Family Links 14

Transcription

Family Links 14

Family Links 21
produced in association with
roy~royesfamilylinks
http://royroyes.net/
News and Notes
Snippets
Not a lot of news this time. Any
more babies? Weddings? Gold
medals?
Family authors
W
e have had occasion to
mention a number of
people in our family tree who
have produced books, novels, or
poetry. The latest publications are:
Raising Teenage
Boys by Andy Roy,
available in hard copy
- A$32.95 (inc. P& H),
eBook - A$24.95 or
audiobook - A$19.95. Follow the
links at http://raisingteenageboys.
powerhouseprograms.com.au/
book/
Gillian Royes’ second
novel in the Shad
series: The Man Who
Turned Both Cheeks!
is due for release in
early December at
US$16.00 - see http://facebook.
com/theshadseries and the
reviews (beginning, wait for it,
“REVIEWS:“) on each of the books
in this series can be found under
Media> Articles.
Family news
A
nne van Gestel expects to
be a great grandmother in
January. Her mother died in May
this year and so has missed out on
being a great great grandmother
by just a few months.
H
appy coincidence: Bev and
I were visiting Cairns and
Mareeba in September to catch
up with my step-mother and
many cousins when the Grumleys
(Malanda) were having their own
family gathering. So I caught
up with them at Bill jr’s place
at Clifton Beach: Ken (Manila,
Philippines, whom I had never
met); that’s me in the middle;
Kay (Brisbane - had not seen her
for nearly 12 years); “Bill” senior;
and in front Bill junior. [Another
sibling, Janine, died in 2010.]
June 2012
Y Paul Cassin, son of Mark
and Kate, was baptised by
his great uncle Father Tom
Hogan in Dublin.
Y Kate Kempen gained her
Masters with distinction
and an entrée into a PhD
program.
Y Xavier Ardon Lightbourne
born to Jonathon and
Jennie (Hogan), brother for
Lucas.
N
oticed in Facebook that
Bogiatzis researcher Alan
Cresswell and his wife have been
re-visiting Castellorizo, Greece.
Caught up with Rose (Bogiatzis)
Roy when in Cairns. She is doing
remarkably well for a 91-y-o.
Her parents migrated from
Castellorizo to Darwin in 1917,
and then to Townsville.
A
s this newsletter goes to
print, royroyes.net has had
over 380,000 “page hits” - the
top five countries from which
our vistors come are, in order,
Australia, USA, UK, Canada,
Netherlands, and New Zealand.
You can see these statistics and
more on the home page.
In this issue
Found this new map of Jamaica
(renamed) following the spectacular
performance of Jamaican athletes
at the London Olympic Games
News and Notes
Larne memories
Web site notes
Research notes
Clements descendants
Maria Royes descendants
1
2
4
4
5
6
According to my research, I am
6,345,174th in line for the throne.
roy~royesfamilylinks 21 • October 2012
Larne memories
Joy Logan remembers trips to Larne and extended family. Joy has a degree in history from
Queen’s University (Belfast) and has worked in Israel with the Church of Scotland and in
Jamaica with the Irish Presbyterian Church. This article was first written about 1991 as part
of a family history and appears on our web site in the Histories section - along with several
other articles from that early history..
years ago I was amazed
arne to me means
the word - an enormous
to see how small that
summer holidays,
tea, two kettles, two primus
patch of sand is: it seemed
although we must have
stoves (and I suppose the
enormous to a child. On
been there at least once
water too) and several rugs
special occasions we went
in Spring as I have a vivid
were stowed aboard. Our
to ‘the bathing boxes’ when first task was to collect
memory of the lilac tree in
our parents bathed, but
the back garden. I decided
stones to build a platform
that was never so much
very early in life that when
for the stoves, and then
fun. The water, being
I grew up I would have a
it was off to play or bathe
deeper, was always cold,
lilac and a rocking chair
while the kettles boiled.
and one seemed to be out
as Granny had: it took
The great treat on this
of the sun. I wonder why
me over forty years, but I
occasion was sandwiches: I
we were never taught to
managed it in the end!
think this was the only time
swim?
One
odd
memory
we ever had them, and for
Arrival was always exciting,
is
that
on
the
way
down
to
years I thought they were
with Granny waiting to
the
beach
we
passed
a
dark
so called because one ate
greet us after the long car
house
with
no
curtains,
them sitting on the sand!
journey from Gulladuff.
which
Beth
told
me
There were always loganAnother special memory
belonged to ‘a professor’.
berries and ice-cream for
was the evening singBeing older than the
tea on the first evening:
songs. Sunday evenings
our first job was to go up to others, I did not want to
were for hymn-singing,
Bonugli’s for the ice-cream, admit that I did not know
often with friends brought
something of course which what a professor was, and
back from church. Was it
some fairy tale association
with no electricity we
Uncle Hugh who sang ‘The
never had at home. Granny must have linked the word
Old Rugged Cross’ and
was a marvellous cook, and with wizards and ogres. We ‘The Holy City’? Certainly
always passed that house
mealtimes were always
‘The Lost Chord’ recalls
with bated breath, and
a treat - several of my
Aunt Rose. (These Sunday
it was with considerable
‘party-piece’ recipes were
evenings are in fact the
amusement to both of us
originally hers, and are
reason we were ever there
that I later found its gentle
often commented on by
at all, since it was through
elderly owner teaching me
guests who have not met
being invited to them
Anglo-Saxon at University.
them before. I believe that
when she first came to
Alas, I have forgotten his
Beth has her recipe book Larne as a stranger that my
perhaps she will circulate it name: I have forgotten the
mother met my father.)
Anglo-Saxon too!
some time?
There must have been
he special treat of every weekday ones too when
What do I
summer was a picnic
remember?
we sang the old Irish songs
to Islandmagee. All the
Playing and
like ‘I’ll take you home
children - there were seven again, Kathleen’, ‘I’m sitting
bathing on
of us by the end - and
the beach by
on the stile, Mary’ - both
several aunts packed up a
the Chaine
calculated to bring tears
picnic and went across by
Memorial - a
to the eyes! - ‘I’m forever
motor-boat. Packed was
couple of
blowing bubbles’ and for
L
T
Who’s who:
Granny is Elizabeth Gamble
Logan née Clements
1871-1939
Granda is Samuel Logan
(1865-1940)
Granny Clements is Granny’s
mother, Agnes Clements née
Gamble
Beth is Joy’s cousin Elizabeth
Gamble Hamill, daughter of
her Aunt Molly (née Logan).
Beth’s brother is John Ivan
Hamill, and he has a son
Stephen
Aunt Rose is Rose Selby née
Logan (1897-1986)
Uncle Hugh is probably Hugh
Selby, Rose’s husband.
Moyra (Hamill née Logan] is
roy~royesfamilylinks 21 • October 2012 • page 2
Joy’s sister (1930-1996)
Aunt Lily is Elizabeth Simms
née Logan (1908-1999)
Aunt Molly is Mary Hamill
née Logan (1898-1976) there is also a cousin Molly
Carmichael, daughter of Aunt
Minnie...
Aunt Minnie is Mary
Carmichael née Clements.
some reason I can still
hear Uncle Hugh singing
‘It’s six miles from Bangor
to Donaghadee’! All these
were sung to the old
organ in the sitting room,
sometimes with Granda
playing his violin.
nother occasional
treat - I can remember
it only once - was a trip
to the Glens of Antrim.
Was there a little hut from
which one could look at a
waterfall through different
coloured panes of glass, or
was it one of Aunt Rose’s
contrivances that enabled
one to see the water red
and green and yellow?
Talking of coloured glass,
what hours of pleasure
we got from a large
kaleidoscope. I tried for
years to get a similar one
for Moyra’s children, and
later her grandchildren, but
without success.
A
I can just remember going
up to Drumalis to see
Granny Clements, and
Molly Carmichael who lived
with her then, although
I have no memory of her
as a person. A couple of
years ago Moyra and I
were in Larne and going to
Her first husband was
William Carmichael and they
had a son William.
Uncle Bryce is Aunt Minnie’s
second husband, Bryce
Mulholland.
Maurie Roy’s mother, Agnes,
was the eldest of the Logan
siblings and had migrated to
Cairns in 1923..
call on Beth. we pulled in
to a gateway to consult a
map, and found ourselves
parked by the gate lodge
of Drumalis, Granny
Clements’ old home.
It cannot always have
been sunny, although in
retrospect it seems to have
been, as there were whole
days spent reading, which
would never have been
allowed if the weather had
allowed us to get out. I also
remember Trying to write a
book one summer, and the
serious interest that Aunt
Rose showed in my story
and how it developed.
I don’t think it ever had
an end - I expect the sun
came out. I can remember
spending one whole
day reading a Victorian
Sunday School prize called
‘Misunderstood, crying my
eyes out on the slippery
black leather sofa in the
front room. I can still quote
whole sentences from it!
There were also the first
comics I had ever come
across, sent weekly from
Australia. Being something
of a bookworm, it worried
me that I could never
understand them!
G
ardenmore church
features largely in my
memories too. It was a
long walk for young legs
on a Sunday morning,
but I think my love for
the church began there.
In Gulladuff we went
to a bare, whitewashed
‘meeting house’ with no
organ or choir, where only
psalms and paraphrases
were sung. Gardenmore
was a revelation to me
with its music, colour
and lovely wooden pews,
and I loved it. (So did my
mother, who chose to
Logan cousins 1991
FRONT: Daphne, Beth;
MIDDLE: Joy, Moyra, Ivan,
Beryl (Moyra’s daughter)
BACK: Hugh
be married there instead
of from her own home.
Well into her eighties she
watched a ‘Songs of Praise’
programme form there
on television - with Ivan’s
son Stephen playing the
organ - and wrote to tell
me how much happiness
it had brought her to see
it again.) I was so pleased
that with the help of Beth
and Ivan (and Stephen)
we were able to arrange
to have her funeral service
there.
e did not always stay
in Curran Street. At
least once we stayed with
Aunt Minnie - perhaps
when the Detroit uncle
was visiting, and there
was a plethora of guests.
We also stayed with Aunt
Rose when Moyra was
born, and although I was
not quite four then, I can
still remember that lovely
house overlooking the
sea. I also remember one
evening when Daddy and
Uncle Hugh took me out
fishing with them, and my
efforts not to show how
terrified I was when the
fish (mackerel, I expect)
started leaping about in
the bottom of the boat. In
1933 we stayed with Aunt
Molly in Bay Road. That was
when Jackie was born, and
is my only less than happy
memory of Lame. I had to
go to the Olderfleet School
for several weeks, and
hated every minute of it!
The uncles do not loom
very large in my memories,
nor does Aunt Lily, though
in my teens I was closer to
her than any of the others. I
W
suppose they were at work
during the day, and our
early bedtime as children
prevented us from seeing
much of them in the
evening. Possible the same
applies to Granda, whom
I visualize sitting silently
in the corner with his pipe
and a paper, or playing
a violin, or standing at
the front door watching
the passers-by, but rarely
speaking. Perhaps with
five talkative daughters
he did not get many
chances! Perhaps Ivan can
remember him better.
ho else do I
remember? Aunt
Minnie and Uncle Bryce
[Mulholland?], Molly and
Muriel, Billy Carmichael...
It was only when working
on this history that I
finally sorted out the
confusion of names in that
household. Aunt Minnie
had re-married, and was
Mrs Mulholland; her
children were Carmichael,
but Muriel, who also
called her ‘mummy’, was
Peterson. Muriel was in
fact her granddaughter.
Her mother had gone to
the USA and had married
there. When she returned
on a visit with her young
baby, Muriel caught scarlet,
fever and was not able to
travel when the time came
for them to go back. Her
mother had to leave her,
planning to come back for
her later, but shortly after
she was widowed, and
Muriel remained in Larne.
Of non-family friends there
were annual visits to tea
with the Orrs, and with the
Halls - the only place where
I can remember having to
be on my best behaviour,
where there was a
daughter called Eileen with
whom I was expected to
make friends, but who to
me was grown up. There
was also someone called
Wesley Simpson who drove
a taxi, though why I should
W
remember him I cannot
imagine. Perhaps he
drove the family on their
visits to Gulladuff: there
are numerous old family
photographs taken there
with unidentifiable men in
them. Perhaps one of them
is Wesley Simpson.
he abiding memory
of Larne, though, is
Granny herself, loving,
welcoming always smelling
of lavendar water which
she had in little wickercovered bottles. I wish she
had lived long enough for
me to know her better,
and for more of her
grandchildren to know her
at all. A glance at some of
her photographs will show
what a lovely person she
was. Granda lived less than
a year after her, according
to Aunt Minnie, with whom
he lived in those months.
T
Logan family about 1904:
REAR: Agnes, father Sam,
Molly, Rose, mother Elizabeth
(daughter of the Elizabeth
below - “Granny” in this
article), Madge and Jack
Granny Clements
(Agnes Gamble Clements)
A chart at Supplement 1
illustrates the family tree
referred to in this article
Web site notes
T
he most significant report
about the web site is that
royroyes.net is now THE site for
Roy~Royes Family Links - the tree
is no longer in a “/genealogy/”
folder on that site.
ignificant additions to the
web site include:
S
Y Transcript of records of the trial
of Samuel Tyssen (spelt Tyson in
court records) Royes in Sydney in
1831.
Y Significant updates to
severalfamilies, norably the
Clements/Logans featured in the
main article.
Research notes
I
f you are interested in the
Weatherburn-Royes connection
Glenda Pollard has a site at My
Heritage http://www.pollardweatherburn.myheritage.com
- you will need to register with the
site.
ou will see in the Clements
chart in Supplement 1 that
I have been wrestling with
a confusion about Houston
Clements’ (1836-?) children. We
have evidence of a marriage and
two births where father is Huston
Clements and mother is Agnes
Jamison, married just after the
birth of the first child. Then the
Y
A former police chief and a genealogist set out to solve a 1971 crime
in Bedford, New Hampshire, in which they have a woman’s body but no
identity - referred to as Jane Doe.
Melinda Byrne teaches forensic genealogy, which she describes as “the
study of kinship and identity as it pertains to the law.”
“The most common use of forensic genealogy is to locate missing heirs to
estates,” she said. “These are cases where you know somebody’s name and
you determine who that name actually belongs to.”
In other cases, “you may not know the person’s last name, but you know
what their place in a kinship group is,” Byrne said. “It’s sort of like an algebra
problem. You know two pieces of the formula, and you get the answer by
using those two pieces.”
Since at this time, Jane Doe lacks both a family name and a designated
place in a kinship group, the equation is more challenging.
“What I’m trying to reverse-engineer is sort of like the dog that didn’t bark
in the night,” Byrne said. “I’m going to use the clues we have in a different
way.”
Read the whole article at http://goo.gl/l2sPJ
next four children are registered
with father Huston Clements and
mother Agnes Gamble.
There is just two years between
the birth of James and Elizabeth
and suggests that this could be
the same person.
The research continues, as it
always does!
delaide Elizabeth McArthur
is listed as the longest lived
person in our data, at 102. But
the number is not precise and it
sends any researcher looking to
find what evidence there is for
this. We had her married to Albert
Joseph Humphries and there was
a NZ connection. A little detective
work and increased availability of
A
including those from parallel branches
such as the Russells, Hogans, Logans,
Girvans and Wileys on the Roy side, and
the Houghams (or Huffams etc) on the
Royes side. You can check on all the
surnames at the web site on the home
page or under the Find drop-down
menu on other pages.
Roy~Royes Family Links has its origins in
the marriage of Maurie Roy and May
Royes in Cairns, Queensland, in 1940. It
has grown to almost 6000 people
NZ vital records on line produced
Humphreys as the correct spelling
and we were off! Adelaide was still
on the electoral roll at age 101
living in South Street, Feilding - so
I guess 102 is reasonably accurate!
lease note that I have
stopped including links to
living people in this newsletter
and the news scroll on the web
site home page. While no one’s
privacy is compromised it does
allow search engines to make a
connection between Surname/
Initials and a web address. Even
though you will find living people
indicated by surname/initials, you
cannot search for them. What a
search engine finds is “Living”.
P
instance where full details about living
people are viewable on the web site.
There are two Facebook groups
associated with our family tree Roy-Hogan-Russell and RoyesHougham. These are designed to be
community forums - so join in!
If you are interested in the
The scope of the data is based on
Houghams, you should be
the Roy and Royes pedigrees. See an
aware that the largest
explanation of the research parameters
Hougham/Huffam data base
in the Using This Site section. It also
(over 26,000 people) is by Robin Young at
includes several areas of interest such as http://hougham-huffam.org/ . Robin
the Normandy dukes and English royalty. provided much of the information we
Privacy is important. Please report any
have on the Houghams.
Editor: Bruce Roy, 45 King Street, , Wollstonecraft NSW 2065, Australia Email: rrfl@royroyes.net
This newsletter is available on the web in both pdf and jpg formats at
http://royroyes.net/newsletters/newsletters.php
Clements descendants
roy~royesfamilylinks 21 • October 2012 • supplement 1
Maria Royes descendants
roy~royesfamilylinks 21 • October 2012 • supplement 2
Family Links 22
News and Notes
Snippets
Frontier photos
Two photos of families who live in remote areas of Australia:
Nola Gallagher has shared this photo of her whole family.
They live in the Normanton (Queensland) area both in town and on a cattle property outside of town.
Family of Pene (Royes) Curtis from the Northern Territory
Back Row : Anthony Long; David Curtis Jnr; Ben Mack; David Curtis Snr; Dena Curtis
Middle Row : Renee Long; Donald Mack; Anita Curtis; Pene Curtis; Elaine Medeiros
Front Row: Umema Curtis holding Gabby Mack; Rhiana Long holding Benny Mack;
Michelle Long hold Thomas Mack Missing : Jordan Long and Leila Mack.
†
In this issue
News and Notes
Following the Gold
Research notes
Web site notes
More about Ravenswood
Weatherburn pedigree
1
2
4
4
5
6
On the 22nd of June
- Jonathan Fiddle Went out of tune.
[In a cemetery in Hartscombe, England]
http://royroyes.net > “More” drop-down
menu > “Family Humour”
December 2012
Y Rose (Bogtiatzis
Thorburn) Roy died in
Cairns, Queensland,
the Sunday before
Christmas, peacefully, having
gone to sleep the night before
and not woken. She was buried
beside her husband, Maurie, at
Mount Sheridan Memorial Park,
Cairns.
Y Congratulations to Matthew
Roy (age 11) who is captain of
Canadian Lead Primary School
in Ballarat, VIC, in 2013.
November 2012
Y Alexanda (“Alex”) John Trimble
born in Mackay, QLD, to Darryl
and Hannah - brother for
Andrew.
October 2012
Y “Bill” Grumley, Malanda (on
the Atherton Tablelands),
celebrates 95 years. He married
Edna Royes in 1941 and they
had four children.
September 2012
Y Freya Mary Williamson-Clay
born in Perth, Western Australia
to David and Claire. Sister for
Eli, granddaughter for Daphne
and Raymond Clay (Townsville).
Y Tiffany (Miller)
and Michael Tento
celebrated their 10th
wedding anniversary
by renewing their vows and
getting all glammed up again.
Tiffany writes: “Miraculously
I still managed to fit into my
wedding dress! Jaala (Cusack
nee Miller) and sister-in-law
Renee Flynn were bridesmaids
and brothers-in-law Trent
Cusack and Jason Flynn were
best men. “It was a very small
and simple ceremony but one
filled with lots of emotion. Jaala
read out messages from Bill
Grumley Jnr and Kay Grumley,
both invoking the memory
and spirit of our beautiful mum
Janine (Grumley) Miller.”
roy~royesfamilylinks 22 • February 2013
Following the Gold
by RON ROYES
he Royes family and their
descendants in the 19th
century were transients, not unlike
many others including the Irish
and Chinese immigrants attracted
to the goldfields.
When gold was found at
Ravenswood around 1868, it
proved a magnet to the Royes
families.
In fact, twenty-one children of
the Royes families were born in
Ravenswood.
Ravenswood, a small country town
south-west of Townsville in North
Queensland, was named after a
town in Scotland, popularised by
the novelist Sir Walter Scott in his
book The Bride of Lammermoor.
eorge Hougham Royes, a son
of Edward Hougham and Mary
Royes, married Jane Ley Olive in
1873. The first of twelve children
was born in Rockhampton:
T
G
Y 1875 George Hougham.
Next year, the family moved to
Ravenswood. A further eleven
children were born in Ravenswood
over a period of 20 years:
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
1877 Charles Hougham
1879 Annie Marie Hougham
1881 Sydney Hougham
1883 Frederick Hougham
1885 Ralph Hougham
Ravenswood abourt 1890
Y 1887 Eleanor Maud*
Y 1890 Ralph Hougham
Y 1891 Arthur Hougham [in the
group of miners below]
Y 1893 Jane Elliott* [in the class
photo on the next page]
Y 1895 John Hougham
Y 1897 Bathurst Hougham.
Interestingly, ten of their twelve
children, including one female,
carried the christian name of
Hougham.
[* Eleanor Maud and Jane Elliott are
often listed as having “Hougham” as
their third name, no doubt because
of this name being in all the other
siblings, but there is no evidence for
this in official records.]
