I'm not sure what the etiquette is here for replying to an old topic, but I'm doing so in case anyone is still interested, or in case anyone finds this topic in future.
Fanny or Françoise FALLAIZE is the eldest child of Thomas & Fanny FALLAIZE. She was baptised 26 Aug 1821, at St Helier. Rather oddly, she appears twice on the 1841 census: once with her father and some of her younger siblings; and once with her brother-in-law Pierre JACQUET, her sister Jane (or Jeanne) JACQUET née FALLAIZE, and brother John. I'm pretty sure this isn't a case of two Fannys of the same age, because they would also both need siblings of the same names and ages, and the baptism records do not suggest there is more than one Fanny. I expect she normally lived with her father, but on the night of the census was visiting her sister, and as a result was included twice.
Thomas FALLAIZE & Françoise JOSSELIN were married at St Helier on 3 Dec 1820. I have nine children for them, baptised between 1821 and '37 at St Helier, and each gives the mother's maiden name as JOSLIN. Those children are:
- Fanny / Françoise (bp 26 Aug 1821; m William Thomas TRAMP; 10 children)
- Thomas John (bp 2 Feb 1823; m Louisa TRAMP; 11 children)
- Jane Esther (bp 8 Mar 1825; m Pierre JACQUET; 3 children)
- John (bp 20 Aug 1826; bur 2 Nov 1829)
- Mary Jane (bp 12 Oct 1828; m Louis Jean François MASSON; 3 children)
- Betsey / Elizabeth (bp 20 Jun 1830; 1 illeg child; m John CRONIN; 7-9 children)
- John Lewis (bp 2 Dec 1832)
- Rachel Ann (bp 10 Apr 1836; m Edwin HILL; 2 children)
- Ann Sophie (bp 31 Dec 1837; m James STONEHAM)
Fanny FALLAIZE (née JOSSELIN) does not appear with Thomas on the 1841 census, which might ordinarily suggest she died between 1837 and '41. However, on 23 Jun 1850 a Thomas FALLAISE and Françoise JOSSELIN, his wife, stood godparents to Mary Françoise MASSON, daughter of their daughter Mary Jane. On the 1851 census, Thomas appears living with his eldest son, Thomas, and is described as a widow; yet a Fanny FALLAIZE appear elsewhere on the census with the two youngest daughters, Rachel and Ann, and Elizabeth's illegitimate son, Elisha.
Thomas is described in the census as a mason or house builder, and born in Guernsey in about 1796. (Note there is a second Thomas FALLAIZE living in Jersey at the time: according to the 1841 census that other Thomas was born in England, 1801-06.) Fanny is shown as born in St Saviour, Jersey in about 1800.
I have not tried to trace Thomas FALLAIZE further back as I haven't yet found time to visit the Priaulx Library in Guernsey to consult the registers and their transcripts. However, there are plenty of lines published on Ancestry.com that do go back much further. I won't reproduce any of them here, but one of the better researched ones appears to be the one by Wendy Johnson (user: wendyjohnson235).
If that's accurate, you get a link into the well-researched TOSTEVIN family (via Thomas' great-grandmother, Judith FALLAIZE née TOSTEVIN), and you then stand a good chance of getting back to Nicholas TOSTEVIN (b 1470, Brittany).
Françoise JOSSELIN or JOSLIN is a bit of a mystery. The only baptism I can find in Jersey is in 12 Jan 1809, at St Saviour, for the daughter François & Jeanne JOSLIN née MELET. But unless she were an older child when baptised (which, of course, is possible), that makes her far too young. There's a clue, however, in another JOSLIN family. On 28 Mar 1819, John Thomas JOSLIN was baptised at St Helier, son of Jean and Elizabeth Marie JOSLIN née INGRAM; his godparents were Thomas FALAIZE, Pierre VAUDIN and Fanny JOSSELIN. It seems pretty likely this is "our" Fanny JOSSELIN and her soon-to-be husband, Thomas. At this time in Jersey, godparents seem usually to have been uncles or aunts, so it makes sense to wonder whether Jean and Fanny might be brother and sister.
We can find John JOSLIN on the 1851 census, together with three of his children, and assuming that's the right person, the census says he was born in 1797 in Grouville. That matches a baptism on 1 Apr 1796 at Grouville for Jean GOSSELIN, son of François and Jeanne GOSSELIN née KELLY. I think it's likely that GOSSELIN and JOSSELIN are the same basic name, and if I understand WIkipedia's article right, there's a tendency to replace 'J' with 'G' when writing Jèrrais. The only other child I can find for that couple is a daughter, Jeanne, baptised 28 Dec 1794 at Grouville.
I do wonder whether Jean née KELLY and Jean née MELET might turn out to be the same person. It's hard to believe either surname could be a mistranscription of the other, but possibly she had had both surnames by having been married before? I cannot find any sign of a marriage between François and Jeanne with any maiden name, but marriages at Grouville are not yet on-line anywhere. Hopefully a trip to the Jersey Archive will one day resolve that question.
As with much family history, this probably raises more questions than it answers. But I'd love to hear from anyone researching this family.
Richard Smith
