Horton Kirby, Kent, England.

Maria Kite
Daughter Maria (child #10) married Isaac Brown in 1830 and they were the parents of eleven children, after Isaac's death in 1852, Maria married John Moore in 1854 in Wrotham, Kent. She died in 1871.

Eleanor Kite
Eleanor (child #11) married George Ralph Walkling in 1842 and they had 4 children. George died in 1886 and Eleanor in 1893, they lived in Northfleet, Kent.

For more details on the Kite family, please see the Genealogy page.

Sophia Nye

Sophia Nye was christened on 6 April 1817 at Hadlow in County Kent, England. She never married and lived with her parents, John Nye and Anne Randall, on their farm until their deaths. In 1841 she was listed as a dress maker.

After her parents death she and her sister Ann Nye continued to live on the family farm and to operate it with the help of their cousin Henry who was the son of Harriet Nye, daughter of Richard Nye and Elizabeth Avis.

In 1867, Winchester Farm - then owned by Sophia and Ann Nye - had an extremely abundant harvest, from which the Nye sisters donated £250 to entirely fund the construction of the Zion Baptist Church on Pembury Road, Tonbridge.

At the time the 1871 census was taken Ann was in Maidstone visiting with their brother Thomas Cotton Nye and his family so Sophia was listed as the head of the household in Hadlow. She was farming 90 acres and employing 5 men and 2 boys. Cousin Henry continued to be the manager of the farm. Rhoda Dedman was visiting, she later married Henry.

Sophia died on 20 March 1876 at Hadlow, less than three months after her brother Thomas died. She was buried alongside her brother and her parents in Borough Green, Kent (click to see headstone). Later their sister Ann was buried there also.

Ann Nye

Ann Nye, daughter of John Nye and Anne Randall, was christened 3 October 1813 in the Hadlow Church. Ann never married but stayed at home with her parents until their deaths. In 1841 Ann was listed as a dressmaker but in the 1851 census there is no occupation listed.

The 1861 census states that Ann age 47 was the head of the household and was a farmer of 89 acres employing 1 man and 1 boy. Her sister Sophia Nye is also living at the farm and their cousin Henry Nye was the bailiff for the sisters. Henry was a son of Harriet Nye the daughter of Richard Nye and Elizabeth Avis.

In 1867, Winchester Farm - then owned by Sophia and Ann Nye - had an extremely abundant harvest, from which the Nye sisters donated £250 to entirely fund the construction of the Zion Baptist Church on Pembury Road, Tonbridge.

At the time of the 1871 census Ann was visiting in Maidstone at the home of her brother Thomas Cotton Nye and his wife Mary Ann.

The 1881 census shows Ann a lodger and annuitant (a person living on retirement funds) living at Budd Farm near Shipborne, Kent in the home of William Fermor and his wife. Having never married, and after her parents and her siblings died, Ann was in need of care so she went to live with the Fermor's. Apparently William Fermor promised a home and care if Ann signed her money over to him.

Ann died 3 December 1882 and was buried in the Borough Green Baptist Churchyard (click to see headstone) next to her parents, her brother Thomas and her sister Sophia.

Thomas Cotton Nye

Thomas Cotton Nye, the son of John Nye and Anne Randall, was christened or baptized on 4 August 1811 in the Penshurst Church. Thomas probably grew up as an agricultural laborer with limited formal education, and we know little of his life until his marriage to Mary Ann Goldsmith in Wateringbury Kent.

As found in the Parish register of Wateringbury "Thomas Nye, bachelor of this parish and Mary Ann Goldsmith, spinster of this parish were married in this church by banns this 21st day of June 1835 by Mr. Robert Earle. Witnesses were William Burden and Sophia Nye". Sophia was a sister of Thomas.

There was some confusion in some of the Nye family about Mary Ann's birth name. It has been reported as being Mary Ann Summers but the marriage has her correct name. The 1851 census has Mary Ann as being born in Tudely Kent and the 1871 census has her born in Tonbridge. In October 2011 I finally located Mary Ann Goldsmith's christening date as 27 Dec 1816 in Tonbridge Wells, Kent, England.

