Jim Ward's Genealogy Pages: The Beach-Royce-Baldwin-Fenn Puzzle

I have corrected the error of listing Benjamin Fenn & Sarah Baldwin as Edward Fenn's parents.

We all know that there were many intermarriages during colonial times. In updating the Royce page, I've included a connection from my mother's Beach and Royce lines to my father's Fenn and Baldwin lines. I have known for some time that I was a 12th cousin to myself based on my dual Beach ancestry. Add the 3rd Mary Royce to the Baldwin-Fenn mix and it can get very confusing. After you look over the table, read clips from the Beach Family Journal explaining the complicated relationships that the children of Isaac & Mary Beach and Michael & Eunice Beach had.

John Beach & Mary ?

Thomas Beach & Sarah Platt

Robert Royce & Mary Sims

John Baldwin & Hannah Burchard

Johnathon Royce & Mary Spinning

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Samuel Royce & 1. Hannah Churchill

John Baldwin & Mary Bruen

Edward Fenn & Mary Thorpe

Thomas Beach & Phebe Wilcoxen

John Beach & Mary Royce

Samuel's 2nd wife Sarah Baldwin

Elizabeth Baldwin & Nathaniel Porter

Nathan Beach & Jemima Curtis

Deacon John Beach & Mary Royce

Robert Royce & Mary Porter

Theo Fenn & Martha Doolittle

Nathaniel Royce & Phebe Clark

Mary Royce & John Austin

William Beach & Martha Clark

Linus Beach & Dinah Royce

Edward Fenn & Abigail Austin

Isaac Beach & Mary ?

Michael Beach & Eunice Hester

Theo M. Fenn & Mary Dibble

Clark Beach & Elizabeth ?

Eunice Beach & Alpheus Madden

Daniel D. Fenn & Adaline Gardner

Thomas C. Beach & Lodema Z. Ford

Nelson Madden & Olive Parks

Oscar Fenn & Salina Wilson

Clark Beach married >

Mary A. Madden

Lodema Olive Beach & Walter A. Spencer

Cora Fenn & Frank A. Miller

Evelyn Spencer & Frank R. O'Brien

Ruth M. Miller & A.E. Ward

Robert Ward & Marjorie O'Brien

Jim Ward

Working from and trying to understand an excellent monograph on this subject by cousin Eugene H. Beach Jr., I shall attempt to explain the genealogical mess that is the Royce - Beach connection. I do understand it, but have to work it out this way in order to better explain it to others. John Beach, son of Thomas Beach and Sarah Platt, married Mary Royce, an only child of Jonathan Royce and Mary Spinning. Jonathan Royce was the son of Robert Royce. John's son Deacon John Beach was one of seven children of John and Mary Royce Beach. After Deacon John's first wife Sarah Tyler died in 1716, in 1717 he married Mary Royce, daughter of Samuel Royce and Sarah Baldwin, and granddaughter of Robert Royce. Deacon John's son Linus Beach, born in 1721, married Dinah Royce, daughter of Nathaniel Royce and Phebe Clark. Of the 12 children born to this couple, Eugene H. Beach Jr. and I share Michael Beach as a common ancestor. At this point the explanation grows quite complicated!

All 3 Royce women are descendants of Robert Royce in one way or another. Both Mary Royce's are Granddaughters of Robert Royce and Mary Sims, while Dinah Royce is a Great-Great Granddaughter of Robert & Mary. Mary Royce (Samuel & Sarah, Robert & Mary), wife of Deacon John Beach, was first cousin to her husband's mother, Mary Royce (Jonathan & Mary, Robert & Mary). Consequently, Deacon John Beach would be his wife's first cousin once removed. The children of Mary Royce and Deacon John Beach would likewise be their mother's first cousins twice removed and their father's second cousins. The children would also be second cousins once removed to each other.

The marriage of Linus Beach to Dinah Royce (Nathaniel-Robert-Samuel-Robert) introduces more complexity. His wife would be his own first cousin once removed when traced through their immediate common ancestor Samuel Royce. Linus and Dinah would also be third cousins when traced their more remote ancestor Robert Royce by way of Mary Royce (Deacon John Beach).

The children of Linus and Dinah had these confusing relationships: Fourth Cousins to each other; second cousins to their mother; first cousins twice removed to their father; and second cousins twice removed to their grandfather Deacon John Beach.

The children of Linus and Dinah also had this to ponder: They had Samuel Royce as a great-Grandfather through their father's side, and a great-great-Grandfather through their mother's side. Also, they could claim Robert Royce (Mary Sims) as a great-great-Grandfather AND a great-great-great-Grandfather.

The above narrative relies heavily on a monograph by Eugene H. Beach Jr., in his Beach Family Journal publication. However, since that concerns only my maternal ancestors, I have decided to add a recently discovered link to my paternal ancestors, the Fenns and Baldwins. I have long known that I am a 12th cousin to myself by virtue of my dual Beach ancestry, but with addition of the paternal link, I'm not sure how I am my own cousin in other ways. Anyone who can figure out the total number of ways I am related to myself and to each different ancestor is welcome, even urged, to email me with the results!

The Descendants of Edward Fenn of Wallingford, Conn., 1688, by The Reverend Father Ara Fenn Walker, S.J., of Cleveland, Oh., and Mrs. Elizabeth Fenn Balduc, of Virginia, Mn. Self-published in 1971.