Here at NEHGS, we are always on the lookout for interesting genealogical books, pedigrees, or other formats for documenting family history. One of my first blog posts here covered the Society’s acquisition of a fascinating (and literal) family tree showing all of Queen Victoria’s descendants at the time of her Diamond Jubilee in 1897. Recently, I was directed to – and subsequently acquired – a Le Roy family register compiled by my cousin Edward Augustus Le Roy (1833–1913), one that showed all the descendants of the Le Roy immigrant down to about 1890.
More than a decade ago, I wrote a genealogy of the Le Roy family of New York with my cousin Newbold Le Roy 3rd, Edward’s great-grandson. Because Edward married his cousin Clementina Barnewall Pell – like him a descendant of Jacob Le Roy and Cornelia Rutgers – Edward’s descendants have two Le Roy lines, and no doubt his interest in the Le Roy and allied families was enhanced by this double kinship. He produced several Le Roy registers – Newb’s son Robert has a later one – each one painstakingly filled in in a lovely Victorian copperplate hand, with red lines crisscrossing the page to indicate the children of a Le Roy family member.
The register also has pages devoted to other ancestral families of Edward and Clementina Le Roy: Cornell, Rutgers, Pell, Otis, and Downes. For Newb, a descendant of all those families, such a register is a godsend. As for me, both copies of the Le Roy register provide the only date of birth I have for my great-great-grandmother, Catharine Elizabeth White (1818–1867), who married John Steward Jr. in 1841. The Steward Bible has Catharine’s date and place of death, but – perhaps owing to shyness about committing her age to print – I do not think that any of her Steward descendants knew where and when she was born before our Le Roy genealogy was published in 2003.
When Newb and I set out to write the Le Roy genealogy, we used his copy of the register to sketch out a list of Jacob’s descendants by his two wives, sisters Cornelia and Catherine Rutgers. It enabled us to trace the large numbers of Herman Le Roy and Maria Anna (Le Roy) Livingston descendants, while devoting equivalent attention to the families descended from Jacob Le Roy (Jr.), Elizabeth (Le Roy) McEvers, and Robert Le Roy, each a fraction in size of the Herman and Maria Anna branches.
Several Le Roys married into the Livingston family, while several others married Edgars and Emmets and other Le Roys. One of Herman’s daughters, Caroline, married Daniel Webster, while a great-granddaughter was a namesake of Edith Wharton’s. A great-grandson of Jacob2 Le Roy, Henry White, served as U.S. Ambassador to Italy and then France, signing the Treaty of Versailles after President Woodrow Wilson and Secretary of State Robert Lansing. More recent descendants include Mrs. Martin Scorsese (Helen Schermerhorn Morris), the former Mrs. Ilie Nastase (Adelaide Alexandra King), and William Bradford (Brad) Hall, the actor and writer – in all, more than 2,800 when we published the book in 2003.
Scott – when you mentioned Maria Anna (Le Roy) Livingston are talking about someone who married a John Livingston (1750-1882) and resided at Oak Hill, about 120 miles north of NYC on the Hudson River? If so, I have visted there many times, cousin Hank Livingston resides there now. I am descended from Philip (The Signer) Livingston and my paternal grandmother was a Livingston. Do you have, or would you like, the appropriate pages from the Livingston Genealogy? And another Le Roi married a Fish, descended from Margaret Livingston and Peter Stuyvesant.
Howland, Yes, Maria Anna Le Roy and her descendants are covered in the book Newb Le Roy and I published in 2003: THE LE ROY FAMILY IN AMERICA, 1753-2003.
Is there any way to get a copy of the Le Roy Family Booke 1753-2003?
I can check with my co-author, but there are none available from online book dealers. Interesting that copies don’t come up for sale more often.
Dear Mr. Steward, I wrote too much before my words vanished. So, now I am just going to mention a few names: Prentiss Glazier’s notes, Simon LeRoy(Canada), Johannes Van Kleeck (Dutchess County),my tangible Francis LeRoy, (d. 1822, in Revolution) who lived with my family). As Prentiss told me, “There is a lot confusion” about the myriad of Francis LeRoys; yet I have some comfort that I have the body. I still struggle with the accuracy of the Simon heritage at my age of 88. I was elated to read your site! Diane
Hi Scott, I was wondering if you could confirm for me the relationship between the Simon Leroy(Canada) line and Maria Leroy who married the Livingston of Oak Hill manor. Thank you!
