Information on Vincent Rongnion

[Ira A. Runyan]

Vincent Rongnion
Birth: 1645 in Poitou, France
Death: NOV 1713 in Piscataway, New Jersey
Note:
Vincent Rongnion was born in 1645 in or near the city of Poitiers, in the Province of Ancienne Poitou, France.

The identity of Vincent Rongnion's father has never been documented. A Henry Rongnion of Portiers, France has been suggested as the possiable father of Vincent, however, no proof has been found that our Vincent Rongnion was a direct descendant of Henry Rongnion. As such, the Coat-Of-Arms which has been used by some of the Runyon/Runyan families may or may not be correctly used. The Coat-Of-Arms belonging to Henry Rongnion (Other spellings: Roygnon,Regnon) is a blue (Azure) shield, with 3 bees of gold, with the motto Mel Regi. If Vincent is not a direct descendent of Henry, then the use of the Coat-Of-Arms is impropper.

Vincent Rongnion was a French Huguenot (French Protestants who in the seventeenth century were engaged in religious wars with the dominant Catholics, and were the followers of John Calvin.). The Huguenots were always a minority in France, but powerful with their strength centered in the southwestern part of the country. After Charles II of England was restored to the throne, he rewarded Lord Phillip Carteret, who had remained loyal to the Stuarts, and in his position as commander of the forces on the Isle of Jersey (Island off the coast of France where Huguenots went to escape the religious strife in their native land.), had offered refuge to the Prince. Charles' brother, the Duke of York, gave what is now New Jersey to Carteret and a fellow loyalist, Lord Berkeley.

Phillip Carteret as the new Govenor of New Jersey went to America in 1665 and several Huguenots from the Isle of Jersey accompanied him. That same year, he went back to Europe and returned in 1666, bringing more immigrants with him. It is beleived that Vincent Rngnion came to America from the Isle Of Jersey, with Phillip Carteret on a ship named the "Phillip", however his name has not as of this date been documented from records relating to the ship "Phillip". The "Phillip" was commissioned to support Phillip Carteret, the newly appointed governor of East Jersey, and was reportedly named after him. It brought Carteret and a number of French craftsmen to Elizabethtown, East Jersey, on or about 28 July 1665.

Vincent Rongnion first arrived at Elizabethtown, New Jersey between 1665 and 1668. He married Ann Martha Boucher at Elizabethtown on June 28, 1668, the marriage license given by Phillip Carteret. On March 20,1671-2 he purchased property from Francis Barber in Elizabethtown, the deed of sale stating "Francis Barber of Elizabethtown, planter, sells to Vincent Ronyon, 40 rods long by 16 rods wide, on the south side of the house lot of George Pack, fronting on the highway ...". Note the spelling of Vincent's name, three (3) years after his marriage it was already being americanized.

The stern Puritan element predominated in Elizabethtown, which made life unpleasant for Vincent, and he disposed of his property there and moved to the Baptist cammunity, at Piscataway, Middlesex County, New Jersey. In the spring of 1677, he purchased a farm of 154 1/2 acres on the Raritan River where he raised his family. He was a carpenter and farmer.







Marriage 1 Ann Martha BOUTCHER b: ABT. 1650
Married: 17 JUL 1668 in New Jersey
Children
John Vincent RUNYON b: 14 FEB 1669 in Elizabethtown, New Jersey
Vincent RUNYON b: 1671 in Piscataway, New Jersey
Ann RUNYON b: 1673
Thomas RUNYAN b: 1675 in Piscataway, New Jersey
Mary RUNYON b: 2 JUL 1677
Peter RUNYON b: 1 JUL 1680 in Piscataway, New Jersey
Jane RUNYON b: 19 JAN 1683
Sarah RUNYON b: 30 OCT 1686 in Piscataway, New Jersey

[erunyon]

Has anyone investigated ship's manifests for that year to confirm origin port in France?

[Ira A. Runyan]

We do know the name of the ship that Vincent Rongnion was reported to be on.....

“Circa 1666 Vincent Rongnion sailed from the Isle of Jersey on the ship PHILIP, named for Philip Carteret, the recently appointed governor to the territory in the new world.”

Information and history on the ship can be found at this site:

ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/nj/statewide/history/history01.txt

I have seen reports of researchers looking for the passenger lists of the PHILIP, but I don’t recall any having success......

