The material from which this
genealogy of the Roundy family was prepared was gathered twenty or more years
ago, and largely by my esteemed kinsman, Edward J. Roundy of Boston, Mass. No
attempt has been made to bring the record down to the present time; in fact such
an effort would not only have been unprofitable, but have endangered the
preservation of the record here presented.
There is no record showing
when PHILIP ROUNDY, the emigrant ancestor of the families here recorded, came to
this country or from whence he came; yet there is no doubt he came to Salem, Mass.
where he was first discovered between the years 1628 and 1640, when other Puritan
colonists came to that place, and that he came from England with others with whom
he and his family were so closely associated.
If this close association with
people of Puritanical ideas was not enough, then the use by him and his family
of the English language ought to establish beyond doubt his English origin.
The surname of Roundy appears
in the records of London on or prior to 1628. See the list of Battle Abbey,
recording the names of the followers of William the Conqueror, coming to England
from Normandy, there appears the name of de Raude which was probably the original
spelling of the Roundy name, and more than suggests the French or Normandy origin
of the Roundy name.
Among the Holland families
that settled in the State of New York were some who retained the name of de
Roundy as late as the Revolution, and who are recorded as serving in the army
from that state under the name of Deroude and D'Raude.
The service of Mark Roundy
one of the sons of Philip, in KIng Philip's War, is recorded under the name of
Roude. Some of the families recorded in this record, especially those residing
at or near Marblehead, Mass., spell their name Roundey, or Roundye, showing the
French origin of the name.
Edwin J Roundy who has given
much study to the subject pronounces the family and its name of French or Belgian
origin.