The impact of the Royes family
in Ravenswood was further
enhanced by the births of two
children of Frederick Hougham
Royes, son of George Hougham
Royes.
Y 1912 George Frederick,
Y 1913 Claude Evan.
George was originally a carter, but
by 1895 he is listed as a miner on
his son Ralph’s school record and
Miners at the Ravenswood Duke of Edinbugh gold mine in 1926.
Arthur Hougham Royes (1891-1963) is in the front row, second from right.
roy~royesfamilylinks 22 • February 2013 • page 2
in electoral rolls from 1903 to at
least 1925.
harles Mordaunt Royes,
a younger brother of
George Hougham, also moved
to Ravenswood in 1878,
accompanied by his wife
Mary and two children born in
Rockhampton:
C
Y 1876 Jean Stewart
Y 1878 Edward Mordaunt.
Unlike his brother, Charles
Mordaunt did not become a miner,
rather he opted for a carrying
business with bullocks and horses.
Their family extended by another
seven children over a period of 15
years in Ravenswood.
Y 1879 Thomas Mordaunt
Y 1881 Eleanor Etta
Y 1883 Herbert Charles (he and sister
Eleanor were both born on 10 April)
Y 1885 Isobel May
Y 1887 Willie who died at birth
Y 1888 Robert Luther
Y 1890 Mary Agnes
In 1883, a 30 km. (18 miles)
railway branch line was opened
from Cunningham (Mingela) to
Ravenswood. In subsequent years
mining decined, and the railway
line was closed in 1930.
Most of the Royes children
attended the Ravenswood State
School, which is still operative
in 2012, with twenty children
enrolled.
It was common then for families
to maintain goat herds. The Royes
families were no exception. The
usual size of a herd was around
twenty per family. It was sufficient
to provide both milk and meat.
The boys in the family would have
two or four wheeled goat wagons
(carts), pulled by as many as seven
billy (male) goats. They kept the
family supplied with firewood. The
leaders knew their job, and kept
the road without being led while
the shafter (the goat harnessed
with a pole) knew his job was to
steady the load when going down
hill.
Racial problems developed
during the peak of the mining in
Ravenswood between the hard
drinking Irish and the Chinese
miners. The Chinese were referred
to as Yellow Agony, the Celestials
and Yellow Peril.
As the goldfields dried up, many
of George Hougham’s families left
Ravenswood. Some spent their
later life in Home Hill, Townsville,
Rockhampton and Yeppoon.
His wife Jane died (1927) in
Ravenswood, as did three of their
children (1889-1907), and her
brother Thomas Olive (1882). Willie
Royes, son of Charles and Mary,
was still-born (1887). All are buried
in Ravenswood cemetery.
(See Supplement 1 for more detail.)
B
y 1892, a continual decline
in the Ravenswood area
prompted Charles and Mary
Royes, and their family, to locate
to Georgetown in the Etheridge
region where reports indicated
gold had been found.
The long distance travel was
looked upon as normal before
the advent of motor transport.
A hundred miles in a day was
considered the yardstick distance.
Horses were bred for utility, not
show, according to the Royes
families.
Charles and Mary had a further
three children in Georgetown:
Y 1892 Jessie Phoebe
Y 1894 John George
Y 1897 Druce Grantley
They then moved to Mareeba and
their last child was born there:
Y 1900 Winifred Constance
Their descendants are found
mainly in Mareeba, Cairns,
Charters Towers, Normanton, and
NW Queensland.
egacies of the mining days
remain in 21st century
Ravenswood. There are mullock
heaps (disused soils from mine
shafts), tall chimneys and
discarded mine machinery, all
reminders of by-gone days. Racial
intolerance is absent, a far cry
from the peak of the mining days.
So hostile were the gold miners
towards Chinese, all Chinese
tablets at the Ravenswood
cemetery have disappeard.
And there is no evidence of the
transient Royes families, except in
the Courthouse Museum,
where the names and
sometimes faces of them
and the occupation of their
fathers, make fascinating
reading.
L
Supplement 1 has some
data about the Ravenswood
and the Royes
A class at the Ravenswood School about 1905.
Jane Elliott Royes (1893-1932) is indicated.
Research notes
Transcription
S
amuel Tyssen (or Tyson) Royes remains
a mystery. We know when he was born
in London and details of his trial in Sydney
for embezzling 11 shillings and 1 pence
from his employer - though it does look
like a comedy of errors since his employer
originally claimed he had embezzled
£8.15.0. He received a three months gaol
sentence - and that is the end of his story
as we know it.
However, the point in repeating this story
is to let you know that the trial documents
have been transcribed and you can read
them on the web site. Go to Samuel’s page
and select the link.
Eleanor Maud Royes Foley
R
on Royes’ article on page 2 prompted
me (as do your emails!) to do some
further checking, in this case on the
Ravenswood families. A surprise was
that records revealed that two of George
Hougham Royes’ three daughters do not
include “Hougham” in their first names - at
least not in any official records.
In the case of Eleanor Maud, we know
she married James Henry Foley (in
Ravenswood?) in 1913 and that by 1919
they were in Townsville. He disappears
from the 1936 and subsequent electoral
rolls so we can assume that he died before
1936.
We then have an Eleanor Maud Foley
on electoral rolls up to 1963 in Monto
(possibly with her son) and then Brisbane.
If you can help clarify any of that please
get in touch.
Importance of spelling
A
number of NZ records (birth and
death registrations, electoral rolls)
have come on line. While I have not
managed to work through all our NZ
records a number have been updated.
One find was in respect of the oldest
person in our data, Adelaide Elizabeth
McArthur. We knew she had married a
Kiwi by the name of Humphries (or so
we thought). Fortunately, ancestry.com
searches for “sounds like” and I discovered
that the name was Humphreys.
NZ (and most official Registry) records
require correct spelling so now a search
for Humphreys showed that not only
had she married a Kiwi - they had lived
there after their Australian marriage (1915
in Armidale, NSW). Adelaide Elizabeth
Humphreys was still on the NZ electoral
roll in 1981. Her year of death is 1982
according to family reports - aged 102.
Royes-Curtis
P
ene (Royes) Curtis has updated her
family information and provided a
photo of the whole family (except for
two members). The photo is on page 1.
They are descendants of Colin and Clara
(Nowland)Royes who spent most of their
time in Brisbane, Qld and Darwin, NT. Colin
is the youngest child of Percy Hougham
Royes, who is the second child of Edward
Hougham Royes jr. - a family with its roots
in Rockhampton. Pene’s family are found
in Darwin, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs
in the Northern Territory.
Russell-McFerran
T
he Russell-McFerran branch has been
updated. Esther Russell McFerran is a
sister of Jane, Maurie Roy’s grandmother.
Search for Hugh McFerran b.1865.
Web site notes
On line 50 years on
A
h, the weavings of the web and the
advantages of having the family tree
on line.
In October I had an inquiry from Moira
C. (English) who had discovered, she
suggested, a former 1963-65 Paris flatmate
Toni (Australian) in our family tree. (She
could see only the initials since she was
looking at living people.)
Moira worked for NATO and Toni for the
Australian Embassy. A few emails around
the globe confirmed that “our Toni” was
“her Toni” and the two flatmates are now
back in communication after 50 years, and
from opposite sides of the globe.
New registered users
R
egistrations since mid-September
last year:
Y Geraldine (Russell) Andrews
Y Stephen Thomas Russell (Northern
Ireland)
Y Sharon Symons (Aust)
Y James Karney (USA)
Y Moira Creek (UK)
Y Paul Cowan (Aust)
Y Carol Irwin (NZ)
Family Links is produced
by Roy~Royes Family
Links
(http://royroyes.net/).
This family tree has its
roots in the marriage
of Maurie Roy and
May Royes in Cairns,
Queensland, in 1940.
It has grown to almost
6000 people. Apart from
Royes and Roy, the most
common surnames in
our data are Hougham/
Huffam, Hogan,
Weatherburn, Girvan,
Bailey, Robinson and
Smith. On the web site
are help pages: “Using
this site” (there is a link in
the footer of every page).
These pages also explain
our privacy policy and the
scope of our research.
There are two
Facebook groups
associated with our
family tree - Roy-HoganRussell and RoyesHougham. These are
designed to be community
forums - so join in!
While we have
350+ Houghams/
Huffams by name,
you should be aware that
the largest Hougham/
Huffam data base on the
web (almost 28,000
people) is by Robin Young
at http://houghamhuffam.org/. Robin
provided much of the
information we have on
the Houghams.
Editor:
Bruce Roy,
45 King St, ,
Wollstonecraft NSW 2065,
Australia
Email: rrfl@royroyes.net
This newsletter is available
on the web at
newsletters.php
Supplement 1:
More about Ravenswood
Some Facts about Ravenswood:
Road distance from Townsville (km)
Gold discovered
Silver discovered
Peak population (early 1900s)
Population today
129
1868
1880
5,000
less than 500
Hotels at peak
Hotels today
Railway closed
Operational gold mines today
48
2
1930
2
Royes deaths/burials in Ravenswood
All are related to Jane Olive Royes - relationship indicated in brackets
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Nov 1882, Thomas Olive, b. 1853, Bendigo, VIC - age 29 (brother)
9 Oct 1887, Willie Royes, b. 8 Oct 1887, Ravenswood - died at birth (nephew)
26 May 1889, Ralph Hougham Royes, b. 16 Jul 1885, Ravenswood - age 3 (son)
13 Oct 1904, Annie Maria Hougham Royes b. 15 Apr 1879, Ravenswood - age 25 (daughter)
23 Nov 1907, Ralph Hougham Royes, b. 11 Dec 1889, Ravenswood - age 17 (son)
10 Jun 1927, Jane Ley (Olive) Royes, b. 10 Apr 1859, Raglan, VIC - aged 65
Royes emigrations from Ravenswood
Charles Mordaunt Royes family
daughter Eleanor (married James Henry Foley 1913)
George Hougham Royes sr
son Sydney
son Charles
son George jr
1892
<1919
1920s
<1903
<1913
<1915
Georgetown, <1900 Mareeba
Townsville
Home Hill
Townsville
Ayr, then Cloncurry, Mackinlay
Rockhampton, Yeppoon
[There is no actual evidence that George jr was with the family in Ravenswood.]
son Bathurst
son Arthur
son John
daughter Jane (married Leslie Harvey in Home Hill)
son Frederick
<1919
<1919
d1921
1920s
<1925
Brisbane
Home Hill-Ravenswood-HomeHill
Home Hill
Home Hill, <1930 Rockhampton
Home Hill
Ron Royes’ first ever visit to
Ravenswood in 1969 was to
record a television story for
the B.B.C. about two Irish
spinster sisters Kathleen
and Maureen Delaney, then
in their 70. Their brogue
was, says Ron, as thick as
the River Liffey.
They were licensees of the
Imperial Hotel (photo at
left) and were descendants
of an Irish miner who had
ventured to Ravenswood
seeking his fortune. They
indicated that Charters
Towers and Ravenswood
were known as the 4G’s:
Gold, Goats, Girls and
Glassbottles.
roy~royesfamilylinks 22 • February 2013 • supplement 1
Supplement 2:
Weatherburn pedigree
Ethel Ruth Royes, known as Ruth or Bunny, married Bill Weatherburn in 1933 in Mareeba, Queensland.
They both have extensive and well-documented pedigrees. This is Bill’s. It is a pedigree chart - that is, it
works up the tree from the person concerned to their ancestors. Siblings for each generation are also shown.
roy~royesfamilylinks 22 • February 2013 • supplement 2
Family Links 23
News and Notes
Snippets
March 2013
Y Keith Vogler, father of Craig
and Annette, died on the 14th
March.
Y Cheryl (Hay) Russell (Gold
Coast, QLD) has suffered a
stroke and is responding to
rehabilitation, supported by
husband Charl and their two
daughters.
Y Beryl (Roy) Elias (age 91,
Albury, NSW) had a fall and
injured her left elbow and right
knee cap - and spent some
time in hospital.
Lauren Roy (second left) spent two
weeks in January in Zimbabwe helping
set up a village water supply
Jaala (on the right) and Trent Cusack
are expecting their first child in
August. Last year Jaala and Sarah
Latham set up their own property
services company and you can visit
them at http://www.lathamcusack.
com.au
February 2013
Bev Cameron’s mother Flora
(McArthur) celebrated her 96th
birthday in May.
Y Peter James Clay and his wife
Anne Higgins had a son Marley
James Clay in Townsville.
A brother for Jonan David
and Eve Constance. Another
grandchild for Daphne Clay
(nee Crossley ) and Raymond
Clay
Y Rose Vohland born to Bradley
and Emma, in Mareeba, QLD.
Y Marley James Clay born
to Peter and Annie, another
grandchild for Daphne and Ray.
Y Kadence Begg born to
Phillip and Casey, greatgranddaughter to Anne
(Giffard) van Gestel.
Campbelltown, NSW.
In this issue
Gladys Elcoate found this photo of the 1909 Mareeba Champion Rugby Team with
Royes brothers Bert (2nd from right, front) and Robert (3rd from left, rear)
News and Notes
Finding the Roy cousins
Research notes
Web site notes
James Roy descendants
Overview chart
1
2
4
4
5
6
roy~royesfamilylinks 23 • June 2013
Finding Roy cousins
by Bruce Roy
I
n January 2012 I was
contacted by Robert
Alexander in Northern Ireland.
He was not related but his
family had been friends with a
family of John Roy. Roys named
John (and James) are a dime a
dozen in Northern Ireland, as
you will see just in
our family.
But Robert had
a photo of his
John Roy that was
identical to one
in my grandfather Sam Roy’s
photo collection. Sam’s father
was killed when he was just
three weeks old so it seemed
probable that this John was
significant because he showed
some care for fatherless relative
Sam. But what was their
relationship?
Sam’s father Thomas was born
in 1864 and we knew that his
father was James. We therefore
speculated that James had
been born about 20-40 years
earlier - giving us a range of
1824-1844.
y first attempt to identify
this John was in a Roy
family who had brothers John
(born 1834) and James (born 27
Jun 1840). They knew nothing
more about their James’s
wife and family and we knew
nothing about our James’s wife
and ancestors, so it seemed
possible that their James was
our James. This would make
John Roy Sam’s great uncle.
The only misgiving I had was
that I thought it unlikely that
such a photo would have
existed for this earlier John.
I even met up with a potential
third cousin living in Sydney
and she helped fill out the
whole family tree. That
information is now in our Roy
miscellaneous collection on the
web site because...
M
R
obert Alexander’s photo and
family information revealed
that that hypothesis was all
wrong!
Robert was able to tell us of
brothers James (b.1850) and
John (b.1854) Roy, who had a
father James. Keep in mind that
Thomas was born in 1864.
The clincher was the
photograph plus the fact that
this was a Belfast family. The
other family was County Down,
though it was not unreasonable
to assume that families
migrated towards Belfast and
the booming rail and shipbuilding industries.
Which raises another
connection: James b.1850,
John b.1854 and Thomas
b.1864 were all employed in
the railway.
Actually there is another piece
of evidence. Sam and his
widowed mother Jane were
staunch Presbyterians yet he
gave me what was obviously
a treasured old prayer book
of the Church of Ireland. The
James and John Roy families
were Church of Ireland.
Robert Alexander was able to
provide details of the children
of James and John, together
with some additional photos.
All of this ended up on the
web site and the photos are
reproduced here.
he main purpose in
creating and maintaining
a family tree web site is to
generate connections and
communication. That is how
Robert Alexander found
us. It is also how we have
recently connected, assisted
by FaceBook, with three of
what are my generation’s third
cousins.
These cousins are all
descendants of John Roy’s son
Albert. I have yet to find out
John Roy (1854-1909) family:
Standing: Albert, John, John jr, Sara
Seated: Anne (McGrievy), Alex
more about James’s family.
So... what do we have?
(Surname “Roy” omitted.)
James is our earliest confirmed
Roy ancestor, date of birth
unknown but probably about
1827 and probably in Belfast.
We don’t have any information
about his wife. We have the
names of three of his children there were probably more. Let’s
take them one at a time and
identify what we know.
James (c. 1850-1890) married Martha
T
roy~royesfamilylinks 23 • June 2013 • page 2
Unknown but from the John (b.1854) Roy
family photo collection
John Roy (1854-1909)
Curry (1857-?) and they had at least
five children:
1. James (1879-?),
2. Maria (1880-?),
3. Maryann (1884-?),
4. Elizabeth (1890-?) and
5. Bertha (1892-?).
We have no further information
about them.
John (c. 1854-1909) married Anne
McGrievy (1864-?) and they had four
children:
1. John (1883-c. 1906) married Maggie
Donald and they had two children:
1.1 John Albert (1904-?)
1.2 Edgar Harold (1906-?)
2. Sarah Ann Armstrong (1886-?)
3. Albert (1888-1935) married Margaret
Sloan McDowell (1887-1935) and they
had seven - possibly eight - children.
The seven we know of are:
3.1 Eleanor Sloan (1908-1953)
3.2 Elizabeth Phillips (1910-1980)
3.3 John (1911-?)
3.4 Doreen (1913-1929)
3.5 Robert McDowell (1919-1993)
3.6 Albert Cyril Ormonde (1921-2003)
3.7 Malcolm Stewart (1925-2010)
4. Alexander Stewart (1897-?)
Thomas (c1864-1889) was James
senior’s third known child. He
married Jane Russell (1862-1934) and
they had just one son:
1. Samuel Russell (1889-1959)
married Agnes Logan (1890-1957)
and they had four children in
Larne, Northern Ireland and, after
emigrating in 1923, a fifth in Cairns,
Australia:
1.1 Thomas Jamieson (1915-1982)
1.2 John Maurice (1917-2010)
This is John (b.1883) Roy - I found it a bit
uncanny - it could be a younger me!
1.3 Angus Livingstone (1919-2006)
1.4 Beryl (1921 - living)
1.5 Agnes Margaret (“Peg”) (19262001)
A full chart appears as Appendix 1 of
this newsletter.
The cousins I have been in
correspondence with are grandchildren of Albert and Anne. Marjorie
(Perth, Australia) and Pat (South Wales)
are children of Robert McDowell Roy
and Olwen (Congleton, England) is a
daughter of Malcolm Stewart b.1925.
Web site notes
Quick view
W
hen you now visit a person’s page
you will find that you can hover your
mouse over symbols indicating that there
is more information about ancestors and
descendants. A pop-up window shows that
information.
For example, if you hover over a symbol in
front of a person’s father, the window will
show his parents and siblings. Hovering
over a daughter will show her marriage/s
and children.
So it is a bit like extending what you can
see by a generation in either direction.
In the illustration below, the mouse is
hovering against Dorothy Russell’s father,
James (highlighted in the pop-up box).
A
new report, “RECORDS modified in
the last 4 months”, has been added.
This time frame is designed to coincide
with issues of this newsletter so that you
can check all amendments since the last
newsletter - not just the ones that get a
mention here. Keep in mind, however, that
a record may have been amended simply
because of a punctuation or spelling
correction!
nother new report, “BIRTHS: by day”,
lists who was born on each day of the
year. You can search for this information
one day at a time using the Find>Dates
& Anniversaries link but this report puts
them all together in one place.
A
Research notes
R
ecent research in relation to the Roys is
reported on pp 2-3 and supplment 1.
Stories
I
t is all very well to amass data about
the family - who begat who begat who
etc. - but what makes family come alive
is stories. I’d like to make the next twelve
months the year of the stories.
Such stories don’t need to be a version of
Who Do You Think You Are - tracking down
ancestors.
We need stories about, say, growing
up in outback Queensland during the
depression... Or that humorous story from
Uncle Zack’s funeral and wake... Or how
the family coped when they moved from
the bush to the city, or from Australia to
London... Or Aunty Maggie’s many and
varied efforts in local community causes...
Comments
It is now possible for people to add
comments to an individual’s page when
on the “Individual” tab. You can view other
people’s comments, add your own, rate
the page and share it on social networks.
The form is at the bottom of the page, just
above the “footer”.
From our Family Humour page:
While being processed through U.S.
immigration at Ellis Island a fellow from
the Emerald Isle was asked,
“What’s your name?”
“Sean O’Reilly.”
“You should say ‘sir,’” the official told
him.
“All right!” said the Irishman. “Sir Sean
O’Reilly.”
RootsWeb Review 16 Jun 2004
by Roy~Royes Family
Links
of Maurie Roy and
It has grown to almost
common surnames in
Huffam, Hogan,
There is a FaceBook
group associated
with our family tree
- Roy-Royes Family Links.
This is designed to be
community forums - so
join in!
Editor:
Bruce Roy,
45 King St, ,
Australia
on the web at
newsletters.php
Supplement 1:
James Roy descendants
The last year or so has led to further information about the descendants of James Roy, Maurie Roy’s
great-grandfather, and extended our network of cousins!
roy~royesfamilylinks 23 • June 2013 • supplement 1
Supplement 2:
Overview chart
The web site contains “overviews” of various pedigrees and descendants in the family tree,
sometimes simplified so that main threads can be seen. You can, of course, go to an individual’s
page and view their ancestors and descendants, but the overviews are designed to show a larger
picture and patterns.
This revised master chart has been made simpler. It sets out the main branches and how they link.