[Ann]

I found the name of the researcher Ira said was looking into information on the PHILLIPP. It was Bob Runyon from Punta Gorda, Florida. I found the following at archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/RUNYON/


From: John Robert Runyon <[e-mail]>
Subject: PROGRESS ON THE PHILLIPP
Date: Thu, 05 Feb 1998 05:28:24 -0500
This is an update on progress researching the British sailing vessel
PHILLIPP, which unconfirmed reports claim brought our family progenitor,
Vincent Rongnion, to America.

According to the "EXCHEQUER KING'S REMBERANCER PORT BOOKS (CUSTOMER) for
Barnstable, Devon, England, 1664/1665, entry 20v, the PHILLIPP sailed
from Barnstable for Virginia on September 4, 1665, again with Captain
Edmond Pickard as Master. This record is in the Public Record Office,
and its location class is: E190/954/6.

An earlier unconfirmed report is that the PHILLIPP, with Phillip
Carteret, the first governor of East (New) Jersey, aboard sailed from
the Isle of Jersey for England in January 1665. Edmond Pickard was its
Master. Then, so the report goes, the PHILLIPP sailed for Virginia,
arriving there in May. Then the PHILLIPP continued on for East (New)
Jersey, arriving first in New York to clear immigration/customs or
whatever on 29 July 1665, and then continued on to Elizabeth(towne),
East (New) Jersey, arriving there on or about 3 August 1665, where
Phillip Carteret and his entourage disembarked.

Indictions, then, are that the PHILLIP returned to England, and that the
4 September 1665 departure for Virginia was the PHILLIP's second voyage.
Supposedly there were about five voyages of the PHILLIP to East
Jersey. This would account for two, however....and this is
important..., there is no indication so far that Vincent Rongnion was
aboard the PHILLIP on either of these voyages. That research is in
progress right now. and any findings will be reported here.

I would appreciate hearing from anyone that has any information,
confirmed or not, about Vincent's voyage to America.

Bob Runyon
Punta Gorda, Florida

[Ira A. Runyan]

Guest-Ann said:

I found the name of the researcher Ira said was looking into information on the PHILLIPP. It was Bob Runyon from Punta Gorda, Florida. I found the following at archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/RUNYON/

Ann, I had forgot that it was Bob doing that research. Bob had (I beleve) a stroke which keep him away form his research for a period of time. I posted a message on the RUNYON-L mailing list last night asking for updated information on the PHILLIP and Bob Runyon sent this message back.....


Ira, et al,

I am sorry to say that I never was able to prove that Vincent Runyon
(sic) was ever on the PHILLIPE. I did find dome information, though,
in copies of British martitime documents that Edmund Pickard was the
skipper of the PHILLIPE. Pickard was enagaged in some legal action (I
believe) resulting from a shipment of tobacco that was shipped from
Virginia and became water damaged during transit. As far as I could
make out ....and not conclusively....the PHILLIPE might have called on a
port in Virginia prior to going to east Jersey. Be careful with that
because it is only speculation.

The PHILLIPE supposedly was named after and commissioned to serve
Phillipe Carteret, the first governor of East (New) Jersey. His bother
was also appointed Governor of what is now northern North Carolina. It
would seem logical that the PHILLIPE served both colonies, but I could
find no documentary evidence of that.

I did find documentation that the skipper of the PHILLIPE was Edmund Pickard.

I discontinued researching the PHILLIPE and Edmund Pickard when I became
very sick. Since then, I haven't done much of anything with my genealogy.


Sorry I don't have any worthwhile information to report.

Bob Runyon
Punta Gorda, Florida

[francisdellinger]

Kepping this thead alive

[Robert S Runyon]

I am interested to learn if there has been anymore research confirming or disconfirming Vincent Rongnion as our French Huguenot progenitor. I was surprised to read Ira Runyon's 2003 report casting doubt on this attribution. I too have been considering a trip to Poitiers to look for signs of Rongnion. But, according to Ira, several others have tried unsuccessfully to do the same.
I am a francophile, having studied at the Sorbonne and developed some fluency in the language and culture. Our family records have long contained documents asserting Vincent Rongnion as our progenitor, but they may be in error if as Ira Runyon asserts, Monnet's reporting on the subject is unreliable.

