This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Loy Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Eex.2ACIB/337.1 Message Board Post: Joanna, As I mentioned in a reply to your prior posting, I had corresponded with Raymond Loy of Washington State in the 1980s, who at that time was a retired dentist for the FBI. In one of his letters I have here, he said that his great-grandfather was William Loy and William was "born 46 miles from Pittsburg, PA and moved to IL. In 1849 he went to California in the gold rush and was shipwrecked off Panama. He then returned to St. Joseph, MO where he had a furniture store. He stayed in that area until his death. My grandfather [Raymond's] was born in MO and my father in Kansas. I only met my grandfather once. He had a sister whose married name was Darby and lived in Denver, Colorado. It seems that the Loy family left PA and separated into Iowa, Ill and Colorado. I never heard them mention N Carolina [I had asked him if he was connected to my Loys of NC] Years ago a lady wrote me saying she was married to a Loy. His family consisted of six boys who all had Biblical names such! as Abraham Isaac Samuel etc." In another letter, Raymond told me Union Gap was the town in PA where his great-grandfather was from. "There were 6 brothers and some sisters. The boys names were all biblical names wsuch as Abraham Isaac Samuel Andrew etc. They all migrated west to Illinois Iowa and Colorado and Ohio and Tennessee. My branch comes from Illinois probaby the same branch as yours because they were from Effingham Illinois." [I surmised he may have been from the Matthias Loy branch, since those were the only other Loys I'd known that lived in Effingham Co besides mine from Martin Loy. Until now, I'd thought Ray had just been saying because mine were from IL and his were from IL, but here he specifically says Effingham. I'll have to check this out. Maybe they lived there between census so I never caught them.] "My great-grandfather left Ill in 1849 for the gold rush by ox team and returned after being shiprecked at the [Isnis? can't read the word] of Panama. He traveled through the jungl! e before the canal was built. He returned to St. Joseph, MO and started a furniture store. I was born in Seattle in 1909 and for years there were only two Loys in the phone book. My parents O.W. Loy and an A. C. Loy." [The A.C. Loy was my grandmother's uncle Andrew Clifton Loy. DRW] Raymond ends this letter with " ...I have two sons and two daughters. My sons names are Raymond and John they live in Washington State." I hope this helps some. Delores