Members of the Rounds Family from Fiji can all trace their ancestry to one  man: CHARLES ROUNDS (referred to hereafter as Charles 1).

Records kept by the late Alfred Bruce Rounds, and an entry in the LDS Church  records, made in 1999, suggest Charles 1 was born on September 19, 1836 in New  Bedford, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States of America. Bruce's records also  name Charles' parents as Joseph Rounds and Mary Remington.

Recent DNA tests and other documentation now confirm that Charles 1 was indeed a son of Joseph Rounds and Mary Remington.

Land claims records in Fiji also reveal he was also known as Charlie Rounds, that he arrived and settled in Fiji in 1851 and that he was a master boatbuilder, a trader and a cotton farmer.

Land claim records also indicate he purchased a portion of land known as Gau in the then district of Serua. The portion of land in question is now commonly known as Sigasiganilaca where the family burial grounds are and where some of his descendants still live today.
(More information on the land, it's actual size, the price paid and to whom will be posted later. An explanation will also be posted that ownership of other positions of Gau, were claimed by a Mr Ezra Work and a Mr James Byrne. The two gentlemen's claims were disputed by native landowners who provided sworn evidence that Charles 1 was on land he had lawfully purchased from a number of chiefs, including the then Vunivalu of Serua and tribe known as Batiwai./

Oral history: Unconfirmed reports suggest Charles 1 ran away from home after fearing he had  either accidentally injured, maimed or killed his younger brother while  playing. He is said to have boarded one of the whaling ships to the South  Pacific where he eventually settled in Fiji.

Research has indicated there was a Charles A Rounds, listed as a greenhand aboard a New Bedford  registered ship (the Canton) which departed for the Indian Ocean whaling grounds on 28 June  1845 and was due to return on 15 June 1847. Further research is being carried out to verify  that this is the same Charles Rounds who settled in Fiji.

Unconfirmed reports also suggest Charles1 may have worked as a bookkeeper for  other settlers in Fiji.

Charles 1 married Frances (Vani) Pickering in 1856. Vani Pickering is recorded  in the family database as being the second of the 13 children that Charles  Pickering (born in New South Wales, Australia in 1814) fathered. The database  records Charles Pickering as having married Burekaria Tabuakovei in Rewa in  1837. Oral history suggests Charles Rounds wanted to marry Vani Pickering's older sister  Elizaeth but settled for her younger sister when Elizabeth refused. Research by Dulcie Stewart  indicates Elizabeth Pickering then married George Matthew Henry. A daughter of theirs, Henrieta  Henry then married George Wise (out of Levuka) and a son of Henrieta and George - Benjamin Wise -  later married Josephine Rounds (daughter of William Rounds) and this is where the Wise family of  Wainiveidio come from. (Credit for some of this information to Dulcie Stewart).

Frances (Vani) Pickering is recorded as having been born around 1842. That would mean  she was 14 when she married. The recorded marriage date (November, 1856) means  Charles 1 had barely turned 20, when he wed Frances (Vani) Pickering. This would  probably explain the recorded early childhood deaths of at least three of Charles 1  and Frances Pickering's offsprings.
 (Vani Pickering's age was confirmed in a death notice posted in the Fiji Times in 1881. She  died on 26 April 1881 at Natovutovu, Rewa aged 39. - Credit for information to Dulcie Stewart).

CREDIT FOR INFORMATION IN THIS DATABASE SHOULD GO TO THE LATE ALFRED BRUCE  ROUNDS AND MEGAN STREETER FOR ALL THEIR EARLY GROUNDWORK. A BIG THANK YOU ALSO  TO DULCIE STEWART FOR HER RESEARCH AND TO MICHELLE ROUNDS FOR SHARING SOME OF THE PHOTOS FROM HER  COLLECTION (there's a link, below, to Michelle's website).

FAMILY CREST: A photo of a Rounds family crest can also be found on this site. I must emphasise,  however, that its authenticity has still to be confirmed. I will add, further, that crests were  usually assigned to individuals, so whether this crest, if authenticated, can be claimed by  everyone with the surname ROUNDS, is highly questionable.

(NOTE: Information in this database is as accurate as I know it to be. There may be  family members who are not listed. If so, I would appreciate being advised so that no  one is offended. If, also, some wish to contest the information on this site I would  also love to hear from them so that any discrepancies are verified and corrected. I  have tried, where practical, to double-check information in this database but the  onus is on everyone to ensure their families are correctly listed. In this regard,  the database will only adjust members of a family in their proper order - oldest to  youngest - if birth dates are provided.)

Visitors to this site wishing to establish kinship (if any) with any of the individuals listed in  the database will first have to sign into the site and then do a relationship search by clicking  on the Relationship tab which will appear in the menu bar at the top of the page.

Dennis Anthony Rounds