Most Wanted

In the Roy~Royes tree we have James Roy who would have been born about 1830-1840 and possibly came from Belfast. James has a son Thomas Roy born about 1864, father of Samuel Russell Roy. There is also a photo (illustrated) found in Sam's collection of a John Roy. Thomas died when Sam was only 3 weeks old. Did John assume some responsibility for/connection with Sam that caused him to keep the photograph? Was he a brother or uncle of Thomas and therefore an uncle or great uncle of Sam's?
Compare this from the Roy_misc tree: James Roy born about 1840 has a father and brother both named John. There is no information about this James's wife and family but a lot more information about the whole family.
I am tempted to join these two families (see hypothetical chart) but would like a little more evidence.

Looking for possible links from The Oaks, NSW, cemetery records:

Henry Dunn, born Hull, Yorkshire abt 1804, died 30 Dec 1877 aged 73
Henry's wife: Jane born abt 1808, died 20 Jan 1865 aged 57
Mary Dunn Piper born abt 1837 died 5 Jul 1852 aged 15 (where does "Piper" come from?)
[A Henry Dunn, age 38, convict, was granted permission to marry Jane Piper, immigrant, age 36, on 19 Mar 1842]
Henry's wife: Serena born abt 1832 died 26 Jun 1918 [Is this the first Henry's son?]
John [son of first Henry?] of "Sunnyside" born abt 1833 died 17 Feb 1916 aged 83
John's wife Jane born abt 1846 died 25 Jan 1865 aged 19

[Note that if Henry 2, Charles and John are sons of Henry the children are born:
18?? Henry 2
1833 John
1837 Mary
1843 Charles

There is also a Henry and Annie L. Dunn who had a son:
William Adair Dunn b 20 Dec 1872 d 23 Dec 1882

And a George Lambert Dunn b abt 1887 d 2 Feb 1965 aged 77
whose wife was Elizabeth b abt 1869 d 25 Aug 1950 aged 81

Paul Robinson (contact me for his email address) is looking to connect his ancestors into the William Cameron line on this site: In late 1891 my GGGrandfather, Allan MacDiarmid (born 1817 Loch Etive, Argyll) travelled from Sydney with his family to Armidale NSW to visit his 'kinsman' John Cameron at "Morven". While in Armidale Allan died on 7/11/1891. Allan's mother was Janet Cameron and she married Duncan MacDiarmid in Stronlain, Arnamurchan,, Scotland in 1809. I have now established for certain that the John Cameron, Allan MacDiarmid visited was the John Cameron (born 1836 Garmony Mull, died 1915 'Morven' Armidale) in your family tree. His grandfather was William Cameron born about 1788 Forosay-Glen Argyll. I estimate that Janet Cameron (Allan's mother)would have been born about 1780, but I don't know where. It is possible that Janet and William Cameron were sister and brother and thus Allan MacDiarmid and John Cameron were first cousins (once removed). I would be grateful for any information you may have or any research that you could suggest that would establish if Janet and William Cameron were related.

The Royes London data has a few question marks. There is the question of who exactly was Lydia Royes Sanigear? Solomon Hougham's will refers to Solomon Royes his nephew as "the elder", and to Solomon Royes "junior" and his sister Lydia Sanigear. A Mary Royes is also mentioned (the will is dated 6 years before Mary Hougham Royes is born).

I have speculated

1. that Solomon Royes jr is Solomon Hougham Royes;
2. that Solomon and Lydia were siblings of William, born to Solomon Royes sr's first wife Ann Hannah Jones;
3. that Mary Royes is Solomon sr's second wife, Mary Hougham.

There are other possibilities. In the article "Huffam and Son", Gillian West states: "Solomon Hougham and his brother, his nephew Solomon Royes and two of Royes's cousins, father and son, all as young men went through the required ten year apprenticeship of the Goldsmiths, became owners of a firm, and, some of them at least made their fortunes". Gillian West's information is not always correct - what about here? Who were Royes's cousins? Were they Royes or Houghams - or maybe Dix? For the full details see the discussion.

