Boudier family history

Boudier family history

This study of the Boudier family and its association with the Parish of St Mary from 1800 to 1913 was written by Jean Arthur and published in the journal of the Channel Island Family History Society.

The stranger

There were people called Boudier in Jersey in the 18th century, but there is no reason to believe that there was any connection with the founder of the family in St Mary in 1800.

This was Andre Boudier, a foreigner, presumably French, but whose origins are not known. The register simply states that Andre Boudier etranger and Rachel Le Cras, of St Mary, were married on 19 June 1800 at St Mary's Church.

His children and some of their descendants lived in the parish for about 100 years. They lived and struggled near the poverty line.

Presumably it was this Andre Boudier who is recorded at St Mary in General Don's military census pf 1806 and who was said to be a miller at one of the St Ouen mills in the military census of 1815. This mill is likely to have been the windmill a little to the north-west of St Ouen's Church.

He was granted a licence to sell wines, spirits, cider and beer by the Parish of St Mary in 1812 and 1813, so he must have been living in the parish, although he owned no property. Some parish assemblies were held at his auberge; the more usual meeting place was the parish church.

Andre was buried at St Mary in May 1816. Rachel Le Cras was baptised in St Mary in 1778 and buried there in 1866. Their children were young when their father died. There were four boys aged from three to 13. The only girl, Rachel, died as an infant and the youngest boy was baptised three months after his father's funeral.

Tasks for the poor

The parish had very limited funds; there was no regular rate in those days, but it would always help the poor, especially those who were able and prepared to help themselves.

On occasion tasks were thought up to enable the poor to earn the help they received, as shown in this entry in the parish records for 1819: Payé aux enfants de feu Andre Boudier pour avoir tinte la cloche le jour de l'interrement de feu George trois £2.

It is to be noted that the money in use in the island at this period was not Sterling unless it was specifically so stated. The currency was usually livres tournois but values were so variable that equivalents are not meaningful.

Andre, the eldest son, was baptised on 24 March 1802 at St Mary's Church. The godparents were Amice Baleyne and Marie Journeaux, his wife. These names strongly suggest a connection with The Elms, whose owners also owned Gigoulande Mill.

It is possible that Andre, the foreigner, had worked at this mill as well as later the one t St Ouen, although I have found no record to that effect. Equally it is not impossible that he came to Jersey in the first place because he had a miller's skills.

Andre, the son, was literate so it is likely that he attended the school which, for the most part, was held inside the church in a gallery at the west end. There was an old charity in the parish which provided paper and ink for the schoolboys.

Young Andre was evidently making himself useful in the parish. Shortly after the burial of George III in 1819 it is noted that he was paid for keeping the cemetery clean and tidy, for opening and closing the gate on Sundays throughout the year.

It was agreed by the parish officials that he would continue to be paid while he did the job to the pleasure of the assembly. However, in 1823 it was stated that he should receive rather less, £12 instead of £15 per annum, and that le did Boudier est satisfait. It is likely that he was also earning an ordinary wage by this time.

In October 1824 Andre married Susanne Le Gresley, of St Mary, in the parish church. They had four children – Susanne, Elizabeth, Rachel and Jean, born in 1825, 1827, 1830 and 1833 respectively.

The lecteur

Andre was described as lecteur in 1833; that is he read the lessons in church and possibly also led the singing of the psalms.

In 1834 and 1835 he was collecteur of such alms and other small sums that were payable to the parochial church fund known as La Charite. In 1839 he undertook to look after the church for £52 ancien per annum.

The churchwardens were to acquire for his use a broom and ladder. By 1842 his duties extended to keeping the cemetery and its environs in good order, including les lampes. 1842 would be early for paraffin lamps and, therefore, they were probably candles in glass cages similar to those used on carriages and those situated over the gateways leading to the church.

Andre's house

By 1844 he was sufficiently prosperous to be able to buy a small house on Mont du Rondin, including a cotil, which is a steep piece of land and it is clear that it lay to the south of the house.

The little property was definitely not, as has been suggested, Les Colombiers. It was bounded on the south by the Don Road, down the valley to Greve de Lecq, and on the north by Mont du Rondin.

Andre had to pay interest on six quartiers of wheat rente (a form of perpetual mortgage) to Jean Arthur, who had probably inherited the sum from the owners of Les Colombiers at an earlier stage, and £32 6s 2d sterling in cash.

Some years earlier his wife Susanne had ceded her share of inheritance to her brother for cash, and it is possible that she contributed to the purchase of the little house. The Godfray map of 1849 records the name A Boudier.

