John Hoyes of Grenada

???? - 1839

Claimant or beneficiary

Biography

Probably John Hoyes of Forres in Scotland, Speaker of the House of Assembly in Grenada.

  1. John Hoyes was an absent member of the Forres St Lawrence Lodge in 1817, Speaker of the House of Assembly in Grenada at the time of his wife's death in April 1820 and Treasurer of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in Grenada in 1825.

  2. "[Deaths 1820] In Grenada, Mrs Hoyes, wife of the hon. John Hoyes, Speaker of the House of Assembly of that Island." Presumably he remarried as he had a daughter in 1801 and then another daughter in 1826 (see below).

  3. "John Hoyes, Esqr late of Grenada, died at Forres, on the 19th and was interred on the 24th June, 1839, in the Family burial ground, in the Church yard of Forres." The will of John Hoyes, merchant of the Town of St George, Island of Grenada was proved in London 22/05/1840. The last will and testament of John Hoyes, merchant, residing in St George in Island of Grenada, was lodged at Elgin Sheriff Court, 22/04/1841. This will mentions his brother Lewis Hoyes (q.v.) and his nephew William Hoyes as well as his children, grandchildren and other relatives.

  4. Remembered in 1842 as the late John Hoyes of Forres who was Speaker of the House of Assembly in the Island of Granada, "a gentleman whose warm and generous feelings were always evinced whenever opportunities occurred of rendering services".

  5. It seems possible that this John Hoyes is the brother of Alexander Hoyes (q.v.), merchant in Jamaica, and therefore the son of Rev. John Hoyes and Janet Reid of Kinloss (which is about 5 km from Forres). John, brother of Alexander, is given as "merchant in West Indies" in the Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae entry for his father. However, no birth of a Lewis Hoyes to Rev. John Hoyes and Janet Reid has been found and while the will of Rev. John Hoyes (written 1815, proved 1818) mentions his eldest son John, it makes no mention of a son Lewis. A more likely father for John Hoyes is Baillie William Hoyes, brother of Rev. John Hoyes, and his wife Margaret Logan. In this case, John was born 06/07/1776 and baptised 09/07/1776 in Forres.

  6. John's daughter Caroline (mentioned in his will, see below) married Ensign Thomas D. Gordon of the 7th Royal Veteran Battalion, 24/07/1819 in Forres. The witnesses were James Eddie Merchant and Thomas Eddie his son, both in Forres (see also John's will for the Eddie family.) Both of the daughters, Caroline Gordon and Louisa Hoyes, were living at 1 Ross's Building, Forres, in the census of 1851, Caroline age 51 born England, "Annuitant" and Louisa age 25 born Grenada, "Fundholder".

  7. The death certificate of his daughter Louisa age "about 85" in 1913, widow of William Macdonald, United Presbyterian Minister, gives her father as Hon John Hoyes, West India Merchant"; no mother's name is given. Caroline Gordon née Hoyes died in Forres, 06/06/1852 age 53.


Sources

  1. David Iredale and John Barrett, Discovering Your Family Tree (5th ed., Risborough, Bucks., Shire Productions, 2002) p. 121; Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. 90 Part 1 p. 379 (April 1820); Christian Remembrancer Vol. 7 p. 786 (1825).

  2. Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. 90 Part 1, p. 379 (April 1820).

  3. General Register Office for Scotland OPR Deaths 137 040 397 Forres. PROB 11/1927/288. Elgin Sheriff Court SC26/38/5.

  4. Quote from The New Statistical Account of Scotland for Forres, FHL book 941 B4sa, 2nd series, vol. 13 (1842).

  5. See separate entries for Alexander Hoyes and Lewis Hoyes. Will of Reverend John Hoyes, minister of Kinross, PROB 11/1606/350.

  6. General Register Office for Scotland OPR Marriages 137 030 251 Forres. 1851 census online. Familysearch.org batch no. C11137-2.

  7. General Register Office for Scotland Deaths 1913 135 123 Elgin. General Register Office for Scotland OPR Deaths 137 040 409 Forres.

We are grateful to Jim Brennan for his assistance with compiling this entry.