On the web site this chart is interactive (http://royroyes.net/showmedia.php?mediaID=764).
In the interest of simplicity, only those with significant descendants are shown. For instance, Solomon Royes had 16
children but you will find only five on this overview chart. Only those Houghams in the Royes pedigree are shown.
The flags indicate migrations.
roy~royesfamilylinks 23 • June 2013 • supplement 2
Family Links 24
News and Notes
Jennie Hogan married Jonathon
Lightbourne in Bermuda in Jul. They
were living in England but moved to
Bermuda last month (September).
Snippets
Peter Roy, keen photographer,
celebrated his 60th in style in July in
Mareeba, Qld. And yes, the cake is
one big camera-like delight.
September 2013
Annabel Hogan
married Owen
Threadgold in
Tramore, Ireland.
Celebrant was
the bride’s
uncle, Fr Tom Hogan. Annabel
and Owen live and work in Perth,
Australia.
August 2013
◀ Meila Janine Cusack is Trent
and Jaal (Miller) and Trent’s first
child born in Sydney.
Patrick Manning, father of
Caitlin Roy, died on the 4th at
his property at Wooroolah, near
Blackall in western Queensland,
where he was buried. Caitlin,
Andrew and family, together with
cousins, were able to spend a
week or two on the property with
him before he died.
July 2013
◀ Jennie Hogan married
Jonathon Lightbourne in
Bermuda.
◀ Peter Roy celebrated his 60th in
style at the home of son Adam and
his wife Linda, just out of Mareeba,
QLD.
May 2013
On the Gold Coast, Australia, Charl
and Cheryl Russell renewed their
marriage vows, with daughters
Erica (and partner Oliver Rix) and
Jessica.
I was in the Brisbane region in August and caught up with my mother’s
only surviving sibling, Helen (Royes) Bourke, at her home in Tugun on
Queensland’s Gold Coast. She is feeling restricted by her loss of mobility.
And shortly before Helen and
I caught up, her great grand
niece Meila Janine Cusack was
born, not far from where I live
in Sydney - 3.89kg and 51cm.
Mum and dad, Jaala and Trent,
are ”over the moon and so in
love with our little girl”. If my
information is up to date, Meila
is “Bill” Grumley’s 12th great
grandchild. “Bill” will be 96 this
month.
In this issue
News and Notes
Visitors at night
A Victoria Cross Award
Siblings united after 75 years
Web site statistics
1
3
5
6
6
More News and Notes...
Tom and Phil Roy’s children (in birth order) Tom (Hughenden), Anne (Cairns),
Peney (Melbourne), Peter and Louise (both in Mareeba). They were together
in Mareeba for Peter’s 60th.
Still in Mareeba - in fact, on the same day as the above. Family gathering at
Joyce Trimble’s. Every time I visit Mareeba Joyce has us at her house. Among
the gatherers, from left: her son Graham, me, Joyce, her son Brian and cousin
Glenda (Weatherburn) Pollard.
Matt Roy, son of Trevor, got engaged
to Charlotte Brown over the Easter
weekend. A function was held at the
Caloundra (Qld) race track. A great
day was had by all in attendance.
Annabelle Hogan with her uncle Fr
Tom Hogan. who officiated at her
wedding to Owen Threadgold.
Agnes (Logan) Roy is
on the right with two
of her daughters-inlaw. May (Royes), wife
of Maurie, is standing
with her daughter
Marilyn (known to you
as Mandie Bloomfield).
Seated is Jacq (Murphy),
wife of Gus.
Going by Marilyn’s
apparent age the bundle
Jacq is holding is likely
to be Greg - which
would mean that the
photo is from 1949.
2 • roy~royesfamilylinks 24 • October 2013
This is a photo I was conned into
taking not realising that it was to be
my 2012 Christmas present for my
wall. It is of my son, Andrew Roy,
with his wife Caitlin, and children
Jackson, Lauren and Sam in the rear,
and Tom, Eliza and Fraser alongside
their parents.
Visitors at night
Fr Tom Hogan, from “The Turkey which really was a rooster!”
I
was awoken one night by Nicholas, our
watchman, running noisily outside the house
and shouting in Kiswahili ‘Beware, beware, there
is trouble’.
As he ran along, I could hear his Wellington
boots go ‘clump clump’.
I got up and wrapped a towel around me and
checked that Peter [Fr Peter Suttle] was also
awake. I knew something was about to happen.
Voices could be heard outside our compound
gate. We opened the door and stepped onto the
veranda. “Who are you and what do you want?”
we shouted. In reply, they used Peter’s African
pet name ‘Mtua’, so obviously they knew us.
They told us that they had someone very sick
and we shouted back “Where is the headman
from the village?” It had been arranged with
the elders, that we were never to open our
door at night to anyone unless accompanied by
the watchman and the village headman. Next
moment, I saw a flash and saw the outline of a
gun with a banana shaped magazine – an AK
47. We were in trouble.
As they broke down the garden gate, I slammed
the door. We grabbed our emergency whistle
and began blowing as hard as we could. We
had previously distributed two other whistles
in the village and hoped that others would also
start blowing to sound the alarm. I suggested to
Peter that we escape by the back door, but he
said that he thought there was someone at the
back of the house. I then asked him to climb up
in the attic of the house with me – I felt sure that
our intruders would never think of someone up
above the ceiling. Peter was reluctant and said
that he would meet them as he grabbed a large
20mm spanner. I said “They have guns, Peter”
He was stubborn and said he would wait to
meet them. I felt that I had to stay with him. So
we stayed and awaited our fate; we decided to
hide inside the house and I went into one of the
bathrooms and hid under a washbasin – I didn’t
feel so hidden!
here was dead silence for a while and
suddenly the main door broke open with
a crash – then more silence. I could hear them
coming and soon they found Peter and began
questioning him, asking for money. They began
T
You read about Fr Tom Hogan’s book back in
Newsletter 20. It is a collection of stories from his time
in Africa as a priest with the Congregation of the Holy
Spirit (“the Spiritans”. Tom is 2nd cousin to Maurie Roy
so this is one family member’s frightening story.
to beat him brutally with sticks. I could hear
the swish of the sticks as they were brought
down on him. I can still hear the swish of the
sticks now and Peter’s groans as each thump
hit him. His cries became fainter as the beating
proceeded. He began to pray and I heard him
say the Act of Contrition.
I knew that I would be next.
y heart was pounding in my chest – I
thought it would burst. Sure enough, I
could hear one of the intruders edging nearer
and nearer. Ever so slowly, the door of the
bathroom opened, a dim torch swept the room
and then the beam fixed on me. I was roughly
grabbed and brought out to meet the head
robber. He shoved his rifle into my stomach and
said “You know what this is; you know what it
is for?” he said. He asked for money, and I asked
where they had put Peter, who was now silent.
One began to beat me with his walking stick. I
kept going closer to him so that he would not
be able to get a good swing at me. “Why are you
beating me, what do you want?” I asked. They
said they wanted money, “I have money”, I told
them and led them to my bedroom. I handed
over my staff salaries for the month and hoped
that the bandits would leave.
They told me to get the keys of the car – I took
the keys of the old pick-up and handed them
over – “No, you are going to drive” they said. “I
am not driving anywhere without some clothes,
my glasses and my shirt and hat”. I knew that
they would abandon me way out in the bush
and that I would be in the burning sun for the
day. I was very uneasy, my heart was pounding. I
M
roy~royesfamilylinks 24 • October 2013 • 3
Fr Tom at home in Village 6, Bura Tana
feared for my life and was unsure whether Peter
was still alive. They frog-marched me to the
door. Suddenly, a loud shot rang out and bullets
began to fly. My attackers fired a few rounds and
suddenly they fled away.
was alone on the veranda. I entered the house
and looked for Peter, I found him eventually,
lying on the floor of the visitors’ room. There was
lots of blood. We held each other and waited and
waited. It took us some time before we realised
that the bandits had left. We heard a voice outside
– Saidi, the home guard from Village 5 had turned
up. I saw him on the veranda holding his World
War 1 vintage Lee Enfield rifle at the ready. He
told us that our watchman had run down to his
village and told him that robbers were attacking
the Fathers’ house. It turned out that many of the
villagers had heard the shots and the shouting.
They had hurled stones up on the tin roof of the
little Community hall in the hope that the bandits
might flee. However, I have no memory of that
sound. Saidi said he would stay on guard all night
with Nicholas our watchman.
It was a long, long night and sleep did not come
easily. Morning broke. Nuru Kijana, our nurse
came to the door, asking if she could help. We
both had a look at Peter. There was lots of blood,
but we could not see a wound. We stripped him
down and put him into the shower - then we
could see that he was bleeding from the buttocks.
He had been stabbed in order to make him
confess as to where his money was. However,
Peter was stubborn and would not give the
bandits anything.
I drove him into the little town of Bura, where
there was a half-baked Sudanese medic who ran
a clinic. He had a look at the wound and agreed
with our prognosis that Peter would have to be
stitched. In his kindness, he would not let us pay
I
anything for the treatment. On our return to our
house, we found that many of the locals had come
and encamped themselves on our veranda. They
brought benches from the church and stayed the
whole day and were a great comfort to us. They
were made welcome by Mama Jane Mwai our
cook, as Peter and I could barely function, but our
reliable cook realised our duty of hospitality to
visitors and helped the people in preparing lots of
hot tea. There were quiet hymns and prayers and
as the morning went on, our visitors asked us to
join them on the veranda where they prayed with
us. It was a good lesson to us.
he Bishop and Vicar General of the Diocese
heard the news and rushed to be with us. The
leader of Catholic Relief Service (CRS) with whom I
worked, rang to say he would charter a plane and
fly us out and that CRS would provide counselling
as necessary. However, we said that we did not
think that this was necessary, but we would talk
about the event between ourselves, which indeed
we did for many a night. Our leader in Kenya, Fr
Larry Shine, arrived the following morning and
suggested that we take some time off. We decided
to stay at our post for a week or more and then
take a rest. Peter and I subsequently received
counselling to help us deal with the traumatic
event of that night. This was the first of a number
of attacks. Peter never felt comfortable again in
Bura.
Some time later, I told him one day that the Police
Inspector has just warned me of an impending
attack. The police asked for permission to put
armed men in the compound, in order to fight it
out with the bandits. “We kill the bastards, Padre”
as they said. Peter decided to leave the following
morning and asked me if I would join him for
Mass at 5 a.m. Later on that evening, I found him
fuelling the pick- up vehicle. I asked what he was
doing and he said, “See, judge and act”. Bright and
early the following morning, we celebrated Mass
together, had a quick breakfast and packed his
little luggage into the pick-up truck and left for
Nairobi. He was appointed to parish work in St
Austin’s Nairobi. He left Kenya some years later
and took up a new position in Gambia, West
Africa. I continued on in Bura for the following six
years.
T
The Turkey Which Really Was a Rooster is available
from several sources but I will refer you direct to Fr
Tom Hogan, 66 Rockfield Avenue, Kimmage, Dublin 12,
Ireland
A Victoria Cross
Award
by Ron Royes
It is not particularly well known
in family circles, but there is a recipient of the
Victoria Cross in our midst.
Mark Sever Bell was awarded the Victoria Cross
on 4 February 1874 for bravery in the Battle of
Ordashu, Ashanti (now Ghana, Africa). Bell was
30 year old, and a Lieutenant in the Corps of
Royal Engineers, British Army.
He was born in Sydney on 15 May 1843, the fourth
of six children of Hutchinson and Emily Bell.
Emily Royes, the eighth child of Solomon and
Mary (Hougham) Royes, arrived in Sydney
aboard the barque Bencoolen on 23 January
1838. The twenty year old was accompanied
on the long voyage from England by her elder
sister Maria. Two brothers, Edward Hougham
Royes and Samuel Tyssen Royes, had previously
migrated to Australia. Maria was to marry
Frederic Christian Luther and settle in an area
south-west of Sydney.
Two weeks after her arrival, Emily married
Hutchinson Bell at St. James Church of England,
Sydney on 3 February 1838. Bell, born at
Leconfield, Yorkshire, England was 23 years her
senior.
Six children followed - George H. (Hutchinson or
Hougham?), Emily Elizabeth, Hutchinson Royes,
Mark Sever, John Hougham and Anne Marie.
Unfortunately tragedy struck the family in 1847
when Hutchinson Bell died, aged 53 years. Emily
was a widow at the tender age of 30 years with
five young children. (It seems likely that the
eldest child, George, had died.)
In late 1849, Emily and her young family
returned to England, initially living at Islington,
London, before moving to Jersey on the
Channel Islands, where her parents had
previously lived and her sister Adelaide was
living. Her sister Mary had been living there but
moved to Jamaica about this time and married
Joseph Bravo there.
Emily remarried in 1865. She wed Henry Smith, a
London surgeon at St. Giles, London. It is worth
noting that her two surviving sons were both
doctors and that Hutchinson Royes Bell (known
as Royes) was a surgeon and
associate with Henry Smith.
Both of them were consultants
in the infamous case of the
death/murder of Royes’s cousin
Charles Bravo.
But back to Mark. By the time
he was 19 years old (1862), Mark Sever Bell
was attending the Royal Military Academy at
Woolwich, London. He was commissioned into
the Royal Engineers on 25 June 1862. It was
the start of a 38 years distinguished military
career before he retired as a Colonel on Staff
and Commanding Royal Engineer at Western
District, Plymouth, Devon, England on 15 May
1900.
During his military career, he served in many
countries including India, Africa, Afghanistan,
Namibia, Syria, Iran, Turkey, Burma and Western
China. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for
bravery in the Battle of Ordashu. It was recorded
that
he urged and encouraged a party of unarmed
Fantee labourers, who were exposed not only
to the enemy, but to the wild and irregular
fire of the native troops in the rear. He was
always in the front and, by his example, he
made these men do what no European party
was ever required to do in warfare, namely,
to work under fire in the face of the enemy
without a covering party.
In March 1887, he was appointed Aide de Camp
to Her Majesty Queen Victoria.
He died on 26 June 1906 at the Earlywood
Lodge, Windlesham, Berkshire, England, aged 63
years. Twice married, he was survived by his wife
and four children. His burial took place in the
churchyard of All Soul’s Church, South Ascot,
Berkshire, England.
When Probate of his Will was read in London on
10 October 1906, he bequeathed his effects of
41,164 pounds, 14 shillings and 7 pence to John
Hougham Bell, M.D., and Anna Maria Bell.
His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Royal
Engineer’s Museum, Chatham, England.
Mark Bell is a cousin twice removed of May Royes.
There is another distantly related Victoria Cross winner.
British officer Major James Palmer Huffam is a10th cousin
of May Royes (3 times removed) and Mark Bell (once
removed). He won his Victoria Cross in France in World
War 1 (gazetted 26 Dec 1918).
Siblings united
after 75 years
R
oger Mitchell is a family tree
researcher using the same TNG
software on his web site as we do.
Earlier this year he proved the value
of putting one’s family tree on the
web, as we have sometimes done
and on one occasion bridging a
similar time span for the Hogans.
Back in March, he was successful in
bringing together two siblings that
had been separated for 75 years!
A distant relative found Roger’s
TNG website (http://mfo.me.uk)
and contacted him regarding
researching her family. He drove the
100 miles to visit the family and met
this elderly lady who was clearly
distressed. He discovered that the
elderly lady (Rose) thought she had
a brother but had no idea if he was
still living or whether he was even
in the UK.
Roger made it his goal to try and
find out what happened to her
brother and through his website
and several other sources was able
to locate him. They were reunited at
the BBC TV studios in Southampton,
England and the story was
broadcast on TV and Radio.
Some weeks after this event, Roger
was contacted by a film company
that had been tasked by Genes
Reunited to film the story for their
YouTube channel:
http://youtu.be/0guEBxlnS4A tells
the siblings’ story and
http://youtu.be/MNhvdN0veBc tells
Roger’s.
They are only a few minutes long.
The home page of his TNG website:
Web site statistics
T
he following numbers may
give you some idea of our site’s
presence on the web:
Average monthly visits* (2013)
5,000
Average page visits per visitor* (2013) 4
Average “hits” per visit* (2013)
18
* does not include “robots” (like Google, Bing)
Total page visits since 2003
450,000
Vistors from...
Australia
50%
USA
24%
UK
8%
Canada
4%
Operating systems...
Windows OS
67%
Mac OS
14%
iOS (iPhone, iPad)
12%
Android
5%
Browsers used...
MS Internet Explorer
37%
Safari
22%
Google Chrome
19%
Firefox
15%
Participation...
Number of registered users
193
Facebook group members
13
Tree
People Families
Roy~Royes
6,138
2168
Roy miscellaneous
226
69
Royes miscellaneous
50
15
Ancestors and surnames...
Longest lived person
102 years
Earliest birth (Helgi Halfdansdottir) c 528
[May Royes’ 43 x great grandmother?]
Earliest Hougham (Robert)
c 1150
[May Royes’ 32 x great grandfather]
Earliest Clements (James)
? 1735
[Maurie Roy’s 4 x great grandfather]
Earliest Royes (John)
c 1744
[May Royes’ 3 x great grandfather]
Earliest Russell (James)
1784
[Maurie Roy’s 2 x great grandfather]
Earliest Roy (James)
c 1827
[Maurie Roy’s great grandfather]
Unique surnames
1,588
Most common surname: Hougham/Huffam
Media...
Photos
900
Documents
236
Headstones
68
Histories, articles
90
Places...
Number of places, addresses
1,811
Most births
Mareeba
Most deaths
Brisbane, London
Most marriages
London
6 • roy~royesfamilylinks 24 • October 2013 • page
by Roy~Royes Family
Links
of Maurie Roy and
It has grown to over
common surnames in
Huffam, Hogan,
There is a FaceBook
group associated
This is designed to be a
community forum - so join
in! Share some stories!
Editor:
Bruce Roy,
45 King St, ,
Australia
on the web at
newsletters.php
Family Links 25
News and Notes
Snippets
Herbert George Royes
1940-2013
November 2013
B
J
ack Wyatt graduated from
Mareeba High School on the 15th
November last and will tackle civil
engineering at James Cook University
in Townsville. He is pictured here
with his mum Lenore (right) and
grandmother Carol Gear.
G
illian Royes with the galleys of
her third Shad series novel The
Sea Grape Tree to be published in
July. Celebrated with sea grape!
ert Royes was enjoying a South
Pacific cruise with his wife
Philippa when he had a heart attack
and died, just one month short of
his 73rd birthday. Father of Hilary,
Fleur, Steven and Keith. He was
interred at Bunurong Memorial Park,
Dandenong, Victoria.
Bert is a fourth generation Australian
Royes, being a grandson of Thomas
Mordaunt Royes (1879-1958), who
was a grandson of Edward Hougham
Royes sr (1816-1878).
This photo (taken in 1967?) is of Bert,
his mum Phoebe, his wife Philippa,
and his father Mordaunt.
Thomas Mordaunt Royes
1947-2013
T
M
eila Cusack was baptised in St
James Church, Malanda, Qld
on 23 Nov 2013 with her three great
grandparents! Tom Giudic, Chelma
Cusack and Bill Grumley
Alana Roy born to Adam and Linda
(of Mareeba) in Cairns Private
Hospital, granddaughter for Peter
and Irene.
October 2013
Lucy Cassin born in Dublin, Ireland
at 2.20 a.m. and weighing 8lb 20z
- second child for Mark and Kate,
sister for Paul.
homas Mordaunt Royes died 23
November 2013 just two days
short of his 66th birthday. He was the
great grandson of Charles Mordaunt
Royes and his father and grandfather
also had Mordaunt as their second
name. He is survived by his wife,
Sharon, two children, Rebecca
(married to Jamie Hoyes) and David.
There will be an article by Ron Royes
in the next newsletter about the
occurrence of the name Mordaunt
in our family tree and especially the
Royes family in Australia.
L
auren Roy (Oxley, Qld) is
a member of Queensland
University of Technology Cliffhangers
Rock Climbing Club. She’s welcome!
In this issue
News and Notes
1-2
First Royes migrant to Australia 3
Thomas Stewart Moody
4
The washing of the feet
5
Research notes
6
Web site notes
6
E
na Roy, widow of Apex Life Member George Roy was
on hand to recognise the work her late husband
had put in to the original Cabanda Crossing bridge in
Rosewood (Queensland), when the new one was officially
named. The original footbridge was put in place about
20 years ago with council supplying the materials while
members of the local Apex and Lions Clubs built it.
It is located in Johnstone Park in Rosewood. Cabanda is
the name of the aged care centre established in the area
in 1987.
adapted from the Moreton Border News 22 November 2013
[As many of you will know, George Roy was the main
contributor to getting the Roy~Royes family tree under
weigh and did a lot of networking around Quensland and
Ireland to build a sense of a wider family community.]
A Roy family gathering in Northern Ireland 2007
(courtesy of Pat Roy)
Back row from left to right: Brenda (Roy) Powers, Olwen
Roy, Jim Powers, Pat (Roy) Harris.
Front row: Stuart Roy, Max McNeill, Alison (Roy) Dyke,
Lydia Morgan (step daughter of Pat), Carole Roy.
This photograph was taken in August 2007 at Browns Bay
in Northern Ireland.
