French ancestors

[kazza41]

Hi I don't know if anyone can help im looking for my grandmother on my husbands side of the family. Eugenie Frances jegon/Jegou. The 1911 census said she was born in jersey. I have had the records searched and there is no trace. Her brother was born in St Malo France so the jersey registry office thinks she was probably born in France too. She was born about 1902. She was living in jersey with grand parents Jean Marie and Marguerite Cozic  . Her fathers name was Alfred and he was a fisherman according to her marriage cert. The Cozic family was born in Plouanz cote du nord. Any info would be really helpful.

Many Thanks
Karen

[jorose]

The department that was called Côtes-du-Nord is now Côtes-d'Armor
Their archive site is here:
http://archives.cotesdarmor.fr/

St Malo is in Ille-et-Vilaine.  Their archives are here:
http://archives.ille-et-vilaine.fr/fr
There is a boy Alfred Jegou b. 30 December 1903.
He is first registered as the illegitimate child of Francoise Jegou, aged 20, native of Ploubazlanec. 
A witnesses is Marguerite Kervarrec, married name Cozic, aged 46, maternal grandmother of the infant.
15 Feburary 1904 there is a reconnaissance record for the same boy, now listed as child of Jeanne Marie Jegou (20).

From Ploubazlanec (Côtes-du-Nord) we have
2 July 1883 - Jeanne Marie Jegou
 - father Francois Marie Jegou, aged 32, absent
 - mother Marie Marguerite Kervarec, aged 27.
 - one witness is Victor Kervarec, aged 55, grandfather of infant.

3 June 1891
Jean Marie Cozic, aged 29, born Plounez, 20 Sep 1861, single, son of the late Francois Cozic deceased Plounez, and of Jeanne Yvonne Marvan, resident Plounez, present and consenting
married to:
Marie Marguerite Kervarec, aged 35, born Ploubazlance, 3 Feb 185?, widow of Francois Marie Jegou, daughter of Victor Kervarec and Marie Anne Maignant.

So the grandparents in 1911 were the maternal grandmother of Eugenie, Marguerite Cozic nee Kervarec, and her second husband.  Presumably Eugenie Frances was also born out of wedlock.  Figuring out where exactly she was born and who Alfred (probably not a Jegou) was may be an issue.

[jorose]

I also find a reference to the mother Jeanne Marie in Jersey.
Noel, Jeanne Marie nee Jegou
born 01/07/1883, Ploubazlance
changed nationality through marriage, 1927.
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01a4n/

I think it still could be possible that Eugenie was born in Jersey - perhaps she was registered or baptised under her father's surname.  Is she the one who married to a Hart? Do you have her death certificate and what does that give for her birthdate?

[kazza41]

Thanks so much jorose so much more than I expected. My grandmother was born June 6 I think definitely June. I paid to have records searched in Jersey with no luck. She did marry Leonard Hart in the thirties that's where she had put her father as Alfred. I presumed her father's name was Jegou. On the marriage cert her name is Jegon nut jersey told it is pronounced Jegou. So are you saying Jeanne Marie is her mother ? What is Noel ?

I am really grateful for all your help . Still trying to work out who is who lol

[jorose]

Hi Kazza,

Jeanne Marie Jegou was the mother at least of Alfred born Saint Malo in 1903, and I'm presuming also of your Eugenie.   "Alfred" may have been the first name of their father but he was probably not a Jegou - that is not uncommon, and she may have been told something about him but not necessary the full truth.

The birthdate on her record in France shows that she the same woman who is listed in records in Jersey as "Jeanne Marie Noel nee Jegou" - that is, at some point she married a Noel, and became a British citizen by marriage by 1927.  The surname Noel seems to be relatively common in Jersey.

