The Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants to the American Colonies or the United States

The Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants to the American Colonies or the United States, by Gary Boyd Roberts, represents a massive endeavor covering hundreds of works. These individuals, 688 in actuality, represent what the author calls the “gateway ancestry that links modern America to the ancient and feudal world.” As kings and conquerors had children, elder sons usually took the crown or leadership, while younger sons and son-in-laws received lands and titles. These had children, where again the younger siblings took lesser roles and lesser titles. In England, Scotland or Wales the younger sons and son-in-laws became leading merchants, lords mayor or aldermen, clergymen, Anglican bishops and early Puritan leaders, lawyers, bureaucrats, etc. It is from these lesser titles and positions from which come the “royally descended elite that settled the American colonies”

In the introduction, the author shares his interest in this research, along with a deep explanation as to who these people are, where there information was found. Through the names found, Roberts has also pinpointed a number of Americans of historical note and even modern entertainment fame.

“New immigrants treated in the 2008 edition include Mrs. Jane Greene Poole (wife of the earlier treated William) and Mrs. Margaret Estouteville Shepard (ancestor of the two presidents Adams and FDR), both of Massachusetts; Mrs. Audrey Barlow Almy of Rhode Island (ancestor of presidents Harding, Nixon, and Carter); Mrs. Henrietta Constantia Worsam Meade and Charles Willing of Pennsylvania; and various Virginia immigrants, many developed by GPC author John Anderson Brayton. New Virginians include Mrs. Elizabeth Wood Barcroft, an ancestor of Jimmy Carter; John Baskerville; Benjamin Harrison, immigrant ancestor of the two presidents Harrison; Mrs. Dorothy Walker Jones; Philip Ludwell, ancestor of the Stratford Lees and the first husband of Martha Washington; and Stephens Thompson, ancestor of the Masons of Gunston Hall”

This book actually comes as a 2 volume set. The second book represents the index and a 2008 addendum. When ordered from Family Root Publishing, the two books come together as one.

About the Author
:

“Gary Boyd Roberts, nationally renowned Senior Research Scholar emeritus at the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) in Boston, Massachusetts, is well known for American Ancestors and Cousins of The Princess of Wales (1984), Ancestors of American Presidents (1989, 1995), Notable Kin, 2 vols. (1998-99), his Internet column on the NEHGS website, his introduction to C.A. Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700, and his selections and introductions for fifteen volumes of journal articles reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Company. His 1993 compendium, The Royal Descents of 500 Immigrants, was an “instant classic,” and became the springboard for much further research. He contributed to the last two or more editions of Ancestral Roots, Magna Charta Sureties, and The Plantagenet Ancestry of Seventeenth-Century Colonists. In addition, he has helped NEHGS patrons trace their royal descents and “notable kin” since 1974 and has lectured widely on various related topics.

Mr. Roberts’ lifetime work, a twenty-three volume manuscript called ‘The Mowbray Connection,’ copies of which can be found at NEHGS, the New York Public Library, and the Society of Genealogists in London, is subtitled ‘An Analysis of the Genealogical Evolution of British, American, and Continental Nobilities, Gentries, and Upper Classes Since the End of the Middle Ages.‘”

Table of Contents

Frontispiece

Acknowledgments

Introduction (with nine appendices)

650 Immigrants of Royal Descent: A Subject Index and Guide

Immigrant descendants of late medieval and early modern kings (those who died after 1400, especially Henry VII, King of England, and James V, James IV, James II, James I and Robert III, Kings of Scotland, and including Edward IV, King of England, and his “last Plantagent” siblings and paternal aunt)

Immigrant descendants of high medieval kings (those who died 1200-1400, especially Edward III, Edward I, and John “Lackland,” Kings of England, and Robert II and William the Lion, Kings of Scotland)

Immigrant descendants of early medieval kings (those who died 950-1200, especially Henry II, Henry I, and Ethelred II the Unready, Kings of England, David I, King of Scotland, and Henry I, Robert II, Hugh Capet, and Louis IV, Kings of France)

Addendum for 2004

Appendix — From kings via the American colonies to recent sovereigns: lines from royally descended immigrants to the present British royal family, princes of Monaco, and the late Queen Geraldine of the Albanians

List of Abbreviated Sources

Index

2006-2008 Addendum – Introduction, 2006 Notes Section, 2006 New Immigrants of Royal Descent, 2008 Addendum

Coda

A Final Addition

Major Notiable Historical Figures in the Addendum, Coda and A Final Addition

Index to the Addendum, Coda, and A Final Addition

Order The Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants to the American Colonies or the United States Family Roots Publishing