Isaac Royal and his daughter Dorcas are both buried, on the Isaac Royal Farm, in a small cemetery marked and maintained by the historical society.)
Isaac Royal was born March 10, 1765 according to the family Bible which is still in the possession of a descendant. Diligent search has been made, and correspondence had with all those members of the family whom it was thought might be able to furnish information regarding the ancestry and place of birth of Isaac Royal. But it has been impossible to obtain any data; but it seems more than probable that he was born in New Hampshire, at or near Portsmouth.
Unfortunately, records and documents relating to the early history of our navy and lathe men who served in it., have not been so carefully preserved as those relating to the army, and to obtain official records of the service of ordinary seamen is very difficult and oftentimes impossible. Each individual state kept the records of its soldiers, but the sailors oft single ship were often recruited from widely scattered points, and the only record of their names was the roster kept of board the vessel, and in some instances this bas been lost.
That Isaac Royal, the subject of this sketch, was a sailor, or rather a cabin-boy, under the command of John Paul Jones, is well settled. Many are still living who have heard the story told by his sons, as told to the sons by Mr. Royal himself, yet no official proof is now obtainable. Probably the memory of no one of those early settlers of this county who served then country in the war of the Revolution is better preserved in this locality, than that of Isaac Royal; quite likely from the fact that he served under that eminent naval hero, Paul Jones. Popular local tradition has it that he served with Jones on the Bon Homme Richard and took part in the celebrated fight with the Serapis, but those of Mr. Royal's descendants who best remember the stories of his service, as told by him, which have been handed down to the present generation, fail to recollect anything ever related by him about that great fight. Take all the facts obtainable and compare them with the history of John Paul Jones and of his several commands, it seems quite conclusive that Mr. Royal was a cabin-boy on the Ranger, and that his service was confined to that ship.
Mrs. Mary L. Proctor of Maynard, Mass., is a descendant who seems to have the history of her ancestor best preserved in memory, and she writes: "I got the impression when I was very young that the Royals came from New Hampshire. I have always understood that my great grandfather (Isaac Royal) enlisted as a cabin-boy at the age of twelve years. On board John Paul Jones' vessel;. The Bon Homme Richard." Mrs. Proctor is undoubtedly correct, except that the ship was the Ranger instead of the Richard. A large part of the Ranger's crew was recruited in Portsmouth, and she sailed from that port November 1, 1777 at the time Mr. Royal would have been twelve years old, so this corresponds with the family tradition of his enlistment at the age of twelve.
The crew of the Bon Homme Richard numbered three hundred and seventy-five, but not more than fifty of these were Americans, and these fifty were nearly all exchanged prisoners from England. There is a complete roster of the Richard in existence, including the cabin boys, and the name of Isaac Royal does not appear there. So while we must somewhat reluctantly deny him the honor of being a member of that celebrated ship's crew, the honor of having served on the Ranger, the ship which first caused an English ship of war to lower her colors to an enemy of equal or inferior strength, is hardly a lesser one.
No official roster of the crew of the Ranger is in existence, hence it is impossible to determine authoritatively the service of all those who made up her complement of sailors and apprentice boys. The story of the cruise of the Ranger, bearing the official dispatches of our commissioners in France, containing the news of Burgoyne's surrender, the prizes captured by her, and the fight with the Drake, are matters of history of which there is no need of repeating here Those were the stirring scenes in which Isaac Royal in his humble position as a cabin- boy, took part. Maclay, in his History of the Navy, in describing the make-up of the crew of a war frigate at the time of the Revolution, says of the cabin-boy: "Then came that institution peculiar to sea life known as the 'boy.' He was employed chiefly as a servant to officers and messes, but in time of battle he was called a 'powder monkey,' for then he was required to bring ammunition from the passing scuttles to the guns. The captain of a frigate usually had both a steward and a boy who acted as his servants, while the lieutenants, purser, surgeon and sailing master were entitled to one boy each. One boy was allotted to the gunner, boatswain and a few others as a special favor, while a man and a boy were appointed to a certain number of midshipmen."
The following story was told to me by a great grandson of Isaac Royal, who said it was one of the many told him by his grandfather, John Royal. Mr. John Royal had heard it related many times by his father Isaac. "At one time when I was a cabin-boy with John Paul Jones, we were cruising in English waters and fell in with an English merchant ship, at night, and anchored near her. I think we were flying the English flag. In the early morning Capt. Jones invited the English captain on board for breakfast. The Englishman accepted the invitation and came to our ship with several of his officers. While at breakfast, Jones, unbeknown to the Englishmen, ordered the American flag to be run up to the masthead. After breakfast the visitors were escorted on deck and Capt. Jones, directing their attention to the colors, said, 'Look at the handsome flag at the masthead, the colors under which I sail.' They did so, and to their intense chagrin and wrath saw the stars and stripes. They were made prisoners, and their vessel was taken as a prize."
Very little can be learned about Isaac Royal prior to his settlement in Dover. He was married to his wife Tabitha probably in 1787; their first child. Olive, was born May 7, 1787. In 1806 he was a resident of Frankfort, ME., and it is quite likely that this was his first place of settlement in this State. The fact of his residence in Frankfort is established by a reference to the family record of the son, John, which record states that he, John, was born in Frankfort, July 18,1806.
Isaac Royal settled in Dover about the year 1810, possibly a little earlier, on lot 12, in the 10th range, and partiallv cleared the farm now 1909 owned by Lincoln Dow.
He lived only a few years after his settlement in Dover. He died of typhus fever November 20, 1816, and is buried on the land that he first cleared when he came to Dover. The grave has never been desecrated by the several owners, and although at times the land all around it has been cultivated, the plow has never turned these hallowed sods since the time when that which was mortal of Mr. Royal was placed there. One daughter, Dorcas, who died April 1,1814, at the age of about sixteen years, is buried beside him.
Mr. Royal was the father of eleven children: Olive, Jacab, Mitchell, Isaac, Ephraim, Dorcas, Eunice, Lucy, Esther, John and Richard.
In 1896 some of the public spirited citizens of Dover thought that the village cemetery would be a more fitting resting place for the remains of Mr. Royal than the field where they had lain so long. An article was inserted in the warrant for the annual town meeting for that year, to see if the town would vote to remove them to the village cemetery and erect a suitable stone to mark the spot. The town voted so to do, and appropriated fifty dollars to purchase a monument. After this action by the town, communication was had with some of the living descendants, and it was discovered that it was on of the last expressed wishes of Mr. Royal that he be buried in the field that he had labored so hard to redeem to cultivation, and at their request his wishes were respected. |