I’m afraid I can’t, Dot. Jacob Le Roy’s line goes back to La Rochelle, and can be traced into the sixteenth century — how Simon might fit in I couldn’t say.
Scott,
Hi! My maiden name is LeRoy. I’m from Georgia. Where can I start to find out about my ancestry? I would be most appreciative of any guidance in this process.
Katie
I would start with what you know. Follow the Le Roy name back through vital records, keeping track of names and places — and linking each generation carefully to the ones before and after.
Siméon LeRoy dit le Haudry was a soldier in the Carignan-Salières regiment, de Berthier company; he left La Rochelle on board the Brézé and arrived in Québec, June 30, 1665. My understanding was that both Simeon and Jacob Leroy left France (Simeon Holland and Jacob Switzerland) both protestant Leroy lines escaping French persecution during the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
I am a Leroy descendant (by way of Herman Leroy Lewis) doing family genealogy research. I’m noting that your book is available in some Historical Libraries, but otherwise not generally available. Was it privately published? Are there any copies available or is it best to find them where available in libraries?
Sarah, how nice to hear from you! I am having trouble putting my hands on a copy of the Le Roy book — could you tell me how you connect up? The Le Roy-Lewis family was something of a challenge! I would be glad to help out if I can, but copies of the book (privately published 16 years ago) are hard to find these days.
Hello Sarah, I have just come across this – I am your second cousin. My grandmother was born Helen Sarah Le Roy Lewis, and she and your grandmother were sisters – I met ‘Aunt Mary’, as she was known to me, a few times, and in fact even remember your father Robin coming to lunch once when he was visiting from America and my grandmother was over staying with us from her home in Ireland. Incidentally, your cousin Charlie Bradstock and I are more or less exact contemporaries, and we used to run across one another a bit when we were young, but I haven’t seen him for many years.
Our great-grandfather Colonel Herman Le Roy Lewis seems to have been, shall we say, an interesting character, and apparently there were many fallings-out among his children, though I believe our respective grandmothers, who were the youngest two of the five, did remain on more or less good terms. Perhaps like you, I have inherited various stories about the family, and have intermittently tried to pick out what might be true from what is probably fantasy – or at least exaggeration. Happy to compare notes with you.
How delightful! I also have a distinct memory of “Cousin Sarah” who came to visit once when my Grandmother Mary was in the US. I do believe they had a great admiration and affection for each other, or at least, that was what I perceived. I “received” a some information about the Lewis/Leroy family in America before my father died, but “fact from fiction” has certainly been the journey! Robin Wilson was my father and Charles is my first cousin(whom, I’m afraid, I also have not seen for many years). The most extraordinary part of doing this ancestry research has been discovering the extent and history of family heritage in the US, as my immediate family was essentially recent immigrants from England. Here’s to uncovering more family stories and histories! Cheers!
I apologize! When I read the name “Sarah” I assumed you were a US relative! We are much more closely related…I did discover that there were many Leroy Lewis siblings, though my Father and Grandmother rarely spoke of them (another mystery). I’d be delighted to hear more about the family, if you would like to connect some time…
Thank you for your prompt reply! I see that it is listed in the collection of the NEHS, so as time and COVID restrictions allow, I will look for it there. My family connection is: Father – Robin Wilson, Grandmother – (Hilda) Mary Leroy Lewis, Great Grandfather -Herman Leroy Lewis, Great Great Grandfather and GM – Capt. Robert Leroy and Amelia Lewis Leroy. I am first generation “US” having immigrated from Great Britain as a child. My father had somewhat cryptic information about our family history in the U.S. and after he passed, I started researching the Leroy and Lewis families. My Great Grandfather “flipped” is name as he was mostly raised by my Great Great Grandmother’s Cousin, John Delaware Lewis, in England (he was his heir), while she lead a reportedly “scandalous” life in Paris after her husband died in the Civil War. This could be why the Leroy Lewis trail was a challenge!
