1627 "Robert Royse and Mary Jugkson" were married "Aprill the 8th" in Stamford St. Michael, Lincolnshire, England. [1] [2]
1627 "John sonne of Robert Royse" was baptized on "December the 30th" in Stamford All Saints, Lincolnshire, Entland. [3] [4]
1628 "John sonne of Robert Royse" was buried on "May ye 29th" in Stamford All Saints, Lincolnshire, England. [5] [6]
1629 "John sonne of Robert Royse" was baptized on "June the 29th" in Stamford All Saints, Lincolnshire, England. [7] [8]
1631 Mary daughter of Robert Royse was baptized on July 10 in Stamford St. Michael, Lincolnshire, England. [9]
There are no entries in the Stamford St. Michael parish register for the years 1631 and 1632 (April 1631-March 1632/33). A note in the register states "no register kept 1630-to 1633" signed "Edwd Edwards." The page with the note is followed by three blank pages.
1633 "John Royse sone of Robert Royse & Mary" was baptized on "Aprill 21" in Stamford St. Michael, Lincolnshire, England. [10]
1634/35 "Sara Royse dawghter of Robert Royse" was baptized on February 8 in Stamford St Michael, Lincolnshire, England. [11]
1637 "Nehemiah Royse son of Robert Royse and Mary his wife" was baptized on "May 30th" in Stamford St Michael, Lincolnshire, England. [12]
There are no entries in the Stamford All Saints parish register after 1637 until 1643 (two baptism written in the margin) and 1645/46 (one baptism in February).
1648 Robert Rice was granted land from the town of Stratford, Connecticut, on September 16. Samuel Orcutt states, [13]
Robert Rice was not of the original proprietors, but came soon after them and was granted land from the town which was recorded Sept. 16, 1648, which is the earliest record now on the town books. Hence the plan or plot for the village was laid before this date, else the lot could not have been bounded on the highway. The record says: "One house lot, two acres, more or less, butting south upon the highway, north upon William Beardsley, west upon Mr. Knell and east upon John Brownsmayd." He had also "meadow and upland in the Old Field, 8 acres in the Newfeyld upon Mr. Waklin's Neck," and other pieces elsewhere. On February 6, 1660, Mr. Rice sold these parcels of land, including "one house lot, one dwelling house upon it and barn" to "Thomas Wheeler now of Paugusit," and removed to New London.
1657 Robert Royce was granted land in New London, Connecticut on August 26. [14]
Robert Royce Hath given him a further addition to his houselot that he bought of John Elderkin part of it lying upon the hill recorded for a buriall place, running opposite vpon alyne from the corner of Goodman Rodgers., his fence, and surrounding the rocks bvtting upon Goodman Smith's ffence, and the corner of his lot towards the mill, and from the corner of Goodman Smith's Lot opposite to Goodman Comstocks house runing the breadth of his lot answerable upon alyne wth Smiths lott bounded out by John Elderkin and John Stibben per order of the Towne.
1664 Robert Royce purchased from William Measure and his wife Alice on December 28 two acres of land in New London, Connecticut, on the highway running by the Mill Cove, formerly given to John Tinker by the town. [15]
1670 Robert Royce, shoemaker, and his wife Mary sold to Lawrence Codner on April 29 the land that Robert had purchased in 1664 from William Measure and his wife Alice. [16]
1676 New London County Court Records state, [17]
The Inventory of the Estate of Mr Robert Roice being presented in Court Septembr 22d 1676: was proved & ordered to be recorded:
Severall papers were presented to this Court which were signed by Robert Roice as his Last will & Testament but there being no witnesses to the same & the Executrix refuseing to accept of her executrixship, this Court haveing seriously Considered the same & finding the estate to be: 420ll they distribute as follows
To the Widdow the house & Barne with all the home Lotts as also the pasture Land with two acres of salt meadow to be & remaine unto her dureing her naturall life, And two Cows two swyne the house hold stuff with Brass & pewter & bedding to be at her dispose for ever.
