Research in the Channel Islands
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
Last Update: September 8th 2001 - see sections marked 
Any items that come via my e-mail glen@itl.net
will also be posted if I think they will help others. Thanks to Brian
Pears, Stephen Foote, Marie-Louise Backhurst, Rose Millow and Ken Renault
for their contributions.
Alex Glendinning.
Index of Contents1. Place Names
2. Parish Registers of the Channel Islands
3. Who can help with research enquiries?
4. Where do I get birth, marriage and death certificates
from?
5. How advanced is the indexing programme?
6. Would my Ancestor have left a Will?
7. Is there an Archives Service and what are their specialities?
8. What Channel Islands records are available abroad?
9. Where are Property Transactions kept? Other Records at
the Jersey Public Registry.
10. I have Channel Island silver heirlooms, how can I find
out more about them?
11. What Merchant Seamen's Records are available?
12. Are there other sites on the Net dedicated to Channel
Islands Research and Information?
Take the shortcut to FAQs Links Page.
For the smaller Islands see Sark Ancestry and Alderney Ancestry.
Jersey Parishes:St Helier (the capital) - St Brelade (includes the market town and harbour
of St Aubin) - St Saviour - St Clement - St Martin - Grouville (includes
Gorey Village and harbour) - St John - St Peter - St Ouen - St Lawrence-
Trinity - St Mary.
Bailiwick of Guernsey Parishes (and Islands):Guernsey: St Peter Port (the capital) - St Sampson - St Saviour
- St Peter-in-the-Wood (or St Pierre du Bois) - St Martin - Forest - Castel
(or Câtel) - Vale - Torteval - St Andrew. Alderney: St Anne.
Sark: St Peter. Herm.
JerseyGuernseySt Peter Port: The Town Church
Baptisms from 1563 - Marriages from 1565 - Burials from 1566
St Peter Port: Later Parishes (created when the Town Church was no
longer big enough)
St Johns: Baptisms from 1840 - Marriages from 1858
St Stephens: Baptisms, Marriages and Burials from 1865
Holy Trinity: Baptisms from 1847 - Marriages from 1858 - Burials
from 1858
Other Miscellaneous Registers
The Marriage Chapel at St James-the-Less: Marriages 1915-1970
Candie Cemetery: Burials 1847-1986
Country Parishes
Vale: Baptisms, Marriages and Burials from 1577
St Pierre-du-Bois: Baptisms, Marriages and Burials from 1625
Castel: Baptisms, Marriages and Burials from 1674
Castel: St Matthews: Baptisms from 1854 - Marriages and Burials from
1855
St Sampson: Baptisms, Marriages and Burials from 1713
St Saviour: Baptisms and Marriages from 1582 - Burials from 1609
St Martin: Baptisms and Marriages from 1660 - Burials from 1728
Forest: Baptisms and Marriages from 1700 - Burials from 1704
St Andrews: Baptisms from 1575 - Marriages from 1573 - Burials from
1574
Torteval: Baptisms from 1684 - Marriages from 1721 - Burials from
1739
For the smaller Islands see Sark Ancestry and
Alderney Ancestry.
A. By E-mail and on the Internet
Channel Islands
Geoff Wright's Index
Page leads to Channel Islands Queries Page
RootsWeb: Channel
Islands Queries Messages Index
John Fuller's Volunteers
Page. If you need someone to look up a census index reference or consult
a Channel Island book for you - this is the page to visit.
The Channel Islands Mailing List. If you are interested, just send
the following to channel-islands-d-request@rootsweb.com:
subscribe (in the subject line).This is for the digest mode.
If you want the postings as individual e-mail just replace the -d- in the
above with the letter -l-.
The Mailing List now has an Interactive
Search Facility.
Family and Friends:
The Guernsey Press Online Forum
B. Family/Local History Societies
Jersey:
The Channel Islands FHS, PO Box 507, St Helier, Jersey JE4 5TN charge £5
per hour to members; £10 per hour to non-members. (This payment is
in advance.) Only Jersey stamps can be used. Reply coupons would be appreciated.
Go To: About the Channel Islands
FHS
Guernsey:
The Family History Section, Société Guernesiaise,P.O.Box 314,
Candie, St. Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 3TG. This includes enquiries for Alderney
and Sark .Only Guernsey stamps can be used. Reply coupons would be appreciated.
Go to: the Official Société
Guernsiaise pages (which include the Family
History Section)
For local history also join The
Guernsey Society
C. Libraries
Jersey:
Miss Mary Billot, The Lord Coutanche Library, Société Jersiaise,
7 Pier Road, St. Helier, Jersey JE2 4XW. Charge £10.00 per hour. Go
to: Société
Jersiaise
The Jersey Library have the
censuses on microfilm from 1841-1891 with some indices and many local newspapers,
but are not geared up to accept genealogical enquires by post. The
larger number of microfilm readers however, mean less queuing if you are
visiting in person.