At least the following members of the family, then, were in Jersey at some point:
Eugenie's brother Alfred (born Saint Malo 1903)
Her maternal grandmother Marie Marguerite (married to Cozic by 1911)
Her step-grandfather Jean Marie Cozic
Her mother (married or remarried to a Noel by 1927)

Part of the issue is that if Eugenie was born somewhere else in France it may be hard to track down a birth record (I cannot see her in Ploubazlanec or Saint-Malo but her mother could have been working elsewhere in the region)

Jeanne Marie Jegou had the following siblings that I can find in Ploubazlanec
Yves Marie Cozic 1 May 1891 - registered as Kervarec but with a note saying legitimised by parents' marriage the same year.
Francois Louis Marie Jegou 26 October 1885
Joseph Francois Marie Jegou 5 July 1887

[kazza41]

Hi Jorose

Wow ! So does that mean Jeanne  Jegou was her maiden name and Eugenie was born out of wedlock. Need to get this right Marie was first married to Francois Jegou then married Jean Cozic. Gosh so confusing. I wonder why the three children lived with there grandparents. On the census it say's the other daughter Marcelle bn 1909 maybe her birth record might give us some clues. But Jersey said she was not born there either even though the census said she was. So it look like they were all born in France.

[jorose]

Yep, I think you've got it!

Jeanne Jegou may have been working somewhere that she couldn't take her kids with her (live-in domestic service), or otherwise wasn't able to take care of them, so Grandma stepped in to help.

There are some death records in 1887/9 for Ploubazlanec and it looks like Francois Jegou may have died at sea - a whole bunch of stuff has been handwritten in and it's difficult to read.

http://archives.cotesdarmor.fr/  also has military records (required service at the age of 20).  They're all in  Saint-Brieuc district.

There's an entry for Joseph Francois Marie Jegou in 1907 but marked "absent", no real info.   Yves Marie Cozic/Kervarec was initially absent, turned up again and joined up, went awol during WWI and was arrested in Jersey.  There is a note that he was in Jersey in 1939, so probably he did settle back there after the war.

But the most interesting is the 1881 entry for Jean Marie Cozic, because it lists later residences and gives us a good idea of the family's movements during the 1890s and early 1900s.
5 Dec 1893 - Jersey
31 August 1895 - Saint Servan, Saint-Malo
9 September 1896 - "returned to his legal residence"  (Think this means Plounez, where he was born + listed as his residence at top of sheet)
18 April 1903 - No 5, rue de la Vieille Boucherie, Saint Malo
9 May 1905 - Jersey  ("Hill Street")

This gives us some other places to look (Saint -Servan is a small town near Saint-Malo).

[kazza41]

Thanks Jorose

You have been such a great help. Can I ask where you found the info about Jean Cozic's movements in 1881 . Was it in the military records ? I can't thank you enough I think this will keep me busy for a while. Do you know if I went to france where are records kept ?

Thank Again

Kazza

[jorose]

Yes, in his military records at http://archives.cotesdarmor.fr/
The record starts in 1881 when he signed up (aged 20),
 Saint-Brieuc. - 01R913 - page 121

I am not that familiar with the military records but it appears he volunteered, was sent to the Navy at Brest,  was a seaman's apprentice, moved to the reserves in 1887, then to the territorial army (1892 crossed out replaced with 1895), then to the territorial army reserves 1901 (original 1897, crossed out and replaced), and was there until 1907 (at which point he was relieved of all military duty).

I guess they kept track of where he was while he was in the reserves/territorial army, or he had to keep them updated to keep his pay, rather.

In terms of finding records, it depends which records you're looking for.

Main are the Mairie (town hall) for individual communes and the Departmental Archives - who generally have older records from all the Mairies in their area.  I would go to the departmental archives (or their website, if they have things online) for most genealogical records. The mairie only for later records the departmental archive don't hold (or if writing to get something from overseas).

For larger towns there may also be a municipal archive, whose holdings may overlap somewhat with the departmental.  There are some big national archives, including one for military records, and one that holds records inc. bmds of French colonies abroad.