Jersey Genealogy

I have an ancestral line which comes from Jersey in the Channel Islands, mostly from the town of St Helier.

My 4 x gt grandparents from Jersey were:

Jean Griffith (c. 1770 - 1827) who married Marie Philippe (1771 - 1801) on 17 April 1793; and
Jean Le Gresley (c. 1762 - c. 1812) who married Elizabeth Lucas (1772 - 13 Feb 1852) on 30 March 1797.

I have recently commissioned research, which has found the ancestors of the Philippe and Lucas lines above. Click here for a pedigree.

Unfortunately the male lines cannot be traced from the parish registers. There is no record of a birth for John or Jean Griffith c. 1770, and there were two possible Jean Le Gresley candidates born very close together and who died 2 years apart, both sons of Jean Le Gresley. It's impossible to tell which is the correct one.

Jean and Marie Griffith had 3 children, of whom John married Betsy Le Gresley on 17 March 1814. Their son Thomas John Griffith (1817 - 1891) migrated with his wife Ann Rose to Australia in 1849 on the Thomas Arbuthnot. Tom and Ann had married in St Helier in 1840. Several of Tom's siblings settled in Southampton, and can be traced through the English censuses.

Here is a descendancy chart of John Griffith and Betsy Le Gresley.

Ann Rose's father is a mystery which I and a number of my cousins would love to solve. His name was Robert Reginald Richmond Rose, and he married Ann Waters (1774 - 1853) on 23 December 1800 at Mt Orgueil Castle, Jersey. We haven't found birth details for Robert Rose, although in General Don's Muster of 1815 on Jersey, a Richmond Rose is listed, aged 51. That would make his birth around 1764, and we've seen a possibility that he may have come from Bath, but we don't know if he was born there. At St Nicholas' Church, Plumstead, marriage banns for Robert Reginald Richmond Rose and Maria Todd were called in 1799, but only once. We wondered if the Pelican was unexpectedly called away.

He held the position of purser on the Pelican and also worked on Resource and La Sardine, all from 1799 - 1806. In the London Gazette for 1809, there is an entry for him giving his title of Assistant Barrack Master. Four more children were to be born on Jersey after this. We also wonder about the name "Paton" given to his eldest son Richmond Paton Rose. Was this his mother's maiden name? Finally, we found his death in the parish records at Westminster in 1829, given age 50.

A descendancy chart for Robert Rose is here.

In Australia, many members of the Griffith family were taken in by a scam about the "Rose Millions" during the 1920s and 30s. Many gave significant sums of money towards a legal case in England which was supposed to prove them heirs to a large sum. The story differs between various members of the family, but it comes down to a noble birth for Robert Rose, sometimes related to the Duke of Richmond and definitely to the Rose family of Kilravock; other stories had Ann Rose supposed to be Lady Ann Rose Campbell who eloped with a coachman/gardener/... After a great deal of persistent research, one cousin has concluded that this was a complete scam.

Yet there are still questions. Robert Rose and Ann Waters were married at the Castle, and several of their children were baptised there. That required good connections. Also getting a post as purser was not for the downtrodden. If anyone can answer these and other questions, please contact me. Cousins from any of the Rose or Griffith descendants are more than welcome to email.