Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Siméon Le ROY 1711-1790, 6th great-grandfather in TERWILLIGER line

Siméon Le ROY is my 6th great-grandfather on my maternal TERWILLIGER line in New York state.  His surname ROY is variously spelled of course, as the Dutch heard the French pronunciation of LeRoy or Le Roy, and spelled it Larwa, Larowa, Larroway. Some descendant lines apparently kept the original French form of [Le] ROY, while others took the LAROWAY/LARAWAY spelling.
Image: current iteration of the first 1647 Notre Dame Basilica Cathedral, Québec; Wikipedia.   

As one might suspect from the surname, this Le ROY family travelled from Québec in the early 1700s down to Kingston in northern New York, settling eventually in Schoharie.

Siméon was the grandson of his name-sake, the original French settler from Normandy to New France in the mid-1660s, who married one of the almost-800 Filles du Roi [King's Daughters] in 1668. (That's a different story for another blog post.)

Siméon was baptised 15 Jul 1711 in Kingston, Ulster, New York, of parents: Léonard-Rémi LE ROY  dit AUDY and Maria ZIELLE/UZILE. For details on French-Canadian dit names, click here. For various reasons related to how names were pronounced by Dutch authorities, his father, Léonard-Rémi, became known as Jonas LARROWA. Already there are too many names and variant names, plus spelling variants. It's an interesting challenge to keep who's who straight.

On October 29, 1733, Siméon married Jantje VANDERVOLGEN in Schoharie, New York. Jantje was bap. Oct 28, 1716 in Schenectady, New York. I am still searching for more details on her line.
Sept. 29 [1733];  Simeon Larwa YM  / and / Jannetje VanderVolgen YD 
                    bo[th] at Nesketha / both liv here  Marr. Oct.29 / bo at Schenectady

Children of Siméon and Jantje, all born in Schoharie:
   1. Sara, [ancestor] bap 17 Nov 1737, d. unknown; m. 20 Sep 1754  to Dirk TERWILLIGER, Albany, NY;  5 known children
   2. Maria, bap 29 Jul 1738
   3. Neeltje, bap 12 Oct 1740
   4. Dina, bap 7 Sep 1742

Jannetje VANDERVOLGEN must have died between 1742-1744, although I haven't found a burial record as yet. However, there is a second marriage in the marriage registers of the Dutch Reformed Church, with widower Siméon, on Dec 6, 1744, with Jantje Valkenburgh [single].
Dec. 6 [1744];  Simeon Larrowa, widr & Jantje Valkenburgh YD;
both Schenectady

Children of Siméon and the second Jantje, all born in Schoharie:
   5. Lydia, bap 11 Nov 1745
   6. Jannetje, bap 10 Jun 1753
   7. Isaac, bap 21 Nov 1756

Jantje in various spellings is a quite common woman's name in the Dutch community. I was confused at this second marriage, thinking that perhaps Valkenburgh and VanderVolgen had been mistakenly heard/written, and were the same person. However I have since seen there are several Vandervolgen families in the region. As you can see by the children's birthdates, there is a 7 year gap between the 5th and 6th child. The cause of this gap is not known at this point. Jantje Valkenburgh died after birthing her son Isaac, the only boy in the family, on 21 Nov 1756.

Unfortunately Siméon's second wife died in childbirth with Isaac, the only known boy in this family. I have not yet done further research on the parents of the two Jantje wives, nor of the marriages of the 7 children. I have a list of research, who/where/when.

Siméon died in 1790 in Schoharie, having outlived both his wives. He would have been about 45 years old at the death of his second wife; possibly he moved in with one of his 6 daughters, or his only son's family.

I have additional details still to research: his occupation, taxes, land records, will or probate, and any further church records available... One never stops searching!
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If these are your ancestors as well, please feel free to contact me via the email address at the very bottom of the blogs. I am always happy to share, and to correct any details I may have incorrect.  

Google Blogger still isn't allowing me to reply to any comments, but I do read them and enjoy knowing others find the blog posts interesting. If you comment, you make my day!  

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Welcome!

Family, friends, and others - I hope you enjoy these pages about our ancestors and their lives. Genealogy has become somewhat of an obsession, more than a hobby, and definitely a wonderful mystery to dig into and discover. Enjoy my writing, and contact me at celia.winky at gmail dot com if you have anything to add to the stories. ... Celia Lewis