Notes on the Hoyes Family in Forres, by Jim Brennan, following the Aberdeen Journal Notes and Queries

The main relevant figures are three of the sons of John Hoyes at Knockomie, east of Forres and Beatrice Watson:

I James Hoyes in Balnaferry, likely to have been the James Hoyes in Forres who married Margaret Adam in Rafford in 1747. His youngest son, John (q.v., as John Hoyes) married Mary Riviere Cuming, nee McGlashan, a carpenter’s widow, in Jamaica, where he died in 1808. John Hoyes was in turn the father of a son named John (1806-1885, q.v. as John Hoyes of Prospect).

II James in Balnaferry’s younger brother, William, merchant and Baillie of Forres, who married Margaret Logan and whose sons John and Lewis (both q.v, as John Hoyes of Grenada and Lewis Hoyes) made careers in Grenada

III John, the third brother, who according to Fasti Ecclesiae began as schoolmaster in Alves, was ordained there, assisted in the parish, and under the patronage of Francis Earl of Moray, was installed minister of Dalgety in Fife, and later, on the appointment of James Gillan, minister of Kinloss, to Speymouth was moved by the Earl to Kinloss, Morayshire. His wife, Janet Reid, was the daughter of the minister of Beath, in Fife, and her mother, Ann Dott, whose father had been convener of the shoemakers in Cupar, may possibly have been of Huguenot descent. Fasti Ecclesiae gives his birth year as 1744 – the OPR as 1739, and the Edinburgh Magazine report of his 1818 death gives his age as 74.

Rev John Hoyes’s eldest son, born in 1788, was also a John, also in Jamaica, and married in Kingston in 1816, Helen Petrie (q.v.), daughter of Ninian Petrie in St Thomas in the East dying in 1818, the year of his father’s death. In 1844 Helen Hoyes (nee Petrie) registered, and had accepted, an assertion in the Kingston register that her late husband had been of white origin entirely. Rev. John Hoyes’s youngest child was Alexander Hoyes (q.v.), born in 1800.


Further Information

Absentee?
Transatlantic
Spouse
Married but no further details
Children
Louisa, Caroline
Will

Elgin Sheriff Court SC26/38/5 last will and testament

John Hoyes at present of the town of St George, Grenada, merchant, but about to depart for Europe.

All my freehold and personal estate to Lewis Hoyes, Richard Steele and William Hoyes of St George upton trust, to sell all my property and convert the same into money, and to invest the sum in the public funds or on undoubted private security as will produce a clear annual revenue of £200 sterling to be paid to my daughter Caroline Gordon for her natural life. On her death the sum of £1,000 to be paid to my grand-daughter Caroline Gordon, the same to my grand-daughter Louisa Gordon. £300 to my grand-son John Gordon, £500 to my grandsone George Gordon, £500 to my grandson Thomas Gordon. These sums to be paid to them after their mother's death at age 21 years; the interest to be applied to their maintenance and education.

Also upon trust to my daughter Louisa Hoes £2,500 sterling at age 21 or marriage. The interest in the meantime to be applied to her maintenance and education.

To my nephew William Hoyes £1,000. To my niece Mary Hoyes £1,000. To my nephew Thomas Eddie £1,000. The same each to my nieces Margaret Eddie and Louisa Eddie.

To Loftus Otway and Harriet Otway, children of my late worthy friend Robert Otway Esquire £300 each.

To Harriet Armstrong and Louisa Armstrong, daughters of my late worthy friend Archibald Armstrong, £200 each.

To my god-daughter Harriet Spence, wife of Thomas Spence Esquire, medical practitioner in Charlotte Town, £100.

To Miss --- Maclean, daughter of John McLean formerly proprietor of Richmond Estate in St Andrew, Grenada, £100.

To my friend and partner Richard Steele Esquire £500 to be divided among his children.

To my affectionate housekeeper Ann Scott £660 Grenadan currency.

To my faithful servant Timothy, £165 Grenadan currency.

To Thomas, formerly a domestic and at present employed as a mariner on board the Isabella, £100 Grenadan currency.

To the minister and Kirk Session in my native town £100 sterling for the purchase of coals, meal or other articles to be distributed among the poor of the parish.

To the treasurer of the Central School in the town of St George £100 Grenadan currency.

All rest and residue to be divided among the several legacies herein before mentioned in proportion to the amount of their respective legacies.

