Marriage of Charles de BELIN and Sarah SPRATT

[Les de B]

I have just found on "theislandwiki" website the transcribed marriage of Charles de BELIN and Sarah SPRATT on 28/6/1830 at St.Helier.

I was wondering if anybody has access to copies of the original records, as the transcript has "Charles (Dublin)" and "Sarah (Salisbury)". I'm just wondering if the locations have been mistakenly transcribed i.e. swapped? If this is the marriage I'm trying to find, Charles was of French or Channel Island descent being a French teacher living in The Close, Salisbury, where he also had his first marriage in 1789, and first son born there shortly thereafter.

Further, an 1836 newspaper article of his suicide in Paris describes Charles as having met a much younger Sarah Spratt in England, and marrying her around 1830, which fits in with the St.Helier's transcript. The article mentions a son being born of them, which fits in with French records of Henri Charles de BELIN marrying in Paris 1853, son of Charles de BELIN (desceased) and Sarah SPRATT.

The article mentions his brother(?) as being Vice Principal of Elizabeth College, Guernsey, whereas in actual fact his was son from the first marriage who was Vice Principal at the College.

Thanks

Les

[la grande-méthe]

Unfortunately all of the early St Helier registers are closed for preservation because they are in a fragile condition. Therefore the only records available are those transcribed by the Jersey Family History Society, the wiki records are direct copies of these. There are some earlier transcriptions, the Messervy Transcriptions, done in the late 18th century which might be worth a look.

[Les de B]

Thanks for "disheartening" news regarding the current state of the original transcripts. Are you able to give me a hint where the Messervy Transcriptions might be found? 

Les

[la grande-méthe]

The Messervy transcriptions are at the Jersey Archive. I'll take a look when I get back, escaping the English winter in Perth at the moment.
 

[Les de B]

Thanks very much for that offer. No rush, as I've been on this "trail" for some 15 years now - so enjoy the sun 

Les

[la grande-méthe]

I haven't had a chance to look at Messervy yet but I did have a look at the marriage in the St Helier transcriptions and there is slightly more information than is given on jerripedia.

28/6/1830
Charles de Belin Esq (living Valogne) from Dublin
Sarah Spratt from St Martin, Salisbury

[Les de B]

Thanks for those extrta snippets of information.

"Dublin" for Charles de BELIN baffles me, as the only connections I have of him are either French or Channel Islands (apart from his first marriage is Salisbury in 1789). He was a French teacher when he married the first time; he married in Jersey the second time; when he died the newspaper article said he was born on Guernsey; he died in Paris; and an obituary of his grand daughter describes him "her grandfather was a French refugee of noble blood who escaped to England during the First French Revolution. He came to London and taught French". The town of Valogne fits in nicely with the that obituary with Wikipedia describing it as "Before the French Revolution, Valognes was the residence of more than a hundred families of distinguished birth and fortune, and was for a long time afterwards the home, en villégiature, of many of the old noblesse". Charles was a wealthy person before he committed suicide.

Although I thought "St.Martin, Salisbury" for Sarah SPRATT may have been mistakenly swapped for Charles, I have found a birth for a Sarah SPRATT in St.Edmunds Salisbury for 1798 and a bpt for Sarah SPRATT St.Martins Salisbury 1807 which both fit to Sarah's birth year of abt.1802.

I started another topic for the deaths of Charles (de)BELIN and Sarah SPRATT, and found their deaths as 21/4/1836 and 3/12/1840 repectively, both in Paris. Unfortunatley, all records were destroyed many years, and these records are only index records.

Les

[la grande-méthe]

This is the exact wording of the Messervy transcription

" Charles De Belin Esq native of Dublin and living in Valogne, Department of La Manche, Kingdom of France and Miss Sarah Spratt of the parish of St Martin Salisbury were married on the 28th day of June, 1830, by me Rich Mayne (or Hayne) - Curate"

I have no idea how Dublin comes into it unless the Curate misheard Charles' place of birth.

[Les de B]

Thank you VERY much for the transcript "la grande-méthe", that's fantastic!

Yes, I'm still scratching my head over "Dublin". It may be correct(?), then again it could be as you say, a misunderstanding by the Curate. It could even be possible that Charles answered incorrectly to the location question with his surnname "de Belin", and it was misunderstood as "Dublin" (he was around his very late 70's at the time of his 2nd marriage). I know when searching computer indexes for the surname "de Belin" in old newspapers, I get a lot of hits for "Dublin" (and "Berlin").

I suppose I'll never be able to confirm it one way or the other, but I'm still happy with what you were able to find for me! 

Les