Origins of surname
Samson is one of those surnames found with the same spelling in England and France, and Jersey families almost certainly arrived from both directions. The name is found in many European countries, spelt over 40 different ways. The name almost always derives from the biblical name "Samson", which comes from the Hebrew "Shimshon", and a diminutive of "shemesh", meaning sun.
Among early Christians the personal name was often given in honour of an early Welsh bishop called "Samson". He, it is said, travelled to Brittany and founded the abbey of Dol, where he was later buried, and venerated as a saint.
A second possible origin is as a nickname, given to one who had great strength, or given the robust humour of the medieval period, the reverse.
Lastly it may be locational, from any one of the places in Normandy called Saint Samson.
Early records
Although it does not make an early appearance in church registers, this name spelt Sampson (1299) and Sansom (1331) is found in other early Jersey documents.
The name Samson first appears in Jersey church registers in 1710, with the marriage of Pierre to Jeanne Amy in St Saviour. Four years later another Pierre (or perhaps the same one) married an unknown Quatherine in the same parish. There is no record of children of either of these marriages, and the first recorded baptism is that of Marie, daughter of Pierre Samson and Marie Chargelique in St Helier in 1745.
Sanson is found earlier. Elizabeth and Marie, the daughters of Pierre and Margueritte Binet, were baptised in St Helier in 1669 and 1673 respectively.
The spelling Sansom does not appear until 1804.
Although all these spellings are accepted variations of Samson, there is no evidence of spelling variations within a particular family as there are with other surnames in Jersey.
The Samson family from the Saarland
One Jersey Samson family can trace its origin back to Johann Henrich Sampsson, born in about 1720 in the Saarland. He married Helena Bergmann. Their son Johann Franz Sampsson was born in Losheim, a town in Merzig-Wadern in the Saarland, in 1749. In 1779, his name having being shortened to Samson, Johann married Anna Margarethe Brettnacher, born in the nearby town of Betting.
By 1780 Johann and Anna had moved to the historic town of Treves, now known as Trier, in the Rhineland Palatinate. On 17 September 1780 their son, Jacob Dominique Francois Samson, was born. The next record of Jacob is in St Malo, France in 1816. On 29 January 1816, Jacob Samson married Marie Jeanne Laurence Colas in St Malo. She came from the commune of St Alban in Brittany, close to St Brieuc. On 7 May 1823, Auguste Constant Samson was born.
Some time between 1823 and 1838 Jacob, Marie and Auguste made the 60-kilometre boat crossing from St Malo to Jersey. There is no way of knowing when the move actually took place or why, but it may well be linked to the massive economic boom that Jersey was enjoying at the time.
By the age of 17 Auguste was on his own, Marie Colas dying on 20 August 1838 and Jacob Samson on 11 December 1840. On 21 January 1842, when he was just 18, he married another 18 year old, Jane Elizabeth Du Feu, and in so doing married into long established Jersey families. Jane's origins can be traced back to Nicolas Du Feu (1684) and Marie Le Breton, Jean Du Feu (1719) and Jeanne Le Sueur (1713), Charles Du Feu (1764) and Marie Alexandre (1766), and Philippe du Feu (1796) and Elizabeth Amy (1791).
Auguste and Jane had no fewer than 14 children between 1842 and 1865: Augustus Philip (1842), James Alfred (1844), George Frederick (1846), Louise Jane (1847), George Alfred (1849), John Alfred (1851), Adolphus James (1853), James Albert (1855), Susan Mary Ann (1857), Charles Thomas (1858), Mary Ann (1860), George Alfred (1861), William Henry (1862) and Alfred Henry (1865). Augustus Philip Samson emigrated to New Zealand. He recorded the voyage in a log, which has been published as a good description of conditions faced by emigrants in the long sea passage to New Zealand.
James Albert Samson, born on 17 February 1855, was the 8th of the 14 children of Auguste Constant Samson and Jane Elizabeth Du Feu. On 14 July 1875 James married Hélène Melanie Novert. Hélène was the daughter of Pierre Laurent Novert, born in 1814 in Granville, who had come to Jersey probably in the 1830s, and Catherine Ricou, who was born in Angers, Maine-et-Loire in 1816. Pierre Novert probably moved to Jersey in the 1830s. He was a shoemaker. Jersey had a thriving boot and shoe manufacturing industry at that time, based on importing (free of duty) leather from France and exporting the manufactured shoes to North America. At the time of the 1841 census, Pierre and Catherine Novert, and their baby daughter Mary, lived in La Motte Street. Living either in the same building or next door was Auguste Samson. James and Hélène had no fewer than 16 children in just 19 years between 1876 and 1895. Their 14th child, Cecile Hélène Samson, born in 1888, married Emile Joseph Louis Boleat, born in 1893, whose parents were from Brittany and Normandy.
James Albert Samson began a fuel and hardware company later taken over by his son Adolphus and known as A P Samson, a significant business in Jersey for many years.
Variants
- Samson
- Sampson, 1299
- Sansom, 1331
- Sanson
Family records
Family trees
- Descendants of Johann Heinrich Sampsson
- Descendants of Stephen Sansom
- Descendants of William Sampson Added 2019
Church records
- Samson baptisms in Jersey
- Samson marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Samson marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Samson burials in Jersey
Family histories
Great War service
Family wills
These wills created by members of the Samson 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
- Agnes Sampson, widow of Isaac des Rieaux 1 July 1742 - D/Y/A/7
- Auguste Samson of Elizabeth Villa, 60 St Saviour's Road, St Helier - 25 June 1896, D/Y/A/55
- James Samson of St Helier - 6 March 1928, D/Y/A/88
- John Samson, St Helier - 28 March 1905, D/Y/A/64
Burial records
Family album
Helene Melanie Novert
James Albert Samson
Julian Samson
The sons of James Albert Samson and Helene Novert
James Albert Samson and his wife Helene
Augustus Philip Samson's master's certificate
Augustus Philip Samson
James Albert Samson and his family in 1906
Cecile Samson and her husband Emile Boleat
Elizabeth Dinia Samson (1829-1902) (St J to Gaspe) d of James and Elizabeth Thoreau, m Thomas George Butlin
Elizabeth Dinia Samson with her husband, son and daughter
A lock of Elizabeth Dinia Samson's hair
Alfred Samson
Lucie Emelie Samson
Adolphus Paul Eugene Samson
George Alfred Samson
Family businesses
- Alfred Henry Samson was a draper at 20 King Street in the 1910s and '20s
- A P Samson, oil suppliers
1899 Evening Post advert
1950
An advert for the company business
1855
Samson's delivery cart
The Samson delivery van fleet
Samson bill
1948
1955
1896 Nouvelle Chronique advert
1896
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
Almorah cemetery
Almorah cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
St Ouen parish cemetery
St Ouen parish cemetery
St Ouen parish cemetery
Surville Cemetery
Surville Cemetery
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