The 1841 census notes that Thomas and Mary Ann were living in Springfield, Essex County with Thomas Nye listed as a railway worker.

• Their son William Henry Nye was born while they were in Essex and his christening was found to be 2 May 1849 at Springfield. William later married Mary Ann Willett.

In 1851 the family had moved to West Ashford Kent and were living at #131 Churchyard. Thomas was working as a rose laborer.

• Their second son George Thomas was christened on 19 October 1845 at West Ashford. He later married Amanda Amelia Mercer.

George Nye birth - son of George Nye & Amanda A Mercer

• Their daughter Eliza Ann was born 21 April 1851 at West Ashford. She later married William McKeough.

Eliza Ann Nye birth record.

• Their third son Frederick John was born on 19 December 1855 at Thornhills, East Maidstone. No marriage has been found for Frederick.

Birth record of Frederick John Nye

They were again listed in Ashford in 1861 with Thomas working as a railway laborer. William was working as a cabinet maker and George was listed as a railway laborer.

The 1871 census states that the Nye's had moved to #36 Fisher Street in Maidstone. Thomas is listed as a laborer. The only two children living with their parents were Eliza Ann and Frederick.

Thomas Cotton Nye died on 25 December 1875 at his home. His certificate of death has his occupation as a platelayer and his age as 64. Cause of death was paralysis for six weeks and he was in a coma the last two days of his life. Eliza Ann Nye is listed as the informant, so Eliza was not using her married name McKeough at that time.

Record of death of Thomas Cotton Nye

As previously stated Thomas was buried next to his parents at Borough Green, Kent.

Mary Ann and her daughter Eliza Ann along with Eliza's husband and child continued to live at #36 Fisher Street. Both women were listed as dress makers. William Mc Keough disappeared at some point.

An interesting side note on Mary Ann was found on Ancestry.com as follows: England and Wales Criminal Registers 1791-1892 - 16 Mar 1835 larceny by servant, Mary Ann Summers alias Goldsmith, sentenced to three months. I currently don't have information on why Mary Ann used both names.

Mary Ann lived until 1895 and died at Maidstone.

Tonbridge, Kent, England

In August 2010 my son Michael Bouy, who lives in Adelaide, Australia with his wife, flew to Utah for his 30th High School reunion. He spent part of three days with family and friends then he and I flew to JFK airport in New York City followed by Rykajavik Iceland airport. Our next stop was Heathrow airport in London, England. Michael is such a well-traveled person that he had us cleared through security and on the underground shortly and we rode to our hotel. He knew that I would enjoy being close to Hyde Park because our ancestor Ephraim Nye baptized several people there when he was the LDS Mission President in England in the late 1800's, so Michael had booked a room there.

The next day while my son took care of some business I walked through beautiful Hyde Park for a couple of hours. The Serpentine is a lovely lake, the baptisms had taken place there late at night. There is also a place named Speakers Corner where preachers could preach. Now is it a spot to get sandwiches and soft drinks etc.

Michael and I met at the hotel and rode the subway to where he had another meeting scheduled. He left me at Covent Garden to explore then he and his colleagues found me and we all went to lunch. Afterwards Michael had another meeting and this time took me with him. Although he lives in Australia he spent time living in England and works for a company there helping them do business in Australia.

Next we began touring London and Michael was able to point out many famous buildings. I had walked a lot by that time and was getting tired so we got on a tour bus and rode around the city seeing many wonderful sights. The price of the bus tour included a boat ride, so we floated down the Thames River and continued our tour. It was interesting to see places that I had read and heard about all of my life. After leaving the boat we again rode the bus back toward our hotel, but I was too tired to walk out for a meal so we picked up some sandwiches and took them back to the hotel.

Tonbridge Castle Gate

The following morning we left in a rental car and drove through the maze-like streets of London in very busy traffic. After finally getting out of the city we travelled on the freeway and we were much more relaxed. We were soon in County Kent and enjoying the beautiful green country side.

Michael drove to Tonbridge, Kent and we stopped to view the castle there. We took some photos and picked up some brochures, it was an interesting area to visit. Tonbridge, a prosperous, business, market and residential town, lies near the foot of sandstone hills of the central Weald. It straddles the Medway, Kent's most important river.

