Research in the Channel Islands: Sark Ancestry
IntroductionThe Foundation
To all intents and purposes the family historian's interest in Sark will
begin in 1563. In that year, the uninhabited Island was granted to the Seigneur
of St Ouen (Jersey), Helier de Carteret, who had offered to take
on the defence of the island, which was in danger of becoming occupied by
the French.
In 1565 Helier, his wife Margaret and a number of their St Ouen tenants,
moved to Sark and began a settlement, bringing everything they needed with
them. He was obliged to ensure that the Island would never again become
depopulated and could be defended by at least forty men (a quarantine).
He parcelled out leased land at a low rental, made large enough to support
a family, on condition that a house was put up and the tenant provided one
man, armed with a musket and ammunition, to defend the island if necessary.
Helier reserved one sixth of Sark for himself and built his house (Le Manoir).
To repay a debt to the Gosselin family of Guernsey, he let them have
the second largest site on the Island (Beauregard) on condition they provided
four men and paid a rent set at 50 shillings. Gosselin brought the Vaudin
and Du Val families and subleased some of his land to them.
The Tenants
Other parcels went to those who had accompanied Helier - their surnames
were Le Cerf, Vibert, Chevalier, Le Brocq, Le
Couteur, Rogier and Guille from St Ouen, Poingdestre
and Hamon from St Saviour, Le Masurier and Le Gros from
Trinity. Later arrivals came from St John (Hotton), the Alexandres
came from St Peter and a few English folk with vital skills joined them
- Smith, Dare, Brayer, Slowley and Roo.
There were also a number of Huguenots, Jean Quesle and his wife Remy
Du Puits, respectively a surgeon and midwife and Cosmé Brevint,
the first minister who began the first Register in 1570. Later his son Elie
took the position. Elie Brevint kept a notebook, in which he recorded
all manner of oddments (part of which documented local life) and the manuscript
has survived. The dates run from 1620-1628; 1635; 1644; 1649-1650; 1660
and 1663. There are transcripts of this document in the The
Priaulx Library and the Société
Jersiaise. Various members of the de Carteret family made
up many of the remaining numbers.
By 1572 the settlement needed had been undertaken and Helier travelled to
England to present the Queen with his report. Elizabeth made the Fief Haubert
of Sark separate from St Ouen and gave it to Helier and his heirs in perpetuity,
the rent to be 50 sols tournois annually.
Sark Passes from the de Carterets
The fortunes of succeeding Seigneurs wavered and Sark was eventually sold
in 1720 to Colonel John Johnson. It passed through the hands of several
Englishmen before being bought by the Le Pelley family in 1730 and
stayed in their hands until 1852, when the Collings of Guernsey took
over after foreclosing on a mortgage.
The 20th Century
During the German Occupation of the Channel Islands, 350 troops were quartered
on Sark. The Dame of Sark's battles with the German officers on her island
are well documented.
The island is self-governing through the Chief Pleas. The forty settlements remain and the Island still operates on the feudal system, with each tenemant paying an annual rental to the present Seigneur, Mr Michael Beaumont, the grandson of the Dame of Sark.
The 21st Century
Sark is a tourist attraction today, reached by boat from Guernsey. Many of the population of around 600 earn their living in the hospitality industries. The scenery is spectacular and undisturbed by cars or tarmac roads. Exploration can be made by horse and carriage, bicycle or foot. Tractors are the only motorised transport allowed and are used for general farm work, carrying of goods from the harbour and even towing the Island's ambulance!
COMMITTEES OF THE SARK CHIEF PLEAS: Financial Review, Agriculture, Cemetery, Constitutional Review, Development Control, Douzaine, Education, Emergency Services, Firearms, General Purposes and Finance, Hall Management, Harbours, Island Games, Medical, Pilotage, Public Health, Road Traffic, Sea Fisheries, Shipping, Tourism, Millenium. APPEALS TRIBUNALS:Development Control, Road Traffic
Civil Registration
Birth, Death and Marriage records from 1925 can be found at
The Greffe, La Chasse Marette, Sark GY9 0SF. Telephone (01481) 832012.
The Greffier 's office hours are 2-4p.m.Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday.
and at H.M. Greffier, The Royal Court House, St Peter Port, Guernsey GY1
2PB. Telephone (01481) 725277. Office Hours 9.00 a.m.to 5.00 p.m. Parish Registers
First Register of Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths begun May 19 1570 -
1602 . Missing 1577-1588.
Long Book begun April 30 1605 - 1673 and continues 1703-1757. Missing
Baptisms 1633-1638 and 1664-1674, Marriages 1644-1661.
Third Register contains entries for 1675-1702. After 1702 entries were
recorded in the Long Book.
2nd Long Book contains incomplete records of Baptisms and Marriages 1757-1795;
no burials are recorded for this period.
Fifth Register opened in 1795 - contains records up to 1820, and
some entries for 1787-1792 omitted from 2nd Long Book.
Sixth Register 1821-1835.
Seventh Register 1836 - September 1960.
Eighth Register 1960 to date.
Apart from the omissions recorded above, short gaps occur at changes of
Minister. Cosmé Brevint Minister 1570-1605, d. 30.04.1605 and Elie
Brevint b. Sark 1586, son of Cosmé, Minister 1612-1674, d. 30.03.1674.
The Priaulx Library Candie,
St Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 1UG has a microfilm set of the Parish Registers.
Film 1 1570-1795 . Film 2 1795-1899. Apply direct to the Church for
20th Century registers
Duplicate Sark Church Registers (1570-1795) can also be consulted at the Island Archives Service 29 Victoria Road, St Peter Port, Guernsey, if you are visiting them but they would prefer that postal research enquiries are directed to the Priaulx Library.
Census
GreffeThe Greffe, La Chasse Marette, Sark GY9 0SF. Telephone (01481) 832012.
The Greffier 's office hours are 2-4p.m.Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday.
The records of all Land Contracts from 1673 to the present day are complete
and available to the public. The Greffe also acts as a repository for all
the records of the Chief Pleas.
Published WorksThe Priaulx Library
also holds the following other useful holdings: Pedigree of the de Carterets
of Sark by Alan de Carteret, updated by Mike de Carteret 1996.
'The Fief of Sark' by A.H. Ewan and A.R. de Carteret (Pub. 1969 Guernsey
Press). Copies also available at the Library of the Société
Jersiaise.
Facsimile of 'News from the Channel or The Discovery and Perfect Description
of the Isle of Serke' by a 'Gentleman' printed in G.E. Lee's 'Sark in 1673'
(Pub. 1902 - Guernsey) which includes excerts from Elie Brevint's Notebook.
The Occupation 1940-1945Identification Register of Residents: Identity Cards for those
over 14 - most with photographs - were issued to all Islanders by the German
occupying forces and are preserved in the Guernsey Island
Archives Service. They are not filed separately from the
Guernsey ones but mixed in with them alphabetically.
Links
Sark Government | Sark Overview | The Constitution of Sark | Sark Tourism | Sark Estate Agents | Sark Chamber of Commerce | Guernsey Hotel and Tourism Association | Books and Maps of Sark and the other Channel Islands | The Le Gros Family of Sark | Sark Datestones | GENUKI: Sark