See (with links to people in the photo) at:
http://royroyes.net/showmedia.php?mediaID=1659
Wild storms lashed Ireland in early January. This photo is
from Tramore on Ireland’s southern coast where several
Russell descendants, Hogans and Phelans, live. The photo
was taken by Áine Ní Fhaoláin, granddaughter of Annie
(“Nancy”) Teresa Hogan née Russell [in the photo below] 2nd cousin of Maurie Roy.
In the meantime, in mid January, Australia experienced
severe bushfires across four states right across the south
of the continent - I am not aware of any family members
being seriously affected.
Photo from the past
James (Jimmy) Russell
(Presbyterian) and Annie
Magee (Catholic) escaped
religious tension in their
families in Ireland by
marrying in Cape Town on
31st December 1902 and
raising a family there.
This photo looks like it was
taken about 1921.
From left: John, Seamus,
Jimmy, Nancy, Marg,
Rosaleen, Desmond, Annie,
Kay, Dot
See at: http://royroyes.
net/showmedia.
php?mediaID=268
2 • roy~royesfamilylinks 25 • February 2014
First Royes migrant to
Australia
D
id you know there were four Royes siblings
who migrated to the colony of New South
Wales between 1829 and 1838?
About 1829 Samuel Tyssen Royes (1804-?)
arrived seeking to make his fortune.
Edward Hougham Royes (1816-1878) was in
Sydney in 1831 as a cabin boy on the Surry and
again in 1834. We’re not sure when he actually
settled in Australia - it may have been 1834 or
when his two sisters migrated. He moved to
central Queensland before 1873 and died in
Rockhampton.
January 1838 Emily (1817-1875) migrated in
order to marry Hutchison Bell, but after he died
in 1847 she returned with her four surviving
children to London via the Isle of Jersey. She
subsequently married surgeon Henry Smith.
Emily was chaperoned by her older sister Maria
(1808-1874) who subsequently married wine
maker Frederic Christian Luther in Sydney in
1842. Maria’s descendants (mostly surnamed
Luther or Dunn) come from the area just south
west of Sydney (Picton, Hartley and Oberon).
As you may have noticed we know quite a bit
about Maria, Edward and Emily, but it is the
mysterious Samuel Tyssen Royes that is the
focus of this article.
part from his birth and baptism records the
only other reference to Sam comes from
records within State Records - New South Wales.
[A transcript of these can be found at http://
royroyes.net/showmedia.php?mediaID=1590&
medialinkID=2868.]
A “Sam. Tyson Royes” is listed In the Index to
Quarter Sessions cases, Sydney, Oct 1831. He
was charged with stealing 11/1 [11 shillings one
penny or A$1.11 - possibly about £85 or A$170
in today’s money] from his employer, Capper
Pass, Baker in George Street. He presented to his
trial two references:
(1) from Thomas Dobson of London dated 5 Aug
1829 to Robert Lambert of “Bathurst, Sydney”
to “introduce... Mr Samuel Tyssen Royes – he
purposes visiting New South Wales in hopes of
making his fortune. I have had the pleasure to
know his father for upwards of thirty years - a
A
very respectable upright honest man...”
(2) from ? Lachlan of 22 Great Alie Street
[Whitechapel, London] dated 3 Aug 1829 to J.
Coghill of Sydney: “I take the liberty by this of
introducing to you Mr Royes (son of a highly
respectable gentleman) who visits Australia in
search of employment. If you want a Clerk or
Superintendent on your farm you will oblige
me by taking Mr Royes. He has ever conducted
himself with the strictest sobriety, integrity,
industry and ability...”
It seems his Sydney employer initially claimed
that Sam had stolen £8.15.0 [A$17.50 - possibly
about £425 or A$850 in today’s money] but it
appears that he challenged this for there are
subsequent statements from his employer
stating inter alia that “I cannot swear whether
the prisoner informed me before he went into
the hospital about 3 weeks ago [from 13 Sep
1831] that he had received the said moneys
or not.” Samuel pleaded guilty on the 20th to
the 11/1 charge and was sentenced on the
25th “to be imprisoned in His Majesty’s Gaol of
Sydney for and during the of [sic] three calendar
months”.
And that is the last we know of Samuel.
id he go to Jamaica where his brother
Charles had migrated? NB: this is pure
speculation based on the possibility that there
were two Royes brothers in Jamaica. And that is
based on two pieces of “evidence”:
(1) The mystery of the baptism (October 1849)
of a Charles Thomas Royes (born January
1849) within a month of two other Royes,
Matilda (born August 1846) and Edward (born
September 1848), plus the fact that Charles
John Royes sr already had a son Charles, born
about 1832 and still alive at the time of the
baptisms. Although the two Charles are listed as
Charles sr’s children in our database, it needs an
explanation.
(2) At least one Jamaican Royes branch has an
oral family story that includes two Royes
brothers coming to Jamaica.
D
On the names Tyssen, Hougham and Royes:
One of the Tyssen family had Hougham as a second
name and there are several Samuel Tyssens, one of whom
married a Hougham. Samuel Tyssen Royes is a cousin.
I believe it is safe to assume that this Samuel Tyssen
Royes is the same as the son of Solomon Royes and Mary
Hougham, and that he arrived in Sydney towards the end
of 1829 (based on his letters of reference).
roy~royesfamilylinks 25 • February 2015 • 3
Thomas Stewart Moody
T
homas was born in Omagh, County Tyrone,
Northern Ireland in 1861. Although he was
listed as aged 21 on his immigration entry
into Queensland, Thomas was believed to be
aged 16. The reference also listed that he came
to Queensland on the ship Nairnshire, which
left Greenock, Scotland on the 24 Nov 1876
and arrived in Brisbane on the 7 Mar 1877.
He was listed as an assisted passenger on the
immigration index card, but the ship’s passenger
list had Thomas listed in the Free passengers
section. The Nairnshire was captained by
Walter Nevin, the ships surgeon was Dr William
Gregory and its matron was Miss Mary Steel. The
ship carried 261 passengers, with three deaths
while at sea.
Thomas and Mary
homas married Mary
Higginson, in Townsville
on 28 Feb 1883. and they
overlanded to the Atherton
Tablelands in far North
Queensland, to make a living.
A copy of a survey map of 22
Aug 1887, by Alfred Starcke,
Surveyor, of the town of
Granite Creek, shows blocks
of land on the northern side
of Granite Creek owned by T
Moody and his son G Moody.
The Moody homestead was
the first home constructed
over the Granite Creek and
was situated on the northern side of what is
now known as Starcke Street and faced towards
Granite Creek. There was a well beside the
house for drinking water with a large mango
tree covered with bougainvillea near it. The
family owned land situated at the back of the
current golf course extending across One, Two,
Three and Four Mile Creeks which feed into
the Mitchell River. They had stockyards and ran
cattle.
With horse teams they carted timber from the
Atherton Tablelands to the sawmill in Mareeba.
The sawmill owned by the Jamieson family, was
situated on the northern side of Keeble Street
where Queensland Rail now has a rail siding
(this has since gone too). During the time Tom
Moody snr was a teamster, a timber worker
T
From The Cairns Post: 15 Sep 1926
TWENTY YEARS AGO
By “Tramp” (Atherton Memories Continued)
[Excerpt:]
As I leave Dunmore Farm, I pass a well-known carrier,
Tom Moody, with a cedar log for the Railway, over 7
feet in girth, which, standing, realised 10 shillings per
hundred feet. Tom Moody, a well-known timber getter,
is coming through the scrub with a 4 ton pinelog
aboard. Long before he comes into sight the crack of
the whip and “Get up, Silver” can be heard urging the
powerful team of 16 horses through the soft scrub soil,
and at times the waggon rolls and tosses like a ship at
sea, and the overturning of a waggon, or its unloading
to extract it from the bog, is no uncommon occurrence.
Chatting, with Mr. Moody, he informs me that last.
year he sent away over 500,000 feet of timber, and
this year has already handled 200,000 feet of cedar,
and 100,000 feet of pine. A short distance through the
scrub and on the banks of the Barron River we came
across a sawmill, the property of Thomas & Bock. The
mill, which was erected by Mr. Bock, is a picture of
ingenuity. The river has been dammed below the mill
site, and a turbine of 55-horse power built in the river.
From the river bed, two cables of 500 feet connect the
turbine with the sawmill, and a further arrangement of
light cables control the power.
A novel feature of the arrangement is the use of a large
fig tree growing near the water’s edge as a frame work
for a portion of the machinery.
accidentally cut himself with an axe and, due to
his workmates having little knowledge of first
aid, bled to death. As a result of the incident Tom
pressed the timber workers and locals to learn
the rudiments of first aid and, as an incentive
to learn, donated the timber for an ambulance
building at Atherton. A plaque to his memory
is embedded in the cement wall of the (old)
Atherton Ambulance building (now a shop).
Thomas was killed (fractured skull) in a fall
from a horse whilst taking part in a race near
Herberton. Tom was listed as a horse carrier for
the Tablelands, from Herberton to Mareeba, in
Glenville Pikes’ book Pioneers Country.
Descendents of this family, 3rd,
4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th
generations still live in
Mareeba. The children of the
marriage were Mary Jane
(Royes) [photo], Barbara
(Dawson), Thomas, William,
George, Sam and Bert.
See more at: http://royroyes.net/showmedia.
php?mediaID=1542
The washing of the feet
I
made some progress in learning Kiswahili by
Easter time – my first in Africa. Sisal, which is
used to make ropes and seating, is grown in
huge plantations in the area around Mwatate.
We held the Holy Thursday ceremonies in the
church situated in the Sisal estate. Linguistically,
it was a challenge but I would be able to
manage with the help of catechist Feliciano
Mwendenao. Feliciano was a refugee from
Mozambique. Together with his wife and
children, he had fled the Frelimo conflict. He
was to be my first close refugee contact.
We prepared for the Holy Thursday ceremony to
be held at the Church and the faithful arrived.
During this ceremony, twelve members of the
congregation have their feet washed by the
priest, in memory of the example given by Jesus
when he washed his disciple’s feet.
Twelve of the congregation were chosen and
they were to sit on a bench in front of the
altar and have their feet washed. I was to start
washing the feet of the people at one end of the
bench and then continue up the line. It was all
very straightforward – or so I thought!
he back breaking work of cutting sisal
was over for the day, people came from
the camps all around the sisal estate for the
ceremony which was held in the late afternoon.
The church was packed and the ceremony
began. It was going well enough and I had
finished my homily. It was time to do the
washing of the feet. I got the water, towel and
basin from the altar boys who were helping
in the ceremony. I started from the left, knelt
T
Another Fr Tom Hogan’s story from his time as a
priest with the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (“the
Spiritans”. [Tom is 2nd cousin to Maurie Roy.]
The Turkey Which Really Was a Rooster is available from
several sources but it is easier to direct you to the
author Fr Tom Hogan, 66 Rockfield Avenue, Kimmage,
Dublin 12, Ireland
down and began washing and then drying the
feet of the chosen people. I was nearly finished
my duties when I noticed that I seemed to have
forgotten one or two who were still sitting at
the other end of the bench. I returned and
washed and dried the feet of the forgotten.
Suddenly the bench was full again! Maybe I
had misunderstood and twenty four people
had been selected? Perhaps it was twelve
men and twelve women; anyway I continued.
Nevertheless, there were more and more people
coming forward. I knew I was in for a long
evening when I heard Feliciano saying: “Father
Tom is washing everyone’s feet – this is a very
big blessing, come forward row-by-row and be
sure to bring all the children.”
Row-by-row they came, adults and children. By
this time, the water was
nicely coloured with the
red dust of the area. The
towel too became a bright
coloured red. Maybe using
a snow white towel wasn’t
such a good idea after all!
So, every one had their feet
washed, except myself. All
were blessed. It was a long
ceremony but the people
did not mind and felt that
they had made a good
start to the Easter
festivities.
Research notes
I
t has been a time for making more Roy
contacts, including two new sources - Ellie
Roy (my third cousin) in London and Phil Roy
(is he a cousin?) in NSW.
nother Australian Roy family has been
revealed courtesy of Phil Roy. There is
a chance that they might link into our Roy
tree. The occurrence of names like James,
Albert and perhaps Jamieson plus the Belfast
base suggests that there may be a link and
A
the earliest Hugh (probably born about
1830-35) could conceivably (pardon the
pun!) be a sibling or cousin of “our James”
born in the late 1820s. Hugh and family are
currently in the Roy miscellaneous collection
but will be moved to the main tree if a
link is established - see the chart below
and go to http://royroyes.net/getperson.
php?personID=I244&tree=roymisc and
follow the links. “Our James Roy” can be
found at http://royroyes.net/getperson.
php?personID=I831&tree=rr_tree . Many of
this Roy family settled in Sydney.
by Roy~Royes Family
Links
of Maurie Roy and
It has grown to over
common surnames in
Huffam, Hogan,
Smith.
On the web site are help
pages: “Using this site”
(there is a link in the
footer of every page).
There is a FaceBook
group associated
This is designed to be a
community forum - so join
in! Share some stories!
E
llie Roy Wheatley contacted me in
December with information about
her side of the family plus some further
information about people already in our
tree. Go to http://royroyes.net/descend.
Web site notes
php?personID=I6536&tree=rr_tree .
llie and cousins Pat and Carole have sent
us quite a few historic photos of the
Northern Ireland Roys, now on the web site
(and one is on p2)
E
A Hawaiian woman was denied a
driver’s licence because her last name
id you know that you can automatically
was too long to fit on the driver’s licence share our web pages through FaceBook,
and just fits in this column! Janice
Twitter, Pinterest or Google+? On most of our
Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele
web pages there is a “Share” link below the
(KAY’-ee-hah-nah-EE’-coo-COW’-ah-KAH’drop down menus on the hee-HOO’-lee-heh-eh-KAH’-how-NAH-ehright. When you click on leh) received her licence after her campaign
it, it expands to the four to change how many characters can appear
platforms mentioned.
on a driver’s licence.
D
Editor:
Bruce Roy,
45 King St, ,
Australia
on the web at
newsletters.php
Family Links 26
News and Notes
Snippets
Robin Young, from Kent in England, enabled Bruce and George Roy to build
the Royes family tree back to ancient times via the Houghams. Robin and wife
Janet visited Sydney in February last. Bruce and wife, Bev, took them to lunch
at “Ripples” restaurant (on the left of the photo) with its grand view of Sydney
Harbour, the Opera House and with the Bridge looming over us. And a Sydney
Ferry sneaked into the photo! Robin’s web site is http://hougham-huffam.org .
Fr. Tom Hogan C.S.Sp was the
chaplain to a small group of parents
with sick children on pilgrimage to
Lourdes, France. The Irish Pilgrimage
Trust bring many very ill children
with at least one of their parents to
Lourdes each year. Fr. Tom’s group,
called 103 - (it’s painted on his
cheeks in the picture and yes that
is an Australian bush hat that he is
wearing!!!!), numbered 26 including
nine sick children. Many of these
children have a short life expectancy. The pilgrimage was run with the
children in mind and included a
mystery tour to a Zoo which had
animals from Australia and South
Africa. The group was blessed with
lovely weather for their mystery tour. As 9 year old Mark said , ‘ I am sad
that the pilgrimage is nearly over,
can’t it not just start again!
The third in the Shad series by Gillian Royes, The Sea
Grape Tree, is to be launched at Bookophilia in Jamaica
on 1 July. Her first launch in her home country!
The first two books in the series, The Goat Lady of Largo
Bay and The Man Who Turned Both Cheeks, are reviewed
on the web site under Articles.
Gillian is a 3rd cousin once removed of May Royes.
March 2014
Kathleen Clare Gibson (née
Rogers) died in Townsville just one
month short of her 94th birthday.
She will be buried in Bowen
alongside her husband and eldest
son, both named Eric. Kathleen is
survived by two sons Barry and
Colin. She is a granddaughter of
Charles Mordaunt Royes.
February 2014
Lachlan James Royes born to
Adam and Nicole (Templeton),
brother for Mackenzie Emily,
grandson for George and Gloria
(Ekeberg) - descendants of George
Hougham Royes.
December 2013
Adelaide Putt
born in Tooting,
London to Alasdair
and Alecia (Bland),
granddaughter for
Sharon (Steiler)
and George Bland descendants of Thomas Mordaunt
Royes (1879-1958).
November 2013
Thomas Mordaunt Royes
(b.1947), son of William Mordaunt
and Kathleen Margaret Royes, died
on the 23rd, just two days short of
his 66th birthday.
Andrew and Caitlin Roy have sold
their business, Showplants, and are in
the process of morphing into Oxley
Nursery
In this issue
News and Notes
Memories of Israel
What’s in a name?
A charitable journey
and a bottle of whiskey
Research notes
Web site notes
1
3
4
5
6
6
roy~royesfamilylinks 26 • June 2014
On ANZAC Day (25 April) Eliza
Roy laid a wreath on behalf of
her Brownie group, wearing the
World War 2 medals of her great
grandfather Arthur Green.
“Renvyle, Conamara” was painted
by Jim Hogan of Tramore, Ireland.
[He is Maurie Roy’s 2nd cousin via the
Russells]
Jim did a lot of early work on the
Hogan-Russell family tree. And
brother Jack has been a regular
contributor to the family tree.
The Annabel Hogan you read about
in last October’s newsletter, when
she married Owen Treadgold, is Jim’s
daughter. She and Owen live in Perth,
Western Australia.
Fr Tom Hogan who has been
contributing stories of his time in
Kenya is Jim’s brother.
Their sister Anne writes poetry, some
of which is on our web site under
Articles.
And there are more siblings:
Maureen, Helena and Pat.
Photo from the
past
Houston and Agnes
(Gamble) Clements
in Larne, Northern
Ireland. My guess is
that it was taken in
the early 1900s. They
are Maurie Roy’s great
grandparents.
There is a poem on
our web site written in
tribute:
showmedia.php?med
iaID=1248&medialink
ID=2362
2 • roy~royesfamilylinks 26 • June 2014
The late Robert McDowell and Patricia
Helena (Kendrick) Roy outside their
house in Whitehead, Co Antrim,
Northern Ireland about 1990.
Contributed by daughter Marjorie
Robinson in Perth, WA
Memories of Israel
Joy Logan,
teacher in Jaffa from 1951 to 1965
y chief memory is of the sheer beauty of the country:
M
I doubt if there is another land with such a variety
of landscape and climate in so small an area - a little over
8,000 square miles when I was there, though it is larger
now. It ranges from the permanent snow on Mount
Hermon to the tropical desert of the Jordan Valley. So
many memories arise - the beauty of the Sea of Galilee,
the swathes of cyclamen and scarlet anemones in Spring,
the scent of orange blossoms (we lived in Jaffa!) on a
still evening, the wonderful views of Mount Carmel, the
desert sands of the Negev blown into fantastic shapes by
the wind.
As I said, we lived in Jaffa (the biblical Joppa), one of the
oldest cities in the world, with a mixed Jewish/Moslem/
Christian population who live and work happily together.
One would think from reading the Press, at least in
England, that all Arabs are Moslems and are bitterly
oppressed by the Jews. Once when I mentioned Arab
Christians to a member of my church she assured me that
there weren’t any! Unfortunately the Islamists have taken
over the Palestinian cause: in fact, having read of recent
events in Syria and elsewhere, the last thing that Israel’s
Arab and Armenian Christians (and Druse) want is to find
themselves forced to live in Moslem Palestine.
One special memory is Easter in Jerusalem. I did not very
often manage to get there, but in 1963 my mother came
out to visit me, and the highlight of her visit was the
dawn service on Easter Sunday morning on the forecourt
of the Church of Scotland, overlooking the Mount of
Olives.
All this is beginning to sound as if I never did any work!
I was teaching in the Church of Scotland school in Jaffa,
called Tabeetha after the woman raised by St Peter there,
but so spelt as to prevent it being pronounced like a cat!
I went there in the first week of 1951, when the state of
Israel was still very new, and immigrants were pouring in
from all over the world. It was a good time to be learning
Hebrew when almost everyone was a learner and errors
did noir ‘stick out’. Though I did once raise a laugh by
addressing a bus driver in the feminine!
We taught in English, so we also had the children of
diplomatic families. I am sure this gave them - especially
from the Communist bloc - an opportunity to mix with
those whom they would not otherwise have met. When
we celebrated our centenary in 1963 we had children
of 40 nationalities in the school. It was a wonderful
experience teaching children who really wanted to learn
and who worked with you rather than against you: not a
good preparation for my next job in Jamaica!
One thing it did teach me was to be precise in my use of
English. I had a habit of starting a lesson with, “Now then,
today let’s…” One day a very earnest little Bulgarian girl
came up to me and said, “Miss Logan, there is something
I do not understand. ‘Now’, I understand, is present tense;
‘then’, I understand, is past tense, but what is this ‘now
then’?” On another occasion, when all the children were
supposed to be outside, I said to one of the seniors, “Run
and see if anyone is hanging about upstairs” - she ran into
another teacher, who asked why she was not outside.
She replied, “Miss Logan sent me to see if anyone was
hanging upstairs.”
or much of my time I was also secretary to the Israel
Council of Churches, which I greatly enjoyed as it
gave me a chance to get to know people I would norm
otherwise have met, particularly the Hebrew Christian
churches, of whose existence I had been previously
unaware. I was the only woman on the council, but
oddly the only time I met any prejudice was when Dr
Billy Graham visited Israel, and we wanted to arrange
a gathering for him to address. His staff flatly refused
to work with a woman and I had to pull out of the
committee and let one of my male colleagues take over.
