It was only after a serendipitous assignment at Jersey Heritage that a local archivist realised she was cataloguing records from her own family…
The de Gruchy-Pallot family archive, which covers several centuries and spans from Jersey to Canada and Africa, recently landed on the desk of distant family member Jane de Gruchy.
The documents were acquired by Jersey Heritage following correspondence with a Canadian descendant of the de Gruchy and Pallot families.
The earliest document in the collection, an inheritance contract, dates to 1397 and is now among the earliest records held at the Jersey Archive.
Jane said: “We are absolutely delighted that this unique and important family collection has returned home to Jersey after so many years, and for the care and interest the family has shown in it.
“On a personal note, I count myself very lucky to be working on some of the oldest known documents from my own family.”
The collection of documents had previously been residing at the University of Alberta in Canada after members of the family had moved there from the island in the 20th century.
The records contain many stories, including that of Adéle Haarseth, a military nurse who worked in South Africa during the Anglo Boer War and Malawi during the First World War.
She was “Mentioned in Dispatches” twice for her bravery under fire in the East Africa campaign and received five medals whilst in Africa for her military service.
After the death of her husband she moved back to Jersey, possibly to take care of her mother, and lived in Gorey throughout the Occupation.
Adéle eventually died on the island in 1946, the day before her 73rd birthday.
Letters between Adéle and her two sisters are included in the documents and paint a vivid picture of the island in the lead up the war as well as its subsequent recovery following Liberation in 1945.
Both Cécile and Lucie Pallot had returned from boarding school to teach in Jersey in the years preceding the war, and Cécile’s letters show an increasing concern for the safety of her foreign students amidst the rise and expansion of the Nazi party.
The documents also hold the diary of Charlie Pallot, one of three brothers who moved to Canada in the early 20th century, which describes his life a pioneer settler in Canada in the 1910s. He moved there with his two brothers in 1906 and 1907 where they settled next to each other near Ashmont Canada.
The collection is now available to view in person at Jersey Archive or online here.