INTRODUCTION TO MY OYLER ANCESTORS

My father, Thomas Grayson, was the son of Alice Oyler and Thomas Porter Grayson. I have traced my Oyler line back 12 generations to the 1590s in Kent.  There were several branches of the Oyler family in Kent and East Sussex. Many branches have parents and children with the same names in each family so it was difficult to determine exactly which antecedents belong to my branch of the Oyler family.  The earliest traces of my branch start in Cranbrook where the Oyler family stayed for many generations before the move first to the small villages around Cranbrook and later to other parts of England and abroad.

If the Oylers were originally from France it is possible that the name was Huiler (huile in French is oil, the 'h' is silent, so the name could sound like Ile).This is possibly the derivation of the name Iler, Oyler or Oiler, anglicized from the French Huiler.  In Family Search records  for France and Belgium (5) I found several L'Huiliers (and variations of this spelling) in the 1700 and 1800s.

The Ilers in Kent were rumoured to be Huguenots but it is not known if they were French, Dutch or Belgian. Indeed, there is no firm evidence that they were originally Huguenots. There were several influxes of Huguenots to England.  In 1270, King Henry III extended a royal invitation to "all workers of woollen cloth" to come and settle in England, and in 1331 the export of unwashed wool was prohibited by King Edward III and he issued letters of protection to Flemish weavers who wished to settle in England. The Flemings planted their “fulling-mills” along the rivers Cray and Dart, the weavers settling principally at Cranbrook, Goudhurst, and the neighboring villages. “At county meetings the Gray-coats of Kent carried all before them, gray cloth being the prevailing color of the Kentish article, as that of Kendal was green.” The Huguenots: Their Settlements, Churches, and Industries in England…. - Samuel Smiles

Flemish emigration to the British Isles continued throughout the 14th century and into the 15th century. The cloth-trade having long since departed from Cranbrook, once the centre of the Kentish trade, its manufactures like so many others, having migrated northward; and the only indications remaining of the extinct branch of industry were the ancient factories, evidently of Flemish origin, which could still to be seen in the principal street of the town.

In 1685, the Catholic King Louis XIV of France outlawed the practice of Protestantism. Many French Protestants fled from France following the Edict of Fontainbleau. The Huguenots' services were banned and their churches torn down. All French children were required to be raised as Catholics. Yet it was illegal to leave the country, and Protestant men caught trying to escape abroad could be executed or sentenced to serve as galley slaves, while women risked imprisonment. Despite such risks, around 200,000 French Protestants, mostly Calvinists, fled abroad, smuggling themselves out hidden in bales of straw or empty beer barrels and wine vats. Around 50,000-80,000 of them settled in London, in Soho and in Spitalfields.  London's traditional anti-Catholicism, and stories of French atrocities against Protestants, ensured them a warmer welcome than was usually given to foreigners.

Many of the Huguenots who made Spitalfields their home came from Lyons, centre of the French silk industry. They set up business as silk weavers, using handlooms to weave raw silk imported from Italy. In the 1750s there was another large influx of Huguenots. Many of these refugees settled in Canterbury and Sandwich, bringing their skills into the area, including silk weaving, paper making, goldsmithing and bookbinding.

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The first Oyler in my family that I can trace (with verification) is John Iler. He was born about 1555-1560 in Cranbrook, Kent.  He was my great x10 grandfather. 

As most people, except clergy and scholars, were illiterate the names were recorded by the clergyman as they sounded.  Several variations of the name Oyler can be found in the records over the next two centuries including Oiller, Oiler, Oyller, Oylar, Oylare, Oller, Olliar, Olyer, Oliure, Olyr, Ollow, Owler, Owter, Ayler, Ailor, Aylor, Eiler, Eyler Iler and Yeler.

