Extracts from a history of the Sorsoleil family
The Sorsoleil family
Extracts from an article on the Sorsoleils of St Lawrence, by respected St Lawrence historian Henry Coutanche, first published in the Journal of the Channel Island Family History Society
French rector
As far as can be established the first member of the Sorsoleil family to become established in Jersey did so in 1709. He was Jean Baptiste Sorsoleil, one of the French protestant rectors of whom many were appointed to the parish churches in Jersey at that period.
He was installed as Rector of St Lawrence on 9 June 1709. His descendants remained on the island for over 200 years. None remain in the male line, although the name continues in several of the western states of the United States of America.
It is not clear when Rector Sorsoleil first came to Jersey. He married Nicolle Guillet, the second daughter of Jean Francois Guillet, Rector of St Ouen from 1664 to 1699.
Guillet originated in the Dauphiné (being naturalised in Jersey on 8 January 1685) whence Sorsoleil himself may have come. The Dénombrement of St Lawrence of 1788 gives his son Jean’s age as 86, which suggests that the future rector either married twice, or that he knew the family of the late Rector of St Ouen before his own installation as one of Jersey’s Rectors.
For much of his time as Rector of St Lawrence the Rev Sorsoleil was also Chaplain to the Garrison of English troops stationed in Jersey, causing one to wonder if he was bilingual.
Sorsoleil died after nearly 20 years as Rector and was buried at St Lawrence on 11 January 1729.
Children
The family had become integrated into the island, the Rector’s children all marrying members of respected families. The eldest son, Jean, remained in the parish of St Lawrence, purchasing a property in the vicinity of Avranches Manor. The property has since vanished, but it can be approximately located from the name of the road called Mont Sorsoleil, to the south of the present Avranches lands.
This Jean and his younger brother Philip, who settled at St Mary, became schoolmasters. On 30 May 1743 Jean Sorsoleil was admitted to the post of parish schoolmaster in St Lawrence, after having held a similar position in St John since 1737. In being admitted to the post, before the Ecclesiastical Court, he swore that he would subscribe to the 39 articles of the Anglican Church.
Each parish had its own schoolmaster, chosen by the rector, churchwardens and principals of the parish. He used the church itself for teaching his pupils in an area either boarded or curtained off.
Grammar school regent
In 1767 Philip Sorsoleil is referred to as Regent of the grammar school in St Peter known as St Anastase.
On 15 October 1581 on one of its half-yearly visits or inspections, the ecclesiastical records report that Philip Sorsoleil, the Regent, has asked to be allowed to retire because of his advanced age and infirmity – he was now about 75 years of age. His request was granted and the under-master Henry Nicolle was appointed to succeed him.
Jean Sorsoleil the schoolmaster married twice. A granite tombstone in the pathway to the south of St Lawrence’s Church records the sad loss of the three sons of his first marriage, all young men in the prime of life.
Philip Sorsoleil was for a short while Procureur du Bien Public in the parish of St Mary, beginning in 1785, as well as performing his scholarly duties. In 1729 he married Marguerite Renault, the elder daughter and future principal heiress of Edouard Renault of La Sergente, St Mary.
Presumably with the best of intentions and with the expectation that his future grandchildren and their successors would continue the centuries-old title of ‘’Chef Sergent du Roi’’ of the parish of St Mary, Edouard Renault sold the property to his new son-in-law on 16 July 1729. On 21 August 1731 Philippe Sorsoleil was sworn in the Cour de Samedi as Chef Sergent du Roi for St Mary.
Sadly the couple had no children and as a consequence following Philip’s second marriage, the property, title and duties of Chef Sergent passed to his children, but they were not the grandchildren of the last Renault.
The Sorsoleils held the property for three generations in all. In 1869 Philip William Sorsoleil sold the house and lands ot which the office of ‘’sergent’’ is tied to Jean Francois Lesbirel, son of Francois. Since that sale the property has changed hands several times.
Family tree confusion
See Discussion for further analysis Unfortunately, rather than clarifying the relationships in the early years of the Sorsoleil presence in Jersey, the extracts above seem to add to the confusion, and appear to be at odds with the St Lawrence church registers.
Despite information contained in some online trees for the family, it appears that Jean Baptiste Sorsoleil married Nicholle Guillet before he arrived in Jersey and that their son Jean, who was born in 1702, was born or baptised outside of the island. There are no church records to support the statement in the article that Jean Baptiste and Nicholle had other children.
The Philippe Sorsoleil referred to as a brother of Jean and Nicholle’s son Jean is perhaps more likely to be the son of Philippe and Rachel Le Huquet (St Mary baptism, 18 October 1712).
This suggests that Jean Baptiste’s brother (or an unconnected Sorsoleil) came to Jersey at about the same time. The first baptism on record is that of Philippe, son of Philippe, at St Lawrence in September 1710. It is not clear if this is the same Philippe as referred to in the St Mary record two years later.
If, however, the statement in the article that the Philippe who was Regent of St Anastase was 75 when allowed to retire in 1781, he could have been a son of Jean Baptiste and Nicholle, also born outside the island in 1706. If the couple were married in Jersey before his appointment as Rector and their sons were born in the island, it is inconceivable that there would have been no baptisms and the records of these, as well as the marriage, would have to have been lost.
The article does not expand on the statement that schoolmaster Jean Sorsoleil married twice. His first wife was Sara Renault (or Renaud, spellings in records vary). They had four children, Jean (1730- ), Richard (1731- ), William (1734- ) and Elizabeth (1737- ). Church records show that Jean and Richard were buried within two days of each other in November 1750 and that William was buried in 1780.
The next Sorsoleil marriage is that of Jean to Elizabeth Morel in St Mary in 1762, when the Jean above would have been 61. They had seven children, born between 1764 and 1776, by which time Jean was 74. He is believed to have died in 1793 at the age of 91. Elizabeth is believed to have been born in 1725 and church records show that she died in 1816. Although it is be no means impossible that Jean fathered seven children between the ages of 63 and 74, it is highly unusual, but there are no other candidates to have been the husband of Elizabeth and father of the children.
