There are only a few hundred colonial immigrants of known royal ancestry, but they have descendants scattered across the U.S.
Colonial Americans of Royal and Noble Descent: Alleged, Proven, and Disproven. By Patricia Ann Scherzinger. 1996. Softcover, 616 pp. + xiv, $48.50, plus shipping and handling. Published by Heritage Books, 5810 Ruatan St., Berwyn Heights, MD 20740; tel.: 800-876-6103.
Review by James Pylant
Was your colonial ancestor of royal descent? If so, has this lineage been proven? Or perhaps you are relying on an earlier work which has been discredited or deemed circumstantial at best. Only a few hundred of these English emigrants were of known royal ancestry.
Patricia Ann Scherzinger compiled a directory of Pre-Revolutionary era ancestors who were, as described in the title, Colonial Americans of Royal and Noble Descent: Alleged, Proven and Disproven. She has gleaned data from about 100 books and periodicals, presenting an alphabetically arranged listing of Americans colonists. Each entry identifies the state of residence; years of birth, marriage and death; spouse (sometimes even the parents), and the immigrant ancestor from whom royal or noble blood is claimed, with references.
On page 302, for instance, over a dozen citations appear for Colonel Richard Lee—progenitor of the famed Lees of Virginia. However, we do not find citations for Walter Lee Sheppard Jr.’s “The False Noble Pedigree of Colonel Richard Lee,” in The Virginia Genealogist (Vol. II, No. 1), or William Thorndale’s “The Parents of Colonel Richard Lee of Virginia,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly (Vol. 76, No. 1). Nevertheless, the compiler notes that the “royal ancestry of Col. Richard Lee has not been sufficiently proven.”
We strongly suggest that anyone with an ancestor in the Colonies consult Schwerzinger’s volume. It may, too, prove useful for discovering an ancestress’s maiden name, as the book also includes an “Index to Buried Surnames” for names of spouses and parents found in the 559 pages of royal descendants—alleged, proven and disproven.
Available from the publisher at the address above, or order Colonial Americans of Royal & Noble Descent: Alleged, Proven, and Disproven
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