There is a lot of controversy about the mother of Ensign Nathaniel Royce, wife of Robert Royce. One thing is certain -- her parents are unknown. There were two Robert Royces, one in Boston and one in Connecticut and their families have been mixed up. See http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/d/o/b/Michael-E-Dobson/G... for references and a discussion.

The wife of Robert Royce of Connecticut was Mary -------, that is, her last name was unknown. Her given name was not Elizabeth.

Robert Royce was born circa 1606 in Martok, Somersetshire, England, and died after 22 September 1676 in New London, New London, Connecticut. He married Mary ---- circa 1630 in England. She was born circa 1609 in England, and died 14 July 1696 in Wallingford, New Haven, Connecticut.

Why Mary, wife of Robert Royce of Connecticut is speculatively connected with the Simms family

There is a marriage record for Mary Simms and Robert Royce. The date and the location would fit with this being the marriage of Robert Royce of Connecticut and Mary. From this hypothesis, not a bad one but not proven conclusively, sprang countless family trees on the Internet asserting that Mary was Mary Simms.

https://archive.org/details/genealogyofcowle00cowl/page/n113/mode/2up

Why Robert Royce of Connecticut and Robert Roice (Roise, Roys) of Boston were confused

Savage long ago asserted that Robert Roice of Boston must be the same as Robert Royce of Connecticut and since that time, family trees have proliferated that have merged the spouses and the children of the two men. There is plenty of counterevidence however. First, their wives did not have the same names. Both wives outlived their husbands, and Elizabeth Roice of Boston re-married Michael Tearn and died in Boston eventually whereas Mary Royce did not remarry and died in Connecticut. Second, there are wills for each family that are clearly separate, naming separate heirs.

The two issues are that it appears that a Patience is mentioned in Robert Royce of Connecticut's will and that the Nathaniel of Boston left no trace. I have chosen to follow The Great Migration Begins view of these two families as being separate families since the evidence support this more than the opposite.

Their children were:

1. Jonathan, b. Bet. 1631 - 1635, Martock, Sommersetshire, England; d. July 1690, Norwich, New London, Connecticut.
2. Sarah, b. Bet. 1633 - 1634, Epswick, England or Martok, Somerset, England; d. 01 May 1711, Norwich, New London, Connecticut.
3. Nehemiah, b. Abt. 1636, Long Sutton, Somerset, England; d. 01 November 1706, Wallingford, New Haven, Connecticut.
4. Ensign Samuel Royce, b. 01 November 1644, Prob New London, New London, Connecticut; d. Bef. 24 December 1711, Wallingford, New Haven, Connecticut.
5. Ruth, b. 07 December 1645, Wallingford, New Haven, Connecticut; d. May 1695, Wallingford, New Haven, Connecticut.
6. Ensign Nathaniel Royce, b. 24 April 1647, Wallingford, New Haven, Connecticut; d. 08 February 1726/27, Wallingford, New Haven, Connecticut.
7. Isaac, b. Abt. 1648, Milford, New Haven, Connecticut; d. Abt. 1681, Wallingford, New Haven, Connecticut.

----------------------------

Others include additional children:

• Robert, born 1625
• Margaret, born 1626
• Mary, born 1629

Ancestor of US President Millard Fillmore.

!A marriage to Mary Sims is disproven in Gary Boyd Roberts, English Origins of New England Families, Second Series, volume 3, pp. 42-45.

Immigrated from Martock, Somerset.

!Al Dawson, 22 Apr 2000, <Microfish7@aol.com> Robert Royce. Born ca 1603. Robert was baptized in Martock, Somersetshire, Eng. on 9 Jun 1603. Source: 7. Joseph Savage, Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, Originally published 1860. 8. Dorothy C Burt, "Ancestors of David Walden Burt," http://www.familytreemaker.com/user/b/u/r/Dorothy-C-Burt, Feb.1998.

Occupation: shoemaker.

Robert came from England in the Francis; settled at Stratford, CT, in1644/48; at New London, 1660; Member of City Council [selectman?].

![see quote from GMB below, following paragraph is for a differentperson] Robert was a freeman at Boston 1 Apr 1634, one of the disarmed1637 as a supporter of Mrs. Hutchinson in her revelations, or ofWheelwright in his opinions.

He removed before 1657 to New London, perhaps in 1650 was of Stratford,but constable in 1660and in 1661 representative for New London where helived in good repute.