By this time, some of you are probably wondering why,
if I was so happy there, I ever left. In 1965 the Church of
Scotland announced that it was closing the school, so I
had to start looking for another job. The Irish Presbyterian
Church very quickly found me one in Jamaica - a bit
too quickly as the Scottish Church did not in fact close
Tabeetha. It was doubly unfortunate as the Jamaican job
lasted only three years. I am a history teacher and the
newly independent Jamaica naturally wanted its history
taught by one of its own people, so my visa was not
renewed.
But Israel remains special. I am still in touch with several
of my ex-pupils - who are now grandparents! In 1996
I gave myself a 70th birthday present of a return visit,
when the magic was as strong as ever, and I was glad to
discover that my Hebrew still worked! It is amazing how
much a knowledge of Hebrew and Judaism adds to one’s
understanding of the Bible - the New Testament as wells
the Old.
On my last evening I attended a supper party at the home
of Christian Arab friends, at which Jews, Moslems and
Armenians were also present. All of the guests except one
lived within walking distance of our hosts - a far cry from
the ‘apartheid’ picture of Israel one gets from the Press.
F
roy~royesfamilylinks 26 • June 2014 • 3
What’s in a name?
- Ron Royes
What’s in a name? wrote William Shakespeare,
That which we call a rose,
by any other name would smell as sweet.
hen we start looking at the origin or
derivation of a name, we need to turn to
etymology - the history of a word as shown
by breaking it down into basic elements, or
tracing it back to the earliest known form and
its change in meaning.
The untimely passing of Thomas MORDAUNT
Royes on 23 November 2013, two days short
of his 66th birthday, leaves only his son David
as the last Australian Royes where the name
MORDAUNT is used as a family or christian
name.
He was the son of William Mordaunt Royes
(1902 - 1991), and a grandson of Thomas
Mordaunt Royes (1879 - 1958). Another son of
Thomas Mordaunt Royes was Mordaunt Herbert
(1913 - 2008). They were descendants of Charles
Mordaunt and Mary Royes.
There were two names frequently used in early
family records - MORDAUNT and HOUGHAM.
The earliest known reference to MORDAUNT
was in the twelfth century of Osbert le
MORDAUNT in Bedfordshire, England.
When Sarah MORDAUNT, a daughter of Captain
Lestrange Mordaunt wed Edward HOUGHAM
in London in the 18th century, her son was
named Charles Mordaunt Hougham and her
W
granddaughter (Charles’s niece) was Mary
Hougham. Mary married Solomon Royes in
London in 1803, from whence fourteen children
were born. In the families of three of them, the
name Mordaunt was used as one of the family
names.
harles John Royes migrated to Jamaica
and his only legitimate son was Charles
Mordaunt Royes, who unfortunately died before
he was 2.
When Charles’s siblings Edward Hougham and
Maria settled in Australia in the 1830s, the name
Mordaunt was used in both families. Maria had
a grandson Frank Mordaunt Luther. Edward
named his fifth child Charles Mordaunt Royes.
Charles Mordaunt Royes married an 18
year old Scottish lass Mary Mc Leod Murray,
from St. Quivox, Ayrshire, in Rockhampton
on 30 October 1874. There are nine of their
descendants with Mordaunt as one of their
family names - one Swan, one Robinson, and
seven Royes. (See the full list below.)
The American born essayist Logan Pearsall
Smith (1865 - 1946) wrote,
Our names are labels, plainly printed on the
bottled essence of our past behaviour.
C
––––––
ince Ron wrote the above, we think we have
discovered Lestrange Mordaunt’s father, a Sir John
Mordaunt (though the knighthood is curious - he was
not a Mordaunt baronet). We can then identify his place
in the Mordaunt tree as a descendant of the first Baronet
Mordaunt, Sir Lestrange Mordaunt, who purchased the
baronetcy in 1611. You can read more about this on the
back page under Research Notes.
S
A charitable journey
and a bottle of whiskey
O
Another Fr Tom Hogan’s story from his time as a
priest with the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (“the
Spiritans”. [Tom is 2nd cousin to Maurie Roy.]
Tom Hogan
ne November, during the time for the long
rains, roads became impassable because
of the thick glutinous mud. The road up and
around the Taita hills was blocked on both sides
of the hills by two landslides.
At the top of the hills, my friend Fr Jack Ryan
was locked into his parish area for three weeks,
but he was able to use his Volkswagen vehicle
and go to Mgange Dabida church and two
outstations at the top of the Taita hills. He was
also able to visit the sick, as was his custom.
Each week, Jack would drive as
far as he could and his
cook would climb over the
landslide and do the weekly
shopping in nearby Wundanyi
town. Sometimes, he also
returned with twenty litres of
petrol to fuel Jack’s car. As I was
the group leader in the Taita Hills
at that time, I decided that I should
pay him a visit.
One Friday, immediately after school,
I drove up as far as the Chief’s Office
in Bura and left my car there and
prepared to walk up the hills. I had
packed a small knapsack with some
useful items that might help Jack in his
difficult situation. Among the packets of soups
and a few tins of vegetables, I had a half bottle
of Irish whiskey.
I walked up and over the landslides. It began
to rain again and the going got tougher.
Unfortunately, the inevitable happened and at
one point, I fell down and broke the neck of the
bottle of whiskey. I was very disappointed.
n arrival, I handed over my gifts and said:
“Jack I’m sorry but I broke the neck of the
whiskey bottle when I fell down in the mud
and rock.” Jack replied: “Don’t worry Tom, now
you will know what a tea strainer is for”, and
he proceeded to decant the whiskey from the
broken bottle through the strainer into a jug.
It was a cold night at 6,000 ft altitude, despite
the fire. The rains pounded down on the iron
sheet roof and the wind whistled down the
chimney and water came down the chimney
The Turkey Which Really Was a Rooster is available from
several sources but it is easier to direct you to the
author Fr Tom Hogan, 66 Rockfield Avenue, Kimmage,
Dublin 12, Ireland
too. Eventually, the fire was out and the hearth
was filled with water.
However, the whiskey helped to keep away the
cold and of course we were forced to finish it, as
the bottle had been damaged!
It was a good night and Jack played me a
tune or two on his fiddle, while I sang “The
Jug of Punch” and recited as many verses of
Robert Service’s poem “The Cremation of
Sam McGee” as I could remember. I was
glad I had made the journey, as I was his
only visitor that month.
O
roy~royesfamilylinks 26 • June 2014 • 5
Research notes
here has been a major review
T
of the Hougham entries and
Overview charts on the web site.
Over 1,000 Houghams have been
deleted:
The Hougham-Huffam Family
Tree maintained by Robin Young
is focused on all things Hougham,
and there seems no point in
duplicating that research. Except
for...
Those Houghams in the Royes
pedigree, and some of interest
because of their migration to
Australia and New Zealand, are
retained.
There are links from the
Houghams in Roy~Royes Family
Links to the equivalent person in
The Hougham/Huffam Family Tree
(and in some cases the reverse).
One consequence of this is that ALL
Overview charts have been reviewed
and updated. Another is that “Royes”
is now the most popular surname in
our data!
iona Brown of Toulouse, France
is a descendant of Joseph Barron
Black Wylie and Elizabeth Bell
(“Sis”) Rainey and has added to our
information about those families.
This includes yet another family that
ended up in Australia (Canberra).
See http://royroyes.net/descend.
php?personID=I1316&tree=rr_tree
he Mordaunt pedigree has
been substantially extended to
somewhere in the 13th century! I
have decided to take a punt that
two John Mordaunts who died in
the same year (1723) are the same
person. This means that Solomon
Royes’ wife Mary Hougham now has
a pedigree on the Mordaunt side
F
T
Family Links is produced in
conjunction with
Roy~Royes Family Links web site
Editor: Bruce Roy,
45 King St, ,
Wollstonecraft NSW 2065, Australia
Web site notes
he software we use on
T
roy~royes.net (TNG) has been
updated to version 10. The main
changes for users and guests are
Mobile-Friendly: No special app
is required, but the site will look
great and be much easier to use
on your mobile device.
Responsive Design: Many of
the standard pages have been
restructured to fit better on
smaller screens (like phones and
tablets).
New Chart: A vertically-oriented
chart of ancestors can now be
displayed for each person.
Better Navigation: Wherever
page numbers are listed, you are
now able to enter a specific page
number and jump directly to
that page.
Ahnentafel and Register reports:
These reports of ancestors and
descendants now give you the
option to show more or less
detail.
Creating a GEDCOM: Those with
access to GEDCOMs will see more
parallel to her Hougham pedigree.
The earliest Mordaunt is Osbert
though “Mordaunt” is not used until
we get to his grandson Eustace. The
first baronet Mordaunt is Lestrange
(1572-1627) though an earlier
Mordaunt, Sir John, great-great uncle
of Lestrange, was knighted and his
son became the first Lord Mordaunt.
Several of the Mordaunts were
members of parliament.
See the Mordaunt pedigree chart in
the web site’s Overviews.
This family tree has its roots in the
marriage of Maurie Roy and May Royes
in Cairns, Queensland, in 1940. It has
There is a FaceBook group
grown to almost 6000 people. Apart
associated with our family tree from Royes and Roy, the most common
Roy-Royes Family Links. This is designed
surnames in our data are Hougham/
to be a community forum - so join in!
Huffam, Hogan, Weatherburn, Girvan,
Share some stories!
Bailey, Robinson and Smith.
options when exporting data for
use in another program.
Add-ons: Several popular usercreated modifications have been
included (age calculation, show/
hide events and media). (You
may not notice any difference
since we were already using
these features as modifications.)
he web site passed 500,000 page
visits in April! We average about
300 page visits per day.
T
atherine Philps got in touch
C
re: Robert Smail who married
Anna Maria Royes, daughter of
Edward Hougham Royes sr. She had
found evidence of Robert Smail in
Rockhampton and since the Royes
had moved to Rockhampton this
sounded like a likely match. But the
dates don’t seem to fit!
I am beginning to suspect that
our Robert Smail is not the son of
Alexander and Violet, but I have not
changed the family tree yet. We need
more evidence!
Newsletters are available at
newsletters.php
or scan this QR code: and select
More>Newsletters
Family Links 27
News and Notes
Snippets
September 2014
Cooper John Brady born to
Scott, Bev and Zoe in Mareeba,
Qld. A McFarlane descendant.
[3G nephew of May Royes.]
July 2014
The Jamaican launch of the
third book in the Shad series,
The Sea Grape Tree, by Gillian
Royes was standing room only
in Kingston.
[3C1R of May Royes.]
Relationship notations used:
If you are going to
get engaged, you
should do it in style
- like, in Rome! Erica
Russell (Gold Coast,
Qld) accepted a
proposal from Oliver
Rix on bended knee
on 21 Jun 2014.
Which was
celebrated back
home with Erica’s
parents Charl and
Cheryl last month.
2C = 2nd cousin
2C1R = 2nd cousin once removed
3G ... = great great great ...
[Erica is Maurie Roy’s
2C1R]
Stéphane Hogan began a four year
contract in Ethiopia in August 2012
and so moved from Brussels to
Addis Ababa with wife Doris and
the youngest of their four children
(Brendan).
Next newsletter Stéphane will
share their experience of those
two years.
[Stéphane is Maurie Roy’s 2C1R]
In this issue
News and Notes
The Tyssen connection
Dover Castle
Sweet memories
Research notes
Web site notes
1
3
4
5
6
6
Matthew Roy and Charlotte Brown were married in August at the Little
White Wedding Chapel in Maleny, Qld. [Matthew is Maurie Roy’s great nephew.]
Warning! If I don’t get enough photos/news I have to
post some of my own photos! This magnificent flower
was in full bloom in Cairns Flecker Botanic Gardens
when we visited in August. We caught up with a host
of Roy and Royes relatives, as we usually do about
this time of year, but this year we made a side trip to
remote Weipa on the west of Cape York Peninsula to
catch up with cousin [therefore Maurie Roy’s nephew] Rob.
The web site for Royes Family International has
changed to http://theroyesfamily.com. They are
mainly descendants of Charles John Royes (who
migrated from London to Jamaica probably in the
1820s). He is a brother to Edward Hougham Royes sr.
They are an active community - check out their web
site.
[Charles John Royes is 2G uncle to May Royes.]
Bruce Roy’s 50th year since
ordination at St Andrews
Presbyterian Church,
Roma, QLD in 1964 was
acknowledged at the 2014
Synod of NSW & ACT of
the Uniting Church, along
with 14 other jubilarians.
Photo from the past
Wedding of Bert Royes and Mary
Moody 19 June 1906 in Mareeba,
Queensland.
As far as we can work out, the
people are
STANDING: Edward Mordaunt
Royes (28), Thomas Mordaunt
Royes (26), Mary Agnes Royes
(16), Herbert Charles Royes, Mary
Jane Moody, Elizabeth Isobel
Royes (21), John George Royes
(11), Charles Mordaunt Royes
SEATED: Jessie Phoebe Royes
(13), Jean Stewart Royes (30),
unknown, Mary Higginson Murray, Eleanor Etta Royes Robinson (25), George Thomas Ainsbury
FLOWER GIRLS: Winifred Constance Royes (6), Eleanor May Swan (6) and small boy unknown
The Tyssen connection
olomon Royes’s second marriage was to Mary
S
Hougham. Their first child was named Samuel
Tyssen Royes (1804-?). Where does “Tyssen” come
from?
There is a strong connection between the
Houghams and Tyssens. Samuel Tyssen (1698-1748)
married Sarah Hougham (1708-1748) in 1730. Their
eldest child, Sarah (1731-1800) married Richard
Boddicott (1725-1756) in 1752 and they had a
daughter Sarah (1756-1790). Sarah Boddicott then
married Samuel Tyssen (her second cousin) in 1782.
(See how family tree research can get complicated
as you keep track of the Sarahs and Samuels and
inter-marriage within families!)
This portrait miniature by
John Smart (1742-1811)
was sold in 2011 for £43,250
(A$76,641). It is described
as: Mrs. Sarah Tyssen (17561790) née Boddicott, wearing
lavender dress, slashed at
the sleeve to reveal white,
white lace slip visible to her
décolleté trimmed with fine
green ribbon, a green ribbon
bow to her corsage, her hair
elaborately upswept and
dressed with strands of pearls
and a sheer white veil. [Signed on the obverse with
initials and dated J.S./ 1781., silver frame, engraved
on the reverse Sarah Tyssen/ dr. of Richd. Boddicott,/
b.1756. md.1782. d.1790. Oval,
52mm (2 1/16in) high]
amuel and Sarah
(Boddicott) Tyssen had
four children - two died as
infants. The survivors were
Sarah and Samuel but their
mum died when they were
6 and 5 respectively, in 1790.
This is where we appreciate the
strong Hougham connection,
because:
• Sarah (1784-1854) became a
ward of Solomon Hougham,
goldsmith, the same
Solomon Hougham (17461818) who also fostered
Solomon Royes (abt 17741842), her 3C1R.
• Samuel (1785-1845) became
a ward of William Hougham
of Barton Court (Canterbury),
presumably the younger
S
William (1752-1828). (You will find an article on
Barton Manor on the web site and in Family Links
#18 (October 2011)
It is interesting to note that neither Solomon
Hougham nor William Hougham had children of
their own. Both Samuel and Sarah are mentioned in
Solomon Hougham’s will, as also is Sarah’s husband
John Yelloly, “of Finsbury Square, Doctor of Physic”.
She is not mentioned in
William’s will.
ccording to worldnames.
publicprofiler.org which
scans directories and electoral
rolls, over 20% of Tyssens live
in Norway, nearly 6% live in
Holland and nearly 5% live in
Belgium. They class the name
as Nordic. Other sites suggest
that it is also a French name and arrived in England
with William the Conqueror. The name is also spelt
Thyssen.
The Tyssens in our family tree were Flemish and
came from Holland (Flushing,
Zealand) in the 17th century
in the person of Francis
Tyssen (1624-1699). He
married Dorothy Callant in
London. Our chart picks up
his grandson Samuel, who
married Sarah Hougham in
1730. She is the daughter of
another Solomon Hougham
(1656-1714) who was a draper
in London who owned lands
in Ash, Kent. Sarah is therefore
a fourth cousin of Samuel
Tyssen Royes and 4C3R of May
Royes.
A Samuel Tyssen (1756-1800)
owned Felix Hall, Essex
(illustrated above in a sketch
done in 1773) and later
Narborough Hall, Norfolk,
where he is buried.
A
Dover Castle
I
Robin Young
had been to Dover Castle many times but this visit
was different. It was the first time that I had been
there after discovering that my ancestors had been
a part of its history, and as I stood at the threshold
of the Pharos I couldn’t help thinking about my
ancestors who must have stood in the same position
1000 years ago. But even 1000 years ago this Pharos
was an ancient monument.
The Pharos which stands adjacent to St Mary’s in
Castro was one of two lighthouses built to guide
the Roman fleet into the harbour. The one on the
western side of the valley survives only at the level of
its foundations. The Pharos within the castle grounds
survives to a height of about thirteen metres which
makes it the tallest surviving Roman building in
Britain, although it may once have stood to a height
of twenty-four metres. The dating of the early phase
of the fort is around AD130 to AD150, and as it stands
today only the first four Roman stages survive.
As well as a fire lit on top of the Pharos to guide ships,
it also contained bells, and the earliest reference to
them appears in 1252, when three bells were cast in
Canterbury to be hung in the tower
The medieval stage appears to have been rebuilt
between 1426 and 1437 when four masons are listed
as being engaged in setting up in the belfry five new
stone windows brought from Folkestone.
s part of a comprehensive restoration programme
begun in 1580, the Pharos was given a new floor
and roof in 1582. This work was done to enable the
Pharos to be used as a powder magazine.
The first family connection with Dover Castle comes
via William D’Averanche who landed in Dover with
William the Conqueror. To place William in the family
tree, he is Robert De Hougham’s grandfather. [Robert
is May Royes’s 27G grandfather.] At that time the
first castle at Dover was probably an Anglo-Saxon
fortress and, on the arrival of William, the existing
fortifications were improved with the building of an
earthwork castle.
This Norman
‘motte’ (mound)
which supported
the castle is today
known as ‘Castle
Hill’.
Work began on
Dover Castle in the
latter part of the
12th century with
the construction of
the Keep (or Great
Tower) - the largest
in Britain - and is
entered through
a forebuilding
more substantial
than any other
Avranches Tower
A
built before or since. At each corner of the Keep
lies a buttress turret, and mid-way along each wall
is a pilaster buttress. Four storeys high, the Keep
comprises a basement, first floor, and a second floor
that spans two storeys, the upper level of which is a
mural gallery that can be seen today at the end of the
Great Armour Hall. The second storey provided the
royal accommodation, and the first floor, based on a
similar plan to the second, contained rooms with a
much less elaborate decor. All floors were connected
by staircases set in the north and south corner
turrets.
n the castle itself, there are a number of charts
on display listing the Constables of the castle
and it is here that we find further evidence of our
family’s connection. Between 1100 and 1135 a Simon
D’Averanche was a Deputy Constable. Currently, we
know nothing about him and how he fits into the
family tree has yet to be discovered.
Another Simon is deputy Constable in 1189- 1199. This
Simon is Robert’s nephew.
The next family member to be connected is Robert’s
brother, another William, he is credited to be the
architect of Avranches Tower, reputedly the strongest
tower in the curtain wall.
In 1226, yet another William, this one Robert’s grand
nephew and son of Simon was Constable of the
castle, the chart on which Simon and his father
William appear gives us the proof that the Houghams
came from the Averanche family in as much as their
coat of Arms is the same as is recorded in the College
of Arms as belonging to Robert de Hougham.
Finally we have another William, Robert’s great grand
nephew and Deputy Constable in the period 1272 –
1307
This period of time is very difficult to research, not
least because of the variety of spellings of the name.
Sometimes AvEranche is used, sometimes Avranche
and sometimes with an “s” at the end. These are all
legitimate French spellings. The Latin versions are
ALbrincis or Abrincis and the English version Arcis
or Arques. Auberville has also been suggested as a
derivation of the same name, and this list does not
include all those variations caused by keyboard errors
or mistakes.
The more prominent members of the Hougham family
I
eventually left the area and migrated throughout
Kent. Ash, Sandwich and Canterbury all being homes
to wealthy family members and from there the family
moved on to London and hence to the US, Australia,
New Zealand and South Africa. The castle itself
remained at the doorway to England and repelled all
invaders including one Adolf Hitler in 1939-1945.
See more at: http://hougham-huffam.org/showmedia.
php?mediaID=1
Sweet memories
Reminiscences about sweets sold in the
1940s
[These are excerpts from an exchange that took place
the first week of March 2003 on the mailing list AUSMEMORIES-L@rootsweb.com . See http://archiver.
rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/AUS-MEMORIES/2003-03
for more]
ollipop. . . the type of lollies we ate as children.
