Rev. John W. Roy was born in Autauga County, Alabama, in 1835, and is now the clerk of the county circuit court. His parents were Joseph and Mary Ann (Lee) Roy, who were natives of Orangeburg district, South Carolina, were there married and in 1818 came to Alabama and settled in Autauga county, which at that time .was almost unbounded wilderness, infested with wild animals and savage red men [Native American History of Autauga County, Alabama], but possessed of a rich soil and a salubrious climate. Here they cleared a farm in the timber and passed their lives, Mr. Roy dying in September, 1866, at the age of seventy-four years, and Mrs. Roy following in 1868, aged seventy-two, both members of the Methodist church. William Roy and Michael Lee, parents of this couple, also settled in Autauga county in 1818. Rev. John W. Roy is the seventh child in a family of five boys and three girls, of whom two of the boys beside himself fought in the late war under the Confederate flag — William, who died at Macon, Georgia, in 1864, having served from the beginning, and Hansford D., who died at Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1863, having enlisted in 1862. Rev. John W. Roy was reared on the pioneer farm. His attendance at school was limited to ten days, as at the age of seventeen the care of his parents devolved upon him, he being the youngest son, and the elder brothers having families of their own to care for. In 1856 he married Miss Sarah E., daughter of Eli Wadsworth Muse and his wife Mary Muse, who came from Georgia to Autauga county, but later removed to Louisiana, where Mrs. Muse died, after which event Mr. Muse returned to Autauga county and passed the remainder of his days on a farm. Mrs. Sarah E. Roy was born in Georgia. Of the ten children she has borne to her husband, five only are living, viz.: Margaret M., who is married to John D. Hinton; Joseph Eli, James M., Della C., and Archie M. Early in 1862 John W. Roy joined company E, second battalion of Hilliard’s legion, afterward Fifty-ninth Alabama, operating in east Tennessee; was in all the battles around Chattanooga, and then went with Longstreet to Virginia and fought around Petersburg, Richmond, etc. He was promoted to be a corporal. At the time of the final surrender he happened to be at home on furlough. When peace was declared he engaged in mechanical work for some years, in conjunction with farming. For nineteen years Mr. Roy has been a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1886 he was elected circuit clerk and was re-elected in 1892 for six years. He has filled the positions of junior warden, senior warden and chaplain of Prattville lodge, No. 89, F. & A. M., past dictator and chaplain of Prattville lodge, No. 2828, K. of H. Mrs. Roy is a consistent member of the Methodist church, of which denomination Mr. Roy has been a pillar for the past thirty-six years.