On the River Medway in front of the remains of Tonbridge Castle

High Street, Tonbridge

Penshurst Church

  

The Church of St. John the Baptist in Penshurst, Kent, England stands in the south west corner of Penshurst Place's Park; there are entrances directly from the park and from Penshurst Place's formal garden. The most commonly used approach is from the village, through the buildings of the small Leicester Square, named after the Sidneys of Penshurst who were Earls of Leicester from 1618-1743.

This is a photo of Janice Nye Lutz approaching the Church from the village, and a photo of the interior of the Church.

The bulging church yard contains the burials of almost eight centuries. The church yard was closed in 1857 by order of the Privy Council. Since then, parish burials have taken place at Poundsbridge Chapel, on the edge of Penshurst parish, about two miles away. Although there were Nye's buried at Penshurst it was impossible to locate and view their graves due to the erosion from weathering and time.

Census Record - John Nye, Winchester Farm, Hadlow

In the book dated 1852 The Poll For the Knights Of The Shire, To Represent The Western Division Of The County Of Kent, In The Sixth Parliament Of The Reign Of Queen Victoria, Including The Whole Of The Registered Electors, With A General Index To Parishes And The Names Of The Electors; Taken At The Different Polling Places, On Thursday and Friday, the 15th and 16th of July 1852; was listed on page 93: Hadlow, Nye, John, Winchester's Farm, Hadlow.

John Nye and Anne Randall

John Nye was christened 26 January 1784 at Leigh, Kent, England, the son of Thomas Nye and Ann Walker (click on the link for a list of siblings).

On 26 December 1806 he married Anne Randall, who was the daughter of George Randall and Sarah Cotton. George had been married previously to Mary Denman and they had three children:

• William Streetfield Randall born in 1775, 
• Sarah Randall born in 1777 
• and Mary Denman Randall born in 1779. 

After the death of his wife Mary, George married Sarah Cotton on 15 November 1781 and they had only one child, Anne Randall who was christened 1 August 1784 at Penshurst in Kent.

To the right is shown the ornate Baptistry inside the Penshurst Church where Anne and her half brother and sisters were christened or baptized.

John and Anne's youngest son Thomas Cotton Nye was also christened at Penshurst.

In the land tax assessments for Penshurst 1780-1832 George Randall and family occupied land owned by the Honorable Mrs. E. Perry between 1781 and 1801 in the town of Upland. In 1784 the land was owned by the executors for Mrs. E. Perry. In 1793 George was renting from John Sidney who appears to then own all of Mrs. Perry's properties. Then in 1795 rent no longer shows, only the assessment.

George Randall was probably born about 1750 and wasn't christened until 18 May 1758 in Thanet, Kent.

The children of John and Anne Nye were:

• John Nye christened 12 July 1807 at Leigh
• Thomas Cotton Nye christened 4 August 1811 at Penshurst
• Ann Nye born 3 October 1813 at Hadlow
• Sophia Nye christened 6 April 1817 at Hadlow.

John Nye senior was a farmer and by the time the daughters were born was probably farming the area in Hadlow. They were living at 92 Higham Lane (click for photos).

The 1841 census of Hadlow has John Nye age 55, a bailiff, Ann age 56, Ann age 25, dress maker and Sophia age 20 dressmaker.

John Nye was a registered elector and his farm was named Winchester Farm.

In 1851 the family was listed as John Ney(sic), age 67, farmer, Anne, age 66, Ann, unmarried daughter age 37 and Sophia unmarried daughter, age 34, John Nye, grandson age 15 and 4 laborers and another boy all living and working on the farm.

John Nye died 1 May 1853 at Hadlow. His will states that his wife was to be taken care of first as was the custom, then his son Thomas Cotton Nye was bequethed fifty pounds, his son John Nye was bequethed five pounds and the balance of his property and estate were left to his two daughters Ann and Sophia.

His wife Ann Randall Nye died 31 May 1858. Their graves can be found at the Borough Green Baptist Church in Kent, England.

We don't know if the two John Nye's didn't get along or what but the younger John definitely could have used far more than fifty pounds.

