the ancestors of Pierre Garcelon


Translated by Carolyn Halstead. We have found the link between the ancestors of Pierre Garcelon from Guernsey and the Garcelons from Ally, in Auvergne. Pierre’s parents were Pierre Garcelon and Marie Veyret, and Marie’s father was called: Monsieur of the Jarrige.
Look on this site for the Brageac parish records, document no.567

Our point of departure :

-The deceased Bernard Garcelon’s letter dated September 1986.
-Some exchanges of letters with Christophe Brun. He had established contacts with Christine Garcelon and Betty Martin (Garcelon), one in California and the other in Mississippi.
Unfortunately these contacts have been lost.
-Later he obtained the same information as Francoise Talandier did in London.
-Internet research: “Pierre Garcelon” http://library.bowdoin.edu/arch/mss/pgg.shtml

The following are the basic points of our research :

See the attached note from Francoise Talandier
Christophe Brun furnished us with the same information but hand-written, therefore too difficult to transfer to the site.
Pierre Garcelon :
-Born around 1685 around the area of Mauriac
-Died in September 1772 on Guernsey
-Son of Pierre Garcelon and Marie de la Garige
Vol. 42: Register of the church of the Artillery Spitalfields 1691-1786 p. 138 acte 2692 (promise of marriage)
14 January 1722 –Announcements—Pierre Garselon native of Moriague, in Auvergne, son of Pierre Garselon and of Marie de la Garige—Anne La Rue, native of Lery in Normandy, daughter of Gabriel La Rue and of Francoise Bernard.
-He renounced the Roman Catholic religion on Guernsey on 1 April 1722
-Rector of Saint Pierre des Bois (St. Peter of the Woods) on Guernsey from 1739 to 1767
-Married 8 February 1722 to Anne La Rue native of Lery (Eure), daughter of Gabriel and of Francoise Bernard.
(At the present time research in the documents of the Eure has been fruitless.)
-Married a second time to Jeanne Bedat, daughter of Jean and of Petronille Leger, according to a letter of Pierre Garcelon’s. To be researched in Bordeaux.
-Married a third time to Anne Lelarge.
-He wrote a poem in French “My goodby to my dear children”
Recently we have obtained a copy of this poem but no indication that would help us to determine his original parish in the Cantal. The poem is a series of edifying recommendations.

Our research on the couple Pierre and Marie LaJarrige or de la Jarrige or la Garige has not been fruitful around Mauriac and the northern part of the Cantal.
Carolyn Halstead has provided a lead with his letters and signatures Selection from one of her messages:
In 1982 my mother and I visited Guernsey and the church at St. Pierre du Bois. There they kept the books of births, marriages and deaths until the year 1820 and we saw Pierre Garcelon’s signature on each page. The books we saw at the church gave a lot of information on the family of Pierre Garcelon.
-She furnished us copies of the letters that Pierre Garcelon wrote to his son James.


The result :

Of all the Pierre Garcelons that we have focused on in the different parish registers around Mauriac for a period of time between 1680 and 1720,
This one is the only one that corresponds according to:
-date of birth,
-having as parents a Pierre Garcelon and a Marie….de la Jarrige,
-and being a priest.
It was upon making these comparisons between the letters that Pierre wrote to his son James in Boston and the various acts or documents in the parish records of Ally and Brageac that we have finally been able to make the link between the two groups of descendants, the French and the American.
Above? we have Francois Garcelon and Marie Serre,

From the 16-19 July 2007 we had a chance to welcome Carolyn Halstead and we helped her discover the land of her ancestors, 290 years after Pierre Garcelon’s departure for Guernsey. She is the first descendant to come back to trace his footsteps. It was a very emotional time!
Look at the Excel chart: “Pierre Garcelon de Guernsey”
Another lead is that Pierre Garcelon was at the beginning a Catholic priest and the Mauriac region was part of the bishopric of Riom. We will pursue this research toward the Puy de Dome.
A sojourn on Guernsey could prove to be useful, especially if it’s possible to photograph and number the documents (acts) covered by the period that Pierre Garcelon was ministering there.
It is obvious that we hope to find more documentation that will help us ascertain more information.

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