The Jersey Family History Centre of the L.D.S.
Church
La Rue de La Vallée, St Mary, Jersey JE3 3DL
Guernsey: the Official Priaulx
Library, Candie, St Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 1UG. Charges: £5.00
per hour.
For certificates after 1842 contact:
Jersey :
R.J. Kerley, The Superintendent Registrar, 10 Royal Square, St. Helier,
Jersey JE2 4WA.
Telephone (01534) 502335. Office Hours 9.30 a.m.to 12.30 p.m.
If you know the Date/Name/Parish of the event he will charge £
10 per certificate. If searching is required, a further charge of £
7 is levied for a five year search for a birth or death and £ 14 for
a five year search for a marriage. Add a postal handling charge of £1.00
for overseas and 50 pence for British Isles. Please make cheques payable
to "Treasurer of States". There are no facilities for personal
research.
If you are in Jersey, these charges can often be alleviated as the Registrar's
Indices from 1842-1900 are available at both the Société Jersiaise
and the CIFHS Research Room.
Due to a recent relaxation of the rules there is now some limited access
to the registers by appointment between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Monday to Friday.
Ensure you telephone first as Jersey is once again in demand as a Wedding
Destination!
Guernsey:
H.M. Greffier, The Royal Court House, St Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 2PB.
Telephone (01481) 725277. Office Hours 9.00 a.m.to 5.00 p.m.
They charge £ 5 for a full certificate or £ 3 for a short
certificate. A search fee of £ 5 has recently been introduced.
If you are in Guernsey, this charge can be alleviated as there is public
access to the Strong Room between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. for a nominal £1.00
charge and details can be copied from their records.
The Priaulx Library also have the indices on microfilm.
Note: Guernsey Marriages were not subject to Civil Registration until
1919 - so the coverage is incomplete prior to that date. Go to the Parish
Registers instead.
For the smaller Islands see Sark Ancestry and
Alderney Ancestry.
Jersey:
Virtually every parish register is indexed up to 1842. St John pre 1715
and a few short periods of St Helier baptisms still underway. Post 1842
now beginning with St Martin, St John, St Brelade and Gouray Church.
All censuses 1841-1891 (some have been published see About
the Channel Islands FHS.) An Early Census: General
Don's Militia Survey of 1815.
Gottlieb Marriage Indices (All Island 1700-1799) a. By Husband's Name b.
By Wife's Name. See: Finding 18th Century
Marriages
Guernsey:
Registers: St Peter Port and St Saviour fully indexed to 1842 - Castel,
Forest and St Pierre Du Bois partly. All censuses 1841-1891 except 1871
(in preparation).
Tutorial at Channel Islands Family History: Reading
the Records
Many older Channel Islands properties have dated stones including the
initials of the owners - these are in the process of being located, identified
and indexed. Go to: The
Jersey Datestones Register | Guernsey Datestones
Maybe but, as both islands had clear inheritance laws, few did.
Jersey: The Jersey
Archive has index of Wills online in their Public
Access Catalogue.
These are Wills of Personalty (cash and personal possessions). Wills
of Realty (from 1851) fixed property (houses, land, rentes and hypotecs)
are at the Land Registry - see No. 9. Both have been filmed by the Mormon
Church - see No. 8.
Guernsey: See Greffe as previously.
Wills of Personalty (each book indexed individually in Greffe) and
Wills of Realty (one big card index in Greffe). The former are the
responsibility of the Ecclesiastical Court from whom permission must be
sought before copies are made. The Greffier can do this for you.
Copying Costs: 30p per page - minimum handling charge £ 2.00.
Payment by sterling cheques or drafts drawn on a British bank.
Jersey :
The Jersey Archive at the Jersey
Heritage Trust Website - Public
Access Catalogue available on line and updated every three months.
Address: Jersey Archive, Clarence Road, St Helier, Jersey JE2 4JY.
Guernsey:
The Island Archive Service has a permanent facility and have charge of Guernsey
Occupation material, the St Peter Port Hospital (Poorhouse) records and
more.
From Stephen Foote (November 21 1996): " I have found the Guernsey
Archives a useful source for the archives of States Committees - for example,
letters my great x 3 grandfather wrote to the States Markets Committee complaining
about lack of space." Go to: Guernsey Archives
Service. Address: Island Archives Service, 29 Victoria Road,
St Peter Port, Guernsey. NOTE: In the first instance all family history
enquiries should be addressed to the Libraries or Societies. Once you have
established your ancestry, the Archives Service records may help to add
detail, although their collections are often specialised, requiring some
knowledge of Guernsey law and the French language in their interpretation.
The Guernsey Archives do not hold records of births, deaths and marriages
or printed family trees.
The 1881 Census for Jersey and Guernsey (which includes Alderney
and Sark) has been indexed and transcribed on microfilm by the Church of
Latter Day Saints (most details but parish, not full address, listed). They
can make copies available through their network of family history centres.