And in regard the sd Roice hath manifested a great affection & good will to the ministry & the Comfortable Maintaineance thereof in N. London Norwich & Wallingsford & shewing willingnes by some of his Estate to encourage the same in compliance therewith we order that forty shill of his Estate be bestowed upon the present ministry of each of the fore mentioned three Townes to be paid in good & currant pay, and to Robert Roice sonn of Samll Roice ten pounds & that the rest of the Estate of the sd Roice be distributed to his five sonns & three Daughters equally as near as may be onely the sonns to have six pounds a piece more than the Daughters & the Reall Estate in the widdows hand to be in Like manner divided after her decease.
Research Notes:
1609/10 "Mary Jugson the daughter of Richard Jucson was baptised the same day [the xxith of Januarye]" in Tattershall, Lincolnshire, England. [18]
Jacobus states, [19]
Robert Royce, an early settler in Stratford, CT, had land recorded there in his name as late as 1658, though he appears to have removed to New London, CT a year before that date. He was constable in 1660, and in the following year represented New London in the General Court. An accurate account of his children is given in "Godwin and Morgan Ancestral Lines" vol. 1, pp. 295-301. It needs to be reaffirmed that the New London man was a separate individual from Robert Royce of Boston, with whom he has been persistently confused. Robert Royce of Boston left a widow Elizabeth; Robert Royce of New London died in 1676, leaving a widow Mary. [20]
Clarence Leslie Hewitt, Jr., argues [21] that Mary, Robert's wife was not Mary Sims, Simms, or Symmes, of Long Sutton, Somerset. There was a Robert Royce of Martock, Somerset who married a Mary Sims in Long Sutton on 4 Jun 1624. Hewitt says the "1624 wedding hardly works out, credibly or chronologically, with their emigration to America or the birthday of their first born. ... It would therefore seem most unlikely that Robert and Mary would have remained continent or been barren from 1624 to 1634 or that all their children born in that decade could have perished in infancy."
Long Sutton, Somerset, Records:
1624 "Robert Rayse & Mary Sims were married the 4th of June" in Long Sutton, Somerset. [22]
1625 "Robert the Sonn of Robert Rayse" was baptized "the 27th of March" in Long Sutton, Somerset. [23]
1626/27 "Margaret ye Daughter of Robert Rayse" was baptized "ye 6th of Januarie" in Long Sutton, Somerset. [24]
1629 "Mary(?) ye Daughter of Robert Rayse" was baptized "ye 19th of Aprill" in Long Sutton, Somerset. [25]
There is a gap in the baptism records of Long Sutton from 1587-1598.
1597 "Robert and Charity ["sonne ___" inserted above line] filiae Robert Royse" were baptized on May 29 in Kingsbury Episcopi, Somerset. [26]
Kingsbury Episcopi is about 2½ miles west of Martock, Somerset. Long Sutton is about 4 miles north of Martock.
[1] Parish registers for St. Michael's Church, Stamford, Lincolnshire, 1560-1710, FHL film 1450475 Item 2, DGS 7566537, [FamilySearchImage], [FamilySearchCatalog].
[2] Lincolnshire Archives, Stamford St Michael Parish Register, 1610-1661, [FindMyPastImage], [FindMyPastRecord].
[3] Parish Register for All Saints' Church, Stamford, Lincolnshire, Baptisms, 1560-1652, marriages, 1560-1640, burials, 1560-1653, FHL film 1450472 Item 3, DGS 4003069, [FamilySearchImage], [FamilySearchCatalog].
[4] Lincolnshire Archives, Stamford All Saints Parish Register, 1560-1652, [FindMyPastImage], [FindMyPastRecord].
[5] Parish Register for All Saints' Church, Stamford, Lincolnshire, Baptisms, 1560-1652, marriages, 1560-1640, burials, 1560-1653, FHL film 1450472 Item 3, DGS 4003069, [FamilySearchImage], [FamilySearchCatalog].
[6] Lincolnshire Archives, Stamford All Saints Parish Register, 1560-1652, [FindMyPastImage], [FindMyPastRecord].
[7] Parish Register for All Saints' Church, Stamford, Lincolnshire, Baptisms, 1560-1652, marriages, 1560-1640, burials, 1560-1653, FHL film 1450472 Item 3, DGS 4003069, [FamilySearchImage], [FamilySearchCatalog].
[8] Lincolnshire Archives, Stamford All Saints Parish Register, 1560-1652, [FindMyPastImage], [FindMyPastRecord].