Robert S. Runyon, University of Nebraska Library dean emeritus
[e-mail]
402-393-3320
2130 South 80th Ave.
Omaha, NE 68124

[Ira A. Runyan]

Jan 4, 2009 10:52:35 GMT -5 @Robert S Runyon said:

I am interested to learn if there has been anymore research confirming or disconfirming Vincent Rongnion as our French Huguenot progenitor. I was surprised to read Ira Runyon's 2003 report casting doubt on this attribution. I too have been considering a trip to Poitiers to look for signs of Rongnion. But, according to Ira, several others have tried unsuccessfully to do the same.
I am a francophile, having studied at the Sorbonne and developed some fluency in the language and culture. Our family records have long contained documents asserting Vincent Rongnion as our progenitor, but they may be in error if as Ira Runyon asserts, Monnet's reporting on the subject is unreliable.

Robert S. Runyon, University of Nebraska Library dean emeritus
[e-mail]
402-393-3320
2130 South 80th Ave.
Omaha, NE 68124

Robert, although Monnet's documentation of the early Runyon family is very much unreliable, there is no question that Vincent Rongnion is indeed the progenitor of the US Runyon-Runyan-Runion etc family.

The problem is that no documentation has been found to indicate Vincent's family history befor his arival to this country, and infact there is no conclusive documentation that he was indeed a French Huguenot. Someday, hopefully someone will find documentation in Europe that will provide us with that information.

[moberlydrake]

I'm fairly new to Runyon research. Has anyone checked out the possibility that Vincent came from the Rognon families of Meurthe-Et-Moselle?

Even if he lived in Poitiers just before he came to America, he may have been born elsewhere in France, and even if he was a Protestant when he arrived, he may have been born and bred a Catholic, so the records of Catholic churches need to be checked also, I think.

The LDS website also shows quite a few people bearing the surname of Rognon in the former department of Seine-et-Oise (see Wikipedia), which contains a town named "Pontoise". The pronunciation is different from "Poitiers", but how well did the person writing Vincent Rongnion's marriage license understand what was said and how well did that person know the towns of France and how to spell them? Has anyone checked out this possibility? And a very quick Google search mentions Pontoise in connection with the Huguenots.

Just an idea. Any comments?

Carol Anne

[nancijane]

I've just found your board and joined as a bystander.....my ancestor was probably Richard Pewtinger, probably "a servant" of Philip Carteret, aboard The Phillip which arrived 1665 East Jersey. We've never been able to find documentation of a ship's manifest, nor the birthplace of Richard. [The name has been researched for Pittenger descendants.] Genealogy dictates studying others of the area.....so any sideways info will be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

[Christopher Runyon]

I have been toiling for years trying to work on finding out information about Vincent before his marriage license, and as I am sure that everyone else has found, it is very elusive. So I decided to take another route and research into Orra Monnet's information to try and figure out how reliable it really is (I wholeheartedly acknowledge that without documentation of his birth or life in France or even England before coming over we cannot claim he was a Huguenot, however if I am on the right track and can against most odds track that information back far enough, it possibly could lead to what we are looking for).

I am not sure if anyone else has looked into this but I think I may have found where he got his information from. His book "First Settlers of Ye Plantations of Piscataway and Woodbridge, Olde East New Jersey" was originally published in 1930, which contains what appears to be the basis of most of what we know about him through subsequent publications. I have come across a book called "The Early Germans of New Jersey: Their History, Churches and Genealogy" by Theodore Frelinghuysen Chambers, published in 1895 that has a very similar description:

"RUNYON.

The family of Runyons are descended from VINCENT RONGION. He was a
Huguenot and came to America in the year 16*i5. He settled in East Jersey on the
Elisabethtown grant as early as 1668-70. He was called at the first mention of his
name, "a mariner from Poitou." This province in France endured the fiercest
persecution on account of religion, until all industries were paralyzed and whole
co mmuni ties were depopulated. There is on file at Trenton a marriage license
issued by the governor of East Jersey, Philip Carteret, in the year 1668. This
document reads as follows :

" To any of the Justices of the Peace or Ministers of the Province of New Jersey:
Whereas, I have received information of a mutual agreement between Vincent
Rongion, of Portiers, in France, and Ann Boutcher, the daughter of John Boutcher
of Hartford, in England, to solemnize marriage together, for which they have
requested my lycense, and there appearing no lawful impediment for the obstruc-
tion thereof, these are to require you or eyther of you, to joyne the said Vincent
Rongion and Ann Boutcher in matrimony, and them to pronounce man and wife,
and to make record thereof, according to the laws in that behalf provided, for the
doing whereof this shall be to you or eyther of you a sufficient warrant.

