New Database: The LeRoy Family in America, 1753-2003

portait style painting
Painting of Herman Le Roy, from inside cover.

We are very happy to announce a brand-new database today, The LeRoy Family in America, 1753-2003. This genealogy of the Le Roy family sets a new standard of quality and completeness as a full account of all descendants of a colonial New York family – and a particularly interesting family at that.

The family founder, Jacob Le Roy, a young merchant of French and Dutch ancestry, arrived in New York City in 1753. He married Cornelia Rutgers in December of the same year; after her death in 1765, he married her younger sister Catherine. During the American Revolution it appears that Jacob supported the American cause – but cautiously. Like other New Yorkers, he moved up the Hudson River during the long British occupation of New York City. After the war Jacob returned to the city, where he died in 1793.

The authors, Scott Cambell Steward and Newbold Le Roy, 3rd (both descendants of Jacob Le Roy), have traced Jacob’s descendants down to the present. Most descendants bear surnames other than Le Roy. Indeed, of the ninety-four heads of family groups with identified children in the fifth generation, only three have descendants named Le Roy in the eighth generation.

This database contains the entire Le Roy family book, and the 19 volumes match those in the book. All names from the index are searchable in the database. There are 800 pages and 13,500 searchable names in the database.

This update is made possible by the efforts of our volunteer David Anderson. If you have some time and would like to get involved in the database digitization and indexing process please contact Rachel Adams, Database Services Volunteer Coordinator via email at rachel.adams@nehgs.org.

Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.