Charles Andrew Rounds b. Abt 1831 MA d. 6 Aug 1883 Suva, Fiji

Abt 1831 - 1883 (~ 52 years)

Name	Charles Andrew Rounds
Born	Abt 1831	MA [1]
Gender	Male
Died	6 Aug 1883	Suva, Fiji
Person ID	I28784	Sorensen-Remington Family Tree
Last Modified	13 May 2020

Father	Joseph Rounds, b. 4 Mar 1785, Tiverton, Newport Co., RI , d. 6 Aug 1862, Dartmouth, MA (Age 77 years)
Mother	Mary Polly Remington, b. 18 May 1794, Tiverton, Newport Co., RI , d. 23 Sep 1866, Dartmouth, MA (Age 72 years)
Family ID	F10699	Group Sheet \| Family Chart

Family Fanny Vani Pickering, b. Abt. 1842, Fiji , d. 26 Apr 1881, Tovutovu, Fiji (Age ~ 39 years)

Married 1856 Rewa, Fiji

Children

+	1. Charles Rounds, b. Abt. 1858, Fiji (Age ~ 166 years) [Birth]
	2. Joseph Rounds, b. Abt. 1862, Fiji (Age ~ 162 years) [Birth]
	3. Josephine Rounds, b. Abt. 1867, Fiji (Age ~ 157 years) [Birth]
	4. Thomas Rounds, b. Abt. 1870, Fiji (Age ~ 154 years) [Birth]
	5. William Rounds, b. Abt. 1872 (Age ~ 152 years) [Birth]
	6. Arthur Gordon Rounds, b. Abt. 1873, Fiji (Age ~ 151 years) [Birth]
	7. John Rounds, b. Abt. 1878, Fiji (Age ~ 146 years) [Birth]

Last Modified 26 May 2020

Family ID F10816 Group Sheet | Family Chart

Photos » Slide Show		New Bedford in the 1800s. It was a busy whaling port.
		Whaling was an honorable occupation and very hard work. It also gave many men the opportunity to see the world.
		By Charles Rounds' testimony here, he must have come to Fiji sometime between 1850 and 1851.
		According to this death record, Charles Rounds was a boat builder age 54 when he died 6 Aug 1833; this places his birth year around 1829. It gives his birthplace as New Bedford and says he has been in Fiji 33 years, so he came around 1850. Seven children and their ages are listed for Charles.
		The death report gives Charles's birthplace as Taunton, while his official death record says New Bedford. In 1845 when Charles is listed as a crew member at age 14, his hometown is given as Dartmouth. Since New Bedford is the major port city adjacent to Dartmouth, it is reasonable that family members would think of this as his place of birth and residence in America. Taunton was nearby but not as close as Dartmouth, and I have found no evidence that Charles was from that town (see notes).
		Probate of Joseph Rounds "who last dwelt in Dartmouth" and died on 6 Aug 1862, "leaving a widow, whose name is Mary Rounds (since deceased)"; lists next of kin, all surname Rounds except one: John of Dartmouth, Mary A. of Dartmouth, Abby E. also of Dartmouth, Sarah A. Tripp widow of Godfrey R. Tripp (deceased) of New Bedford, Charles A. "last known of the Feegee Islands now supposed to be dead," David C. of Wheelen Michigan, Joseph Jr. "supposed to be dead as he has not been heard from in twenty years, all the above are children of said deceased." (Thanks to Cousin Dulcie Stewart for finding the image of this document)

Notes

A probate document (found online by Dulcie Stewart) for Joseph Rounds has confirmed my assumption that Andrew C. is truly Charles A. in this family, and that he is the individual who sailed from New Bedford and settled in Fiji 1850-1851. See explanation and details below.

An Andrew Rounds went on a whaling voyage in 1847. In the 1850 census at Dartmouth, MA, Andrew is age 19 and a sailor, living with his parents Joseph and Mary.

Charles A. Rounds age 14, greenhand, hometown Dartmouth, sailed from New Bedford on the ship Canton on 28 June 1845, headed for the Indian Ocean and due to return in 1847. Charles A. is the same individual as Andrew who was born 1831, son of Joseph and Mary. Andrew is back in the 1850 census as mentioned above but disappears from all records after that. Occupation is given as sailor.

By his own sworn testimony Charles Rounds settled in Fiji sometime around 1851; he married there in 1856. DNA shows a match between me and Charles's descendants, and this is the only family I know of that could be the link. Apparently at some point he went by his middle name, Andrew, but for some reason was simply known as Charles in Fiji.

It appears that Charles visited Fiji in June 1846 on an early voyage; he was back home in time for a voyage in 1847 and returned home again to be in the 1850 census. It must have been shortly after this that he went on another voyage, returning to Fiji in 1851 to settle there.

A note concerning his death on 6 Aug 1883 at Suva says he was Charles Rounds of Taunton, MA. I have checked the censuses for Rounds families in Taunton. In 1840 there were two families who had young boys: Marcus T. Round and Andrew Round. In 1850 these two families were still in Taunton; Marcus's son Charles A. Rounds was born c1833 and he is still in the 1855 MA State census and is listed in the Civil War at age 30, so he cannot be the one who went to Fiji. Andrew Round is Andre Rounds in 1850 and his son is a junior born c1838; he marries in New Bedford in 1859; so those families were eliminated as possibilities.

Why did he never use a middle initial in Fiji? Another thought is that he went to live with relatives and that's why he is not in the 1840 census with his siblings. There were several households of their relatives living in both Dartmouth and New Bedford. I did receive his death certificate from Dulcie which lists his children, including a Joseph and Josephine, which is interesting to me as so often family names were used for the children. William, Thomas, and John are also family names, but these can be fairly common.

I found a brief reference to Charles in a book at Google Books online; the title is "Native American Whalemen and the World . . ." by Nancy Shoemaker, p 135. It mentions that Charles Rounds of New Bedford was reimbursed the $155 due him from the people of Kadavu.

For more information on Charles in Fiji: https://roundsfiji.tribalpages.com/

All of the following notes are from Dulcie Stewart's blog: https://fragmentedidentities.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/a-new-day/

"I then emailed the US National Archives-Northeast Region, Waltham, MA and they were able to provide me with the following information from Crew List complied 1820-1939:"

Name: Charles A. Rounds
Ship: CANTON
Place of birth: Dartmouth, MASS.
Place of residence: New Bedford, MASS.
Citizen of the US
age 14, height 5' 1
Departure date was July 28, 1845

"The Canton arrived in Fiji June 29, 1846 (Robert Langdon, 1984) and in Australia July 20, 1846 (NSW Archives)."

"According to John Young (1984) Charles Rounds arrived in Fiji in 1851, his source was the Land Claims Commission 1875-1887."

"Charles Rounds was the first Rounds in Fiji. He arrived April 1851 on a whaling vessel from New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States. He married Fanny Pickering, daughter of Charles Pickering and Burekovia Tabuakovei of Burebasaga Village, Rewa."

From Dulcie's email:
Charles Rounds arrived in Fiji in April 1851 (Fiji Land Claims Rehearing: No. 23 Toga Island, 4th January 1878). He died 6 August 1883 in Suva and was reported by William Henry Bruce to the US Secretary of State that Charles was from Taunton (Consular Despatches, No. 11).

However on Charles death certificate (attached), his place of birth given is New Bedford, and on his son's birth certificate (John Round born 2 July 1878) he was listed as being 46 (so born about 1832) and from New Bedford.

Sources
[S012433] Federal Census of 1 June 1850.