William TRION

                   OCCUPATION:
    A Tiler (Dictionary of National Biography) and a plasterer.  By stress of poverty he pulled his six year old son Thomas from school and put him to work carding wool.

RESEARCH NOTE:
    Descendants claim William is descended from the Trioen family of Wulverghem, Flanders, Belgium, that family being Huguenot emigrants.  However, those Trioen/Tryon family members were largely wealthy and noble, and only 50 years later this William Tryon is quite poor.  Family stories and legends give different accounts for this, including this William being kidnapped and taken to sea, his brother then inheriting the estate, and upon his return thus having little money or connections.  Additional information in notes.  Further research is necessary.

HISTORICAL NOTE:
    His son notes, "My father by Trade being a Tyler and Plasterer, an honest sober Man of good Reputation; but having many Children, was forced to bring them all to work betimes. About Five Years old I was put to School, but being addicted to play, after the example of my young School-fellows, I scarcely learnt to distinguish my Letters, before I was taken away, to Work for my Living."  Thomas convinced his father to spare some money to buy him sheep at the age of thirteen, so that he could try his hand as a shepherd.  Thomas was sucessful, and made some money for himself and his family.


http://www.gratisbooks.com/pchapdet.php?chapter_id=30

William Trioen, according to most authorities, a cousin of Pieter and Francis, settled at Bibury or Bybury, in Gloucestershire. Not nearly enough is known of him and his family, but one singular circumstance goes to strengthen the supposition of the relationship of the Peter and William families in England. A pearl necklace, according to tradition, was bequeathed by a lady of the Peter family to one of her relatives, but was for a considerable length of time in the William family, and subsequently was again in the Peter family. Here is the legend: "Peter, grandson of Peter, willed an oriental necklace of pearls, which was his mother's to his son James on June 26, 1660. James willed the same to his son Charles in 1685. Charles makes no mention of it; neither does his son Charles. Nothing further was heard about it in the Peter line until the will of Mary, wife of Thomas, son of William, a nephew of Thomas, son of William of Bibury. This Mary, in her will of 1784, conveyed her original necklace of pearls to Saville Finch to be left at her decease to Elizabeth Sill, daughter of Henry Skrine, who married Sarah, daughter of John Tryon, son of Samuel Tryon of Collyweston, who was a son of Peter, son of Moses, son of Peter."There is another tradition in the Tryon family which tells in various forms this story: The first Tryon to come to America belonged to a noble family and was heir to a large estate in England. He was probably the second or third William of Bibury. He was seized by a press-gang and carried to sea. When his captors learned who he was, they became frightened and took measures to prevent him from ever returning to England. He finally made his way back, but found his younger brother in possession of the estate. The brothers denounced him as an imposter, but he had a ring on his finger which, together with other proofs, convinced his mother that he was the rightful heir, and she so acknowledged him. This possibly explains, at least to some extent, how he became "the sober, honest, industrious mechanic, and father of a large family" described by his son Thomas, an author of considerable note, several of whose books may still be found in old English libraries. This Thomas and two nephews of his, William and Rowland, remained in England and became very wealthy. The father of these two nephews was undoubtedly William of Wethersfield, son of the second or third William of Bibury, from whom it is alleged that all the Tryons in this continent are descended, and a brother of Thomas, the author.Thomas Tryon, son of William of Bibury and his wife Rebecca, and brother of William of Wethersfield, was born in Bibury on Sept. 6, 1635, left home at an early age, went up to London, where he obtained wealth, wisdom and distinction. He sailed twice to the Barbadoes. He wrote several books, one entitled "Man's Self-Knowledge," in which he gave his ideas on vegetarianism, of which he was an advocate. Benjamin Franklin, in his autobiography, refers to this work and for a period of his life he was a Tryonite, or vegetarian. Kenneth Roberts, in "Rabble in Arms," also refers to Tryonites or vegetarians. A portrait of Thomas hangs in a London Gallery. His will was proved in 1711.As a result of the great fire in London, many valuable records were destroyed, which is very likely the reason we have been unable to find full genealogical records of the family, and are dependent almost entirely upon wills, and the many elaborate monuments and epitaphs to the memory of Tryons of whom no other record can be discovered.Much of the above history was uncovered in 1862-63 as a result of a family council held in Connecticut. This investigation was prosecuted in America by Mrs. Annie M. Whittlesey, a descendant of David Tryon, while the search in England was pursued by Rev. Mr. H. R. Sherman as an agent of the family. Many wills were read and copied, and the material thus collected was studied for many years by Rev. Issac Tryon 7.21a, and was summarized and written by him when he was well over 80 years of age. Also, a goodly portion of the above infor
mation came from a genealogical publication, the Ancestor.In a letter from Mr. Boswell Belcher, of Bibury, England, to James L. Tryon 7.312a, dated Apr. 21, 1913, he encloses a copy of the church records of Bybury of the early 1600's:

"Rebecca, ye daughter of William Tryon of Bibury, was baptized ye 24 of September 1619.""Cathalina Trian filia Willielm et Rebecca Trian baptized Feb. 23, Anno 1632"."Edward Trian filius Willielm Trian bap. Sept. 25, 1634.""Jacob Trian filius Willielm bap. mo.-February 1638.""Thomas ye son of Thomas Trione of Byburye was baptized the fifth of Jannuerie 1643. (This is the last entry I could trace. The word Jannuerie is indistinct, but that is what it appears to be, though the author states that he was born on the 6th of September, 1634, and the son of William Tryon.Here is a copy of a newspaper clipping, also sent by Mr. Belcher, from a publication in 1640. It says: "In one sense the register was kept only too well; in another it was not kept at all. Many of the parishioners testified that Mr. Knowles had inconvenient peculiarities. The said Robert Knowles, clerke from the year 1629 to this present tyme (1640) has been and now is vicar of the parish church of Bybury. Robert Bennett said that Mr. Knowles neglected to register the names of divers children and wedded couples, and burials, and that he did send the parish clerk divers times to divers of the parishioners their divers years."The last entry of William and Rebecca's children in Bibury was dated 1643, indicating that William's name was not entered, because other records show that he was born about 1645, thus making William a younger brother of both Edward and Thomas.Edward Tryon or Tryhern, son of William of Bibury and his wife Rebecca, born in England Sept. 25, 1643, came to America with or about the same time as his younger brother William. He settled in Stamford, Conn., married Sarah (---), and was the father of one daughter, name not known, who married John Webster. Sarah died Sept. 2, 1702. and Edward died on May 14, 1714, both at Stamford, thus ending this family as far as the Tryon name is concerned.Willam Tryon, youngest son of William of Bibury and his wife Rebecca, was born in England in the year 1645. That he was the father of the two nephews of Thomas seems evident from the fact that he did not give any of his six American sons the names of William or Rowland, and both of these names appear among his grandsons, and that he did name one of his sons Thomas, presumably after his brother Thomas, the author. The most reasonable assumption is that he married quite young in England, that his wife died there, and that he left his two young sons in the care of their uncle Thomas, and came to America. We have found nothing to indicate that either William or Rowland ever came to this country. In fact, Rowland became a wealthy West Indies merchant, and purchased Frognal in Chiselhurst.