Talk:Descendants of Nicolas (Le Couteur) of St Mary (c.1598- )
An Armorial of Jersey (1851, J.B.Payne) shows a Pedigree of Le Couteur of S. John’s Manor, La Houge Boëte. A younger son of Philippe Le Couteur and Collette de Carteret, named ‘Nicholas’, is depicted as ‘ancestor of the branches of Le Couteur, of S. Mary, and of Hamptonne, and supposed source of the branch of Le Couteur of Belle Vue’. 150 years later, a study of the early Le Couteur family on Jersey has enabled this statement to be clarified and corrected. The supposed speculation is also unfounded, and is even contradicted by Payne’s own depiction of the Le Couteur Bellevue pedigree.
Clarification has been twofold. Firstly - identification of the pedigree of Philippe Le Couteur (1724 ) who married Sara Dumaresque in 1753 and bought Hamptonne in St Peter in 1759. This lineage did not stem from the ‘Nicholas’ depicted by Payne. Secondly - analysis of the ancestry of this family, together with that of a related branch that emigrated from Jersey to Guernsey around 1700, and then to London two generations later. This sub-branch changed their surname from ‘Le Couteur’ to ‘Courtier’ in about 1770, presumably being a less alien name in England at a time of political differences with France.
The descendants of ‘Nicholas’, son of Philippe, on whom J.B.Payne speculated but did not pursue, are shown in the family tree entitled Descendants of Bernabey Le Couteur. A different Nicolas Le Couteur has now been identified who can account for Payne’s confusion. He is Nicolas of St Mary (c. 1598- ) who moved to St John, where he had two sons, Nicolas & Jacques. Both these sons had progeny from whom the ‘Le Couteur’ lineage has continued into the 21st century, including two specific name changes.
From an analysis of all known Le Couteur family members on Jersey, with their relationships identified from archives within the period concerned (1500-1700), no direct reference has been found for the father of this Nicolas of St Mary. However, it is now firmly deduced that Nicolas of St Mary must have been the son of Jean, born c.1555, son of Nicolas (1525-1598), also of St Mary, and Elizabeth Remon. The godparents named in the baptism of the two sons of Nicolas of St Mary, and lack of any other known relatives, provides unique support to this conclusion. It is unlikely to be coincidental that the elder son, named Nicolas, continues the names Jean and Nicolas for three succeeding generations.
Jean (c.1555- ) is also mentioned in a record from the Jersey Cour d’heritage in which he is actioned by relatives to draw up a statement (c.1600) of the estate of their father, Nicolas. It is consistent that Jean became a father himself near this time, naming his son after his own father, as was then common. This can also explain a conveyance in St Mary, dated 24 January 1656/7 and recorded in the Cour d’Heritage, where a previously unplaced Nicolas Le Couteur is identified with a father named Jean who does not match any other known Jean.
DNA analysis of Le Couteur male descendants in different branches cannot distinguish which lineage was followed from Bernabey to Nicolasof St Mary, but is consistent with a direct lineage. No other candidates named Jean have been found as a father of Nicolas of St Mary. Nicolas of St Mary is therefore shown in the family tree as a sole son of Jean of St Mary (1555- ). His mother has not yet been identified, and no siblings have been identified either. This appears to be the only plausible scenario which matches all relevant information, until any contradictory evidence is found.
Some known early descendants of Nicolas Le Couteur of St Mary are presented in this family tree. It includes those living on Jersey into the 19th century, and continues with two sub-branches (on separate trees) living into the 21st century. One stems from Philippe Le Couteur (1754-) and Sara Le Feuvre from St Peter, and another from Jean Louis Le Couteur (1739-) from Guernsey and Sarah Dutton. The grandparents of this Jean were Jacques Le Couteur and Sara Remon from St Mary, Jersey, who moved to St Peter Port, Guernsey around 1700. Jean Louis Le Couteur emigrated to England in about 1770, where he changed his name to John Lewis Courtier in London.
Courtiergm 2018
