John and Elizabeth

Source: Ancestry. NY Passenger Lists, 1820-1957. Image 797 of 1030.

When George Oyler and family arrived on the Schooner Fame at the Port of New York from Rye, England on 26 May 1828, they were accompanied by George's youngest brother John (born in December 1805) and his wife Elizabeth. The young couple had been married the year before, on 1 January 1827 in Staplehurst, Kent, England. Elizabeth's maiden name was Small.

Elizabeth Small Oyler was pregnant when she made the voyage from Rye to New York. She delivered a healthy daughter, also named Elizabeth, on 20 September 1828 in New York. They may have had another child in America, but I have not found the name.

It looks like John may have returned to England. He died before 1840, as he is listed as already deceased in the will of his father Samuel Oyler in July 1840. Samuel's will provided for two children of John Oyler living in 1840.

Elizabeth may have remained in America with her daughter. The younger Elizabeth Oyler married Robert A. Keen in Dearborn County, Indiana on 19 October 1847. Robert was a shoemaker, and they settled in Hamilton County, Ohio. She lived a long life and died on 27 June 1922 in Muncie, Indiana. For descendants of Elizabeth, she appears in many census records in Ohio and Indiana.

I owe quite a bit of thanks to the research of Hilary Jarvis. She has assembled a detailed history on the Oyler family in England.

For my next post I will look at other siblings of George in the Oyler family and their arrival in the US.