My great-great-grandfather was one Alfred Duchemin Carpenter, born 1860 in Islington, London/Middlesex. I can find him on later censuses, when he is married + has his own family, but I can not find any evidence of a registration of his birth (and hence who his parents were).

I have come across an Alfred Carpenter in Islington in/around that year, but nothing with the name Duchemin, which not only shows up in the later records, but also has real significance in our family history (it is believed the family originated from France around the time of the revolution) - so it is unlikely just to have appeared/disappeared.

It is thought that when the family came across from France, some of the family settled in the Channel Islands - does anybody know of a Duchemin/Carpenter family history (Charpentier is the French version) on the islands + when/where they came from?

Can anyone help me find Alfred Duchemin Carpenter + his parents please (or tell me what I'm doing wrong!)?

Regards, Emma Cooke.

hi emma,the family of george and eliza in islington on the 1861 census looks right as the names of other children crop up in the marriage records later usually with the initial c included and in the case of george jnr he is married under the name george carpenter duchemin in 1873.its possible that george and eliza were not married as there is a death registered in islington 1885 of eliza duchemin.sometimes reversing names will help as does just putting duchemin or carpenter in as the christian name.eliza was born in surrey so it might be worthwhile looking for duchemins on the 1841 census in surrey.good hunting cheryl

Hi,
I believe the book The Duchemin Family history would help with your research into George Duchemin. It's available on Amazon

Thanks, thats a great help. We've found out that a lot of Duchemin's (including, we suspect, our family) came over from France in/around the 1850's, probably being Hugoenots. However we've failed to actually track my family back to France.

I think you will find that Huguenot refugees left at much earlier dates in the 15 & 1600's and early 1700's..1850 even sounds a bit late to escape the french revolution, maybe just economic migrants like many French going to the Channel Islands

Strangely enough, we were always told that our family had escaped the French revolution. But again, we can not find anything to trace them back / connect them.

You could try Duchemin or Duquemin..there are families of both these names in Guernsey.and probably Jersey also