Albert Gallienne married Sophia Hamon – 1902

Sometimes, when researching the family tree, the saying: “There is no smoke without fire,” rings true and is worth listening to or bearing in mind.

My grandmother Grace, always believed her mother, Florence, was from Guernsey. Florence Gallienne died when Grace was 9 years old, so it is understandable that Grace knew very little about her own mother. Her father could have told her more except Grace was put in an orphanage along with one sister and one brother. Family stories do not get passed on in orphanages.

So when I did my research into the Gallienne side of my family I found out that in fact it was Grace’s grandfather, Albert Gallienne that was born in Guernsey and not her mother.

I confess, that this side of the family has been difficult to research and form a bigger tree. I know next to nothing about the Guernsey Galliennes and even less about the Jersey Hamons.

What I did find out with help from www.guernseyancestry.com a while back, was the following:

Marriage date: 30th March 1902

Albert Gallienne was 32 and a Mason, residing in St. Peter, Guernsey when he married Florence Sophia Hamon. Albert’s father was Alfred Gallienne.

Florence (b. 1884) was 18, residing in St. Luke’s when she married Albert. There is a 14 year age gap between Florence and her new husband Albert. Her father was Philip James Hamon (there are many many Philip Hamons in Jersey at this time, so this does not help much.)

These details are form the St. Luke’s Church Marriage Register (ref: 1873-1908 page 399)

The extra information written on a marriage record regarding the bride and grooms father’s is invaluable for making the next step further back in the tree.

This is the first record of evidence that Albert is no longer in Guernsey. The previous year, in 1901, Albert, aged 31, was living at La Planque, St. Pierre du Bois, Guernsey as a boarder in the household of  Elie Bree, a shopkeeper. As far as I know an Elias John Bree was godparent to Albert and Florence’s daughter’s baptism in 1906. This was the baptism of Florence Anna Gallienne, Grace’s mother.

I have no idea why Albert moved to Jersey, apart from fact that maybe there was more masonry work available in the larger island. I do know that he stayed and had four children with Florence: Albert Philip, Florence Anna, Henry and Philip James. I do not know where he died. It seems that Florence Hamon may have married again to a Mr. Michel but I have yet to confirm this.

I wonder how they met? Florence’s father was a news vendor at the time of the marriage. But what is interesting is that the Elias Bree (b. 1877) whom Albert was living with as a boarder in 1901, later is married to an Anna Evaline Hamon (b. 1875). Anna is Florence’s older sister. So maybe Elias visits Jersey with Albert where he meets Anna, who introduces Albert to Florence? It’s all speculation, but it’s all possible too.