Boudier register

From about 1820 to about 1860 when Andre was working in and around the church, he kept his own record of baptisms, marriages and burials. His spelling is somewhat unorthodox but I have no doubt his record is true.

He made a mark after burials which puzzled me until I realised it was his way of recording when he had been paid for his task as fossoyeur or gravedigger. Inold age he gave his record to my ancestor, great-grandfather Jean Arthur, it must have been (not the same Jean Arthur as the one mentioned previously).

He was, so family memory relates, in old Andre's estimation, the most likely person in the parish to value it. It is written on very poor quality paper and is fragile, but no doubt the old man would have been delighted to know that it came in handy when Harold George Boudier came to the island in 1997 in search of his ancestors.

James Boudier

James, the second son of Andre and Rachel Le Cras, married Elizabeth Gallichan at St Mary's Church in 1827. He acquired a little house known as La Banque in 1835, and sold it in 1846 to jean Gallichan, son of Henry. He passed it back to James' eldest son, James Thomas, in 1849.

It was inherited in 1911 by James Joseph Boudier, who was living in Cardiff in 1890 and later. By 1894 he had married Lydia Ann Le Boutillier, who was the youngest child of George Le Boutillier and Jane Le Gresley of The Pub near the church. He sold Maison de la Banque out of the family in 1913.

James' second child, Elizabeth, died at the age of three. John came next; he died in 1835.

Frank had better luck. He was born and baptised in March 1834 and is listed as a sea captain in 1866, master of the Priscilla, a schooner which had been built by Esnouf and Mauger in Jersey in 1848.

He died at 54 on board his ship Neptune of yellow fever. He was buried at sea in the South China Sea on 14 July.

Rachel was born in January 1837, baptised at home later in the month and presented in the parish church in March. Philippe only lived 11 months, and was buried in August 1840.

Philippe Jean was born and baptised in October 1840 and shown as a mariner in the 1861 census. Mary Ann was born and baptised in May 1845, and is shown in the 1861 census as a dressmaker.

John was born in May 1846, baptised in June but died at eight months. A second baby called John was born in 1848. He was a scholar in 1861.

Philippe, the third son of Andre and Rachel was born on Boxing Day 1809. The parish register shows that he was baptised at home on that day and presented in church the following 7 January. It was probably he who was stated to be Pauvre, a la charge (unable to support himself) in 1859, 1860 and 1861.

Legal battle

The next son, Tom, was born in St Ouen but his father apparently failed to register the birth in that parish. It was probably not obligatory at the time. The Etat Civil Registers date from 1842. He was baptised at St Mary in October 1815. His father's omission came to light only after 1847 when Tom's wife Marie Amy was ill and succour from the parish was requested.

In October 1847 the Parish of St Mary paid a certain Madame Trachy pour subvenir aux soins extraordinaires de la femme de Thos Boudier. The poor woman must have been in real need and the parish, as always in such cases, acted benevolently. Shortly after the parish agreed to pay the cost £3 18s) of sending Mary Amy, Mrs Boudier, to hospital. Generous as the parish officials were, this was a bit much and it came out that Tom was a native of St Ouen.

The parishes were responsible for their own natives but, equally, Tom Boudier was responsible for his dependents. The Parish of St Mary claimed its expenses from St Ouen. The Constable of St Ouen denied responsibility as Tom had been baptised at St Mary.

St Mary lacked a Constable at the time and the Chef de Police took the matter to the Royal Court. He reported that Thomas Boudier, living at St Mary, was a native of St Ouen, was destitute and incapable of maintaining his family.

He had informed the Constable of St Ouen who refused to grant any relief because Boudier had been baptised in St Mary. The Constable of St Ouen was summoned and the matter was then adjourned.

In October 1853, two years later, the Court considered the matter again. The witnesses were Thomas, Andre and James Boudier, Marie Coutanche and Rachel Le Cras. The Court ruled that because Boudier was born in St Ouen, that parish was responsible. St Ouen paid up.

Pierre Boudier

The youngest son of Andre Boudier and Rachel, Pierre, was baptised three months after his father's death. Pierre Le Cras, his godfather, was probably an uncle but Jenny Vieuville, his godmother, has an unfamiliar surname.

It is likely that she, like the Boudiers, was an immigrant. Pierre, it is recorded in his brother's register, was drowned: fut noye le 12 Decembre 1834, dans le canot du James and Ellen dans la rade de Liverpool. The boat was built in County Cork in 1807 and was owned by G Le Gros and Philippe Le Neveu from 1821 to 1841.