Guernsey. The real one, in the Channel Islands. Les îles anglaises de Normandie. I used to visit Jersey annually when my little nest-egg lived there, and I twice ventured to Guernsey .. the first time for a peek in 2008
https://kurtofgerolstein.blogspot.com/2008/05/one-day-in-guernsey.html
https://kurtofgerolstein.blogspot.com/2008/05/one-day-in-guernsey-part-2.html
https://kurtofgerolstein.blogspot.com/2010/05/jersey-or-quiet-day-with-book.html
So when I saw a particularly charming Guernsical family photo on ebay, I was tempted to inevstigate.
Yes, its mother, father, daughter, son and daughter in law.
Father is Pierre/Peter VALPIED (b 15 St George Street, St Peter Port 1834; d St Peter Port after 1911), son of another Pierre/Peter Valpied, journeyman plasterer) and his wife, Anne née [Le] Gallez. He was apprenticed, young, to an ironmonger, but at some stage gave up mongering, and set himself up in the drapery and shopkeeping business in partnership with Mr Thomas Grut ... Mr Grut named a son Walter Valpied Grut in 1866. He diversified for several years into photography. However, it doesn't seem to have been a very enduring partnership, and 1873 seems to have marked its end. For the rest of his life, Peter worked as a 'general shopman' and 'draper's assistant'.
Mr Grut seems to have done better out of it. He, too, seemingly took up photography, with the assistance of Mrs Valpied, here pictured ... and his son Mr Thomas Alfred Grut thereafter became one of the island's most notable photographers.
Mrs VALPIED was née Lucie LE ROY (b Le Câtel, x 29 April 1827; d St Peter Port, 28 March 1898), one of the children of Nicolas Pierre Le Roy and his wife Rachel née Le Roy (b 4 September 1794; d 1881) 'of le Câtel/le Castel'. I say one of, because there were Nicholas the next (1817-1884), Caroline, Charlotte, Alfred, (Lucie), Matilda, John, Thomas and Elizabeth as well. Of whom more anon. This is the family of Pierre Le Roy who was the author of some C17th diaries ..
Pierre and Lucie had three children. The first Peter Le Roy Valpied (21 May 1861-20 July 1873) died at the age of twelve, the other two are pictured here ..
Arthur Thomas VALPIED (b St Peter Port, 21 October 1863; d Falmouth c1910) looks a particularly fine young man. I wonder what he is wearing. It looks like a dressing gown. With affectations of the military. Well, Arthur was connected to the military. He spent time in the East and in Egypt ... but he wasn't a soldier. He was a military schoolmaster. Whatever that means. Anyway, before the age of 40 he was dubbed a Chelsea Pensioner (I think) and went to teach school in Falmouth. He appears there in 1909 and I see him not again. What a waste of a ferocious moustache.
Here
Rest the bodies of
JEAN BLONDEL
of Bouillon
died 2 February 1842
Age 35 years
ADELINE MARG BLONDEL
daughter of the above died 20 May 1842
Age 2 years
FREDERICK W GUERIN
spouse of MARY BLONDEL
died 4 September 1856
Age 30 years
MARIE LE ROY widow
of the above JEAN BLONDEL
died 7 May 1859 age 58 years
Also
MARY BLONDEL
widow of the above
FREDERICK W GUERIN
and of
EDWIN JAMES TRANNACK
died 25 February 1912
Age 84 years
So, yes, Marie Le Roy was the mother and grandmother of these ladies. And, yes, she was a daughter of Thomas Le Roy (1786-1842), farmer, and his wife Marie de la Mare (1760-1841), who were the maternal grandparents of our Lucie, above. Marie Le Roy married Jean Blondel (1806-1842), and seems to have given birth to our Mary Blondel (b Le Bouillon, 27 March 1828; d La Gibauderie, St Peter Port 25 February 1912). Mary married (1851) Frederick William Guérin (or de Guérin, particles come and go) had a son FredericBlondel Guérin, and daughter Ada, who remained unmarried, lived with her mother till her death at 83, and then solo till 22 April 1935. Phew. After Guérin's death, Mary married (1867) ship's master Edwin Trannack (d St Peter Port, 12 March 1891). So, 'Grandma Leroy' doesn't mean Lucie, it means her mother, Rachel. All this intermarriage!
The bundle also includes some more likely folk ...
4 comments:
Wonderful read and great photographs thank you. 😊. I’m descended from John Le Roy (1831-1911) who was one of Lucie’s siblings.
Hurrah! That's what I always hope for when I post these other-people's-family articles! The photos are all for sale on ebay right now if you want them! Best wishes Kurt
Your dedicated detective historian approach is to be commended greatly. We see so many family archives broken up on the likes of sellers on Ebay. Such a shame.
Thanks so much for posting - Arthur Thomas VALPIED is my Great Grandfather, Roland Horace Le Roy my Grandfather who I was named after -> Roland Davies and the name continues on with my grandson Cheers
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