![Disproven - On 4 Jun 1634 Robert married Mary Elizabeth Sims, daughterof JohnSims (ca 1579-) & Sarah Baker (1587-), in Martock, Somerset,Eng.13 Born ca 1609.5 Mary Elizabeth was baptized in England ca 1615.5Mary Elizabeth died on 4 Jul 1697 in New London, CT. Sims, SIimms, orSymmes.]

!Great Migration Begins: Savage claimed that Robert Roice of Boston was identical with a man ofthe samename who appeared in Connecticut some years later, but since thelatter had wife Mary, and the only known wife of the Boston man wasElizabeth, who outlived him, this cannot be true [NEHGR 122:274-77 andthe sources cited there; GoodwinAnc 1:295]

GEDCOM Note

Category:US President Direct Ancestor

Note: Here is a document I found that shows Robert Royce married to Mary Sims on 4 June 1634

[http://www.wikitree.com/photo/jpg/UNKNOWN-172632] This document lists 5 sources which should be checked out. For other sources see Mary Royce formerly Spinning and Humphrey Spinning Sr. profiles. (Added August 2, 2016):

Comments: Unfortunately, page 132 attached is of little value in the hunt for the name of Mary the wife of Robert Royce. First there is only the one page. What is it a page from? Someone's well put together personal genealogy? It came from Ancestry, but I didn’t find it in thefirst 200 hits for either Robert or Mary. That aside it contains the same information on Robert’s marriage that we already have from Jacobus’ Families of Ancient New Haven. The other sources listed (exceptthe Parkhurst Manuscript) have already been checked and add nothing. The accuracy of this information has since come into question.B-404 06:56, 24 August 2016 (EDT) Here is a document that shows Robert Royce married to Mary Sims on 4 June 1624
[http://www.roycefamilyassn.org/genealogy/Robert%20Royce%20Book%20Fi...]

This could mean that in the Parish records he is incorrectly recorded as Robert Rayce and thus could disprove the conclusionin the article "Some Light on the Marriage of Robert and Mary Royce of Connecticut" (see source below)(Added August 2, 2016):Comments:The second document, the downloaded pdf, has problems also. It came from the Royce Family Association. It has a list of sources beginning on page 208, but the document itself is short of adequate footnotes giving sourcing. The first page concerned with Robert and Mary has one footnote in an odd place. What is that footnote? "Thelda Baker Rice/Royce Research." That tells me absolutely nothing. If I listed “Research by Anne B,” would you find that adequate? :Is the content valid? A review was in order. A review for recent articles was done at NEHGS. No new results. The IGI does not have Martok or Long Sutton indexed yet. I did get results at FreeReg2.::Result 1 Robert Rayse married Mary Sims 4 June 1624 Holy Trinity Church, Long Sutton, Somerset, England. Record found in Phillimore’s transcripts.<ref>Freereg2.org Search parameters Robert Rayse (soundex), Marriage 1623-1635, Somerset</ref>::Result 2<ref>Freereg2.org Search parameters Rayse (soundex), Baptism 1624-1644, Long Sutton, Somerset and nearby.</ref>:::-Robert Rayse, son of Robert, baptized (not born) 27 Mar 1625, HolyTrinity, Long Sutton, Somerset. from the Parish Register.:::-Margaret Rayse, daughter of Robert, baptized (not born) 06 Jan 1626/7, Holy Trinity, Long Sutton, Somerset. from the Parish Register.::: -* Rayse, daughter of Robert, baptized (not born) 15 April 1629, Holy Trinity, Long Sutton, Somerset. from the Parish Register. :Some other searches were performed, burials for instance, but nothingwas found. This information has been incorporated into the previous ‘discussion’ B-404 06:56, 24 August 2016 (EDT) See Robert's profile Mary Sims ? Mary Jackson ? Mary Unknown ? for thoughts on the surname of Mary Unknown.

