When Thomas Pye made his last Will and Testament in 1772, he was married but childless. Therefore, he left legacies to many of his living nieces and nephews, or in the case of his Lygo nieces, to their children.
Thomas Pye’s sister, Elizabeth Pye had married Thomas Lygo with baptisms of daughters Elizabeth in 1736 and Ann in 1738 being recorded in the Scropton, Derbyshire parish register. Thomas Pye also left a legacy to his niece, Mary Moore. I had found a marriage record of a Mary Lygo to Richard Moore in 1762. However, as I had only found a baptism of a Mary Lygo in 1743 to parents William and Mary, I had wondered if Thomas Pye had his relationship mixed up.
It has only been since I was able to view the marriage register showing Mary Lygo’s marriage to Richard Moore that I was able to confirm that Mary was indeed a sister of Elizabeth and Ann Lygo, the daughters of Elizabeth Pye. The witnesses were Mary’s sister Elizabeth Pilkington nee Lygo and John Owen (Ann Lygo’s husband).
Mary and Richard Moore had ten children, but only three survived to receive their legacies in 1815. Mary’s youngest son Thomas Moore married Frances Pycroft, who was his first cousin once removed (the granddaughter of Ann Owen nee Lygo. There were a number of first cousins marrying each other in these branches of the family tree.
Some interesting descendants include the chess playing Reverend John Owen of Hooton,, Cheshire and William Benjamin Gadsby, furniture dealer and soldier who emigrated to USA. And the eccentric James Wallis Pycroft, Attorney at Law. Also the baptist family of Eliza and James Davis who emigrated to the USA.
Descendant surnames of the three Lygo sisters include Pilkington, Orton, Everard, Owen, Brown, Pycroft, Moore, Orme, Warrington, Moore, Statham, Gibson.
One point that I wish to emphasize is that Ann Lygo and John Owen’s son Thomas Owen, born 1768, married Jane Court in 1796 and not Elizabeth Latham as many trees on Ancestry claim. That Thomas Owen was born about 1791.
DiscoveringMyAncestors 