Explore the Evidence: Mary Royce, Wife of Robert Royce

Robert’s wife, Mary, died in 1697 in Wallingford, Connecticut.  Many have suggested that she was Mary Sims, referring to a marriage to Robert Royce (or Rayse) on June 4, 1634 at Martock, Somerset County, England.  In 1968, Clarence Hewitt presented an article in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 72, pp. 274-277, purporting to disprove that connection.  In a 2006 article, linked below, Charles Julian demonstrated convincingly that Robert Royce, later of Connecticut, married Mary Jugkson (Jackson) at Stamford St. Michael, Lincolnshire, England on April 8, 1627. 

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The only Nehemiah Royce born/baptized in England in 1637 was at Saint Michael's, Stamford, Lincolnshire to Robert and Mary Royce. John Royce and Sarah Royce, children of Robert and Mary, were also baptized there in 1633 and 1634. Not only do Nehemiah's birth year and the names of his parents match the Nehemiah Royce of Connecticut but he has two siblings with the same names that Robert and Mary's children have, born in exactly the years that those children were born.

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And coincidentally there is this marriage in Saint Michael's Stamford, Lincoln: Robert Royse to Mary Jugkson on 8 Apr 1627, just six years before John Royce was born. Were there other children born in the interim?

Parish records show these children of Robert and Mary Royce:

John Royce chr. 20 Dec 1627 All Saints, Stamford, Lincoln. d. 29 May 1628
John Royce chr. 29 June 1629 All Saints, Stamford, Lincoln.
Mary Royce chr. 10 Jul 1631, All Saints, Stamford, Lincoln.
John Royce chr. 21 Apr 1633 Saint Michael, Stamford, Lincoln.
Sarah Royce chr. 8 Feb 1634 Saint Michael, Stamford, Lincoln
Nehemiah Royce chr. 30 May 1637 Saint Michael, Stamford, Lincoln