Origins of surname
We have no confirmation of the origin of this surname, but there are two suggestions, one French and the other English.
Colback is an ancient French word for an elaborate military coiffure, so may have been given to someone sporting a fancy hairstyle.
It is probably more likely, given that the Jersey family seems to have originated in England, that it is a name of Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived near a cold stream. The surname is derived from the old English word ceald, which means 'cold', and the old Norse word bekkr, which means 'stream'.
Early records
The earliest record we have found in Jersey is the baptism of George Colback, the son of John and Margaret Kinchild in St Helier in 1753. There is no obvious link to this record and the baptisms of Jacques Colback and Elizabeth Gruchy's six children, which follow from 1784 to 1793. Jacques would appear to be the ancestor of the Colbacks in Jersey today. Although he is shown as Jacques in the St John baptism register, the St Saviour marriage register showed him as James when he married Elizabeth there in 1784. The register shows James of being from the parish of St John, but the 1841 census return for James and Elizabeth, both 85, show that he was born in England.
Variants
- Colback
- Colbeck
- Coleback
Family records
Family trees
Church records
- Colback baptisms in Jersey
- Colback marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Colback marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Colback burials in Jersey
Great War service
- Alfred John Colback (1885- ) (Tr) Son of James and Mary, Private, RASC
Notes on our list, abbreviations used etc
Occupation records
Family wills
These wills created by members of the Colback 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
- Colback : Alfred John , son of James, of 12, Journeaux Street, St Helier - 24/Oct/1923 , 28/Jun/1957 , D/Y/B1/42/52
- Colback : Alice Julia , nee Le Brun, widow of George Pallot Colback, of 1, Simon Cottages, Tunnel Street, St Helier - 24/Apr/1957 , 27/Feb/1965 , D/Y/B1/84/39
- Colback : Ernest Philip , of Wyngarth, Rue du Bocage, St Peter and formerly of Le Petit Feugrel, St John - 23/Mar/1976 , 27/Oct/1978 , D/Y/B1/288/24
- Colback : George , St Helier 19/07/ 1928 Bequeaths to James Edward Colback the property 99 St Saviours Road, St Helier - Unknown date , 03/Mar/1932 , D/Y/A/92/107
- Colback : George Pallot , Centre House, St Mark's Road, St Helier - 12/Apr/1912 , 08/Nov/1918 , D/Y/A/78/94
- Colback : Marie , of St John 04/10/1855 Bequeaths to the poor of St John, 5s - Unknown date , 27/Oct/1855 , D/Y/A/28/147
Burial records
Family album
Click on any image to see the full-size version
A first day cover sent to Mr Colbeck at Five Oaks in 1943
.jpg)
.jpg)
2.jpg)
Occupation curfew cards
A curfew pass issued to Cyril Colback during the Occupation as a member of the Honorary Police [1]
Family businesses
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
Trinity Church cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
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
A--B--C--D--E--F--G--H--I--J--K--L--M--N--O--P--Q--R--S--T--U--V--W--X--Y--Z
Notes and references
- ↑ This card is held by Jersey Archive. Visit The Archive online catalogue for more information. A subscription may be needed to view some of the site's content
