Talk:Extracts from a history of the Sorsoleil family

The following analysis of the editor's note was provided by James Brannan in 2022. His comments are in red:

Editor’s note: 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. I tend to agree about the later arrival of the parents in Jersey

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). No trace of this baptism - it’s actually 1772 and has now been corrected in the database, so it’s a red herring!

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. The 1710 baptism does not say son of Philippe (this is mentioned underneath the entry but for some reason Philippe still appears in the father box). No evidence of a brother of Jean Baptiste in the land records

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. I tend to agree that earlier children were probably born out of the island but there are three baptised in St Lawrence

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 by 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. I have established from a contract that Sara Renault was indeed the first wife of Jean Sorsoleil, who remarried as stated