Captain Joseph Elisha Royall, (Jr.)

• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jun 1 2017, 3:14:12 UTC

not-so-brief biography and family

Joseph Royall was born in London, England, 1600 and died March 10, 1654 at Doghams, Charles City, VA. Joseph left England on the Charitie and arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in July 1622 on The Charitie". He arrived in Jamestown not long after the Indian massacre and just before the colony was hit with a burning fever.

He was a ship's master by trade and made several trips between England and Virginia during his early years in the colony, working for a man by the name of Boise. In June of 1625, Boise outfitted a ship for transporting people to the colonies. The ship left England on July 1, 1625, with Mrs. Boise and four daughters as passengers for the trip over. On the trip, Captain Royall, "thru neglecte" caused sea water to ruin the clothing of the passengers. After her husband's death Mrs. Boyse petitioned the Court regarding an agreement entered into between her husband and young Royall: At this Court, 11, January 1626, there was a petition preferred by Mrs. Alice Boise, widow, against Joseph Royall servant to her late husband Luke Boise and showed a covenant bearing date 25, February 1625, wherein the said Joseph Royall was bound unto the said Luke Boise to perform certain conditions therein mentioned; whereupon, it is ordered, according to the said covenant that the said Joseph Royall shall make or cause to be made gratis for the said Alice Boise, her child and such servants as were then of this family all such apparel as they shall wear or use till such day and time as he shall depart this land, so long as those of the family shall either serve her or the child. A decree of this sort would be difficult to enforce and it's reasonable to conclude that circumstances freed young Royall from the permanent obligation under which Mrs. Boyse sought to place him.

Joseph was married three times. His first wife's given name was Tomasin. She had died by 1637, when Joseph married his second wife, Ann. Joseph claimed headrights for both women, but their surnames were not listed in the patents. In about 1645 he married Katherine Banks in Henrico County VA. Katherine was born in Northamptonshire, England in 1627, daughter of Christopher Banks. Joseph and Katherine were cousins. She died December 1, 1686 in Henrico County, VA.

In 1637 Capt. Joseph Royall received 300 acres of land in Henrico County, Virginia on the south-east side of Turkey Island Creek for transporting colonists to America. According to the record, he was "due 50 acres for his own personal adventure, 50 acres for the transportation of his first wife Thomasin, 50 acres for the transportation of Ann, his now wife, 50 for the transportation of his brother Henry, and 100 for the transportation of two persons, Rob(er)t Warrell and Jon(athan) Wells." In 1638 he received 200 acres in Charles City Co., VA for transporting four persons. In 1642, he received 600 more acres for transporting twelve people.

His plantations eventually grew to more than 3,000 acres, and he built a residence called Doghams, named after the French river d'Augham. Family lore claimed the family came to England with William the Conqueror, and that their roots went back to the d'Augham region in France.

Doghams or "Doggams," in Henrico County, lay above the plantation, "Shirley", opposite Hopewell, VA, about 20 miles east of Varina. This was an excellent location on the James River where ships from England plied the wide river bringing cargoes of supplies, settlers and luxuries to be exchanged for tobacco, furs and timber. Doghams remained in the Royall family for more than 200 years and still stands on the old road between Richmond and Williamsburg. It has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Joseph Royall was dead by March 10, 1655, when land records mention a plot of land "lying next to that of Joseph Royall, deceased." When he died, Katherine was a wealthy woman and married a second time to Henry Isham, Sr. of Bermuda Hundred Plantation in Virginia.

Children of Joseph Royal and wife Katherine:

• Joseph Royall III, married Mary Archer
• John Royall
• Sarah Royall, married John Wilkinson
• Katherine Royall married Richard Perrin,
• a daughter who married a Mr. Dennis
• a daughter who married a Mr. Maschell

notes

Many thanks to all the members who contributed to this profile. I have used your notes to write this overview. Maria Edmonds-Zediker, Volunteer Curator, 9/16/2011.

comments

Date and place of birth have also been (erroneously?) reported to be 1600 at Canterbury, Kent England <unattested>.

links

• http://www.fmoran.com/royall.html
• http://www.jcsisle.com/royall.html
• http://www.courier-herald.com/pages/full_story/push?blog-entry-KATH...
• http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=64654515
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Royall-2

GEDCOM Source

Ancestry Family Tree http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=103920662&pi...

GEDCOM Note

Joseph Royall Jr. was born about 1602/03[2] in Canterbury, Kent, England.[3]

He died before 10 March 1655/56 under the age of 53 in Charles City, Colony of Virginia.[4][5]

This was only 13 years after the first colony of settlers arrived in the New World. "By Easter of 1621 there were only 843 English people" in Virginia, and in March 1622 the Indians killed 347 colonists. Saying that life was hard in the first years of colonization would be an understatement.

Stagnant marshlands where the colonists gathered led to diseases such as typhoid, dysentery, and salt poisoning. Joseph, Jr. survived an outbreak of "burning fever" which killed 500 colonists in 1622. The following year he was living in Charles City Co. [6]