James Roy

James Alexander Roy (born October 19, 1836 in Chambly, Québec; died January 24, 1906 in Birmingham) was a merchant and landlord.

Roy lived for a while in Saskatchewan, and moved to New Orleans, Louisiana in 1859. He built up a successful mercantile businesses in Aberdeen in northeast Mississippi. He married the former Annie Dearing, 16 years his junior, there on August 23, 1873. They shared a home with her mother and celebrated the birth of a son, Charles Dearing Roy in February 1875. He retired from business in 1888 and moved with his brother, Charles E. Roy, to Birmingham and invested in real estate.

Annie died in 1896 and another infant, born in 1897, is buried next to her. Charles died in July 1905.

At 68, James was remarried, to 27-year-old Marie Cecelia Nolan, in Birmingham on October 5, 1905. Three months later he suffered a stroke of paralysis and died at his home at 2315 7th Avenue North. His funeral services were held at St Paul's Catholic Church, and he was buried alongside his first wife and son at Oak Hill Cemetery. The bulk of his estate, valued at around $100,000, passed to his second wife.

References

• "Prominent Citizen Has Passed Away" (January 25, 1906) The Birmingham Age-Herald