L
Interesting to see if different states differ: Sherbert
- triangle packet with
licorice for straw; Catherine
wheel - a round lolly with
two holes with serrated
edges that had a piece of
string that you wound until
it spun really fast--horrible hygiene--cut paper with
it or spun till it hummed until finally ate it when it
broke. . .; Buddies - choc coated caramel; musk sticks;
huge multi-coloured lolly pops; boiled lollies that
you sucked until your mouth was dry. . .; Jaffasjaffas
of course for the Saturday picture matinee; 1 penny
chocolates flat and you could roll them up so thin;
1 penny ice creams children’s size . . .; pink pig and
green frog cakes--sponge cake with crisp icing that
broke as you bit into it and inside was cream. Both
had their mouth open. Pay day treat for us kids as
dad walked through on way to catch train at Central
Station. None good for teeth but lots of memories in
these.
Sandra Magee
nd what about licorice blocks! Ten a penny thick
A
and soft Yum, home made honey comb, made
with golden syrup, sugar and bi-carb soda, our lovely
dad made these for us. Huge snow balls that took
more than a minute to eat.
Columbines and acid drops,
makes me drool just to
think of them. Thanks for
the memory
Val Davenport
entistI had didn’t have such treats. I lived in
D
Wollongong NSW at the time and I remember
Creamy Toffees. They were flat and about as big as a
Dairy milk chocolate these days. They were caramel
flavoured and hard. I loved them and broke my front
tooth on one when I was 10
(that was 1940). I had to go to
a dentist who took the nerve
out of my tooth without a pain
killing injection and I pushed
his hand away and the drill
went through my top lip and he
smacked my face hard when I
cried. I guess he didn’t have a
pain killing injection as the war
was on. Mum had sent me to
him on my own and she couldn’t see why I was crying
when I got home, so I got no sympathy from her
either. She was a tough lady and expected everyone
to be the same. None of that stopped me from eating
Creamy Toffees.
Marie Young, Sydney, Australia
nd from going to the dentist too. Not too young to
A
remember those days. You sank further down in
the seat as they drilled until no where to go. Got even.
He took out three molars instead of one (too many
lollies?) and because I came out of the gas had to give
me more so I vomited all over his waiting room and
down the staircase as I left. Always feel good about
that. Remember those toffees though. During Expo
here in Brisbane the English Pavilion sold them. . .
Sandra Magee
Research notes
obert Saunderson has supplied
R
more information, together
with documents and photographs,
about the Clements of County
Antrim, Northern Ireland. He is a
great great grandson of Houston
Clements (1836-1917). [Houston is
The Jamaican Royes family
tree has been enhanced by
contributions from Cindy Royes
and Hortensia Royes - they
contacted me independently and
possibly don’t realise that they
are cousins twice removed, being
descendants of George Huntley
Royes. [May Royes’ cousin twice re-
Maurie Roy’s great grandfather]
moved]
His information raises again the
issue of whether there are two
Houston Clements both married
to an Agnes - one Jamison and
the other Gamble. At the moment
I have them as the same person,
with some theories about the
two different surnames, but I
understand that the children of
Agnes Jamison (2) and Agnes
Gamble (5) probably had little to
do with each other even though
they all lived in Larne, which
suggests perhaps different fathers.
So don’t be surprised if you see
changes as new information
comes to hand. Perhaps an article
in the next issue might help to
identify the key issues.
Roy and Royes lines. Last issue I
reported that the Houghams had
been trimmed down to the Royes
pedigree (ancestors) with one or
two branches of interest being
retained.
I have recently pruned a few
Weatherburns. Again, the policy
has been to follow the Royes
pedigree, in this case that of
Ruth Royes [May Royes’ sister]. Her
daughter, Glenda (Weatherburn)
Pollard, has an extensive
Weatherburn family tree and there
seems little point in duplicating
the work she is doing.
Web site notes
eferences to people in the
R
web site news items now
have a relationship reference
back to either Maurie Roy or
May Royes - where there is one.
This will help you identify where
people are in the tree and maybe
help you work out what your
relationship might be to them.
We are doing the same in these
newsletters.
You can work out such
relationships for yourself in the
family tree - when viewing a
been continuing to prune
Iarehave
some of the branches that
not directly related to the
person, select the Relationship
tab and then enter your info in
the second box that appears (you
must be recorded in royroyes.
net). For registered users this is
done automatically. You can, of
course, put anyone in the second
box to work out their relationship
with each other
ost of the histories and
articles on the website
have been converted into 2- and
3-columns. This should make for
easier reading and will probably
convert to most mobile devices
more easily.
M
associated with our family tree
- Roy-Royes Family Links. This
is designed to be a community forum so join in! Share some stories!
site (bottom left of every page)/About
this site/My research parameters.)
A Brazilian woman got quite a
surprise when she went on a radio
show in August to re-connect with
her long-lost mother. Adriana, 39,
who gave no last name, went on
Radio Globo’s The Time Is Now
(which helps people find lost family
members) and talked to her mother
for the first time. The big news:
Adriana had a brother who’d been
given up as a child and raised by
a relative, just like Adriana was.
Bigger news: His name was Leandro,
just like Adriana’s husband. And the
two men, in fact, had the same last
name.
“I don’t believe that you’re telling
me this,” said a sobbing Adriana.
“Leandro is my husband.” The
couple has a 6-year-old daughter.
Adriana was given up at the age of
one and raised by her father. Her
husband Leandro, 37, learned at age
8 that he’d also been abandoned
at a young age, then raised by his
step-mother. By the time Adriana
and Leandro met, each had spent
years seeking their birth mother—
without knowing it was the same
person. “Now I’m scared to go home
and find out that Leandro doesn’t
want me anymore,” she said. “I
love him so much.” But she later
said that the pair, who were never
legally married, will stay together
“whatever anyone might think.”
Their romantic connection isn’t that
unusual, according to experts who
estimate that up to 50% of such
reunions include at least short-term
attraction and sometimes sexual
obsession.
newsletters.php
Family Links is produced in
conjunction with
Roy~Royes Family Links web site
Editor: Bruce Roy,
45 King St, ,
To see why it is statistically
necessary to set certain limits
to family research have a look at
this page: http://royroyes.net/
languages/English/_cust_spt_
parameters.php (or go to Using this
This family tree has its roots in the
marriage of Maurie Roy and May
Royes in Cairns, Queensland, in
1940. It has grown to almost 6000
people. Apart from Royes and Roy,
the most common surnames in
our data are Hougham/Huffam,
Hogan, Weatherburn, Girvan, Bailey,
Robinson and Smith.
More>Newsletters
Family Links 28
News and Notes
Elsie Roy is 90
E
lsie Roy celebrated her 90th
birthday with friends and
family in advance of her 90th
birthday in December at an event
organised by her son John, held in
Northampton (67m/108km NE of
London) at the end of August.
Elsie was born on the 21st of
December 1924 in East London.
The only daughter of Jimmy and
Elsie White she had two brothers,
Jimmy who was older than her
and George who was younger. Her
father was a keen piano player who
would occasionally forget to come
home for his tea when he got a
good singsong and knees-up going
in a local hostelry - Elsie recalls as
a child being sent by her mother,
who was not amused, to scout out
which local pub he was playing in
and bring him home!
By the time the second world
started in 1939 Elsie was working
in an office in the city centre. In
September 1940, the Blitz started
and London was bombed for 57
consecutive nights. More than
40,000 civilians were killed and
over a million houses destroyed
or damaged. The East End was
heavily affected because of its
proximity to the docks. Elsie’s
parents decided it was too
dangerous for the family to stay
and so they moved to Hunsdon
(34m/55km N of London) in
Hertfordshire where they had
relatives. For Elsie it was a very
frightening time, with the loss
of her job and a move to a very
different environment.
ery soon after her arrival in
Hunsdon however she met
Ormonde Roy [2C of Maurie Roy],
V
Relationship abbreviations used
in newsletters and the web site:
2C = 2nd cousin
2C1R = 2nd cousin once removed
3G ... = great great great ...
To aid in recognizing family
connections, people’s relationship to
Maurie Roy or May Royes is noted.
Elsie Roy (née White) celebrated her 90th birthday in August
with her son John Roy (b1944), his wife Marilyn,
and various great-grandchildren.
a Belfast lad, at a local dance.
He was three years older than
her and based in the local RAF
station where he worked on the
maintenance of Hawker Hurricane
aircraft, used to defend British
cities against the German Blitz.
Ormonde had been orphaned by
the death of his parents within
weeks of one another in 1935 when
he was fourteen and he had gone
to live with his aunt Sarah Dalzell
(sister of Ormonde’s father Albert)
and her family. Although she was
kind to him the arrangement
was not ideal and so he joined
the airforce as soon as he was
old enough. He was a member of
the unit commanded by Group
Captain Peter Townsend, who later
had a well publicised romantic link
to Princess Margaret.
fter a brief romance Ormonde
and Elsie were married and
moved into their own small cottage
in Hunsdon. It was basic with no
electricity or running water, but a
palace to them nonetheless. Their
only son John was born in 1944
and they lived happily for many
years in Hertfordshire where after
the war Ormonde worked for the
aircraft manufacturer HawkerSiddeley and Elsie had a job in a
local office. They eventually moved
A
to Sussex to work with John in his
leisure business and finally settled
in Kent close to some of Elsie’s
relatives. Both she and Ormonde
were very keen gardeners, and
to this day Elsie has a wonderful
display of plants and flowers
around her house at all times of
the year. She is also a talented
needlewoman and still produces
some beautiful embroidery.
Sadly Ormonde died in 2003, which
was a great blow to Elsie after so
many years of happy marriage.
But she has a wonderful spirit
and a great sense of humour and
although she misses him still she
is always cheerful and interested
in all that is going on around her.
She is greatly loved by her family
and by all of us who have been
privileged to know her.
- Ellie Roy (niece)
In this issue
News and Notes
“Katherine Stewart Forbes”
Genealogy...
an addictive pleasure
Two years in Ethiopia...
Research notes
A touch of humour
1
3
3
4
6
6
Snippets
October 2014
• Charlotte
(“Lottie”) Wiley
Gillespie died,
aged 96, in Larne,
Northern Ireland.
The Roys and
Wileys have common ancestors
in Samuel and Margaret
(Whiteford) Russell.
[2C of Maurie Roy.]
• Karla Trimble married Lachlan
Mason at the Sea Temple
Resort in Palm Cove, Cairns,
QLD.
[2G niece of May Royes.]
September 2014
• Cooper John Brady born to
Scott, Bev and Zoe in Mareeba,
Qld. A McFarlane descendant.
August 2014
• Colby David Gauld was born
to Kim and David Gauld grandson for Rosaleen (Royes)
Cetinich.
Nancy Hogan in the centre is the
link between the Russells and
the Hogans. She was born (1910,
South Africa) Annie Teresa Russell,
daughter of James Russell and
Anne Magee. [The Photo from the
past below includes some of their
family and may include a 13-y-o
Nancy.]
Nancy married Thomas Hogan
and they moved to County
Waterford, Ireland. She died in
1992. The photo shows her with
her eldest son James Hogan and
a granddaughter Sheena Behrens
married to Patrick Bolger.
Both photos on this page relate to
the Russell line, so here is a list of
surnames in that line:
Russell >
Myles
Roy
McFerran
Livingstone
Wiley > Taylor, Hanrahan
Rainey > Wylie
Russell > Fitzsimons, Hogan,
Cooper, Homan
Espie > Foley
McClarnon
Photo from the past
When Sam and Agnes Roy, with
children Tom, Maurie, Gus and Beryl,
and Sam’s mother Jane, migrated from
Larne, Northern Ireland, to Cairns,
Australia, in 1923, they called in at Cape
Town, South Africa to catch up with
Jane’s brother, James Russell, who had
gone to South Africa in 1902 so that he
and Annie Magee could marry away
from the sectarian tensions within
their families in Northern Ireland.
We’re not sure who is who - perhaps
you can make suggestions - but for
the travellers, let me start: That looks
like Maurie Roy (6) in the bottom left
of the photo and is that his brother
Tom (8) just behind him. I think that is
Gus (almost 4) on the left of the girl in
the middle. Their sister Beryl (about 18
months old) does not appear to be in
the photo. There were eight Russell
children aged from 19 to 4 at this time.
Genealogy...
an addictive pleasure
G
G
raduation of Michaela Hogan (BA) from Trinity
College Dublin (4 Nov. 2014). [Michaela is Maurie
Roy’s 2C2R]
Behind Michaela, first row: Doris Hogan, Patricia
Coville-Hogan, Kaliopi Meris, Anna Tebenhoff, Jasmin
Hogan, Corinna Hogan; second row: Brendan Hogan,
Mehdi Jaouad, Stéphane Hogan, Samuel Colville,
Farzad Hamzepour. [See pp 4-5 about the Hogans in
Ethiopia.]
“Katherine Stewart Forbes”
W
ant to know what it was like to migrate from
England to the Antipodes in 1851? Robin Young
(http://hougham-huffam.org) found a diary of the
journey of the 750 ton “Katherine Stewart Forbes”
from New Plymouth, England to Auckland, New
Zealand. On board was his wife’s great grandfather,
George Glew (though on the web site this is
transliterated as George Glen).
Robin writes: “It occured to me that many of the
readers of the newsletter would have ancestors who
would have similarly travelled. Anyway, in researching
the Barque, I came across an account of that very
journey which graphically describes the problems of
travelling 12,000 miles which fascinated me and might
interest readers.”
Go to http://www.jillsjottings.orconhosting.net.nz/
ksforbes/katherine_stewart_forbes1.htm
enealogy has been described as the study of
the evolutionary development of people, a chart
showing the descent of an individual or group.
Since 2004 when the B.B.C. ( British Broadcasting
Corporation) first aired its television program Who Do
You Think You Are, genealogy became an addictive
pleasure for many families world wide.
The show was seriously habit-forming with an
irresistibly simple format. In each episode, a celebrity
goes on a journey to trace the family tree. There are
now television programs in Canada, Ireland, Sweden,
South Africa, America and Australia.
Each half hour episode combines the intimacy, and
sometimes voyeurism of observational documentary
and the puzzles of the well told detective story. The
old history teacher’s tale that the past is interesting
in itself, has been replaced by the notion that the
sometimes esoteric slices of people’s lives have some
faint connection with their own.
• ‘ My grandfather was there in the French trenches
too’, we say as we watch, or
• ‘ I know there’s wild Irish blood in this family, too’
The archival footage is priceless, but it’s the insight
into how we can research our own histories that really
intrigues.
ultiple births are a part of family genealogy.
The Royes/Crossley families recorded multiple
births.
William Arthur Crossley and his sister Mary, born
on 24 February 1849 at Windsor, New South Wales
were the first recorded multiple births in the Royes/
Crossley lineage.
Two generations later, twins were born on 25 May
1919. William Francis and James Joseph Crossley
were the sons of Ernest John Thomas Crossley and
Mary Elizabeth Monaghan.
It was nearly 84 years later before any further multiple
births were recorded.
On 20 June 2003, Charli Sophia and Neeve Sousanna
Gallagher were born. Their parents were Tamara
Anne Matthews and Calvin Edward Gallagher, a son of
Nola June (nee Royes) and Michael Gallagher.
Nearly four years later on 13 June 2007, twins
(Genevieve Elowen and Matthew Philip Royes) were
born in Melbourne to Maryann and Steven Phillip
Royes, a grandson of the late Mordaunt Herbert and
Phoebe Royes. .
M
Written by Ron Royes
Monday 29 September 2014
There is a report on the web site listing all
multiple births - http://royroyes.net/showreport.
php?reportID=104. We have 22 sets of twins, 1 set of
triplets and one quadruplets!
Two years in Ethiopia...
A
Stephane Hogan
ugust 2014: two years in Ethiopia, two to go...
It has now (already) two years since we moved to
Ethiopia. That is, Doris, Brendan and I only, as our two eldest
daughter, Corinna and Jasmin, were already living
independently in Brussels and the youngest,
Michaela, was halfway through university in Dublin. A
few months later Corinna moved to Vienna with her
newly-acquired husband Farzad, so quite suddenly we
were spread over four countries. We are now half-way through our 4-year posting in
Addis Ababa. Our move has been quite an adventure,
mostly good, as we adapted to a very different
lifestyle, with some colonial undertones, even though
Ethiopia is very proud to
have never been colonised
(the Italians were just
visiting).
At the begining Doris and
I were very enthusiastic
(and we still are) while
Brendan, understandably
as a 14-year old (then),
significantly less so. It
took him a few months
to come to terms with it
and adjust. But he is in
a great school and has
made some great friends
from all over the world, so
we believe he is fine now.
He also understands and
appreciates that it is a
very special opportunity
and experience. In the first
year he went on a school trip to the Bale Mountains
National Park in Ethiopia, which is between 2,500m
and 4,300m, to study the wildlife and ecology. In
his second year he went to Ghana (!) for a student
conference on global issues (growing in France
my most exotic school trip was to the Loire Valley.)
Nevertheless, we try to mitigate the downside by
making sure he gets back on a regular basis to “his”
civilisation, where internet is fast and supermarkets
are well-stocked, and more importantly where he can
see his Brussels-based friends. oris and I have really enjoyed the change,
especially after spending over 16 years in
Brussels, and Doris in particular has thrived, making
new friends and getting involved in all sorts of
projects, often combining her artistic talents and
charity work. She has made a large mosaic in a
restaurant in Lalibela - a world heritage site (for its
rock-hewn churches, not for the mosaic), she made a
4m ship from recycled materials for a school event, a
small photo exhibition which raised enough money to
put a student through one year of university here, she
has also worked with various local artisans to make
D
furniture, leather bags and ironwork objects. She also
redecorated part of an orphanage with the help of our
children when they visited us last Christmas. I am also enjoying the change in my work, moving
from a management position dealing with large,
complex processes for awarding research grants
in the health sector to a role of representation and
diplomacy for all aspects of research and innovation
- quite a transition. My role here is to develop
collaboration in research between Europe and Africa,
so it is much broader than what I as doing in Brussels
with my team of specialists in health research. My
work here also requires me to travel extensively in
Africa. Since we moved, I have been to Uganda, Egypt,
Ghana, Congo, Tanzania (incl. a trip to Zanzibar with
Doris), Cameroon, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Malawi,
Rwanda, Botswana, Cape Verde, Senegal, some of
these places twice and South Africa many times. I
am also working in a very
different setting, as the EU
Delegation to the African
Union (which has its HQ
in Addis) covers a wide
range of issues which is
dominated by Peace &
Security, with involvement
in all the major crises that
you may hear of in the
news (Mali, South-Sudan,
Somalia, Central African
Republic), as well and as
support for development in
the region. It is fascinating
to be in the midst of these
real world issues. This
has also given us some
interesting opportunities.
Soon after our arrival
Brendan and I attended
a seminar organised by the military attachés club,
where an American historian gave a talk on the battle
of Adwa in 1896 where an Ethiopian army defeated
the Italians who were trying to establish a colony and
didn’t come back (with a vengeance) until 1935 when
Mussolini’s forces finally got a foothold in what was
then known as Abyssinia, forcing Heile Sellasie into
exile until 1941 when the Italians were ousted from
Ethiopia. So here we were, the only civilians sitting
among colonels and generals, and I was very proud
when my fourteen year old boy put his hand up to ask
a couple of intelligent questions. aily life here has a few recurrent themes.
Adapting to the climate and weather, with
its long, cold, damp, muddy rainy season (JuneSept.) and, even in the dry season, big temperature
fluctuations, requiring a layered approach to clothing.