Huguenots , notably French (and French-speaking Walloons) and Dutch, escaped religious persecution by fleeing to England in the period 1550-1750. (Go to http://sag.org.au select "Our Research Guides" in the left margin then select "Huguenots" for a succinct explanation.) Canterbury (where John Royes married Sarah Hougham) had the largest concentration of Huguenots outside London and where they established a silk-weaving centre. (There was a similar centre at Spitalfields in London's East End). John Royes was a silk weaver! And one possible origin for the name "Royes" is French. There is still a French Protestant Church worshipping in the Canterbury Cathedral crypt (the Black Prince's chantry) at 3 p.m. each Sunday. Add to all that the fact that Solomon Royes retired to the Channel Islands. The Channel Islands were places to which French Huguenots fled, and from where many Huguenots moved to England. However... we need to note that Royes is a common Spanish name. A look at the occurrence of names in each country shows that Royes frequency per thousand people in Spain is 9.3 (Aragon 123.72, Cataluna 26.11) compared with USA 0.83 (Oregon 6.12), United Kingdom 0.61, Argentina 0.4. The highest Spanish occurrences are in two provinces adjoining souther France.

We know that Mary and Joseph Bravo married in Jamaica in 1854. Mary married Augustus (may have been known as Charles) Turner probably in England about 1843 - children Alice (1844) and Charles (1845) were born there and Ellen (Nellie) (1849) in St Helier, Jersey, according to Census returns. Some references think that Augustus Charles Turner died in Jamaica, perhaps to account for Mary being in Jamaica so as to meet Joseph, but they were probably unaware that Mary's brother Charles was established in the St Ann's area of Jamaica - as were brothers Joseph and Charles Bravo with whom Charles Royes had close community and business ties.

It is reported that Ellen was "a helpless imbecile confined to an institution", perhaps a Catholic nuns' establishment. However, consider the census returns:
1851 Channel Islands Census lists her (age 2) as "visiting" a young St Helier, Jersey family.
1861 England Census has her (age 12) living with her aunt Emily (Royes) Bell and her family, and is described as "scholar".
1871 England Census she (age 23) is staying with her mother and step-father.
It seems likely, in view of the stories plus the evidence, that Ellen had some disability but may have been, say, a Downs syndrome child.

We can speculate (but speculation needs evidence!) that

1. Augustus died in London perhaps while Mary was pregnant with Ellen, and, for support during her grieving and delivery, joined her sisters Adelaide and Emily (recently returned from Australia after the death of her husband) in St Helier;
2. Ellen was being baby-sat by the family in St Helier in 1851 while Mary and the other two children (and perhaps Emily and her children) visited brother Charles in Jamaica, which turned into an extended stay for Mary when she met Joseph Bravo and married him in 1854.

You may have other speculations! Speculation gives us ideas as to where we might search for evidence.

Sam "Tyson" Royes appeared before the Sydney Court of Petty Sessions on 20th October 1831 and pleaded guilty to stealing 11/1 (11 shillings 1 pence or A$1.11 in Australian decimal currency) from his employer, for which he received three months imprisonment. He had references dated August 1829 both of which describe him as "visiting" Australia to make his fortune. His father is described as an eminent London businessman. I have assumed that Sam Tyson Royes is our Samuel Tyssen Royes and that his eminent father is our Solomon Royes, goldsmith. I think we can assume that Sam arrived in the latter half of 1829 looking for work. Did he stay after his imprisonment or ...?

This is not so much a mystery photo - we have this photo of Jane Elliott Hougham Royes but you can barely make her out. Deb and Libby Sara are particularly keen to obtain a better photo of their maternal grandmother. She died when their mother, Desme Harvey Sara, was a baby, and Desme has not even seen a photo of her and had no contact at all with the Royes clan. Their dearest wish is to track down a photo of Jane before Mum dies.

This photo was in the collection held by Sam and Agnes Roy. We know his name: John Roy. But how does he fit into the family tree?

He is clearly a Lodge member;
the photo is of a style taken in the early 20th century;
he is perhaps 35-45 years of age?

Speculation:
He is a brother of Tom, Sam's father?
He is a cousin of Sam's?