Biography

This person is an ancestor of President Millard Fillmore<ref> Roberts, Gary Boyd; Ancestors of American Presidents</ref>
"ROYCE, Robert, d 1676; res. Stratford, CT and New London, CT; m. Mary____ who died 1696 at Wallingford<ref>Cites the New Haven County courtrecords</ref><ref name="ANH">Jacobus, Donald Lines (compiler). Families of Ancient New Haven, Vol VII. p 1549. New Haven: 1931. Reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1974.</ref>

<b>CHILDREN OF ROBERT ROYCE AND MARY</b> If you accept Robert Rayse and Mary Sims, as the New England immigrants following is a list of their children recorded as christened in LongSutton.# Robert Rayse, son of Robert, baptized (not born) 27 Mar 1625, Holy Trinity, Long Sutton, Somerset. from the Parish Register.# Margaret Rayse, daughter of Robert, baptized (not born) 06 Jan 1626/7, Holy Trinity, Long Sutton, Somerset. from the Parish Register.# (Mary?) Rayse, daughter of Robert, baptized (not born) 15 April 1629, Holy Trinity, Long Sutton, Somerset. from the Parish Register. If you accept Robert Royce & Mary Jugkson (Jackson) as logical candidates for our ancestors then following is a list of their children christened in Stamford, England.# John Royse chr. 30 December 1627 died 29 May 1628 at All Saints, Stamford, Lincoln, England. s/o Robert<ref>"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NG5Y-56J : accessed 04 May 2014), John Royse, 30 Dec 1627; citing, reference ; FHL microfilm 436051, 508046.</ref># John Royse chr 29 June 1629. All Saints, Stamford, Lincoln, England.s/o Robert.<ref>"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NG5Y-56J : accessed 05 May 2014), John Royse, 30 Dec 1627; citing , reference ; FHL microfilm 436051, 508046.</ref># Mary Royse chr. 10 Jul 1631 Saint Michael, Stamford, Lincoln, England. d/o Robert<ref>"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," index,FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NGVP-VMQ : accessed 04 May 2014), Mary Royse, 10 Jul 1631; citing SAINT MICHAEL, STAMFORD, LINCOLN, ENGLAND, reference ; FHL microfilm 504769.</ref># John Royse christening 21 Apr 1633 Saint Michael, Stamford, Lincoln,England. s/o Robert & Mary<ref>"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JQJZ-J9R : accessed 04 May 2014), John Royse, 21 Apr 1633; citing SAINT MICHAEL, STAMFORD, LINCOLN, ENGLAND, reference ; FHL microfilm 1450475 IT 2.</ref># Sara Royse chr 08 Feb 1634 Saint Michael, Stamford, Lincoln, England. d/o Robert<ref>"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," index,FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N26R-W3L : accessed 04 May 2014), Sara Royse, 08 Feb 1634; citing SAINT MICHAEL, STAMFORD, LINCOLN, ENGLAND, reference ; FHL microfilm 1450475 IT 2.</ref># Nehemiah Royse christening 30 May 1637 Saint Michael, Stamford, Lincoln, England. s/o Robert & Mary<ref>"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N26T-9P2 : accessed 04 May 2014), Nehemiah Royse, 30 May 1637; citingSAINT MICHAEL, STAMFORD, LINCOLN, ENGLAND, reference ; FHL microfilm 1450475 IT 2.</ref>

The traditional list without the English baptisms is<ref name="ANH"/>

1. Sarah, b c 1634, d. 1 May 1711 in Norwich ae 77; m. John Calkins.
2. Nehemiah, b. c. 1636, d. Nov 1706 New London; m. Hannah Morgan.# Jonathan, d. 1690; res. Norwich; m. 1) Mary Spinning 2) Deborah Calkins.
3. Samuel, d 1711; Ens.; m. 1)Hannah Churchill 2)Sarah Baldwin.# Nathaniel, d 8 Feb 1726; m. 1) Esther [prob.Moss] 2) Sarah Lathrop 3) Hannah (Wilcoxsen) Farnham 4) Abigail (Cooke) Pomeroy Hoyt.
4. Isaac, d 1681; m 15 Dec 1669 Elizabeth Lathrop.
5. Ruth; m 1) John Lathrop 2) Abraham Doolittle.# Daughter. There is a third daughter mentioned in the probate recordsfor Robert.

Sources

<references/>

• Roberts, Gary Boyd; Ancestors of American Presidents. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009.

See also:* Ancestors of American Presidents Author: Boyer, Carl; Roberts, GaryBoyd, Publication: New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Mass., 1995 * Genealogy of the Cowles Families in America, Format: 2 vols. Author: Cowles, Calvin Duvall. Publication: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, New Haven, Conn., 1929 * The New England Historical and Genealogical Register: "Some Light onthe Marriage of Robert and Mary Royce of Connecticut", Volume: 122, Pages:274-277 Author: Hewitt, Clarence Leslie, Author

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