Jeanne Melet

Est 1770 - 1820  (~ 50 years)

 Set As Default Person

• Name	Jeanne Melet
  	Jeanne's surname is given as Kelly in the baptism of the two oldest children, Jeanne and Jean. It's possible that François married two women named Jeanne, the first surnamed Kelly, the second Melet. However there's no evidence of two people and the surnames sound just similar enough that they could be corruptions of a single surname. The surname is spelt Mailey in the 1813 court case.
  Gender	Female
  Born	Est 1770
  Buried	21 Feb 1820	St Helier, Jersey   [1]
  	"Jeanne Mêlé femme de Jean Voisin". Note that Pierre's middle name is Jean.
  Person ID	I1177	Richard's Genealogy
  Last Modified	2 Apr 2021

  
  

  Family 1	François Joslin,   b. Est 1770,   d. Abt 1799  (Age ~ 29 years)
  Notes	It's unclear whether this is one family or two. The eldest two children were baptised at Grouville, children of François Goslin and Jeanne Kelly his wife. The last child was baptised in St Saviour, the daughter of François Joslin and Jeanne Melet his wife. The difference in spelling of the father's name seems inconsequential, as all three children are spelt Josselin on their own marriages at St Helier. They are the only three Goslin / Gosselin / Joslin / Josselin children baptised in Jersey between 1710 and 1808, and the dates of birth form a neat sequence consistent with them being a single family: 1794, '96 and '99. Furthermore, the children acted as godparents to each other's children, suggesting they were all related. It seems much more likely than not that the father François is the same man, and on balance probably they share the same mother too, and one or both of Kelly and Melet is a misrendering. A similarly improbable misrendering of a surname occurs in their eldest daughter Jeanne's family: her second marriage record names her husband Canning, but in fact he was a Kelling.
  Children	+ 1. Jeanne Joslin,   bp. 28 Dec 1794, Grouville, Jersey ,   d. 29 May 1856, St Helier, Jersey  (Age ~ 61 years) + 2. Jean Joslin,   bp. 1 Apr 1796, Grouville, Jersey ,   d. 13 Aug 1861, St Helier, Jersey  (Age ~ 65 years) + 3. Françoise Joslin,   b. 12 Jan 1799, St Saviour, Jersey ,   d. 1874, Jersey  (Age 74 years)
  Last Modified	3 Mar 2017
  Family ID	F355	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 2	Pierre Jean Voisin,   bp. 22 Aug 1779, St Clement, Jersey
  Married	30 Mar 1800	St Saviour, Jersey   [2]
  Notes	It is possible that Pierre and Jeanne separated in 1813, following his arrest for abusing her and failing to provide for their children. [3]
  Children	1. Jean Voisin,   bp. 30 Jan 1801, St Saviour, Jersey   2. Pierre Richard Voisin,   bp. 30 Jan 1801, St Saviour, Jersey   3. Thomas Voisin,   bp. 20 Mar 1803, St Saviour, Jersey   4. Jacques Voisin,   bp. 9 Jun 1805, St Saviour, Jersey   5. Philippe Voisin,   bp. 29 Nov 1807, St Saviour, Jersey   6. Elizabeth Marie Voisin,   bp. 26 Nov 1809, St Saviour, Jersey
  Last Modified	2 Apr 2021
  Family ID	F368	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  With so much uncertainty over what Jeanne's surname actually is and no good estimate of when she was born, it is difficult to say anything about her origins. If her surname is actually Kelly or Mailey, then she may be Irish or English, with Jeanne being an gallicised form of Jane. Neither of these surnames appear on Jersey during the 1760s or '70s, the period during which Jeanne must have been born. Melet is also a known French surname, though it does not seem to occur on Jersey at this time either. Mallet and Mollet are both common surnames on the island, but it seems surprising that Jeanne's surname would be misspelt in so many ways if it were a common Jersey name. That said, there are several suitable baptisms for Jeanne Mollet or Mallet. There is one further hint that Jeanne's surname may have been Mollet. François and Jeanne are first recorded in the early 1790s when they are in Grouville, and in the earliest years their surname was typically spelt Goslin. A decade or less later, Pierre Gosselin also settled in Grouville. He is a suitable age to be a younger brother of François. Pierre married a Marie Mollet from St Martin, whose sister Jeanne is one of the candidate baptisms. It was not uncommon for one pair of siblings to marry another, and perhaps that is what happened here. But at this stage, this can only be speculation.

  
  

• Sources

  [S46] Parish registers — St Helier, Jersey. Jeanne Mêlé femme de Jean Voisin fut enterrée le vingtunième jour de Fevrier, mil huit cent vingt. [S44] Parish registers — St Saviour, Jersey, G/C/09/A. Pierre Voisin de la paroisse de Saint Clement & Jeanne Melly de la paroisse de Saint Sauveur ont été mariés ensemble le trentième jour du mois de Mars l'an mil huit cent. [S52] Poursuites criminelles register (1811-16), Jersey, D/Y/G1/5/407. Jeanne Mailey femme dudit Pierre Voisin s'étant présentée à la Justice & ayant demandé que separation quant aux biens lui soit accordée d'avec ceux de sondit mari la Cour du consentement dudit Pierre Voisin a accordé ladite demande, ledit Pierre Voisin s'obligeant de payer à sadite femme pour elle & ses enfans une pension de quatr livres d'ordre par Semaine pour leur subsistance.