Below are abstracts from the Tyler Index to Parish Registers 1538-1874 (1), as well as abstracts from other sources. The Tyler Index to Parish Registers, 1538-1874 (1) described as "Extractions of baptism, marriage, and burial information from parish registers in East Kent, England". The information was compiled by Frank Watt Tyler who recorded genealogical data about families in the East Kent area. "....he put together 3,240 books from parish registers for baptisms, marriages, and burials. Some books also contain a family tree or a family history." The last entries were in the early 1900s when the Inexes were published.

Occurences of the Oyer/Iler name in Kent (and variant spellings) in the 17th century:
Besides the Ilers in Cranbrook there were Ilers in Roveldon, Hawkhurst and Smarden which were small villages around Cranbrook. There were also Ilers and Aylers in Molash (E.S.E of Canterbury), Elmsted (south of Canterbury), and Deal (on the east coast)

In the Tyler Index there are several entries for Ilers (listed under the heading 'Oyler') e..g :
1617 Thomas Iler married Marie Dunkin in Elmsted
1626 Margaret Iler married Thomas Drainer in Smarden
1628 Mary Iler married Richard Fisher in Smarden

• There was an Iler family in Molash in the late 1500. Father: John Iler. Children baptized: John 1588, Elizabeth 1590

• In the Cantebury Probate records for Molash there is an entry for an Ursula Oyler in 1613 (INV - possibly an abbreviation for Inventory). Her husband was William Oyler (he died in 1599) (2).  They were married in Molash in 1560. Her maiden name was Kenwarde.

• A John Oyler of Molash, son of John died in 1589

• Also in the Cantebury Probate records there is a record for a William Iler of Molash, Kent (INV) in 1638. 

• 1630 William Oyler married Parnell Fabrace in Molash (3)

• Also in the West Kent Quarter Session records (16th C - 18th C)(4) On 10th Oct 1610 "Thomas Oyler of Molash, labourer, £10, to appear and answer; surety, John Oyler. Taken before a group of five justices."

Parish of Hawkhurst  (1) under the header "Oyler" names are spelled: Oylare, Eiler, Oiler, Oller, Ollow, Ollo. Those from the 1600s are:
1680 John Ollow (a poor man) burial
1681 Elizabeth Ollo married Edward Relfe
1682 Mary Ollo married Daniel Philpot
1686 Susannah Oylare, daughter of George, burial
1688 Anne Ollow, baptised
1696 Thomas Oyler, burial
1698 Elizabeth Eiler, burial

Rovelden, Kent
From 1693-1700 baptisms of  Susanna, Sarah, Peter and Thomas Iler all children of Peter and Sarah Iler


The Ayler name (and variants) in Deal, Kent (1)
There is the baptism of a daughter in 1573 to a John Iler in Sholden (a small village adjacent to the seaside town of Deal). It is under an Oyler header but also offers the name variants of Fyler or Tyler.

The names found in the Deal records under an Oyler page header. The earliest is Henrie Ayler in 1583 followed in brackets by "(Anthe), a burial."
1615, baptism of John Ailor, son of Henry
1619, baptism of Henry (Jun) Aylor, son of Henry
1620 Katherine Owler, wife of John, burial.  
1620 John Owter (Owler), burial.
1620 Anne Owter (Owler), burial
1622 William Owter, son of William, baptism
1622 Richard Aylor, son of Henry (the younger) baptism
1623 Anthonie Aylor married Rose Joanes
1624 Mary Aylor married Joh Hicks
1625 Margaret Aylor married Walter Dunning
1628 Margaret Aylor, wife of Henry (Jun) buried
1632 Elizabeth Aylor, daughter of Henry (Jun) baptised
1635 Mary Aylor, daughter of Henry (the elder) baptised.
1639 Henrie (Jun) Aylor, mariner, buried
1663 Elizabeth Ayler, widow, buried
1675 Richard Ayler, pilot, buried

I know of no connection between these families although they were in Kent concurrent with the life and death of John Iler of Cranbrook.

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