Given under my hand and seal of the Province, the 28th of June, 1668, and the
20th year of the raigne of our Sovereign Lord Charles the Second, of England,
Scotland and Ireland, King, defender of the faith, &c.

(Signed) Ph. Carteret.

This couple were joyned in matrimony by me the 17th of July, 1668.

(Signed) James Bolton.

Vincent Rongion bought a piece of land at Elizabeth Town, 20 March, 1671-2.
He soon however removed to Piscataway, where in the spring of 1677 he purchased
a farm of 154>j' acres. The sons and daughters of Vincent and Ann Boutcher
were : Vinc~nt, Darich [Derick or Dirck, the same as Richard], Joseph, Reune,
Ephraim, M^-i'y, Peter, Jane and Sarah. Besides these children there was a John



R.UNYON 4 -j

Runyon, prob. another son of Vincent, who m. 1692-3, Elisabeth Dunn (prob. dau.

of Hugh Dunn) and who was probably the ancestor of those branches of the family

in which the name Hugh occurs. If this is the case he was prob. the father of

HUGH, (prob. the son of John, 3. of Vincent), b. ]715, June 20, died 1804 at 90.

m. Anna Savidge (dau. of William Savidge and Elisabeth Smith), b. 1721, July

2, d. about 1795. Hugh is buried at Bedminster church vard. He had ch. :

L ELEANOR, b. 1748, Oct. 1, d. 1823, April 3, m. Daniel Heath, b. 1750

Au g. 30, d. 1825, June 13. Both buned at Basking Ridge, N. J.
LL W TT . T . TAM , b. 12 March, 1750. d. 1831, m. Mary Poland (2d w.) d. 1814 ;
had ch.: 1. Elisabeth, b. 18 Dec., 17S5, d. 6 April, 1823, m. John Boyle;
2. Anna, m. Henry Cooper ; 3. Robert, went West ; 4. Richard B. (by
second wife), b. 14 Feb., 1814, m. Ann Sanders.
DJ. ElflSABETH, b. 16 Dec., 1751, m. Andrew Littell, b. Jan., 1749.
IV. ANN, b. 6 July, 1753, m. John Groves.
V. SARAH, b. 23 March, 1755, m. Thomas Sunderland.
VI. HUGH, b. 1756, Oct. 10, d. 15 Nov. 1843, m. Theodosia Freeze, b. 3 Feb.,
1765. d. 10 Feb., 1838. Buried in Patrie burying ground between Chester
and Peapack ; no children.
VTJ. RICHARD, b. 30 Nov., 1758, m. Jemima Hoagland, b. 1759 ; had ch. : 1.
Richard, d. 16 Aug., 1845, and his wife Jemima d. 15 April, 1848. Both
buried in Patrie burying ground ; had ch.: (1) Richard, b. about 1786,
unm.; (21. Hugh, b. 1788, d. 17 July, 1851, m. Sarah Osborn about 1828,
b. 9. Oct., 1810, d. 27 Dec., 1873 ; (31. Abigail, b. 17 Sept., 1791, d. 1 Dec..
1873, m. Morris P. Crater, 31 Oct., 1821, b. 6 Aug., 1800 ; (4). Henry, b.

23 Jan., 1794, d. 16 8ept, 1871, m. 2 Jan., 1823, Ann Shangle. d. 24 Sept.,
1878, at 82 years ; had four daughters ; \S). Richard, b. 17 June, 1797, d.

24 April , 1761, m. Jane Mullen, d. 30 Nov., 1842, at 30 years, 9 months
and 14 days of age ; both buried in Patrie burying ground ; had son
Redford, b. 1840, d. 1863 : (61. Mart S., b. 18 Feb., 1801, d. 5 Oct., 1852,
m. Ezekiel Rogers, 11 Feb., 1818, b. 1795, d. 1866 ; (7). Susan, b. 1803, m.
Abr aham Wortman ; had ch. : Hugh., Mart/ Ann, Cornelia, Richard.
John and Henry.

