Help needed for Hoyle family.

[Terry]

My 2nd Great-grand father was Luke Hoyle.  Luke was born in Sheffield in 1794 and moved to America in 1809.  That is all I know.  Who was his parents?  Anything at all would be appreciated.

[Edmund]

Hello Terry.  Some information below, but there's no guarantees it relates to the Luke that you are interested in.  Some of the dates around the apprenticship look questionable. 

Luke Hoyle baptised at Sheffield on 1st September 1793, son of Joseph (a grinder) and Dorothy Hoyle.  Joseph, a bachelor, had married spinster Dorothy Darwin at Sheffield on 31st May 1784, Joseph was able to write his name and the witnesses were Ann SLater and Jane Caudwell.

In 1803 a Luke Hoyle, son of Joseph a grinder, was apprenticed to George Carr, a filesmith, for 11 years and 1 month.

In 1860 a Luke Hoyle (65 years old and an English file smith) was recorded in the U.S. Census living at Laurenceville, Pennsylvania, with wife Margaret (56 born in Ireland) and their two children David P. aged 18 and Sarah aged 16.

In 1860 the Directory of Pittsburgh and Allegheny published by George H. Thurston had an entry for a Luke Hoyle as being a gent living at Allen n Bank in L(awrenceville).  (I think Allen n Bank are US street names? with n = north?)

[Terry]

Thanks for the information!  Pittsburgh is the right area.  There is a Lawrenceville in Allegheny County too.  Your information gives me something to go on.  Luke lived in Pittsburgh and had 6 children.

[Terry]

I think the record of the baptism of Luke Hoyle is the same person I'm looking for.  The timeline fits.  It looks like it may be the end of this family tree line though.  But, I will keep looking!  Thanks again.

[Edmund]

The apprentice records show a Joseph Hoyle, son of John Hoyle (a cutler) apprenticed to Joseph Wragg (a cutler-grinder) in 1776 for 8 years 7 months. Assuming commencing apprenticeship at 14, this gives a year of birth about 1762, and coming out of apprenticeship in time for his marriage to Dorothy in 1784.

A Joseph Hoyle was baptised at Sheffield on 29th September 1763, the son of John Hoyle.

[Terry]

Edmund, great information!  So far Ancestry hasn't been much help.  I see that Sheffield is known as the Steel City.  So is Pittsburgh.  The football team in Pittsburgh is called The Steelers. I used to live about 100 miles from Pittsburgh.  Now I live in Saint Augustine, Florida.

[Sadbrewer]

There is a record of a Dorothy Darwin being baptised in Sheffield on the 18th of March, 1763...her father is Jacob Darwin.

[Edmund]

1 hour ago, Sadbrewer said:

There is a record of a Dorothy Darwin being baptised in Sheffield on the 18th of March, 1763...her father is Jacob Darwin.

Unfortunately this Dorothy was buried on the same day as her baptism.

[MartinR]

That can be misleading.  If she had not been baptised previously she might have been baptised on her death bed at any age, just to ensure entry to heaven.  Bear in mind that this was during a period of religious revivalism when the CofE didn't recognise some of the Free Churches as "valid".

Having said which, a new-born which is unlikely to last the night is cause for calling out the clergyman before it's too late.  Indeed, in an emergency, anyone can baptise; I've heard of a ward sister stepping in during the 1970s on an occasion when an ordained clergyman couldn't reach the hospital in time.