I guess a lot has come online since the early 2000s — I see several references I don’t remember to more recent Le Roy-Lewises at Findagrave. Our cousin Newb Le Roy and I decided to do a book on the family as so little seemed available in print — especially on the Le Roy-Lewis branch. I’m descended from the White family, one of the two White-Le Roy marriages, and ours is a small branch by comparison to the Herman Le Roy and Maria Anna (Le Roy) Livingston families, from both of which Newb is descended. (But we were careful to look for the White and McEvers and other, smaller Le Roy lines.)
Hi Sarah, I have been reading with interest this thread regarding LeRoy and LeRoy-Lewis. I am ‘sort of’ related Herman LeRoy-Lewis i.e. His son Styvesant Henry LeRoy-Lewis was my uncle John Oliver LeRoy-Lewis’s father; John also had an older brother David, a stock-broker and at one time chairman of the stock exchange in London.
John was ‘married’ to Diana Hunt , my mother’s next older sister and they lived in Worthing, West Sussex. UK. I should say, both have now passed away and we since discovered they never ‘legally’ married as John was still married to someone else (can’t remember her name) and she was committed to an institution (mentally ill) but John ‘adopted’ my cousin Roger when he was less than a year old and always regarded him as is son.
Roger LeRoy-Lewis is still alive and father of 4 and grand-father to many (all living in and around East Sussex). I have quite a bit of information re. John and David if you are interested.
I am following this with interest as I am also looking into the family history.
Best Wishes Wendie Darby
Wendie, I am just seeing this now. It would be great to connect! You can reach me at scott.steward@nehgs.org.
Hello Wendie! My Grandmother, (Hilda) Mary Leroy-Lewis (maried name Wilson), I believe was the youngest in the family, with Stuyvesant as the only son. My father was cryptic about his family and I don’t remember any conversation with my Grandmothers about her brothers and sisters, so I’ve only come across this with research. It does fascinate me, though, that Herman LeRoy Lewis named his son “Stuyvesant,” demonstrating his connection to the LeRoys of New York and their deep connections to Early America (“Rutgers” and “Cornell” are other frequent family names that appear).
“Leroy Lewis” branch is descended from Jacob Leroy (from his second marriage). This is the brother of “Herman Leroy” of note, thought they started together, with great success, as merchants and bankers in New York.
My Great Grandfather George N. King of Codrington, Canada was apparently born to Aert LeRoy and Aefie Rome LeRoy- he changed his last name to King and his son, George settled in Kansas. The ancestry supposedly traces back to France, then Holland and on to New York ( or New Amsterdam as it then was.) There are connections to the Middagh and Freer families in New York City and Ulster County.
Meant to say that George N. King was my great, great Grandfather. His son George, my great Grandfather settled in Solomon Kansas in the 1870s. I live in Boulder Creek, California ( Santa Cruz County.)
My husband’s great grandfather was Hugo Freer one of the earliest huguenot settlers of New Paltz. His wife was Marie Anne Leroy
per Google translate:
Simeon’s baptismal and marriage certificates tell us the names of his parents: Richard Leroy and Gillette Jacquet, little more. It is however logical to believe that Jacques Leroy would be his uncle, according to the mention made in the act of baptism (see chronicle of October 22, 2011 for the transcription of the baptismal act and that of January 19, 2012 for the act of baptism. wedding).
Saint-Lô station in 1944.
It will be remembered that the baptismal certificate that we have found is in fact only a transcription of the original, transcription made by Archange Godbout, the founder of the French Canadian Genealogy Society. The transcript in question was made before 1939. The absence of many other documents directly relating to Simeon and his family leads us to believe that many of these documents were destroyed during the Second World War. This region of France suffered heavy bombardments in June 1944, in anticipation of the landing.
Recently a direct descendant of Simeon contacted me, via the Internet, precisely concerning Simeon’s ancestry. This is Mr. Richard Leroy, from the State of Ohio in the United States. The latter, together with another descendant, commissioned a French genealogist to carry out research on the family of our ancestor. Mr. Leroy kindly provided me with a copy of the correspondence and documents sent to him by the genealogist. The following paragraph is therefore intended to be a summary of the results of this research.
Numerous documents highlight the presence of several Leroy families in the region of Créances, Coutances, Lessay and Saint-Lô, from 1522, when a “Leroy” bought a property. These three communes in France are all located in the Manche department and are a few kilometers from each other.
