Origin of Surname
At first sight the name, in its later spelling of Jeandron, appears to derive from the forename Jean, but the meaning of the suffix 'dron' is unclear, and other spellings suggest that an alternative derivation is perhaps more likely.
However, a French source would seem to confirm the derivation, as being a diminuitive of Jean, and an easy means of indentifying 'Jean the son of Jean'. It is said to come from the Vosges, to be very rare in France, but more common in Belgium.
Early records
The family, whose baptism records are found in St Peter and St Brelade, is known to have settled in St Lawrence as well. It does not appear in island records before the early 18th century. We previously believed that Mathurin Jandron (see family tree below) was the first to arrive, possibly with one or more sons, but it now seems more likely that his father Francois, whose place of birth is not known, but who was buried in St brelade in 1743, was the first arrival.
St Lawrence family
St Lawrence historian Henry Coutanche has written about the family in the journal of the Channel Island Family History Society. They appear in the family tree below covering Jandrons in St Peter and St Lawrence - Descendants of Jacques Jandron and Anne Picot. This is a summary of the journal article which relates to the St Lawrence properties Greenhill Farm and Bel au Vent (sometimes known as Chateau Bel au Vent).
- "Being a younger son, Edouard Jandron had to make his own way in life. There would be nothing to inherit from his father's smallholding in St Peter; in fact he inherited nothing from either of his parents. This may explain why he was later so considerate towards his son.
- "Early in March 1816 Edouard Jandron bought a substantial rente (9 quartiers 1 cabot) from Jean Picot. This was precisely one quarter of the sum he paid for the Greenhills property he bought from Clement Noel and his wife, Jeanne Godfray, in the contract passed in the Royal Court on 25 May 1816. He had no more to pay as business was conducted, as was customary at that period, through the rente system. The property was encumbered with debts (through rentes) - of a purchase price of 36½ quartiers, 20 quartiers were already owed on the property. Jandron assigned the Picot rente and promised to pay the remaining sum himself.
- "For the next 30 years Jandron was transacting regularly. He purchased more land, assigned rentes and was obviously prospering, even if in a modest way. On 11 December 1824 his wife, Marie Hocquard, sold to her brother Jean all her share in the inheritance due to her from her late parents, Abraham Hocquard and Jeanne Anley, for 6 quartiers of rente.
- "On the day he sold Greenhill he bought a house in the First Tower district, bordering the Plein de Mars, from Philippe Dorey. He settled there and it became the family home. On 4 April 1868 he sold this property to Edouard Vibert, but due to the latter's death, repurchased from his minor heirs in August of the next year. On 14 February he again sold it, to Elizabeth Noel. But he died within 40 days of the sale and the property seems once again to have reverted to the family.
- "Edouard Jandron jnr was now the owner and farmer of the Bel au Vent property - a smallholding of no more than 25 vergees. By 1883 he had retired from farming and was in October leasing the house, buildings and lands to his son, as from the next Christmas, for a period of seven years at the annual sum of £3.75 per vergee. His father retained the use of the parlour and bedroom above, and a small garden, for his own use, but he died before enjoying his retirement.
- "The property remained in the hands of the descendants of the family, through the female line, until well after the German Occupation. The last owners were Pinels who have been in this area of the parish for many generations.
- "Other papers belonging to the family collection show the last Edouard Jandron buying silks and cotton merchandise from Brussels in 1896."
Variants
- Jandron
- Jeandron
- Gendron
Family records
Family trees
All these trees appear to be interlinked and the last is an attempt to bring everything together in one tree, taking the family back to their French roots in Loire-Atlantique. There remains a question mark over whether the Nicolas Gendron (Jandron) who came to Jersey is the one shown in the French ancestry, but we are reasonably confident about the link
- Descendants of Jacques Jandron and Anne Picot
- Descendants of Francois Jandron
- Descendants of Maturin Jandron
- Descendants of Nicolas Gendron
Church records
- Jandron baptisms in Jersey
- Jandron marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Jandron marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Jandron burials in Jersey
Family histories
Great War service
Family homes
- Bel au Vent, St Lawrence
- Greenhill, St Lawrence
Burial records
Family album
Maria Emma Jeandron, nee Le Montais, on her 100th birthday in 1959. She was born in St Brelade, the daughter of William Frank Le Montais, a master mariner, and Rachel Leigh. She was a dressmaker and married Josue Jeandron, a 29-year-old accounts clerk at St Peter in 1882
Family gravestones
Click on any image to see a larger version. See the Jerripedia gravestone image collection page for more information about our gravestone photographs
Tips
The church record links above will open in a new tab in your browser and generate the most up-to-date list of each set of records from our database. These lists replace earlier Family page baptism lists, which were not regularly updated. They have the added advantage that they produce a chronological listing for the family name in all parishes, so you do not have to search through A-Z indexes, parish by parish.
We have included some important spelling variants on some family pages, but it may be worth searching for records for a different spelling variant. Think of searching for variants with or without a prefix, such as Le or De. To search for further variants, or for any other family name, just click on the appropriate link below for the first letter of the family name, and a new tab will open, giving you the option to choose baptism, marriage or burial records. You will then see a list of available names for that type of record and you can select any name from that list. That will display all records of the chosen type for that family name, and you can narrow the search by adding a given name, selecting a parish or setting start and end dates in the form you will see above. You can also change the family name, or search for a partial name if you are not certain of the spelling
The records are displayed 30 to a page, but by selecting the yellow Wiki Table option at the top left of the page you can open a full, scrollable list. This list will either be displayed in a new tab or a pop-up window. You may have to edit the settings of your browser to allow pop-up windows for www.jerripediabmd.net. For the small number of family names for which a search generates more than 1,500 records you will have to refine your search (perhaps using start or end dates) to reduce the number of records found.
New records
Since August 2020 we have added several thousand new records from the registers of Roman Catholic, Methodist and other non-conformist churches. These will appear in date order within a general search of the records and are also individually searchable within the database search form
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