Origins of surname
The first Fossey lived in or near a ditch, or in low-lying land. The surname is French, derived from the Old French fosse, ditch.
The name may also be of Anglo-Saxon origin, as a topographical or locational surname, derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century foss, ditch, dike, low-lying land in a fen or between streams. As a topographical surname, Fossey denotes "a dweller by the low-lying land near the dike", and as a locational name, residence at a place named with the same elements, such as the now lost village of Fotsey in Bedfordshire, recorded in 969 as 'Foteseige'.
Early records
Although the name was introduced to England by Huguenot refugees fleeing religious persecution on the Continent during the late 16th and 17th Centuries, no family members appear to have come to Jersey at that time. The closest spelling found in lists of Huguenot abjurations is Fossard, not thought to be a variant.
Rachel Fossie was christened at the Walloon or Stranger's Church in Canterbury, Kent, on 20 August 1592, and Isaac, son of Jaques and Jeanne Fossey, was christened at Threadneedle Street French Huguenot Church, London, on 19 October 1712.
The name is not found in Jersey records before the early 1840s, and the registration of births in St Martin, St Lawrence, St Clement, St Helier and Trinity over the next 30 years suggests that either the family moved around after arriving in the island, or that several different families arrived at about the same time.
Both explanations are born out by the available family trees. It seems that the first arrival was Jacques Fossey, born in the Manche Department of Normandy in 1827 and married to Francoise Baron (1837- ). Their first child was born in St Lawrence, and then three further children were born in Trinity, before the family must have returned to France and had another two children before going back to Jersey again.
Paul Gustave Jean Fossey (1872- ), who married Marie Virginie Le Lerre at St Martin in 1891, was also itinerant,. The couple had two children in Jersey, eight in Guernsey, then a further two in Jersey.
Variants
- Fossey
- Fosse
- Foissey
- Fossy
- Fousse
- Fossie
Family records
Family trees
Church records
- Fossey baptisms in Jersey
- Fossey marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Fossey marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Fossey burials in Jersey
Great War service
Occupation records
Family wills
These wills created by members of the Fosse family are now held by Jersey Archive. By visiting the archive site and using the names, dates and reference numbers shown here, it is possible to view a copy of each will. You will have to subscribe to the Archive's online service to do this. To find out more about this collection, which covers the period from 1663 to 1980, and how to search for your family's wills there, visit our Jersey wills page
Fossey
- Fossey : Francis Philip , Vingtaine des Augres, Trinity - 16/Sep/1921 , 31/Oct/1921 , D/Y/A/81/119
- Fossey : Malcolm John , of The Cloisters, Mont Millais, St Helier and formerly of Villa des Fleurs, No 8, Haut Mont, St Helier - 10/Feb/1977 , 28/Aug/1979 , D/Y/B1/305/31
- Fossey : Francis, Vingtaine des Augres, Trinity - 31 October 1921, D/Y/A/81
Fosse
- John Fosse, 8 Great Union Street, St Helier - 25 June 1941, D/Y/A/108
- Jules Fosse of Portbail, France, now of St Ouen - 19 December 1881, D/Y/A/42
- Marie Fosse, 7 Pomona Road, St Helier, widow of Auguste Victor Borel - 19 January 1918, D/Y/A/77
Burial records
Family album
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Family businesses
Family gravestones
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Tips
The church record links above will open in a new tab in your browser and generate the most up-to-date list of each set of records from our database. These lists replace earlier Family page baptism lists, which were not regularly updated. They have the added advantage that they produce a chronological listing for the family name in all parishes, so you do not have to search through A-Z indexes, parish by parish.
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New records
Since August 2020 we have added several thousand new records from the registers of Roman Catholic, Methodist and other non-conformist churches. These will appear in date order within a general search of the records and are also individually searchable within the database search form
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