A salt marsh.
Subsequently, the notarial documents consulted mention several real estate transactions involving Leroys. On consulting these documents, we realize that the Leroy family is involved in the exploitation of the salt marshes ubiquitous in the region. It should be borne in mind that at that time salt was the subject of a royal monopoly. It was stored in salt granaries where the population could only buy it in small quantities and only by paying a large tax which served to enrich the royal treasury. The tax in question was called the “gabelle” and represented at the time a considerable sum, estimated at 6% of the royal revenues.
Unfortunately, little more is learned about Simeon’s ancestry. However, this information corroborates the information presented in a previous column (October 22, 2011).
Then, the ancestry of his wife, Claude Deschalets
All the information in this section comes from the Research Program on French Emigration in New France (PREFEN) at the University of Caen, France, and is available on the web.
In the 17th century, there were several variants of the surname “Deschalets”, namely: Deschalas, Dechala, Deschallas, Eschallas, Échalas or D’Eschallas. It should be remembered that at that time the spelling was rather approximate.
Claude’s grandfather, Noël Deschallas, is from the Seine et Marne department, a department near the Parisian conurbation. On May 19, 1593, Noël signed a marriage contract with Georgette Falcon, in Fontenay-le-Comte in Vendée, where they had their two children, both baptized at the Notre-Dame church in Fontenay-le-Comte. One, François, Claude’s father, was baptized on April 21, 1594 and the second, Jacques, on May 22, 1596.
We can therefore conclude that it is quite probable that Georgette Falcon, the wife of Noël is from Fontenay-le-Comte in Vendée and that the family has settled there.
Notre-Dame Church in
Fontenay-le-Comte.
François married Renée Bran before August 13, 1618, the date of birth of Jean, their first child. Renée was the natural daughter of Savary Bran and his maid Suzanne Denis. The marriage was celebrated in Fontenay-le-Comte. François and Renée had six children, all baptized in Fontenay-le-Comte: Jean, Noël, Marie, Jacques, Claude and Jeanne.
Four years after the death of Renée Bran, his first wife, François remarried to Jacquette Chevallereau on December 1, 1642, still at the Notre-Dame church in Fontenay-le-Comte. It was his brother Jacques who then served as his witness.
François and Jacquette had four children: Élisabeth, Claude, Madeleine and Pierre. The first three were baptized at the Notre-Dame church in Fontenay-le-Comte. No information was found regarding the baptism of the fourth child.
Signature of François Descallas.
François has worked as a master glazier and painter, always in Fontenay-le-Comte and the surrounding area and he knows how to sign. Several contracts
My grandfather was Stuart leroy in Massachusetts. I cant wait to dig into the history. So excited!
Hi my name is Mara Marshall LeRoy. I am not sure if I am corrected about being connected to this, I Don’t have a lot of family background to be able to see if I am. I was just wondering if some of the LeRoy’s married into the Livingston’s family, does this have any connection to the town Livingston Manor in NY?
Mara – yes they would. Please contact me; I have the Livingston Genealogy and I may be able to answer your questions (my paternal grandmother was a Livingston).
Mara – yes, there are at least two. John Livingston (b. 1750) married Mary Ann Le Roy and had eight children. And Susan E. Livingston (b. 1805) married Daniel Le Roy and had a son.
Maria Ann LeRoy and John Livingston of Oak Hill had ten children. We believe two of them died in infancy. Susan Livingston-Livingston of Oak Hill, married to Hank.
The LeRoy genealogy is excellent! A lot of work went into it.
Mara, you might also want to look at the 2003 Le Roy genealogy, which has been scanned and is now online at American Ancestors.
I need help with John Roy and Dorothy Buckner Roy ( I have not found proof of there marriage) but it is in the history of Port Royal Virginia they were.
I am from there son Reuben Roy that married Mary Jane Morton.
I need to find John Roy, father and grandfather I have. Seen it could be Hugh LeRoy 1616-1659 or I have seen 1616-1695 ?
If you can help me proof from John Roy back to ,? LeRoy. Would love to join the Huguenots Society.
I have a copy application from Colonial Dames XVII Century that has Hugh LeRoy 1616- 1694,
Thank you Brenda Fleenor Haynie