VILT. MARGARET, b. 22 Nov., 1760, d. 30 May, 1857, m. Benj. Maple, b. 1757,
d. 21 April, 1833.
IX ABIGAIL, b. 17 Dec., 1762, m. Philip Fulkerson ; no children.
X. ROBERT, b. 13 Sept., 1764, d. 4 July, 1850, m. 22 Nov., 1792, Catherine
Sutton, b. 2 May, 1773, d. 15 March, 1850 ; both buned at Lower Squan-
kum ; had ch. : Elisabeth, b. 1793 ; Richard, b. 1794 ; Henry, b. 1795 ;
Ann, b. 1800 ; Reuben Groves, b. 1802 ; John, b. 1804 ; Eleanor, b. 1806 ;
Samuel L., b. 1809.
HUGH, b. about 1740 ; had, at least,

L JOSEPH, who came from Middlesex to Warren Co. about 1810 ; had oh. :
L Hugh, died young ; 2. Vincent, m. Catherine Jones (whose 2d husband
was Isaac Hager) ; had ch.: (1). Job J., rem. to Columbus, Ohio ; 2).
William, m. Mary Ellen Searles (dau. of Moses, of Schooley's Moun-
tain) and has, Martha, Lydia, Isaiah, Emma and William, all unm.
in 1893 ; (3). Kbetah , m. Abraham Holeman, of Ohio ; 3. William,
Lonostreet, who had children : d). Nelson, has children^oAn, Frank,
Charles, Arrison, ilaraaret and Martha ; (2). Elisabeth Ann, m. Mor-
ris Parks ; (3) to (61. Three daughters ; 4. Joseph, rem. to Penn. ; 5. Sarah



476 Early Germans of New Jersey

Ann, m. Samuel Acker, of Perm. ; 6. Thankful, b. 1806, d. 1858, Nov.
17, at 52, m. Capt. Sam. A. Van Sickle. [See " Piscatavmy Settlers" by
Oliver B. Leonard, and " Genealogy of Runycm, Family" by Henry
Runyon, Princeton, N. J."

This information was pulled directly from the book on www.archive.org. Considering the dates of original publication it appears that Vincent's "Huguenot" background has been passed on for awhile before Monnet, and as I work in Princeton NJ I will definitely be attempting to find more information on the books Chambers referenced in an attempt to trace it back even farther.

If anyone has already researched down this road and I am heading towards a dead end please let me know, otherwise I hope to find even more and report back if I find anything.

[Christopher Runyon]

It looks like the book that "The Early Germans" referenced ("Genealogy of the Runyan Family") was written by Henry Runyan and was published in 1891 in Princeton. I am able to get a copy printed up and shipped to me, but I won't be able to get that copy until probably next week or the week after that. From the little I could find on Henry Runyan online in this short time, it looks like he was a Genealogist; I am hoping that within the 8 page book (very obviously just a small family genealogy book) I will find some form of reference to documentation or even another book farther back that I will be able to get my hands on. I am a bit worried that I will eventually get to a point where there are no more references to information farther back (if this information was just passed down from family to family for example) but nevertheless I will be exhausting this road to the fullest.

[Christopher Runyon]

Well I just got the book in today and it looks like it isn't the publication that references Vincent, the other labeled "Piscataway Settlers" by Oliver B. Leonard must be. This one is proving to be much more elusive for me to get a look at than the other one, as the nearest library that has it is over 100 miles away. I will keep trying to get a look at it however my very busy work schedule most likely will limit me from getting to it for awhile; here is the full name of the book in case anyone else is in an area where they could get to it quicker and (of course) if anyone is interested:

"Outline sketches of the pioneer progenitors of the Piscataway planters, 1666-1716 : containing also a complete genealogy of the Steele and Runyon families" by Oliver B. Leonard (it is of some merit to note that the date in the title on some websites claims it is "1666-1916", which has been attributed to a typo when transferring from the original some time ago and it being copied so much)

Hopefully the next update will be of a better note than this one

[maryheynig]

Has any male descendant done genetic testing? 23andme and some others can trace the Y chromosome to where it likely came from, and the living relatives in that area.