Origins of surname
We have not found a specific derivation for Houssel, but it seems highly likely that it is a variant of Houssin, a name common in Normandy. There are various theories for the origin of this name. Some suggest that it indicates an area covered in holly - houx, others that it comes from the Normandy personal names Hoursin and Oursin, suggesting a diminuitive of ours = bear. A third suggestion is that is is derived from the old French hoce or house = long dress or coat. You take your choice! A man in a long coat being chased by a bear through a holly thicket, perhaps.
Early records
The name arrived in Jersey through the emigration from France (probably Normandy) of labourer Francois Aimable Pierre Houssel (1834- ) and his charlady wife Henriette Louise Grossouin. They had eight children born in Jersey as they moved between St Brelade, Grouville and St Peter.
For a name which arrived in Jersey relatively late, there is a surprising number of variations in spelling. It may well be that some of these are transcription errors, and we are still researching to try to establish how many different families are represented in the listing of births and baptisms below. Houssin, found only in Trinity, would appear to be an entirely separate family from Houssel.
Some of the births of those shown in the tree below were registered as Catherine dit Houssel, but we have been unable to discover how this variation originated.
Variants
- Houssel
- Housel
- Catherine dit Houssel
- Houssin
- Housset
- de Housset
- Le Housset
- La Houselle
- Houssaie, not found in Jersey
- Houssais, not found in Jersey
- Houssaye, not found in Jersey
Family records
Family trees
Church records
- Houssel baptisms in Jersey
- Houssel marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Houssel marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Houssel burials in Jersey
Great War service
- Francis John Houssel (1894- ) (St H) son of Eugene John and Mary Jane Julie Houssel, ex-RMIJ, Private, RGA
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
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe 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
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