The two sisters Ann and Sophia continued to live in the Higham Lane house along with their mother who died 31 May 1858. In 1861 the two daughters had their cousin Henry Nye living with them as the farm bailiff and were farming 89 acres.

The 1871 census shows that Ann Nye was visiting her brother Thomas Cotton Nye and his family in West Maidstone, while Sophia was listed at home farming 90 acres and Henry was there as manager of the farm. They employed five men and two boys.

In 1876 Sophia died and by 1881 Ann had gone to live with William Fermor and his family who promised to take care of Ann until her death. Ann was listed as an annuitant but family members of that time felt that there had to be some money that Mr. Fermor kept after Ann's death in 1882.

St. Mary's Churchyard in Leigh, Kent, England

St Mary's Church in Leigh, Kent, England is where we found the following gravestones of our ancestors.

Gravestone of John Nye (1817) and wife Fanny
Son of Richard and Elizabeth Nye

Transcription of the stone of John Nye (1817) son of Richard and Elizabeth Nye and John's wife Fanny:

IN

LOVING MEMORY

OF JOHN NYE

DIED MARCH 15_____

AGED 68

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHICH______

ALSO OF

FANNY

Gravestone of Richard Nye (1809) son of Richard and Elizabeth.

Transcription of the headstone of Richard Nye (1809) son of Richard and Elizabeth. He never married.

TO

THE MEMORY OF

RICHARD

SON OF

RICHARD AND ELIZABETH NYE

OF THIS PARISH

WHO DIED AUG 25 185__

___ AND PRAY FOR Y____

_HEN THE TIME IS

Michael Bouy searching for Nye headstones.
The architecture of the present building suggests St. Mary's was rebuilt in the 13th century. It is still in use today.

We searched here for Nye graves. Most of the headstones had been destroyed over the many years by lichen and weather, but we were fortunate to find the stone of Richard Nye (1782) and his wife Elizabeth Avis. 

Gravestone of Richard and Elizabeth Nye (1782)

Transcription of the headstone of Richard and Elizabeth Nye:

RICHARD NYE

WHO OF PAR DIED THIS ___

OF ____ 22 _____

AGED _____

ALSO ELIZABETH

WIFE OF THE ABOVE

WHO DIED ________

AGED 76 YEARS

John Nye and Charlotte Osborne

Our ancestors John Nye and Charlotte Osborne were parents to seven children:

• John Nye
• Emma Nye
• James Nye
• Charles Nye
• Ephraim Hesmer Nye
• Stephen Nye
• Osborne Nye (born in Australia)

John Nye (b. 1807) was the son of John Nye (b. 1783) and Anne Randall. He was the oldest brother to Thomas Cotton Nye, Ann Nye, and Sophia Nye.

Charlotte Osborne was the daughter of Reuben Osborne and Charlotte Hesmer. Her sister Frances Osborne later married John Nye's cousin, William Nicholls (son of Grace Nye, who was the sister of John Nye b. 1783).

John and Charlotte Nye and the first six children left England to find a better life in Australia, landing in Portland, Victoria in 1851 after 3 months at sea. Osborne, their seventh child, was born at Mt. Rouse, Victoria where the family worked on a sheep station owned by Matthew Gibb.

During the Australian gold rush, the family leased a home in Warrnambool and a farm in Wangoom, Victoria and began hauling goods from the port to the gold mines in Ballarat and Bendigo, becoming quite prosperous.

Suddenly, in 1858, the family made the momentous decision to sell everything they owned and start walking to Sydney with a goal of migrating to the USA. Halfway to Sydney they became bogged down by the weather and spent the winter in Beechworth, Victoria. Misfortune befell them, the family split up, and some headed for South America while the others made plans to go to California.

Two years later the family was reunited near San Francisco, California, and travelled by wagon train to Utah.

Their extraordinary adventures have been thoroughly researched and compiled in a compelling book. Readers have said they cannot put it down and descendants of the family should not be without their own copy.

Email my son Michael Bouy at michael.bouy@gmail.com for your copy. Many of our family members have bought extra books for their children as meaningful holiday or anniversary gifts, sharing the extraordinary journey of the Nye family from Kent.