Dealing with the unreliable infrastructure: roads
degrade at an impressive rate (as Brendan says: built
by the Chinese, washed away by the rain), electricity
cuts on a daily basis - fortunately we have large
diesel generator, telecommunications that are often
not functioning well (or at all), fuel shortages, water
D
far. There is so much to see in this country of over
shortages, drinking water shortages, food shortages
1.1 million square kilometres (thats twice the size of
and, on one very traumatic occasion, a shortage of
France). We have travelled within Ethiopia, and will
beer! Food is a big issue for expats, with many things
continue to do so, mainly to seen some of the major
that we had taken for granted not readily available,
sites with visiting friends and with our children when
such as fresh dairy or meat products (or wine) of
they all came over for the 2013 Christmas holidays.
reliable quality, and even sterilised milk is not always
With them we visited Lalibela for the churches
available. So that any trips to Europe or South Africa
and the amazing landscape in the north and Arba
involve filling suitcases with all the goodies we miss
Minch in the south, where after a 7-hour drive, we
and making us appreciate them all the more. This
saw hippos and crocodiles on Lake Abaya, beautiful
has recently become more challenging as Doris
scenery and visited local traditional villages. On a
discovered that she had to restrict her diet for
more routine basis, it’s possible to play tennis and golf
health reasons. This brings to mind that health risks
here, something I hadn’t done for years. are higher here (eg infections) and health services
and facilities are VERY limited. There are very few
Each Summer we all travel back to Europe, with
specialists, hospitals and clinics are poorly equipped
Brendan and Doris going back as soon as school
- a few months ago a colleague from the Spanish
ends and me joining them 4 weeks later. This summer
embassy suffered a heart attack and when he was
we had a great holiday. Brendan and Doris flew to
brought to the hospital the defibrillators were not
Frankfurt and from there Brendan flew on to Brussels
working, so he died. On a less dramatic note, some
to stay with his sister Jasmin and catch up with his
health problems cannot be properly
friends, while Doris flew to Vienna,
diagnosed or treated here, so that
visiting Corinna and Farzad and then
Doris had to be repatriated twice
onwards to her home town. Later
earlier this year for health reasons
Brendan joined Doris in Austria for
which could only be dealt with when
the next two weeks, before I joined
she went back to Austria. She is
them. Brendan then went on to
doing much better now although she
France for wake-boarding camp while
is still struggling with those dietary
Doris and I spent a week in Italy and
problems. (My claim to fame was
another travelling through Italy and
that I dislocated my thumb while
the south of France where we spent
skiing in Austria - which is quite
the last two weeks of our holidays at
embarrassing really, especially as I
my father’s place near Cahors as we
was barely moving when I fell.)
do each summer. Jasmin & Kaliopi
joined us there from Brussels and
Bearing in mind that Ethiopia is a
Corinna and Farzad from Vienna. At
fast developing, but still very poor,
the end of the holiday we drove back
country, a lot of things are still
to Brussels, stopping to visit friends
difficult for pampered westerners.
in Paris on the way. We flew home
In addition, the Ethiopian mind-set
Stephane and Doris Hogan
to Addis on 11 August, as school
is very different to ours, with a logic
resumed for Brendan the next day. He
(or absence thereof) that is often
now has to tackle a fairly demanding 2-year syllabus
very difficult to fathom. People live very much in the
for the International Baccalaureate and, if all goes
present, with short-term solutions, no concept of
well, this should enable him to go to the university of
customer relations and little anticipation for many
his choice.
things. That includes driving, which is also a major
challenge and source of constant bewilderment.
s we start this 3rd year in Ethiopia, not yet
There also seems to be a near absence of the
worrying about our probable return to Europe,
concept of danger, perhaps it is a result of religious
we are looking forward to a trip to Ireland in early
(predominantly Christian Orthodox) fatalism. Another November for Michaela’s graduation and then back to
issue is the high levels of pollution in the streets of
Austria in December with a short stay in Dubai on the
Addis Ababa as many of the cars are very old and in
way back to Addis.
poor condition. In addition, fuel quality is poor and
So, in short, we are doing fine and really enjoying this
oxygen levels are low due to the altitude. Fortunately,
amazing experience. And if you are interested do drop
we have good air filtration in our car.
in. We will be happy to host you in Addis and give you
n the positive side, the people are generally very
some assistance to visit the country, but don’t wait
nice and friendly. it is quite safe here. In fact we
too long
are much less exposed to petty crime and aggression
ps: if you are concerned about Ebola in Africa, bear in
than when we lived in Brussels. The climate is quite
mind that Conakry in Guinea is closer to Brussels
good (apart from the rainy season, which we partly
(4,880km), Dublin (4,920km) or Vienna (5,130km) than
miss anyway), with fairly temperate climate, because
to Addis Ababa (5,750km)... (This gives you a hint as to
although we are just 9° north of the equator, the
how big Africa is.).
altitude of 2,300m means that it is seldom hotter than
Stephane is 2C1R of Maurie Roy
30°C. Of course it gets much hotter in the low-lands
in the south, but we have only been there once so
A
O
Research notes
I
recently discovered that
FamilySearch has extensive
records for Jamaican Royes’
births, deaths and marriages. I
am in the process of updating the
web site accordingly. Jamaican
Royes are invited to check that
I have linked the right person to
the right family since in one or
two cses it has been an educated
guess!
came across this article that
points out that your genetic
ancestors are fewer than
your family tree ancestors:
http://burtleburtle.net/bob/
future/ancestors.html. I don’t
understand the statistics and I’ll
take his word for it.
Here’s a quote: “After about eight
generations back, the number of
I
genetic ancestors only increases
linearly with the number of
generations, while the number
of genealogical ancestors keeps
increasing exponentially. Once
you go back 20 generations, you
have only 1300 or so genetic
ancestors despite having over a
million genealogical ancestors.”
I am about to attend a seminar on
finding cousins using DNA just so
I can understand it better.
here was a problem with the
database a little while back.
One of the byproducts was that
some weird family connections
were made based on some logic
peculiar to the database! I keep
finding the odd one or two but I’m
sure I must have missed some. If
you find such an odd link, please
let me know - don’t assume
that I have some sort of secret
evidence for such connections!
T
A touch of humour
Telling Family History!
Judy Wallman, a professional
genealogical researcher,
discovered that Hillary Clinton’s
great-great uncle, Remus Rodham,
was hanged for horse stealing and
train robbery in Montana in 1889.
The only known photograph of
Remus shows him standing on the
gallows.
On the back of the picture is this
inscription: ‘Remus Rodham; horse
thief, sent to Montana Territorial
Prison 1885, escaped 1887, robbed
the Montana Flyer six times.
Caught by Pinkerton detectives,
convicted and hanged in 1889.’
Judy e-mailed Hillary Clinton for
information about her great-great
uncle.
Hillary’s staff sent back the
following biographical sketch:
‘Remus Rodham was a famous
cowboy in the Montana Territory.
His business empire grew to
include acquisition of valuable
equestrian assets and intimate
dealings with the Montana
railroad. Beginning in 1883, he
devoted several years of his life to
government service, finally taking
leave to resume his dealings with
the railroad.
In 1887, he was a key player in
a vital investigation run by the
renowned Pinkerton Detective
Agency.
In 1889, Remus passed away during
an important civic function held
in his honour when the platform
upon which he was standing
collapsed.’
Family Links
is produced in conjunction with
Roy~Royes Family Links
family tree and web site
Editor: Bruce Roy,
45 King St,
Australia
Roy~Royes Family Links has
its roots in the marriage of
Maurie Roy and
May Royes
in Cairns, Queensland, in 1940.
It has grown to almost 6000
people. Apart from Royes
and Roy, the most common
surnames in our data are
Hougham/Huffam, Hogan,
Weatherburn, Girvan, Bailey,
Robinson and Smith.
associated with our
family tree - Roy-Royes
Family Links. This is designed
to be a community forum - so
join in! Share some stories!
newsletters.php
or scan this QR code: and
select More>Newsletters
Family Links 29
royroyesfamilylinks
Smith Sculptors
J
oan Walsh-Smith is one of our
Hogans, married to Charles
Smith. They featured in the
Western Australian media during
the recent ANZAC Day (25 April)
centenary commemorations because they are sculptors and are
responsible for several memorials
around Australia:
National Memorial to The
Australian Army, ANZAC
Parade, Canberra ACT; National
Memorial to The HMAS Sydney
II, Geraldton WA (top right);
Memorial HMAS Sydney II,
Denham WA; Onslow RSL War
Memorial, Ashburton WA;
100th ANZAC Memorial, Ocean
Reef RSL, WA; Joondalup RSL
War Memorial, Joondalup WA;
Swansea RSL Rising Sun Anzac
Memorial, Swansea RSL, NSW;
Lt HugoThrossell Memorial
(below), Northam WA for
ANZAC Day 2015.
B
HMAS SYDNEY II Memorial, Grealdton, WA
http://www.hmassydneymemorialgeraldton.com.au/
oth Joan and Charles were
born in County Waterford,
Ireland and migrated to Western
Australia in 1985. They have three
children Carl, twins Joanne and
Raoul and two grandchildren. Their
daughter Joanne is also part of
Smith Sculptors.
- Visit http://www.smithsculptors.com
Joan Walsh-Smith is the niece of
Annie Teresa (Russell) Hogan.
Maurie Roy is her 1C1R
Joan’s cousin Jim Hogan (Tramore,
Ireland) visited his daughter Annabel
Threadgold (Perth, WA) earlier this year
and they visited the HMAS SYDNEY II
memorial. “The Waiting Woman”, based
on Joan’s mum, is part of that memorial.
If you check out their web site at
http://www.smithsculptors.com you
will see that they do more than
memorials. Three are included on
this page: Energeia in Karratha,
WA; Citizen of the Year Swan
Fountain with its Youth category
(cygnet) in Burwood, WA; and the
Kangaroos on the Terrace in Perth,
WA.
In this issue
Smith Sculptors
News and Notes
Photo from the past
In God’s country
Joyce Trimble
Research notes
1
2
2
3
4
6
royroyesfamilylinks 29 • June 2015
Snippets
April 2015
Allan “Schoie” Schofield died in the Mater
Hospital, Rockhampton, QLD, aged 84 years and
nine months. Husband of Yvonne (Royes) and
father of Katherine (McLaughlin), Raymond, and
Aileen (van Doorn).
[Yvonne is 1C1R of May Royes]
ANZAC Day 2015 in Malanda, QLD (this year was the
centenary of the ANZAC Gallipoli landing) - The Grumley
family attended the dawn service: Granddaughter Tiffany,
daughter Kay, “Bill” snr, son Bill jnr and granddaughter Jaala
with youngest great grandaughter - Meila
Joyce (McFarlane) Trimble died in Mareeba, QLD,
aged 87, following a long battle with cancer. A
eulogy appears on pp 4 and 5.
February 2015
[niece of May Royes]
Flora (McArthur) Cameron died peacefully in
Mosman, Sydney, aged 97.
[mother-in-law of Bruce Roy]
Sharon (Royes) Eckel, Gladstone QLD, died
suddenly. Wife of Ian and mother to Nadine
and Allan, eldest sister of Rosaleen, Kieran and
Dympna.
[niece of May Royes.]
Charlotte Maisie (pronounced “Macey”) Behrens
born to Chris and Lenette in Melbourne, VIC, and
another grandchild for Len and Carol Gear.
October 2014
Cousins Holly Healey and Lauren Roy at their grandmother’s
(Lyn Horn) 70th birthday celebration in Brisbane, QLD
[3G niece of May Royes.]
Barbara Elias married Howie MacKinven in Albury,
NSW, in a distinctly Scottish style.
[Barbara is great niece of Maurie Roy.]
Photo from the past
Also 70 years ago: The parents of Joan Walsh-Smith (on
page 1), Patrick Walsh and May Hogan married on 3rd April
1945 at Mount Melleray Abbey, Waterford, Ireland.
This shop at 69 South Street, New Ross, Ireland has
a state preservation order on it . Jimmy Hogan was a
bootmaker and he is the reason for the preservation
order. Jimmy’s eldest son, Thomas, married Nancy
Russell and hence the connection between the Hogans
and the Russells. Nancy is Maurie Roy’s 2C1R.
In God’s country
N
estled in a quiet corner of Mpumalanga near Piet
Retief lies a remarkable business, Abilene Poultry
Breeders. Operated by Ken and Tessa Baxter, Abilene
is a hatchery producing day old chicks, the Gravis Latin for heavy.
The business started in an unusual fashion. The
Baxters were on holiday in Durban in 1981, when Ken
dreamt that God had told him to become a poultry
breeder producing broilers.
Notwithstanding the fact that Ken had no experience
in the poultry industry - having been in timber, cattle
and trading stores on the Swaziland border - today
Abilene Poultry is a multi-million Rand enterprise.
Ken had shown Malay Game birds at the Royal Show
and his only contact was a man who worked for the
Agricultural Research Council (ARC). Ken phoned him
and was given the “wrong” advice. “Breed your own,”
he told Ken. “We have stock available for you.”
He obtained eggs from four different strains from
the ARC at Irene, and despite being
told he could never succeed, he has
persevered for thirty three years,
with help and encouragement from
Tessa, who often had more faith than
him. It was never easy, as the broiler
produced from the strains were 4 to 5
days slower than another very popular
breed at the time.
“Running a hatchery is not for the
faint-hearted,” says Ken. “I have been
shot, stabbed, sabotaged, stolen from,
sneered at and shot at again. I was
also hit by a tractor and trailer while
out cycling, but that was an accident.”
High selection pressure after all the
years has paid off handsomely. It has
to be borne in mind that the strains
acquired were not pure.
or selection purposes, the chickens are reared
as broilers for the first six weeks. At this stage a
hundred of the heaviest cockerels (approx. 15%) are
selected for F.C.R. tests. Each of these cockerels is
placed in its own cage with 2.200 kg of food. At the
end of the test (around 8 days), the bird is weighed
again, while the amount of food consumed is
measured as well.
These males are then placed on severe food
restriction, otherwise they would never be able to
breed.
Some of the birds may have excelled in the test but
fall away at this stage through poor constitution. It’s a
case of survival of the fittest.
At twenty three weeks the final selection takes place.
The chosen males must have excelled in growth, F.C.R,
and hardiness. They must be masculine, with strong
legs, broad bodies and chests - rather like the swimmer
Cameron van der Bergh, but in a poultry style.
The females are not treated as severely. At six weeks,
F
50% of the heaviest receive wing bands for laying
tests, when they reach the age of 33 weeks.
The next generation for each line is bred from
approximately 20 males chosen out of between 1500
and 1800. Two hundred hens are selected from the
same number. Each generation, each strain, produces
approximately 3300 birds in three batches.
Young birds are placed on multi-age sites, often in
very close proximity to old flocks. This increases
hardiness and resistance to disease.
he Gravis broiler excels to the extent that Abilene
Poultry Breeders is normally fully booked. And
the Baxters don’t advertise, it is just through word of
mouth and the quality of the chicken. In the difficult
times encountered by the poultry industry Ken says
his customers have survived. lndeed, some have
flourished. Once people have tried the Gravis they are
reluctant to use any other breed.
“Customers who are not on our delivery routes
travel up to 1000 kilometres a week to collect tens
of thousands of chickens, While they have other
hatcheries in close vicinity,” says Ken.
There are no fans in the breeding
houses in summer, and no curtains in
winter, while temperatures can drop
below -5 degrees centigrade and the
water may freeze and burst the pipes.
Many customers report mortalities
below 2% at term. The broiler is in
great demand in very hot areas like
Mtubatuba, Pongola, Nelspruit,
Groblersdal and Letsitela. Apart from
being heat resistant, the bird appears
to be disease resistant as well.
Initially, the Gravis was sold only to
the live market. At the moment, 50%
go through abattoirs. Weights and
F.C.R. compare very well with the best
in the world.
The breeding bird is phenomenal. A peak in egg
production of 90% has been achieved, though normal
expectations are in the mid 80’s. Hatchability with
birds ranging in age from 25 to 68 weeks is between
84% and 85%. No separate cock feeding is required.
The males are in fact reared together with the pullets.
As long as the female weights are on target, the cock
follows suit.
After approximately 40 generations of breeding,
the four pure strains of Gravis are possibly the only
homozygous poultry, capable of competing in the
commercial market, in Africa.
The key to success says Ken is to keep the pure lines
pure; attention to detail; and selection pressure. Every
egg and every bird at G.G.P. level passes through Ken’s
hands.
“lt is not an easy business,” says Ken “but if God is for
you, who can be against you?”
T
Originally published in the SAPA (South African Poultry
Association) journal, August 2014.
[Tessa (Russell) Baxter is Maurie Roy’s 2nd cousin]
royroyesfamilylinks 29 • June 2015 • 3
Joyce Trimble
Joyce died on 1 April 2015. Her daughter Carol offered
this eulogy at her funeral at Mareeba Bowls Club...
regulated the heat. (I blame all those cream buns for
my extra weight). Our grandparents owned the Royal
Hotel just across the road and we had Todeschins
Guest House next door and back then, everyone knew
everyone in town.
um and Dad purchased the Emerald Creek Store
in 1957 when I was 9 years old and Mum worked
seven days a week running the shop, Post Office and
Telephone exchange. My brothers Graham and Brian
and I swam in Emerald Creek, had horses and we
strung tobacco for pocket money - what a great life
we had growing up!
The Emerald Creek community was very close-knit
and when the Italian weddings and parties were held
at the Emerald Creek Hall right beside our store, we
were always invited.
My Mum was concerned when the only road into
Mareeba across the Barron bridge was flooded after
very heavy rain and the store was running out of
supplies, so Mum organised for crates of milk to be
delivered. They were wire crates that held 12 glass
bottles of milk and she arranged for them to be
brought to the Mareeba side of the bridge and this
lady walked the flooded Barron River carrying the milk
crates back to her vehicle on the Emerald Creek side
of the river. Graham and Lenny also helped carrying a
crate of milk each.
Mum being a kind hearted person, gave credit to the
seasonal tobacco workers, but found out they left
without paying their accounts and eventually Mum
realised she couldn’t make ends meet. In 1970, she
sold the store at a loss. After all those years of seven
days a week, they were worse off.
As Lenny and I were married, my two brothers came
to live with us and Mum and Dad lived at Dunlop’s
Hotel - she worked for her Mum and step Dad, Jean
and Eric Moore, at the Hotel. Eventually they found a
house to rent and Graham was married to Jenny so
Brian went to live with Mum and Dad till he married
Kathy in 1974. It was after that that Mum purchased a
caravan. Sadly, Dad passed away in 1976 so Mum lived
at the Tropical Tablelands Caravan Park for the next
30 years and it was here that all the grandchildren
came to visit. Our family get togethers were great,
eating Mum’s special Chung how, Crumbed Fish,
Cabbage Rolls and many more favourites. She was a
great cook and she set up the tables and chairs in the
downstairs annex. Not so squeasy, but lots of laughter
M
H
ard working, always polite, well liked, Mum never
complained and she always dressed beautifully.
Her house and yard was kept immaculate right up
until she went to hospital on Friday 27th March. Lenny
and I weren’t home for the last two months but each
week, I wrote her a letter and we phoned as much
as we could and always she asked, “When are you
coming home” because this lady who suffered so
much pain fought to stay on earth so she could see us
again. But sadly, we missed her by 12 hours. Luckily l
got to speak to her on Monday 30th to tell her we are
coming home and her words were “Dld you get cheap
flights love” and I said “Yes”.
Mum married Dad after growing up in hard times
through the 2nd World War. She had Graham in
1948, me in 1949 and Brian in 1954. In 1951 I was a
polio victim and thanks to my mother and father’s
dedication, I was lucky. Because they made me use
my leg by taking me to a masseur and she told them
to take me to the beach and make me walk in the
sand to strengthen my leg muscle - so we have lots of
great photos of our family beside the ocean.
Mum and Dad were bakers in Mareeba and we used
to live in Walsh Street so we walked to and from
school. But it was a hard life for Mum as she was up at
night baking bread and raising us by day. In the 50’s,
the bread was all done by hand-rolling the dough. I
remember the tins of dough being put into the huge
ovens on a ling stick, and the wood fire ovens that
Next she fell and broke her hip and once again, Mum
was determined to keep going and not sit down.
Mum had to hand in her driver’s licence and she felt
she had lost her independence. So she gave me her
car and I then drove her to her doctor’s appointments
and Blue Care was there to take her shopping every
Thursday and clean her house fortnightly. Thank Ailsa
for her dedication to our Mum as she thought of Alisa
as a special friend.
ach time we thought Mum was deteriorating, she
would bounce back. Christmas 2012 we thought
Mum wasn’t going to be here and she said “I don’t
think I can make my cloth pudding”. So Lenny and
l helped her tie the cloth and then get the pudding
out of the boiling water, and Lenny cut the string
and started pulling the cloth off (under Mum’s strict
instructions). She saw it was cracking and she
yelled to Lenny to grab the pudding quickly. Without
thinking, Lenny did what he was told, only to bum his
hands, and all Mum could say was “I’ve never had a
Plum Pudding crack on me”.
We have a good laugh about it now, but Lenny wasn’t
laughing at the time. Since then, we have learnt to
make Mum’s Plum Pudding so the next generation will
keep the tradition going.
Mum’s wish of seeing Karla grow up was granted
when Mum attended her wedding in October 2014.
Even though she wasn’t well, it was a very special
event for her. Sadly in December 2014, Mum was
too weak to have her Christmas lights on but she
still decorated her garage for some Christmas spirit.
Mum turned 87 on the 21st December. Her wish was
to live to the same age as her mother and she did
that. We had a lovely day and she gave all her great
grandchildren their Christmas presents. We will
cherish these photos.
Mum’s doctor’s visits were fortnightly and thanks
to the morphine lollipop, Mum struggled on. When
Lenny and I had to leave at the end of January to drive
to Melbourne for the birth of our granddaughter, Mum
was very weak and could only drink milk and sustigen.
Each time I phoned her, she told me she was failing.
But this brave lady fought on and eventually, her body
could fight no more. She passed away on a day we will
always remember, April Fool’s Day.
We love you Mum. Thanks for the memories..
E
and good times were had as the grandchildren grew
into adults.
Our Dad’s brother Clyde came to visit and always said
to Mum “Let me buy you a house so you don’t have to
walk to the toilet block at night” but Mum wouldn’t
have it, she said she was happy in her caravan.
Mum took up bowls and she dld well winning
competitions and organising events to raise money
for the club. She had lots of fellow bowlers as friends
and we were happy for her as we were busy raising
our children.
n Mum’s 63rd birthday, she got the devastating
news that she had mouth cancer. It was a very
sad Christmas. In January 1991, Mum and I flew to
Brisbane for the operation and three months later she
arrived back to the caravan park to get on with the
rest of her life. Karla was nearly three years old and
Mum‘s wish was to see Karla grow up.
