The Jessup Family

by Dominic Vautier
updated 12/11/2012

My grandfather George Vautier Sr. was born in Quebec, Canada in 1862.  He married Bridget Ellen (Ella) Jessup/Jessop probably in the 1890s.  George Sr. and his wife, Ella settled in Bellingham, Washington soon after.  George Sr. then left his family and traveled to the Yukon and Alaska in the early 1900’s prospecting for gold, fame and fortune, none of which he found.  He was to eventually reunite with his family and settle in Sequim Washington (pronounced "squim").  Sequim was known as Carlsborg at that time.

When my grandfather George Sr. married Bridget Jessop and moved west from Quebec with his bride, along came several other Jessops as part of the package I suppose, among whom were the two brothers George, Pat and the beautiful Eliza.  Pat Jessop was a tall and handsome man who stayed with the family and often acted as a caring guardian to the children and grandchildren that were to come later.

As my mother Allegra herself tells it, and she sometimes tended to exaggerate, a lot of the following information came from my dad whose memory may have been a bit better but still distorted by his own mother, Ella Jessop. Case in point: my grandfather George (Old George) was not a French Canuck and his mother was not an O'Neil as it states in the Washington State archives.

At a very young age my dad went with his mother back to Quebec and stayed with the Jessups (Jessops), while my grandfather (Old George) took off for Alaska to do his gold thing in the Klandike. His mother's mother (my great great grandmother) was Mary Morris Jessop and her mother was Johanna O'Neil (wife of Jaspar Morris). I doubt that my dad's mother ever visited the Vautiers while he was there.

The Jessups were from Ireland, not England. One time my dad showed my brother a couple of pictures of two old women and he said they were both his grand mothers - lots of grand mothers around these times. George Vautier Sr. was the son of Jean (John) Vautier from the Isle of Jersey and his wife Bridget Glenn (Glynn) from Ireland.

One of the many Jessup girls, Eliza Jane, was a photographer which explains why we have so many Jessup pictures and none of the Vautiers. Bridget Ellen Jessup was not the last Jessup girl to be married as my mom implied. Julia Jessup married a fellow name John Baker some time after between 1902 and 1907. I have pictures of that wedding. The Bakers were hoteliers and I believe they owned the Baker Hotel in Bellingham. (But maybe it was named after Mt. Baker). Anyway Old George was responsible for bringing half the Jessup clan to Bellingham. Uncle Pat and another sister, Aunt Maggie, accompanied George and Ella when they returned to Bellingham. Aunt Maggie (Marguarita) is buried in West Seattle. Christine Nolan-Brady, our cousin who lives in the San Jose area, is descended from Eliza Jane and Henry Nolan. There's also a Baker cousin who lives in BC.

Paul Jessup was something else.  He was born in 1908 and was perhaps one of the most famous of all the Jessups.  He was my 1st cousin once removed (My dads 1st cousin). He was the son of Patrick W. Jessup and Kittie Waterman Jessup.  He was 6'5'' when he was 17 and still growing eventually to reach 6'6" and was the captain of the Washington Huskies football team in 1930. He letterd there in football in 1928, 29 and 30.  The team had a dismal record that last year: 2 wins, 6 losses. The wins were out of conference.

Paul Jessup held the world record in discus for a couple of years. His record was 169-7/8' in 1930.  He went to the 32 Olympics in LA but failed to qualify--probably exhausted. Can you imagine what the drive from Seattle to LA was like in 1932 and he did it non stop I understand.  No one broke his colligate record in LA. The silver medal winner broke it the following year. Paul is still recognized as one of the top 10 throwers of discus and shot of all times.  He died in 1992 in Palm Beach, Florida.

What follows is a collection of Jessop Photographs from my archive.

Eliza Jane Jessop playing the violin. Eliza was one of the Jessop girls.

Another picture of Eliza Jane, probably around the turn of the century.

George Jessup who, according to this, died of smallpox in Victoria, BC is pictured at left. The younger man looks a lot like the fellow seated in one of Lani (Baker) Mitchel's photos of Julia Jessop and Walter Baker and family. He is identified as Harold Baker, their oldet son. That would make him George Jessop's nephew.
 

James Jessop III, my dad's uncle. "With best wishes for the new year of 1891, Your brother, Mr. & Mrs. Jessop Jr." This was probably addressed to Uncle Pat (Patrick William Jessup).
 

James Jessop II, my Great Grandfather. Photographer: Lewis Rice. Probably taken in Newport, Quebec.
 

A scene from Julia Jessop's wedding to Walter Baker at the Jessop home in Newport on July 26, 1904.

Portrait of Ella Jessup Vautier (Bridget Ellen Jessop Vautier), my grandmother. Photographer: Dobbs, Holly St., New Whatcom, Wash. (New Whatcom was one of the five communities that became greater Bellingham.)
 

Portrait of Mary Morris Jessop, wife of James Jessop II, my father's grand mother, my great grandmother. Photographer: R.H. Rice, Campbellton, N.B.
 

A funeral portrait of a child, Miss Marion Jessop. Photographer: Dobbs, Holly St., New Whatcom, Wash. Don't know who this child belongs to.

Marguerite Jessup. Photographer: S Waige.  I have another photo of Marguerite with the note, ". . . military hospital, Quebec. This would be a WWI nurses' uniform.

Eliza Jane Jessup

Marguerite Jessup, Military Hospital, Quebec.

Old Jessup home in Newport. Inscription on back reads, "To Mr. & Mrs. Geo. Vautier." Signed, "T.W.J."  This may have been the occasion of John Baker and Julie Jessup's wedding.

Patrick William & Katherine (Kittie) Waterman Jessup.

Patrick W. Jessup.

Paul Jessup