Channel Islands Genealogy

Europe Channel Islands Guide to Channel Islands ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

Country Information
The Channel Islands (Norman: Îles d'la Manche) are a group of islands off the coast of Normandy, France. They comprise two separate countries: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the States of Jersey.

The Channel Islands lie scattered along the Gulf of St. Malo, their closest point to France being just 8 miles from the Cherbourg Peninsula. They are British, but do not belong to the United Kingdom. Yet in the past they were ruled by France for only 200 out of the 900 years during which they were at the centre of a tug-of-war between the two countries. They are partly in the European Union, but do not bow the knee to Her Majesty's Government in Great Britain, but loyally toast the Queen of England, as "Our Duke of Normandy". Channel Islands consists of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Herm, Jethou, Brechou, and Lihou. All these except Jersey are in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, but the Minquiers, Ecrehous, Les Dirouilles and Les Pierres de Lecq, uninhabited group of islets are part of the Bailiwick of Jersey.

They have their own language, a Norman-French patois is still spoken, but everyone speaks English. They have their own banknotes, but deal in familiar pounds and pence sterling.

Channel Islands Clickable Map
Genealogy records are kept on the local level in the Channel Islands. Click on a place below to go to the corresponding Wiki article listing more information.

Jurisdictions
Genealogy records are kept on the local level in the Channel Islands. Click on a place below to go to the corresponding Wiki article listing more information.

Jersey Parishes  St. Helier, (the capital) - St Brelade (includes the market town and harbour of St Aubin) - St Saviour - St Clement - St Martin - Grouville (includes Gorey Village and harbour) - St John - St Peter - St Ouen - St Lawrence - Trinity - St Mary

Bailiwick of Guernsey Parishes (and Islands) Guernsey St Peter Port, the capital, - St Sampson - St Saviour - St Peter in the Wood (or St Pierre du Bois) - St Martin - Forest - Castel (or Catel) - Vale - Torteval - St Andrew Alderney St Anne

Sark St Peter 

Herm

Jethou

Brechou

Lihou

FamilySearch Resources
Below are FamilySearch resources that can assist you in resourcing your family.
 * Facebook Communities - Facebook groups discussing genealogy research
 * Learning Center - Online genealogy courses
 * Historical Records
 * Family History Center locator map