Person:Robert Royce (2)

Robert of Stratford and New London not the Robert of Boston

"Some writers [including Judge Savage] have claimed that Robert Rice or Royce, who was living in Boston in 1640 with a wife Elizabeth, was the same person who later appeared in New London, Connecticut, with a wife Mary. An examination of the Suffolk County Deeds proves beyond question that Robert Royce of Boston died prior to October 1668, at which date his widow had become the wife of Michael Tarne or Tearn. Other facts … show that Robert Royce of New London … was living in 1670, thus proving the impossibility of this claim."^[3]

The Mystery Continues

"Two valuable points seem to have been established conclusively by this report. First: the claim set forth in several printed books here and abroad that Robert Royce and Mary Sims were married in Martock on 4 June 1634 is not a fact; second: the marriage in Long Sutton on 4 June 1624, with which the first seems to have been confused, almost certainly could not have been that of the young couple from whom we are descended. So the questions, 'who was Robert Royce? where did he come from? who was Mary, his wife?' are still unanswered."^[4]

A Probable (Possible?) Solution to the Mystery

The parish registers of the Church of St. Michael, Stamford, Linconshire contain entries for the marriage of Robert Royse and Mary Jugkson (Jackson?), 8 April 1627, and the christening of the following children of Robert and Mary Royse: 1) Mary Royse 10 July 1631, 2) John Royse, 21 April 1633, 3) Sara Royse, 8 February 1634 and 4) Nehemiah Royse, 39 May 1637. These dates correspond to those estimated for the marriage and the births of Jonathan, Sarah and Nehemiah so closely that it seems almost certain this must be the origin of this family.

1. ↑ Robert Roise, in Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862)
   3:570.

   "Robert (Roise) … had rem. bef. 1657 to New London, perhaps in 1650 was of Stratford, but constable in 1660 and in 1661 rep. for N. L. where he liv. in good repute, and his d. Ruth m. 15 Dec. 1669, John Lothrop; and Sarah m. John Caulkins. of his s. Nehemiah, Samuel, Nathaniel, Isaac, and Jonathan, the four first rem. to Wallingford, aft. m. in New London, and Lothrop also rem. to W. He d. 1676, and his wid. Mary was liv. on his est. 1688."

   Savage combined both men named Robert Roise/Royse in this one sketch.

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5} Royce, in Jacobus, Donald Lines. Families of Ancient New Haven. (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1974)
   7:1549.

   "Robert (Royce), d 1676; res St & New London."

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} The Family of Robert Royce, in Starr, Frank Farnsworth. Various Ancestral Lines of James Goodwin and Lucy (Morgan) Goodwin of Hartford, Connecticut. (Hartford, Conn.: The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Press, 1915)
   1:295-297.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4} Hewitt, Clarence Leslie, Jr. Some Light on the Marriage of Robert and Mary Royce of Connecticut. New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Oct 1968)
   122:274-77.