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Note: BOOK III. III. CHRISTOPHER ROYER,
SON OF II. GEORGE.
III. CHRISTOPHER ROYER, p. 504, can not be said to be an im-
aginary personage, nor are we treading on certain ground. We have
accounted, we believe, for nearly all the Royers who came to the
light of day in Lancaster Co., Pa. A son of the personage about
whom we are now writing, IV. George Royer of Indiana, came from
Lancaster Co., and late in life joined the Brethren Church, at least
suggesting that he was of Brethren lineage. There were three Chris-
topher Royers who were baptized in the Brethren Church in Lanc-
aster Co., in the latter half of the eighteenth century:
III. Christopher, p. 223, was baptized with wife in 1767; another
Christopher and wife in 1776; and a third Christopher and wife in
1787. We are now trying to give the decendants of the second or
third Christopher. We know of two children the father had:
Page Name Birth Death
602 IV. Henry Royer About 1820.
615 IV. George Royer Aug. 11, 1776* June 19, 1876.
* Authorities claim he was born in 1776, thus making him 99 years old
at death; but the family Bible has 1787, which however may be incorrect,
as there are grounds for suspecting a change in the year.
That IV. Henry and IV. George were of the same family is indicated
by all the evidence secured about Dayton, O. and from descendants of both of
these Royers.
The point, however, is established by a letter written to the author July 5,
1891, by Catherine Royer Wise, daughter of IV. George. She says: "My father
had one brother that I knew of, named Henry Royer, but he died long be-
fore I was born." George was born in Lanc. Co., and his father may have died
there. But we surmise that the father moved to Somerset Co., Pa., for IV.
George used to speak of crossing over the Laurel Hills when he forsook home.
There is a possibility that these two brothers were sons of III. John Royer,
son of II. Samuel, Division III., and that their mother was Anna Bolinger,
for the author has information that Anna Bollinger, daughter of Daniel Bol-
linger, who it seems was baptised into the Brethren Church July 30, 1749,
was married to John Royer. There is no John Royer, unaccounted for,
who would have been of an age to marry said Anna Bollinger, but III. John
Royer, son of II Samuel. Daniel Bollinger had but two children, the other
being Peter. Now Peter's grandson, Samuel Bollinger, says that his grand-
father's sister Anna was married to Bowman. Anna may have married John
Royer as her first husband and the grandnephew may have known her only
as the wife of Bowman, her second husband. These Bollinger's were strong in the faith of the Brethren, and this fact would account for the two sons
being members of the church. The death of the father, young, the re-marry-
ing of the mother and the removal of the sons to Ohio would also account large-
ly for the loss of connection with the main Royer tree. We have no proof
that the name of the father of these two brothers was Christopher; but we
know from church records that two Christopher Royers, and married, were
in Lancaster Co., and were of about the age to be the father of these broth-
ers; and as said, there were not many other Royers of that time in Lanc. Co.
not accounted for. We are well satisfied that one of these Christophers was
a son of II. George Royer. We might also mention that II. Samuel Royer had
yet a son III. Henry mentioned in a Lancaster deed, who so far as his chronolo-
gical setting is concerned might have been the father of these brothers, but
we have no indication of his existance other than the mention of him on this
deed. With these our views the descendants of IV. Henry Royer and of IV.
George Royer must draw their own conclusions. No record in the Lancaster
Co. court-house, so far as we are able to find, sheds any further light on the
matter. See further remarks on IV. George Royer, p. 615
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