Lewis Hoyes, Richard Steele and William Hoyes to be executors.

Signed 04/07/1837.

Codicil dated 04/07/1837. The silver cup presented to me by my brother officers of St George's Regiment to my brother Lewis Hoyes and after his decease to my nephew William Hoyes and his heirs, whom failing to my daughter Louisa Hoyes and her heirs. To my executors 10 guineas each for a ring or other memento.

Elgin Sheriff Court SC26/38/4, codicil and deed of settlement

John Hoyes Esquire late of the town of St George in the colony of Grenada, merchant, now residing in Forres in Scotland. I executed a last will upon my departure from Grenada for Great Britain July 1837. I am now desirous, in addition, to name an additional executor and also to make the following bequests:

My nephew Thomas Eddie, merchant in Forres, to be an additional executor. In consideration of the great trouble and change which the present appointment will necessarily impose on him, £500 sterling to him, in addition to any legacy to him in my last will executed in Grenada.

To the younger children of Thomas Oatway Esquire, my late partner in Grenada, £250 sterling to be divided among them equally.

To Margaret Bowie, wife of James Rose at Darnaway in Scotland an annuity of £5 sterling for life independent of her husband.

To Agnes Munro, relict of my late worthy friend George Gunn Munro Esquire of Grenada, £250 sterling.

My executors to lay out the principal sum of £4,000 sterling in government security or other undoubted security, in trust for my daughter Mrs Caroline Hoyes or Gordon, residing in Forres, relict of Lieutenant Thomas Gordon, sometime residing in Forres and her children for their respective rights and interests as mentioned: that is to say my executors annually or half yearly to pay over to her the interest of the principal sum for life, and six months after her death the sum to be equally divided among her children - John Gordon, Thomas Gordon, Caroline Gordon, Louisa Gordon and Joanna Gordon. From the sum due to the eldest son John Gordon to be deducted the sums which I have already advanced and paid out on his account.

To my daughter Mrs Caroline Hoyes or Gordon, £50 each six months commencing immediately after my death, as an interim allowance until the interest of the said principal sum shall become payable.

To my grandson Thomas Gordon £200 to be paid to him when they shall think requisite or laid out by my said executors at their discretion for his behoof or the purpose of fitting him out in the world and his advancement in life.

These legacies to Mrs Caroline Hoyes and her children to be in place of the legacies bequeathed to them in my last will in Grenada.

To Timothy Hoyes, my servant, presently residing with me in Forres, £50 sterling. If the said Timothy Hoyes shall prefer to remain in Scotland the said sum to be paid over to him within six months after my decease. If he prefers to return to Grenada then the sum to be laid out at the discretion of my executors in the following proportions: £30 to purchase his necessary outfir, £20 in payment of his passage money to Grenada.

Signed at Forres, 10/06/1839.

Memorandum dated 15/12/1838. To be taken as a codicil to my last will and testament. The legacy bequeathed to my daughter Louisa Hoyes to be paid to her free and clear of any legacy duty or other charge whatsoever.

Occupation
Merchant
Religion
Church of Scotland

Associated Claims (6)

£460 19s 9d
Awardee
£27 10s 5d
Awardee
£113 10s 6d
Awardee
£3,593 6s 2d
Awardee
£55 0s 10d
Awardee
£8,685 3s 5d
Beneficiary (Assignee)

Associated Estates (9)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

  • SD - Association Start Date
  • SY - Association Start Year
  • EA - Earliest Known Association
  • ED - Association End Date
  • EY - Association End Year
  • LA - Latest Known Association
1817 [EA] - → Attorney
1826 [EA] - 1829 [LA] → Attorney
1820 [EA] - 1829 [LA] → Attorney
1829 [EA] - → Attorney
1817 [EA] - 1817 [LA] → Attorney
1817 [EA] - 1817 [LA] → Attorney
1817 [EA] - 1834 [LA] → Owner
1829 [EA] - → Attorney
1826 [EA] - → Executor

Relationships (7)

Brothers
Business partners
First Cousins
Notes →
Lewis and John Hoyes were the sons of Alexander Hoyes' uncle William, merchant in...
First Cousins
Other relatives
Notes →
Second...
Business partners
Business partners

Addresses (1)

Forres, Moray, North-east Scotland, Scotland