The following review appears in the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists journal, MASSOG, Volume 48 (2023-2024), No. 2 The Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants to the American Colonies, Quebec, or the United States, Second Edition in Three Volumes, by Gary Boyd Roberts (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2022. cxciii + 1,725 pp. Index. Softcover $190.00). Order[…]Read more
The new Second Edition of The Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants to the American Colonies, Quebec, or the United States abounds with movie and stage actors (and a few director/actors) who are descended from royal forebears. Most, but not all, are of British provenance. Could you be related to one of them? Here’s the list:[…]Read more
(Read Part One | Part Two of this Article) IV. In addition to the descents outlined in the Coda for Garfield and Mrs. Arthur, several immigrants first treated in the Coda are also ancestors of presidents or First Ladies. Among those whose lines are “improved” (even if placed in the main text), are also ancestors[…]Read more
The system of primogeniture, the medieval practice of passing down a title and its holdings to one’s eldest son (or daughter), accounts for the fact that many Americans have royal or noble ancestors. For example, the millions of descendants of the 970 immigrant ancestors discussed in the 2018 edition of Gary Boyd Roberts’ book, The[…]Read more
If you were looking for a royal (or noble) ancestor in the First Edition of Gary Boyd Roberts’ signature work, the two-volume Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants to the American Colonies, Quebec, or the United States, but came up empty, don’t despair. In compiling the new Second Edition of RD 900, Mr. Roberts has identified[…]Read more
The new Second Edition of The Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants to the American Colonies, Quebec, or to the United States, by Gary Boyd Roberts, identifies 615 major historical figures who have royal ancestry. Does your family talk about an as yet unproven relationship to the English playwright Noel Coward? If you want to authenticate[…]Read more
(Part One of this article can be found HERE) In early November 2022, various scholars learned of and purchased Weston Pedigree Reconsidered: A Review of Documentation Provided by the College of Arms (2022) by Shawn Henry Potter and Lois Carol Potter. In a much earlier form, parts of this monograph were submitted to the New[…]Read more
I have been gratified by Americans’ interest in The Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants to the American Colonies, Quebec, or the United States since its publication in 2018. I am surprised, however, at the response the work has received in Great Britain and continental Europe. The late Prince Phillip appears several times and, in addition[…]Read more
Gary Boyd Roberts, author of the Second Edition of Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants to the American Colonies, or the United States (RD900) is also an expert on the genealogies of America’s presidents. He has published those findings in two editions of a book entitled Ancestors of American Presidents. Some of our presidents, of course,[…]Read more
The new Second Edition of The Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants to the American Colonies, Quebec, or the United States identifies 600 major historical figures in its 1,700+ pages. These celebrities range from W. H. Auden and Jane Austin to Thomas Mann and Karl Marx, and from John Kerry and Robert E. Lee to Aristotle[…]Read more
The new three-volume, Second Edition of The Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants to the American Colonies, Quebec, or the United States is remarkable in a number of respects. As we have noted previously, Mr. Roberts has added twenty-three new immigrants to the opus, revised the lines of twelve others, and made improvements to about half[…]Read more
Readers familiar with Gary Boyd Roberts’ scholarship know that between 2004 and 2010, Mr. Roberts wrote smaller, earlier editions of his now magnum opus, The Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants to the American Colonies, Quebec, or the United States (2018). The earliest edition of the work covered the royal descents of 500 immigrants. Mr. Roberts[…]Read more
