My Roy Ancestors
    by Ken Roy

    This article written by Ken Roy, was initially published in the St John Valley Times on June 29, 1994 on pages 10-12 as part of the Roy Family Reunion..

In researching my Roy ancestors, I encountered various spellings of the family name, including Roy, Roi, Rois, LeRoy and King. My particular Roy lineage was also frequently referred to as Desjardins, Lauzier, Lauzon, and Voisine. With just a cursory look, one would not necessarily associate these last surnames with the Roy family. However, backtracking through the various historical records, I have come across all these surnames as referring to the same family.

The Roy name I received from my father, Claude Roy, son of Maxime Roy and Elise Bouchard. Claude Roy married Marie Therese Nadeau, daughter of Ernest Nadeau and Mamie Soucy of Winterville, Maine on 20 November 1941 at St Anne in Bristol, Connecticut. Maxime Roy, son of Jean Baptiste Roy and Malvina Martin, married Elise Bouchard, daughter of William Bouchard and Flavie Cyr on 6 July 1903 at Ste Luce, Frenchville, Maine. Jean Baptiste Roy, son of Jean Baptiste Roy and Verville Michaud, married Malvina Martin, daughter of Isaie Martin and Scholastique Violette on 23 May 1876 at St David, Maine. Jean Baptiste Roy, son of Jean Raphael Roy and Marie Louise Caron, married Verville Michaud on 25 October, 1838 at St Basile, New Brunswick, Canada. It is quite probably that this marriage was actually performed at the chapel in Ste Luce but recorded in the St Basile parish register, where records for the Ste Luce parish were maintained until 1943. All of my above mentioned ancestors are buried in Ste Luce cemetery in Upper Frenchville, Maine.

First Roy Ancestor in the St John River Valley

My 3rd Great Grandfather, Jean Raphael Roy, appears to have been the first Roy to migrate to the Saint John River Valley around 1826. Jean Raphael Roy, son of Jean Marie Roy and Marie Anne Michaud, married Marie Louis Caron, daughter of Simon Caron and Ursule Belanger on 26 November 1810 at St Louis, Kamouraska, Kamouraska County, Province of Quebec. Their children were also born and baptized at St Louis, Kamouraska, except for Henriette who baptism was registered at St Basile, Madawaska County, New Brunswick, Canada in 1826. It is quite possible that this baptism also actually occurred at the Ste Luce chapel.

The parish register entries in St Basile sometimes refer to Jean Raphael as Voisine and sometimes as Desjardins. A person not familiar with the fact that these different surnames are part of the Roy family might overlook entries in the St Basile parish register.

Kamouraska, Province of Quebec, Ancestors

Joseph Marie Roy, son of Jean Baptiste Roy and Marie Genevieve Cote, married Marie Anne Michaud, daughter of Jacques Michaud and Marie Josette Ouellet on 26 October 1778 at St Louis, Kamouraska, Province of Quebec, Canada. Jean Baptiste Roy, son of Jean Baptiste Roy and Marie Madeleine Michaud, married Genevieve Cote, daughter of Gabriel Cote and Elizabeth Bernier, on 10 October 1749 at Trois Pistoles, Province of Quebec, Canada. Jean Baptiste Roy, son of Pierre Roy and Marie Anne Martin, married Marie Madeleine Michaud, daughter of Pierre Michaud and Marie Ancelin, widow of Nicolas Lebel, on 5 September 1722 at St Louis, Kamouraska, Province of Quebec, Canada.

First Ancestor Born in North America

Pierre Roy, the first ancestor in my lineage born in the new world, was the son of Antoine Roy dit Desjardins (also known as Desjardins) and Marie Major. He married Marie Anne Martin, daughter of Joachim Martin and Anne Charlotte Petit on 12 February, 1691 at St Pierre, Ile d'Orleans, Province of Quebec, Canada.

The files of E. Jacob no 373, 24 January 1695 list a gift from Antoine Juchereau to Pierre Le Roy des Jardins (Peter King of the Gardens) and Marie Martin, his spouse. Pierre in that entry is identified as a cooper living on the Isle of St Laurent (today l'Ile d'Orleans) at St Pierre. In October 1696, Pierre received a land grant in Kamouraska from Charles Aubert de La Chenaye. The second church of Kamouraska was build on land that the Roy family gave to the church. Today the location of the second church is marked by a cross about a mile North East of the intersection of Route 51 and Route 2 in St Andre.

First Ancestor Who Came to Canada

Antoine Roy, a cooper by trade, is my earliest Roy ancestor who came to the new world. George Desjardins, S.J. in his book Antoine Roy dit Desjardins (1635-1684) et ses descendants Edition du Bien Public, 1970, (Antoine Roy a.k.a. Desjardins (1635-1684) and his Descendants), believed that Antoine came to Canada with the Carignan Regiment as one of the soldiers in the company commanded by Captain Froment in June 1665. Father Desjardins does not further identify the source of the name Desjardins other than to indicate that Antoine Roy was probably the Desjardins soldier in the Froment Company which has not been identified by Regis Roy and Gerard Malchelosse in their book Le Regiment Carignan. Son organisation et son Expedition au Canada (1665-1668). Officiers et soldats qui s'etablirent en Amerique. Ducharme, Montreal, 1925. (The Carignan Regiment. Its Organization and Its Expedition to Canada (1665-1668). Officers and Soldiers Who Established Themselves in America.)

