Reflections on the Roy Family Reunion
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This article written by Ken Roy, was initially published in the St John Valley Times after the Roy Family Reunion in July 1994. It was great to see the Roy Family committee in action before and during the Acadian Festival and the successful culmination of the many activities that were part of the Roy Family celebration. What started with uncertainty and a trepidation after the discovery that more than 30 different Roy ancestors came to Canada from France in the 1600's turned out to be a great success. Two principle Roy ancestors were featured in the Roy Genealogy Book -- Antoine Roy dit Desjardins and Jean Roy dit Laliberté. Most if not all the Roy families in the St John River Valley descend from these two ancestors. Antoine Roy's family also includes the Desjardins, the Lausier, and the Voisines. The first descendant of Antoine Roy to arrive in the valley was Ursule Roy who on 16 July 1792 married to Firmin Cyr, one of the pioneers of Madawaska. She died on 9 May 1793 and her grave was blessed on 15 June 1793 according to the St. Basile de Madawaska parish register. The Supplement to the Roy Genealogy Book includes four other Roy Families -- Nicolas Le Roy, Mathurin Roy, Jean Pierre Roy and Olivier Roy. The majority of the information on Nicolas Le Roy's family was supplied by descendants currently living in Québec and in Louisiana. During the reunion, I received additional information from descendants to this family who currently reside in Rhode Island and Connecticut. Mathurin's family included a single lineage in the book. However, this is the family that Norma King Wellman who published a brochure on The King Family of Bath Maine tied into. It was very gratifying to be able to meet Norma who ventured out of her wheel chair for the first time in a long while to attend the Roy Family Reunion. Jean Pierre Roy's family emerged when I was putting the genealogy book together. In researching my Father-in-law, Albert Boucher's family in St Francois, Beauceville, Province of Quebec, I had encountered a Joseph Roy married to Archange Boucher. Joseph was the son of Thomas Roy and Angelique Bolduc. That was as far back as I had traced that family. Someone contributed the information that tied this family back to Jean Pierre Roy, son of Claude Roy and Jeanne Gigot of St Paul, Paris, France. This information also provided the links that allowed André Roy to take his mother's Roy lineage back to France. It was something to see the joy on his face when he opened the Supplement and found his ancestors for which he had been searching. During the Roy Family Reunion, a sixth Roy family surfaced when Jules Roy from Montreal provided me his direct lineage back to Olivier Roy, son of Jacques Roy and Martine Legrain of Fontenay-sur-Orne, Diocese de Sees, Normandy. Olivier married Madeleine Rentier on 6 Nov 1668 in Quebec. The group from Stony Point, Ontario also tied into this family. Their common ancestor is Olivier, the pioneer of this Roy family. Also during the Roy Reunion, my cousin Bernie Roy gave me a letter from the Bibliotheque Municipale de Joigny (Joigny Public Library) which indicates that Antoine also had another brother Jehan (Jean) born 15 May 1640.
III.1 Jean Roy was baptized on 30 August 1640. His godparents were Jean Roy, who most likely is a member of the Roy Family, and Jeanne Coquard. The information also includes information on a previous generation of five different Roy families, three in Joigny and two in the parish of St Jean.
Although none of these families indicate Olivier as a child there are gaps in the information. If we accept the tradition that godparents were relatives of the child and usually named the child after themselves, then it is very likely that two of these families were related to Olivier Roy -- Hely Roy was the godfather of Elye Roy and Jehan Roy was that of Jehan Roy. The Roy families of Joigny are as follows:
I found Hugues Roy and Jeanne Sarrazin in the parish books of St Jean's Church in Joigny, but did not find any Loup in 1601 or Catherine in 1614. I only found an unknown daughter of the couple, born in 1629 in the parish of St Jean, as you can see hereunder : II. N. (fille), º Joigny, Saint-Jean, 25 III 1629. Sa marraine est Déline Frécault [voir 10, ci-avant]". (º indicates baptized) See Monsieur Pierre Le Clercq's Notice très complète sur la famille ROY.
II. 1. Catherine, º Joigny, Saint-Jean, 10 VII (July) 1607.
(† p. indicates died/buried later than (plus tard))
I found a daughter named Anne in the parish books of St Jean's Church in Joigny, baptized in 1613, but no son named Joseph, born in 1610, as you can see hereunder :
The Roy families of the parish of Saint Jean during the same time period are as follows:
1616, baptized Claudius 1618, baptized Joanne 1625, baptized a son 1627, baptized Marion It is believed that this Hely Roy is the godfather of Elye Roy, son of Oliver baptized on 13 July 1636. Comment from Monsieur Pierre Le Clercq, "I found Hélie Roy and Catherine Pérille in the parish books of St Jean's Church of Joigny, with more details and more children, and I translated the Latin Christian names in French, as you can see in the following lines : II.2. Hélie, marchand à Joigny (-1613-1627-). † a. 1639. Le 13 VII (July) 1636, en l'église Saint-Jean à
III.1. Catherine, º Joigny, Saint-Jean, 21 XI 1609.
¥ Zacharie Arnault, bourgeois d'Auxerre.
"I found this couple and all their children in the parish books of St Jean's Church in Joigny. The secretaries of Joigny Public Library made a few mistakes when reading the books, as you can see hereunder :
I. Jean, notaire (-1618-1627-) ; The information from the Joigny Bibliotheque Municipale (Joigny Public Library) also indicates that the Roy family name was present in Joigny at least as far back as 1458 since a Peret Roy is listed in the census for Saint Loup de Brienon. Interestingly this letter also mentions the international rock star, Rock Voisine as descending from Antoine Roy's family. The same letter indicates that today approximately twenty Roy names are listed in Auxerre and three households still carry this name in Joigny. Are they descendants of Antoine's brothers, Elye and Jean? Comment from Monsieur Pierre Le Clercq, "There are many Roys or Le Roys in the French department of Yonne. It is wrong to say that the Roy family name was present in Joigny at least as far back as 1458 since a Peret Roy is listed in the census for Saint Loup de Brienon. The parish of St Loup in the city of Brienon has nothing to do with the three parishes of St André, St Jean and St Thibault in the city of Joigny. There might have been some Roys in Brienon in 1458, but this does not mean that there were some Roys in the nearabout city of Joigny too at the same time. In fact, I feel that the Roys do not originate from Joigny, but from some place around the city. This other place could be Brienon, of course, but we do not know for sure". N.B. For the complete information for The Roy Family in Joigny see Monsieur Pierre Le Clercq's Notice très complète sur la famille ROY. See also his article on Antoine Roy dit Desjardins and his Descendants on the Société généalogique de l'Yonne web site and my translation of his research. Several people from Massachusetts area had a direct lineage to Jean Baptiste Roy married to Francoise Charbonneau. Jean Baptiste was the last son of Pierre Roy and Marie Delugre. This lineage is missing from the Roy Genealogy book. Please send me any corrections and/or additional information to that published in the Roy Genealogy Book or shown on this site by using the contact us link.
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Last updated 14 June 2020.