Mum looked after her mother Jean till her passing
in 1998 and then she worked tirelessly cleaning and
cooking for her step-father Pop Moore. I remember
her washing his garage and then getting on her hands
and knees to dry it, so Pop never left tyre marks on
the cement. Pop passed away in 2003.
By now, Mum had great grandchildren and Uncle
Clyde was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer and when
he passed away in 2003 he had left Mum a house of
her choice, to be lived in free of charge, for the rest of
her life. We thank him so much because Mum loved
living in a house with a big back yard with gardens
and plants, fruit trees and a place where we got
together for family parties.
When Christmas came around, Mum’s house was
always beautiful with Christmas lights, the singing
Santa and Christmas carols. The street won the
award many times for the best Christmas lights and
was named Christmas Avenue, so people came to see
every house decorated and every year we helped put
up the lights. Mum always stayed up as long as she
could before turning off the lights. Life was great, she
had her little dog Tuppence and she was happy doing
what she wanted.
Sadly, in 2009, we were devastated when her mouth
cancer returned and the doctors told her she only
had five years left. Her doctor Sian Moore really
looked after her during this time and when Mum had
a stroke, she really fought hard to use her arm and leg.
O
Joyce is May Royes’ niece
Photos: Joyce’s place was where family gatherings happened
royroyesfamilylinks 29 • June 2015 • 5
Research notes
R
oyes name distribution:
I found these two charts
of interest to Royes branch
members. The large one is the
international distribution of the
name, and the smaller is of the
distribution in England - where
our Royes branch originates.
Royes is a common Spanish name
so Spain is the second most
popular country after the USA whose Royes may well be mainly
from Spanish origins.
Royes, Roys, Royse and Royce are
all found in England.
You can track any name at
namespedia.com.
Family Links
Editor: Bruce Roy,
45 King St, ,
Roy~Royes Family Links has its
roots in the marriage of
Maurie Roy and
May Royes
The family tree has grown
to almost 6000 people. Apart
from Royes and Roy, the most
common surnames in our data
are Hougham/Huffam, Hogan,
Robinson and Smith.
associated with our family
tree - Roy-Royes Family
Links. This is designed to be a
community forum - so join in!
Share some stories!
I
believe I have found the wife of
our earliest known Roy, James
(born about 1827).
We know that James Roy’s son
James - we’ll call him James jr
- was born in County Fermanagh,
Ireland, about 1850.
So when I found a James Roy
marrying a Catherine Thompson
in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh
on 5 April 1850 that would seem
to be our James born c1827.
If this connection is correct
(and most likely is), then we can
also name their fathers as their
names appear in the marriage
registration - James Roy and
James Thompson.
Catherine is therefore Maurie Roy’s
great grandmother.
6 • royroyesfamilylinks 29 • June 2015
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More>Newsletters
ABBREVIATIONS for relationships:
2C1R = 2nd cousin once removed,
1C3R = (first) cousin three times
removed, etc.
3G ... = great great great ... [but 2G
grandparent rather than 3G parent]
connections, a person’s relationship
to Maurie Roy or May Royes is
noted.
Family Links 30
royroyesfamilylinks
To my daughter - Gabriela
The Rhythm of the August Rain
know that one day
you’ll say “Mother-errr!
Did you have to write this?”
But I’ll write it anyway.
Dear Gabriela, thank you
for saving my life, for lifting me up
when I was sinking. Thank you
for keeping me from becoming self-indulgent,
obsessed with small things my brush and comb laid neatly side by side,
my perfumes, medicines and personal
accoutrements laid out for finding in the dark.
My daily tasks shrunk down to petty rituals
of an insignificant survival.
As I review the blue toothpaste
remarkably drawn on the floor,
your yellow rubber duckies in the bath,
diapers in the wastebasket
and other signs of you scattered
throughout my life, I know that you
were after all what I’d been waiting for.
illian Royes’s fourth Shad
series novel, The Rhythm of
the August Rain, was published
at the end of July. I’m currently
working on the next novel,
Breathing under Water, and
looking at ways to turn the novels
into a film or TV series. Her books
are available in paperback and
ebook from major suppliers.
had Myers, the loveable bartender and town
sleuth of Largo Bay, hunts down clues to a
woman’s mysterious disappearance in this fourth
riveting novel in the Shad detective series.
Shannon, a photojournalist on assignment for a
Canadian magazine, arrives in the impoverished
but beautiful fishing village of Largo Bay, Jamaica.
But she’s seeking more than a tropical paradise:
She wants to know why a Canadian woman named
Katlyn went missing there more than three decades
ago.
So she calls on Shad—“bartender by trade,
investigator by vocation, and unofficial sheriff of
Largo Bay” (Publishers Weekly)—for help. Together,
they delve into Rastafarian life and history while
preparations are being made for Shad’s wedding
and the groundbreaking of his new hotel. But the
deeper they get into the story, the deeper they get
into trouble. And it’s clear that whoever wanted
Katlyn buried all those years ago will do anything to
keep the truth buried as well…
As in her previous novels The Sea Grape Tree,
The Man Who Turned Both Cheeks, and The Goat
Woman of Largo Bay, Gillian Royes transports
readers into a beautiful Caribbean setting where life
is cheap but religion is strong, and one man is still
trying to solve the island’s relentless questions.
I
-Heather Royes
Published in Heather Royes, Days and Nights of the Blue
Iguana, 2005, Peepal Tree Press, Leeds UK
Heather and Gillian Royes featured on this page
are sisters from the Jamaican branch of the Royes
family. [They are 3C1R of Maurie Roy.] Another sister,
Sonja, lives in Kent, England - I visited her and one
of her daughters (Sarah) back in 2008.
Their father, Kenneth, a Rhodes scholar to Oxford
in 1929, was a well-known psychiatrist in Jamaica.
A rehabiliation centre in Spanish Town, Jamaica, is
named after him.
G
S
You may have picked up that the front page has been done differently
for this and the last issue. Instead of a collection of news items (they’re
on pages 2 and 3), I have chosen to highlight a particular family and
share something about them. Last issue it was Smiths Sculptors and
this issue the family of Kenneth Royes from Jamaica.
I will be looking for other such stories so this is an invitation! It’s not
meant to be a whole life history - just some aspect of your family that
may not appear in the family tree records.
[Amazon.com]
In this issue
To my daughter - Gabriela
1
The Rhythm of the August Rain 1
News and Notes
2
Photo from the past
3
Places in history
4
Origin of names
5
Research notes
6
royroyesfamilylinks 30 • October 2015
News and Notes
July 2015
August 2015
June 2015
C
aleb Joshua Roy - first-born
for Cameron and Eppie (Wu)
Roy in Changsha, Hunan, China 3.39kg. Tenth grandchild for Bruce
Roy and Lyn (Green) Horn.
[Great grandson of Maurie Roy]
Jennifer (Royes) Betts passed
away, aged 69, in Mandurah,
Western Australia. She leaves two
children. Kimberley and Craig. She
was one of three daughters of
Colin and Clara Royes.
[2C1R of May Royes]
Elsie (White) Roy
died peacefully with
son John by her
side. She celebrated
her 90th birthday
last year - which
was reported in our
newsletter #28.
[wife of 2C of Maurie Roy]
K
athryn Royes married
Peter Lloyd at Prospect
Estate just outside of Ocho
Rios, Jamaica. Peter is originally
from Dublin and is director of
Marketing for DIGICEL Jamaica.
Kathy is a project manager at a
manufacturing and distribution
firm in Kingston, Jamaica and is
the daughter of Dr Charles Royes
who has made a considerable
contribution to royroyes.net in
terms of the Jamaican Royes.
K
ennedy Emmot Mack born to
Ben and Anita (Curtis) Mack in
Alice Springs, Northern Territory sister for Thomas, Gabby, Donald
and Benny, grandaughter for
David and Pene Curtis, and great
granddaughter for Colin and Clara
Royes.
[2C3R of May Royes]
[Kathryn is 3C2R of May Royes]
Did you know?
Y People in a family tree are
identified by their birth name,
though on our web site you
can search for a woman by her
partner’s last name. On our
web site go to Using This Site/
Searching/ People/ Married
names.
Y Living people are visible by
last name and initials only
- and you cannot search
for them unless you are
a registered user with
permission to view living
people in your branch.
Y You can keep track of changes
to information on the web
site by using the “What’s New”
tab under the Info menu. This
will report what has changed
in the last 21 days. Another
(better) method is to use a
“feed” - see Using This Site/
Navigating/ Tracking changes.
2 • royroyesfamilylinks 30 • October 2015
K
ealan James Threadgold born
to Owen and Annabel (Hogan)
Threadgold in Perth, WA.
[2C2R of Maurie Roy]
It is our policy not to give
precise dates in our news items
to protect privacy. If you are a
registered user of the web site
with access to living people in
your branch, you can find that
information there.
September 2015
B
ev and I caught up with family
tree members when we visited
Perth, Western Australia:
First we caught up with Marjorie
(Roy) Robinson. and enjoyed a
long chat over coffee near our
motel.
[Marjorie is 2C1R of Maurie Roy]
Then we visited the Charles Smith
and Joan Walsh Smith at their
home and Smith Sculptors base
at Aislinn Studios at Gidgegannup
(love that name!) on the outskirts
of Perth. Their work was featured
in our last newsletter.
A
R
achael Emma Hardie married
Kaleb Graham Gaul in
the Baptist Church in Dalby,
Queensland.
Rachael is the eldest
granddaughter of Marcia (Claxton)
and David Harris, and daughter of
Marina and David Hardie.
nd still with the Hogans,
Joan’s grandfather, James
Hogan (1865-1945), has been
remembered for his life saving
commitment through the
presentation of a medal in his
name.
The James Hogan Medal was
launched at the New Ross
(Ireland) Boat Club on Saturday
5 September. There will be a
complete report in the next
newsletter from his son, Fr Tom
Hogan - who is in the centre of the
photo above.
An expert swimmer in his day,
James held the unique record of
rescuing 30 lives from the River
Barrow. His brother Thomas was
credited with saving 14 people
from drowning.
[James is the father-in-law of Annie
Teresa Russell - 1C1R of Maurie Roy]
[Joan’s mum is a Hogan]
Photo from the past
Bank Road, Larne, Northern
Ireland, with the Russell
residence indicated. It was also
their shop front for their drapery
and millinery business.
Maurie Roy was not yet 6 when
the family moved to Cairns,
Australia. He said that his
clearest memories of Larne
were the lane next door and the
railway yards behind. The house
is still there but the house to
the left across the laneway is
gone. So have the railway yards
behind.
Rachael has been teaching in the
Dalby Christian School since the
beginning of 2014 and Kaleb is
a local boy. They met at church
and their relationship blossomed
rapidly, The ceremony was
attended by almost 300 people
including family, friends, church
groups and students from the
school. Most stayed for afternoon
tea and the children enjoyed the
jumping castle, tepees on the lawn
and lots of bubble blowing.
Eighty-five family members and
friends sat down to dinner, in
the church refectory, with the
happy couple. The speeches were
brief but Kaleb’s was particularly
well prepared with just the right
touch of humour. The couple
honeymooned on Macleay Island
in Moreton Bay.
T
[Rachael is 2G niece of May Royes]
he web site will pass 600,000
page views this month since
its inception in 2003. There are
214 registered users, 5749 people
and 2147 families in the Roy-Royes
tree. There are two other “trees”
that record people who may be
connected but we don’t know
whether they are or how they are:
Roy Miscellaneous has 281 and
Royes Miscellaneous has 45 such
people.
royroyesfamilylinks 30 • October 2015 • 3
Places in history
I thought that I would share some statistics
relating to places in the family tree.
I have often pondered what it was like for my
great grandmother and grandparents (on my
father’s side - Roy) to leave a Northern Irish
summer and arrive in North Queensland in late
October - on the cusp of a tropical summer.
Or for my great great grandfather on my mother’s
side (Royes) to arrive in Sydney in the 1830s and
move to Rockhampton in central Queensland in
the 1870s.
One small way to appreciate their courage and
adventure is to look at the populations of the
places they left and the ones they ended up at.
And what is the modern context for their
descendants in those same places.
NOTES:
1. Sydney: Four Royes siblings - Samuel Tyssen, Maria,
Edward Hougham, and Emily - migrated from London
to Sydney between 1829 and 1838
2. Jamaica: Their brother Charles John Royes
migrated from London to Jamaica about 1830 or
earlier
3. Rockhampton Queensland: Edward Hougham
Royes moved from Sydney to Crocodile Creek
near Rockhampton before 1873, and soon after to
Rockhampton itself.
4. Mareeba Queensland: By 1900 Edward’s son
Charles Mordaunt Royes and his family had
moved via bullock wagons from Rockhampton
via Ravenswood (1878) and Georgetown (1893) to
Mareeba
5. Cape Town: James Russell and Anne Magee
migrated from Larne (Northern Ireland) to be married
in Cape Town in 1902, away from the sectarian
divisions at home.
6. Cairns Queensland: James’s sister Jane Russell Roy
with son Samuel and his family migrated from Larne
to Cairns in 1923.
Campbell’s Wharf, Sydney Cove in 1842, by John Skinner Prout
Vitals = The number of people in our data who were
born, died or buried in this place
MGES = Number of marriages in our data in this place
[NOTE: There are many more people in our data associated
with these places but gathering the data other than vitals
and not counting people more than once is too difficult for
our database to work out!]
Figures in italics are guesstimates - let me know if you have
more accurate information
South Africa’s population in 1900 does not include all
blacks.
City/town figures refer to the urban area i.e. not including
the surrounding shire or region
104 McLeod Street, Cairns (about 1930) where Sam and Agnes
Roy and family lived from 1923 to about 1950
Origin of names
Joy Logan wrote after she read the Surname Royes reference in the last newsletter (last page). It occurred to me
that a series of articles on the origins of names, based on the page on the web site (in Media/Articles), might be of
interest and might stimulate some discussion! Besides, some readers do not have access to the web site.
Roy can be found as a
surname in several cultures,
notably Scottish-Irish, English,
French (roi), and Indian. It is the
third most common surname
in Quebec, Canada (French in
origin)
In the British Isles this surname
is recorded as Le Roy, Leroy,
Leroi, Le Roi, and Roy. It has
at least two possible national
origins.
Firstly it may be Norman-French
and introduced after the famous
Conquest of 1066. The derivation
is from the word rey or roi,
meaning a king or chief, and in
medieval times was used as a nickname either for one
who behaved in a regal fashion, or who had earned the
title in some contest of skill, or more likely had been
elected “king for the day” in a local festival. It could
also be used as a personal name as for example Roi de
Scallebi listed in the Pipe Rolls of Lincolnshire in 1188.
Secondly it could be of Gaelic and Scottish origins
and if so a nickname for a person with red hair, from
“ruadh”, meaning red. The creation of surnames
from nicknames was a common practice in the
Middle Ages, and many modern day surnames derive
from medieval nicknames referring to personal
characteristics.
Early examples of Roy surname recordings include
Adam le Roy in the Feet of Fines of Suffolk in 1268, and
Simon Roy in the Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire
in 1279. Moritius Roy was witness in Perth during the
reign of James II of Scotland, and John Roy was sheriff
of Inverness (1563).
A coat of arms granted to the family has the blazon
of a blue shield charged with a silver lion rampant,
on a silver border eight red torteaux. The Motto, “Qua
tendis”, translates as “Whither do you steer”.
The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown
to be that of Robert Raie. This was dated 1206, in the
Pipe Rolls of Cambridgeshire, during the reign of King
John, known as “Lackland”, 1199 - 1216.
Surnames became necessary when governments
introduced personal taxation. In England this was
sometimes known as Poll Tax. Throughout the
centuries, surnames in every country have continued
to “develop” often leading to astonishing variants of
the original spelling.
- Name Orgin Research www.surnamedb.com 1980 - 2006
Some links: • Roy descendants: http://royroyes.
net/showmedia.php?mediaID=776 • Roy branch
list http://royroyes.net/search.php?tree=rr_
tree&branch=RoyJ • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy
Royes
might be English,
Spanish or French. Or it may be
a variant of Roy and therefore
Gaelic in origin. In the notes on
Roy Some sites have their gaelic
Roy and Norman Royes confused.
When you look up Royes on
House of Names you have the
reverse - Royes is said to come
from Scotland! Whilst the variants for Roy and Royes
include each other, it seems to me that on present
knowledge our Roy name comes from Northern
Ireland and therefore from Scotland, and is Gaelic,
and our Royes surname comes from England and is
possibly Norman or from French-speaking Walloons
(Belgium). There is a town in France named Royes.
Royes is also a common name (usually first name)
in Spanish, with the world’s highest concentration
in Spain (9.3 frequency per thousand people) along
the French border (Aragon 123.72, Cataluna 26.11)
compared with 0.83 in the USA (Oregon 6.12) and the
UK (0.61).
One area of research open to us is:
Tens of thousands of French-speaking Huguenots
fled to England in the 16th-18th centuries, bringing
with them various textile industries including silk (the
latter notably in Canterbury and Spitalfields, London).
Note that John Royes (c1744-c1780) was a silk weaver;
he married Sarah Hougham in Canterbury.
Some links: • Royes descendants http://royroyes.
net/showmedia.php?mediaID=767 • Royes pedigree
http://royroyes.net/showmedia.php?mediaID=768
• Royes branch list http://royroyes.net/search.
php?tree=rr_tree&branch=Royes
Web site tip
The royroyes.net web site has several search options
for looking up people, places, media, etc. but there is
no overall search function.
Let’s say you want to look up all references to Cairns
- whether that be in a history article, where a photo
was taken or people who are connected with Cairns
in any way. Search engines allow you to do this. In the
search window you need to type “site:”, then a web
site address (royroyes.net) followed by what you are
searching for. So, to find all references to Cairns in
royroyes.net, you type “site:royroyes.net cairns”.
Of course, you can use this technique for any site.
Be aware that search engines are not able to find
living data so you cannot search for information
about living people, nor any media attached to them.
This applies even if you are a registered user of
royroyes.net.
royroyesfamilylinks 30 • October 2015 • 5
Research notes
James Roy
Ellie Roy has done some sterling
work on investigating our earliest
Roy - James Roy, father of James
(c1850-1917), John (c1854-1909)
and Thomas (1864-1889) from
whom every Roy in our Roy~Royes
database is descended. [That makes
him Maurie Roy’s great grandfather]
Let’s identify the two Jameses
as James 1 and 2 so we can stay
sane as we look at this. (It is also
possible that James1’s father was
also James!)
On the basis of his 1901 and 1911
census returns James2 was born
1849/50 in County Fermanagh.
On Thomas Roy/Jane Russell’s
marriage registration (31 Mar 1886),
his father James2 is a station
master (Note that all three known
sons are engine drivers!).
Two candidates for James1:
We currently have in our data a
James Roy who married Catherine
Thompson in Enniskillen, Co
Fermanagh in 1850 (which is also
about the date James2 was born in
Co Fermanagh). On his marriage
registration he lists his occupation
as Constable and his father as
James, a farmer. James1 and his
wife were 22 when they married, in
which case they were born about
1828. He does not appear in the
Royal Ulster Constabulary archives
but it is possible that there were
Constables in the railways.
Ellie’s research focussed on the
issue of his being a Constable.
A check of the Royal Ulster
Constabulary archives finds a Jas
Roy, born in Antrim, Constable,
5’10” (178cm), Presbyterian - and
who also married in Co Fermanagh
in 1850! He was commissioned 19
Jul 1837 aged 22 - therefore born
about 1815. He was transferred on
1 Dec 1850 to Limerick but instead
resigned 18 Dec and married 20
Dec. Is he James1?
It may be possible to reconcile
these two possible James1s as the
same person based on...
1. A registered age of “22” may
simply be code for “over 21”.
2. The two marriage dates may
mean a registered marriage on
5 Apr 1850 (on the quiet since a
contable was not allowed to marry)
and a “proper” marriage on 20 Dec
1850 once out of the Constabulary.
If we accept this, then James A
in the chart below is our primary
candidate, supplemented by
information from James B.
I’m sure there is more to come!
Editor: Bruce Roy,
45 King St, ,
Roy~Royes Family Links has its
roots in the marriage of
Maurie Roy and
May Royes
The family tree has grown
to almost 6000 people. Apart
from Royes and Roy, the most
common surnames in our data
are Hougham/Huffam, Hogan,
Robinson, Smith, and Russell.
associated with our family
tree - Roy-Royes Family
Links. This is designed to be a
community forum - so join in!
Share some stories!
James1
candidates
James A
James B
Born
abt 1815, County Antrim
[aged 22 in 1837]
about 1828
[aged 22 in 1850]
Married
20 Dec 1850
5 Apr 1850
Co Fermanagh
Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh
Wife
name unknown
Catherine Thompson,
age 22
Occupation
Constable to 1 Dec 1850
Constable in 1850
Station master before 1886
Age when
34-35
James2 born
22-23
Age when
49
Thomas born
38
Family Links
newsletters.php
More>Newsletters
ABBREVIATIONS for relationships:
2C1R = 2nd cousin once removed,
1C3R = (first) cousin three times
removed, etc.
3G ... = great great great ... [but 2G
grandparent rather than 3G parent]
connections, a person’s relationship
to Maurie Roy or May Royes is
noted.

Family Links 14

Transcription

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