On 20 September 1667, Antoine obtained a land concession from the Jesuits of the Cap-de-la-Madeleine, in their seigneurie (lordship) of Batiscan where he established himself with some of his comrades in arms after the Carignan Regiment returned to France in 1667. Like them, he attempted to clear the land.

A year after acquiring land in Batiscan, he married Marie Major, daughter of Jean Major and Marguerite Le Pele on 11 September, 1668 at Notre Dame de Quebec. Marie Major (or Mazol) probably came to Canada as part of the 97 Filles du Roi which in the summer of 1668 arrived in Quebec. The term Filles du Roi refers to the plan of providing women known as the King's daughters to populate Canada. Homeless girls were taken from charitable institutions, and peasants with too many children contributed daughters as King's daughters. Marie's parents were both dead when she came to Canada in the summer of 1668.

Marie Major was baptized on 26 February 1637 in the parish of St Thomas of Touques, diocese of Lisieux. She died at l'Hotel-Dieu de Quebec on 8 December, 1689. Her father, Jean Major was a recerveur (tax collector) for the Baron of Heuqueville-en-Vexin and Aubeuf-en-Vexin.

Origins in France

My Roy family line then crosses the ocean to Joigny, in the Province of Champagne, in France. Antoine was the son of Olivier Roy and Catherine Baudard (sometimes shown as Boderge). Olivier Roy and Catherine Baudard were probably married at St Jean, in the Diocese of Sens around 1625-1626, since the following children were listed in the parish registers of St Jean de Sens: Catherine, 1627; Marie, February 1629; Charlotte, 19 August 1630; Edmee, 18 March 1632; illegible but possibly Benedicte, 8 July 1633; Antoine, 23 Mar 1635; Elie, 13 July 1636. Antoine was the only child of Olivier and Catherine who came to New France.

Olivier Roy was buried at St Jean of Joigny in the Diocese of Sens on 6 December 1661. No age was indicated. His wife, Catherine Boderge was also buried at St Jean on 20 December 1659. Her age was not indicate either.

Today Joigny is generally considered to be in the province of Burgundy. The Church of St Jean de Sens was formerly that associated with the Counts of Joigny castle. It became the parish church around 1200. Destroyed in 1396, it was rebuilt in 1504 and was seriously damaged by the Joigny fire of 1530. The church today, a mixture of medieval and renaissance style, is substantially the same the one where Antoine was baptized and where he worshipped until his departure for Canada.

Name Origins

Although I have not been able to identify the origin of the Desjardins name, I believe the Voisine, Lauzon and Lauzier names in the Roy family lineage originated as follows:

  • The Voisine Name

    The Voisine name can be traced primarily from the fact that Jean Raphael's Grandfather, Jean Baptiste Roy died in February 1756, a month after Jean Raphael's father, Joseph Marie was born. Jean Baptiste's widow, Genevieve Cote, married the merchant, Philippe Voisine on 23 January, 1759. Philippe Voisine raised the four Roy youngsters as his own. From that point forward, the parish registers often refer to some of the Roy children and their descendants by the Voisine surname. One should note however that only the Voisines who trace their ancestry to the following children of Jean Baptiste Roy and Genevieve Cote (Jean Baptiste, 1750; Joseph, 1752; Augustin, 24 October 1753; and Joseph Marie, 5 January 1756) are part of the Roy family. Philippe Voisine and Genevieve Cote had children of their own, thus providing a legitimate Voisine lineage different from the Roy lineage.

  • The Lauzon and Lauzier Names

    The Lauzon name, which later became Lauzier, was adopted by Augustin Roy, son of Pierre Roy and Anne Martin, probably after his wife's grandfather, Etienne Charest, le Seigneur de Lauzon, died in 1742. It is quite possible that Augustin and his wife had inherited part of his seigneurie (lordship). Augustin's son, also called Augustin, was the first to succeed in maintaining this name. He also became Seigneur de la Pocatiere and L'Islet- a-la-Peau between 1770 and 1774. Since that time there have been Roys also known as Lauzier.

  • The King Name

    The King name is found in the 1870 U.S. Census for Dickeyville (now Frenchville), Maine. Page 21, lines 39-40 and page 22 lines 1-4 list Baptiste King age 57 born in Canada, his wife Mary age 60 also born in Canada, Israel age 25, Baptiste age 23, Leadore (Isidore) age 18, and Elizabeth (Marie Anne) age 20. All children are indicated as born in Maine.

 

  




 Last updated 1 June 2020.