Origin of Surname
As with de Grouchy, otherwise de Gruchy, qv, the family is thought to have originated at Grouchy, on the borders of the Cotentin and Bessin in Lower Normandy. The name is Viking in origin, derived from the old Norse personal name Geirolfr, meaning Spear-wolf. The `ey` is Norse for an island or isle, making a place name, the "Isle of Spearwolf". Many Norse personal names at that date incorporated wolf. Other Jersey examples are Renouf, Esnouf and, originally, Hascoulfr (now Hacquoil). The first syllable of Grouville is thought to have similar roots.
Early records
Guillaume Grouchye bought from Thomas de St Martin, in 1439, two fields in Trinity on the Fief de la Trinité, one being described as situated to the north-east of Grouchye's house. These fields are no doubt those retaining the name Clos Gruchy (T.340 and 1299), a few hundred metres to the north-east of Champs Clairs, in the west of the parish, a property long associated with the Descendants of Rauff Gruchy: ABSJ, IV, 422. Guillaume, therefore, may well have been Rauff's father or grandfather. Of significance, is a contract in the possession of the Jersey Archive, dated 1402, in which are featured the names of Rauf (Radolphus) and Guillemet de Grochie, both being tenants of the said Fief de la Trinité, in the west of the parish. Guillemet is a variant of Guillaume. Should the Guillaume living in 1402 have been either the 1439 land purchaser or his father, then the link between the Gruchys and de Gruchys is likely to have been discovered; see Descendants of Robin de Gruchy (1360), footnote 29.
Four Gruchys, being Colas, Guillaume, Nicolas and Raffe are found in the Jersey Chantry Certificate of 1550, although Collas and Nicolas may have been identical, as these names were in this century, often regarded as interchangeable. Guillaume has yet to be identified.
Early family members include Ralph Gruchy, who was born about 1440 and Jennette Gruchy (1434).
Payne`s Armorial of Jersey, (1st Section, 1858), the Reverend J A Messervy and other Jersey genealogists have long viewed the Gruchys and de Gruchys as being two parts of the same family, of which one part, in the early 16th century, abbreviated their name by omitting the "de". The branches of de Gruchy and Gruchy have since then developed separately, albeit wthin, at first, the same parish of Trinity. The two names have, understandably, become so confused in Jersey church records that we combined the records under 'de Gruchy/Gruchy' in our baptism database.
We later regretted doing so and one of our team spent some considerable time separating the two, to ensure that each is correctly identified as a Gruchy or de Gruchy.
In the form Gruchy, this family has given to the Island four rectors, three constables and two Jurats. Two Gruchys have served as deputies in the States of Jersey. Those in Holy Orders were, before the Reformation, Sire Drouet Grouchy in 1541 and Sire John Gruchy in 1547. The latter was Rector of St Mary 1553-1574. The Reverend Olivier Gruchy was then Rector of St Clement 1595-1614, the year of his death. Rev. Daniel Gruchy was Rector of St Peter 1627-1651 and Rector of St Mary 1660-1677, and the Rev. Sorel John Gruchy was Rector of St Mary 1896-1915.
In England, the Rev. Luke Gruchy was Vicar of Thorley, Isle of Wight, 1633-1663.
The Gruchy constables were all of Trinity: Josué Gruchy 1697-1712; François Gruchy 1809-1812 and Charles Gruchy, formerly Deputy for Trinity, who became its constable, 1864-1868, and was then elected Jurat. He died in 1900. In recent times, the late Charles Gruchy of Champs Clairs followed in the footsteps of his forbear, in becoming a Jurat.
Arms
The arms of Gruchy and de Gruchy are identical, namely "Or, a fretty of six pieces, azure"
Variants
- de Gruchy: Although now known to be connected, it is treated as a separate family with its own page
- Grouchy 1515, 1541
- Grouchye 1439
- Grochie 1547
- Gruchie 1607
- Grussy c1340
- Grouche 1309
Family records
Family trees
- Descendants of Francois Gruchy
- Descendants of Francois Gruchy - 2 Added 2020
- Descendants of Jean Gruchy
- Descendants of Pierre Gruchy
- Descendants of Rauff Gruchy Added 2019
- Descendants of Philip Gruchy Added 2021
- Descendants of Jean Gruchy and Elizabeth Esthur Added 2023
Church records
Some family records for Gruchy may still be mixed in with de Gruchy, but we believe that we have isolate most of them
- Gruchy baptisms in Jersey
- Gruchy marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Gruchy marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Gruchy burials in Jersey
Biographies and histories
- Jeanne Gruchy, founder of the Don Gruchy
- A book of Gruchy family history
Great War service
Occupation records
Family wills
Burial records
Family homes
- Beaupre, St Helier
- Champs Clairs, Trinity
- Crossbow House, Trinity
- Greenhill, St Clement
- Herupe, St John
- Carrefour House, St Martin
Family businesses
... Miss Gruchy appears to have traded on her own at No 45 King Street and then moved to No 64 when joined in business by her sister, after their father retired as a baker
Family album
Louis Whitley and Eileen, nee Gruchy
Postcards
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
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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