The Royall House and Slave Quarters
Medford, Massachusetts

The Family of Isaac Royall, Senior

Isaac Royall (1672-1739), was born of modest means to a carpenter and his wife in North Yarmouth, Maine. Repeated Indian attacks on the colonists in Maine drove Isaac's parents to remove to Dorchester, Massachusetts, when he was three years old. As an adolescent, he became a merchant mariner and when he was 28, Isaac Royall established a sugar cane plantation in the West Indies, on the island of Antigua, where he lived for almost 40 years. He became very wealthy during this time by participating in the Atlantic Slave Trade and successfully trading in sugar, rum, and slaves. Isaac married Elizabeth Browne in 1707 and they had several children together, only two of whom survived into adulthood: Isaac Royall, Junior (1719-1781) and Penelope (1724-1800).

By 1732, life on Antigua had become increasingly difficult due to several successive years of drought, frequent yellow fever outbreaks, and slave uprisings. Thus, Isaac Royall, Sr., decided to retire to the American colonies and purchased "Ten Hills Farm," a property of almost 600 acres in Medford, Massachusetts. On the Northeastern portion of the property, near the Mystic River, stood a two and half story brick farmhouse originally owned by Governor John Winthrop. During the next five years (1732-1737), Isaac's brother, Jacob, a Boston merchant, supervised the renovation of the modest farmhouse into a three-story Georgian mansion and had a carriage house, a stable, an "Out Kitchen" and several barns built on the site.

On July 27, 1737, the Royalls and 27 of their slaves arrived in Boston. Unfortunately, Isaac Royall, Senior, was ailing by the time he took up residence in his new home and died two years later. This meant that Isaac Royall, Junior, inherited an immense estate at a very young age.

Surviving letters and documents indicate that he became an important and well-liked citizen of Medford during the next 38 years. He was a frequent and lavish entertainer, a successful real estate investor, and held several public offices and military positions. In 1738, he married Elizabeth McIntosh and eventually had three daughters, one of whom died at age 7. His sister, Penelope, married Henry Vassall (1721-1769), the son of a Jamaican planter, and moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts.

On the eve of the American Revolution, Isaac Junior " ...packed up [his] Sea Stores and Cloathes for ... passage ... to Antigua." In spite of his apparent sympathies to the Patriot cause, Isaac's wealth was based on his strong ties to powerful Loyalist families and the English crown. So, he left Medford three days before the battle of Lexington and, failing to secure passage to Antigua, sailed to Nova Scotia where he remained for a year. At the urging of his son-in-law, George Erving, he then sailed on to England where he died of smallpox in 1781. Penelope was able to return to Antigua with her daughter and granddaughters where she lived in greatly reduced circumstances until after the Revolutionary war. She then returned to Boston and died in 1800.

An extensive genealogical archive of the descendants of Isaac Royall is maintained by the Royall House Association. For more information about the Royall family, please see our genealogy page.

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