Origin of surname
This surname is said by Charles Stevens in his Comprehensive list of Jersey surnames to refer to people from the Ile de Groix off the Breton coast. However, we have been unable to trace any records of the family name in Ile de Groix.
A French source suggests that the name is a variant of Groisard, which is derived from the placename Groiset in the Vendee department of France, and refers to a stony place. This seems a much more likely source for the family which arrived in Jersey in the 1820s. It is possible, however, that the original spelling of the family name was Groizear, although we have considerable doubts that tree submitted to us suggesting this spelling is actually correct.
Early records
The name first appeared in Jersey in 1825 when Louis Groizard married Susanne Sarkett of Alderney at St Helier's Town Church. Four years later James Groizard married Elizabeth Sorrel in the same church.
Baptisms started to be registered with that of Louis and Susanne's son Louis in 1826, but what is most unusual is that in the 20 years between 1826 and 1846 baptisms were registered in St Helier of 23 children from four separate marriages - Jacques and Eliza Sorrel; Louis and Susanne Sarkett; Pierre Groizard and Mary Walden and Jean Marie Groizard and Jeanne Elizabeth Vaudin. As the family tree below shows, they were brothers, four of the seven children of Louis Groizear (1774-1828) and Louise Ferté of France. Louise died in Jersey in 1826, but there is no record of Louis' death. Did he come to Jersey with his wife and sons?
What is also remarkable, but sadly not unusual, is the number of spelling errors in family and personal names which are to be found in the transcriptions of the parish registers. Across 47 baptism records, six burials and two marriages, we have made more than 20 corrections in our database while examining the family in detail.
Variations
- Groizard
- Groizear
- Croisard
Family records
Family trees
Church records
- Groizard baptisms in Jersey
- Groizard marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Groizard marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Groizard burials in Jersey
Great War service
- Albert Charles Groizard Henry (1893- ) (St H) son of Albert Charles and Maria Alice Langlois, Private, Seaforth Highlanders, wounded twice
Father and sons
- Ambrose Armand Groizard (1866- ) (St H) son of Ambrose Armond and Hannah Sophia Hawkins, husband of Florence, Sapper RE
- Joseph John Groizard (1888-1915) Private, Welch Regiment, killed in action
- Ambrose Armand Groizard (1890- ) (St H) Driver, RFA
- William Clarence Groizard (1901- ) (St H), Boy RN, HMS Powerful
Occupation records
Family wills
These wills created by members of the Groizard 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
- Alfred Groizard, 17 Stopford Road, St Helier, coach painter - 3 May 1916, D/Y/A/75
- Jean Groizard, now of St Helier, bequeaths to the poor of St Helier £1 - 17 January 1871, D/Y/A/35
- Louise Groizard of St Helier, bequeaths to the poor of St Helier 5s - 7 January 1867, D/Y/A/33
- Matilda Groizard, St Helier - 29 April 1895, D/Y/A/54
- Peter Groizard of St Helier, bequeaths to the poor of St Helier £1 - 26 September 1891, D/Y/A/50
- Selina Groizard, 40 Don Road, St Helier, widow of Thomas Weay - 12 June 1926, D/Y/A/86
Burial records
Family gravestones
Click on any image to see a larger version. See the Jerripedia gravestone image collection page for more information about our gravestone photographs
Almorah cemetery
The grave of Great War casualty Joseph John Groizard at Dud Corner Cemetery, Loos
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.
We have included some important spelling variants on some family pages, but it may be worth searching for records for a different spelling variant. Think of searching for variants with or without a prefix, such as Le or De. To search for further variants, or for any other family name, just click on the appropriate link below for the first letter of the family name, and a new tab will open, giving you the option to choose baptism, marriage or burial records. You will then see a list of available names for that type of record and you can select any name from that list. That will display all records of the chosen type for that family name, and you can narrow the search by adding a given name, selecting a parish or setting start and end dates in the form you will see above. You can also change the family name, or search for a partial name if you are not certain of the spelling
The records are displayed 30 to a page, but by selecting the yellow Wiki Table option at the top left of the page you can open a full, scrollable list. This list will either be displayed in a new tab or a pop-up window. You may have to edit the settings of your browser to allow pop-up windows for www.jerripediabmd.net. For the small number of family names for which a search generates more than 1,500 records you will have to refine your search (perhaps using start or end dates) to reduce the number of records found.
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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