1841 Census

Alfred H. W. Gallienne – died 21st October 1919

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Today is the anniversary of the death of my great great great grandfather Alfred Henry William Gallienne. This ancestor has been quite tricky to trace. For many years he was known to me as Alfred W. Gallienne, as I thought Alfred H. Gallienne was a different person with a different wife. But recently during my visit to Guernsey in July 2013, I made a few break throughs with my Gallienne family tree and discovered that they were one and the same person. These things take time to clarify and you don’t want to add things to your tree that are incorrect, especially on a place like Ancestry.com where incorrect details are often shared or passed on.

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A spontaneous visit to the Priaulx Library resulted in my mother and myself finding Alfred’s death in the local paper, as you can see in the photo below.

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My mum helping me search through the old newspapers

A visit to the Priaulx Library is a ‘must do’ on your list of things to visit when in Guernsey on a family tree hunt. Not just purely for the records but because the building inside is a wonderful step back in time and  everyone there is so helpful.

1841 – Alfred H. W. Gallienne and his twin sister Matildh Sophie were born sometime in 1841 in Catel, Guernsey. Possibly the son of Sophie Pipet.

Screen shot of Gallienne family in 1841 census

1851 – Alfred, age 10, is now living at The Catel, Guernsey, where he is listed as an ‘inmate’ along with Nicholas Gallienne, aged 66,  John Gallienne, aged 16 and Thomas, aged 14. The Catel was once a poorhouse and hospital.

1867 – Alfred, aged 26,  marries Louise Brehaut in St. Pierre Du Bois, Guernsey

1871 – Alfred, aged 30, is aboard the ship “FASHION’ – rank: able seaman. His wife Louisa is in the 1871 census at home with her father Thomas Brehaut and their sons: Alfred and Albert.

1881 – Alfred, aged 40, is head of household and is living with Louisa his wife, now a CHARWOMAN and their sons Alfred, Albert and daughter Louisa. He is recorded as working as an Agricultural Labourer.

1884 – Alfred’s wife Louisa dies at the age of 43, reason unknown.

1891 – Alfred, aged 50, is now living in Planque, Guernsey, with his new wife Rosalie Brehaut. Is this a sister of his first wife Louisa Brehaut. It is possible as this was common practice in those days. Living with Alfred and Rosalie are their sons Alfred (22), Albert (21), daughter Louisa (20), and Edwin (8) and John (4).

1901 – Alfred, aged 60, is still living in Planque, with Rosalie, Edwin Brehaut (stepson), John (14) and Alice (8).

1911 – Alfred, aged 70, is living at La Planque, with his wife Rosalie, daughter Alice Mary (18)  and is working as a general farm labourer.

1919 – Alfred dies at home. There is a discrepency with his age. The newspaper clipping says he dies in his 70th year which makes his birth date 1849, but in the 1851 census his age is 10, which makes him born in 1841.

Death notice in newspaper

Death notice in newspaper

This newspaper clipping gave us useful information:

  • the date of his death
  • place of death
  • address in his final year
  • where his final resting place is, although we were unable to find it.

It is always so satisfying being able to complete an ancestors timeline.

If you have Alfred in your family tree and have more information to share I would love to hear from you!🙂

Rachel Mary Davey was born – 1813

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Rachel was born in St. Helier, Jersey, 208 years ago on the 7th August 1813. She was the daughter of William Davy (of Somerset) and Marie Defrance (of Guernsey). Fifteen days later she was baptised, on the 22nd August 1813.

Rachel’s parents, William and Marie had married in 1804, nine years before she was born. Therefore it is possible that she was not the first child they had as this is quite a large gap between marriage and first child, particularly for those days.

I have not been able to find out any more about Rachel. Apart from her birth the next possible records would have been the first census in 1841. If Rachel was still alive, (the Cholera Epidemic swept through Jersey 3 years before) she would have been 28. By this age we can presume that she might have been married and therefore using a different surname which would make her harder to trace. The fact is that I can’t find any of the Davey family in 1841.

Another fact that is interesting is that Rachel’s father writes a Will & Testament  on the 15th November 1832, the year of the Cholera Epidemic that swept through the island and especially through the more populated town areas. In the Will & Testament, Rachel’s name is mentioned as one of the beneficiaries along with her siblings. This implies she must still be alive. We know that her father continues to live a long life, so I wonder if he, along with many other panicked islanders decided to make arrangements just incase the worst happened! The following is a list of the family and their ages for the year 1841:

William Davy (father) – would have been 61, he was still alive as he didn’t die until 1864 at the grand age of 84.

Marie Defrance (mother) – would have been 59, she was still alive, and didn’t die until 1858, again at the grand age of 78.

William George Davy (sibling) – would have been 25, I have nothing about him apart from his Baptism date: 17th November 1816.

Mary Ann Davy – Mary is a bit of a problem as there appears to be two of her. One born in 1819 the other born in 1825 (who married George Le Breton). Sometimes when one child dies young another is born and given the same name in memory. I wonder if that is the case here.

Isaac William Davy – would have been 20 years old. Isaac is not in the 1841 census either, but as my great great great grandfather I know that he goes on to lead a long life, until the age of 78!

So where Rachel and her family are in 1841, still remains a family history mystery, one I hope to be able to solve one day…

Note: you might notice that I have used 3 different versions of the Davey surname, this is because 3 different types have been used in the records, so am I a Davy, Davey or Davis?