Origin of Surname
We have not found a derivation for this surname but it is possible that it is a variant of the Breton Balc'h, which is variously interpreted as proud or boastful.
However, family researchers suggest that the name comes from the town of Balcombe, in Sussex, and has the same derivation as Balston, which our family page suggests is connected with Beald's Valley in Devon. The name is derived from the old English bealu = 'evil' and cumb = 'valley'.
Early records
The birth of an Elie Balcam is recorded in Jersey in 1661, the son of Jean Balcam. Elie married Elizabeth Cabot and they had seven children. Philippe, who married Marie Fiot, had four children; Jean, who married Sarah Jacobs and Hannah Proctor, had 11, and Francois, who married Anne Renouf and Jean Cook, had 12 children. Francis William Balcam, a descendant of Jean, his first child by his first wife, emigrated to Australia, arriving in March 1864 on the "Naval Reserve" with his mother and two sisters. They settled in Glenlyon.
Variants
- Balcam
- Balcom
Family records
Family trees
Church records
- Balcam baptisms in Jersey
- Balcam marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Balcam marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Balcam burials in Jersey
Family histories
- Francois William Balcam emigrant to Australia
- John Balcam emigrant to the USA
Occupation records
Family wills
These wills created by members of the Balcam family are now held by Jersey Archive. By visiting the archive site and using the names, dates and reference numbers shown here, it is possible to view a copy of each will. You will have to subscribe to the Archive's online service to do this. To find out more about this collection, which covers the period from 1663 to 1980, and how to search for your family's wills there, visit our Jersey wills page
- Balcam : Abraham , 14/08/1783 Bequeaths to the poor of St Helier, £30 tournois of the order - Unknown date , 11/Mar/1786 , D/Y/A/14/9
- Balcam : Jean Thomas , of St Helier 19/09/1854 Bequeaths to the poor of St Helier, 10s - Unknown date , 10/Mar/1856 , D/Y/A/28/165
- Balcam : Marguerite Madelaine , daughter of Philippe of St Helier 22/03/1780 Desires to be buried in St Helier's Cemetery Bequeaths to the poor of St Helier, £6 tournois of the order of the King - Unknown date , 22/May/1780 , D/Y/A/13/7
- Balcam : Walter John Le Cocq , of 5, Carrefour Villas, Val Plaisant, St Helier - 16/Nov/1970 , 06/Jan/1971 , D/Y/B1/154/6
Burial records
Family businesses
Family album
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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