[9] FamilySearch Transcription of Lincolnshire Archives, Bishop's transcripts for St. Michael's Church, Stamford, Baptisms, marriages and burials, 1562-1812, FHL film 504769, [FamilySearchCatalog], [FamilySearchRecord].
[10] Lincolnshire Archives, Stamford St Michael Parish Register, 1610-1661, [FindMyPastImage], [FindMyPastRecord].
[11] Lincolnshire Archives, Stamford St Michael Parish Register, 1610-1661, [FindMyPastImage], [FindMyPastRecord].
[12] Lincolnshire Archives, Stamford St Michael Parish Register, 1610-1661, [FindMyPastImage], [FindMyPastRecord].
[13] Samuel Orcutt, A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport, Connecticut Part 1 (Fairfield County Historical Society, 1886), 102, [InternetArchive], [GoogleBooks], [HathiTrust].
[14] Frank Farnsworth Starr and James J. Goodwint, "The Family of Robert Royce," Various Ancestral Lines of James Goodwin and Lucy (Morgan) Goodwin of Hartford, Connecticut, Vol. 1, Goodwin Lines (Hartford, Conn.: The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Press, 1915), 295-301 at 296, citing New London, Conn., Land Records, vol. 3, folio 10, [AncestryImage].
[15] Frank Farnsworth Starr and James J. Goodwint, "The Family of Robert Royce," Various Ancestral Lines of James Goodwin and Lucy (Morgan) Goodwin of Hartford, Connecticut, Vol. 1, Goodwin Lines (Hartford, Conn.: The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Press, 1915), 295-301 at 297, citing New London, Conn., Land Records, vol. 3, folio 229, [AncestryImage].
[16] Frank Farnsworth Starr and James J. Goodwint, "The Family of Robert Royce," Various Ancestral Lines of James Goodwin and Lucy (Morgan) Goodwin of Hartford, Connecticut, Vol. 1, Goodwin Lines (Hartford, Conn.: The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Press, 1915), 295-301 at 297, citing New London, Conn., Land Records, vol. 5, folio 11, [AncestryImage].
[17] Frank Farnsworth Starr and James J. Goodwint, "The Family of Robert Royce," Various Ancestral Lines of James Goodwin and Lucy (Morgan) Goodwin of Hartford, Connecticut, Vol. 1, Goodwin Lines (Hartford, Conn.: The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Press, 1915), 295-301 at 298-299, [AncestryImage].
[18] Lincolnshire Archives, Tattershall Parish Register, 1559-1642, [FindMyPastImage], [FindMyPastRecord].
[19] Donald Line Jacobus, "Parentage of Mary, wife of John Beach, of Wallingford, Conn.," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 80 (1926), 107-109, at 107, [AmericanAncestors].
[20] Clarence Leslie Hewitt, "Some Light on the marriage of Robert and Mary Royce of Connecticut," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 122 (1968), 274-277, at 275, [AmericanAncestors].
[21] Clarence Leslie Hewitt, "Some Light on the marriage of Robert and Mary Royce of Connecticut," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 122 (1968), 274-277, at 274, [AmericanAncestors].
[22] Long Sutton Parish Register, 1559-1665, Somerset Heritage Service, Taunton, Somerset, England, Somerset Parish Records, 1538-1914, Reference Number D\P\l.sut/2/1/1, Somerset, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1531-1812, [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].
[23] Long Sutton Parish Register, 1559-1665, Somerset Heritage Service, Taunton, Somerset, England, Somerset Parish Records, 1538-1914, Reference Number D\P\l.sut/2/1/1, Somerset, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1531-1812, [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].
[24] Long Sutton Parish Register, 1559-1665, Somerset Heritage Service, Taunton, Somerset, England, Somerset Parish Records, 1538-1914, Reference Number D\P\l.sut/2/1/1, Somerset, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1531-1812, [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].
[25] Long Sutton Parish Register, 1559-1665, Somerset Heritage Service, Taunton, Somerset, England, Somerset Parish Records, 1538-1914, Reference Number D\P\l.sut/2/1/1, Somerset, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1531-1812, [AncestryImage].
[26] Kingsbury Episcopi Parish Register, 1555-1726, Somerset Heritage Service, Taunton, Somerset, England, Somerset Parish Records, 1538-1914, Reference Number D\P\K.EP/2/1/1, Somerset, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1531-1812, [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].