The Jersey Land Registry - see No. 9 - and Wills of Realty
and Personalty - see No. 6 - have also been filmed and are available
as below.
Here are the addresses of all the Mormon
Family History Centres in the UK, all the Mormon
Family History Centres in the US and the Mormon
Family History Centres in the rest of the world.
The Society of Genealogists
Library in London has the microfilm of the Guernsey Civil Registration
Indices from 1842 to 1969.
Their 1994 catalogue of Parish Register Copies in the Library: Channel Islands (which is actually mostly Guernsey) is online.
Please let me know if you find any significant collections of Channel
Islands material at your local library or society anywhere in the world
glen@itl.net.
Jersey:
Land Registry (at the Public Registry)
Founded in 1602 to record land transactions which were previously arranged
verbally after Church Services and known as "ouie de paroisse"
(in the hearing of the parish).
Contracts record the names of the purchaser and vendor and often their fathers'
names; the location within the fief and parish; neighbours' property and
roads abutting the land in question; the date and purchase price. Filmed
by the Mormon Church - see No. 7.
Note: These records are in French.
Common Terms/Contracts found in the Land Registry
Rentes were loans repayable in kind (the produce of the land) and were
considered permanent, passing from one generation to the next, before absolute
ownership of property developed. Wheat rentes were the most common, cash
rentes gradually developed in the 18th Century.
Hypotecs are modern mortgages.
Partages are the division of property between heirs. The oldest son
receiving the préciput (the largest share). Often the remaining
sons and daughters would sell their share of the land back to the principal
heir.
Wills of Realty (from 1851) fixed property (houses, land, rentes
and hypotecs) are at the Land Registry. Filmed by the Mormon Church -
see No. 8.
Note: Wills of Personalty (cash and personal possessions) are
at the Probate Registry - see No.5. Filmed by the Mormon Church - see
No. 8.
WARNING: The Land Registry ceased operations during the Civil War period,
therefore leaving a gap in the records from 1642-1660.
All correspondence to The Judicial Greffe, Burrard House, Don Street, St
Helier, Jersey JE2 4TR.
What is the Guernsey Equivalent?
Date (spoken - but copied out) and Lire (written) contracts that
went before the Royal Court are in the Greffe - see No.3. They date
from 1576 and indexed both by the surname of the vendor (Bailleurs)
and the purchaser (Acquéreurs).
Generally the terms in use in the Jersey Land Registry also apply here.
These records are in French.
From 1924, the records are at the Cadastre Department, Nelson Place,
Smith Street, St Peter Port. This department is very busy, dealing with
rating matters and rent control, and has little time to undertake research
requests. If visiting in person, make an appointment (01481) 721239. However,
your enquiry stands a better chance of being answered if you refer it through
the States of Guernsey Island Archives Service
- see No.7.
Livres des Perchages are surveys
undertaken at intervals by the representatives of the Seigneur of a fief
recording details of his holdings and tenants - most are in private hands.
States of Guernsey Island Archives Service
has a selection and access to many others not actually on their premises.
NOTE: There is a chapter about tracing the history of property in Eye
on the Past in Guernsey - see My Books.
Many older Channel islands properties have dated stones including the initials
of the owners - these are in the process of being located, identified and
indexed. Go to: The
Jersey Datestones Register | The
Guernsey Datestones Project
Other Records in the Jersey Public Registry
Tutelles - guardianships.
Procurations - powers of attorney.
Royal Court
Cour de Câtel - Criminal Proceedings from 1504.
Cour d'Heritage - Real property and Inheritance Proceedings from
1506.
Cour de Samedi - From 1535, any business left over from either of
the above and Civil cases.
Cour de Billet - Petty Debts from 1648 to the 1950s.
Décrets - Bankruptcy Proceedings from 1616 to 1900.
Note: These records are also in French.
All correspondence to The Judicial Greffe, Morier House, Halkett Place,
St Helier, Jersey JE1 1DD.
Freddie Cohen's Makers and Dealers of Channel Islands Silver and Their Marks.
"Silver in the Channel Islands" by Frederick Cohen and Nicholas
du Quesne Bird, published by the Jersey Museums Service at £ 20.00,
is available from the Société Jersiaise Bookshop at 7 Pier
Road, St Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands JE2 4UW.
The standard reference work is "Old Channel Island Silver" by
Richard Mayne (Jersey 1969). Available from Phillimore.
The Société
Jersiaise are custodians of the Jersey Merchant Seamen's Benefit
Society books. From 1835 they detail the service of each seaman member
and his contribution to a welfare fund. The names of his ships, the length
of service in each, his parish of origin and age are recorded. Another book
gives details of pensions payable to disabled members and, on their death,
to their families. The
Jersey Merchant Seamen's Benefit Society plus other maritime background
information and Links.
Yes - go to: FAQs
Links Page or try Stephen Foote's Channel
Islands Genealogy Web Ring
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