“Beasley Surname Study”

"Beasley Surname Study" One-Name Study

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Study details

Study: Beasley

Variants: Beasly, Beazley, Beesley, Beesly, Beezley, Beizley, Besley, Bezley

Category: 3 - A study where research using core genealogical datasets and transcriptions is well under way on a global basis.

Website: beasleygenealogy.net

DNA website: www.familytreedna.com/groups/beasley/about

Contact: Mr Douglas Beezley

About the study

This Surname project is headlined with 'Beasley', the most common spelling. Beasley and variants appear likely to be of a single origin in early England, migrating principally to North America, Australia, and New Zealand. There is no indication of similar names in other languages or cultures evolving to the current English forms. Nor is there any indication that the name has been adopted by migrants anglicizing a foreign name. Pre-nineteenth century spellings have been varied from one generation to the next but by the early 19th century, the generational consistency of the four principal spellings has been remarkably high.

Variant names

There are three primary variants found in the 2000 US census. In order of prevalence after Beasley is Beesley, Beazley, and Beezley Other homonyms such as Besley, Beasly, Beesly, Beazly, Beesely, etc. rarely occur except as misspelling or mistranscription. We have found a single lineage that began using the spelling Breezley in the mid-19th century. To date, we have not found connections with Baisley or homonyms Baizley, Bazley, Bazeley. Names such as Peasley appear to be related to Paisley.

Typical mistranscriptions include Busley, Buzley, or Bugley when handwriting uses closed "e's", or a "z" mistaken for a "g", though these are actual names spelled correctly. A careful review of context can make the distinction.

Name origin

All indications are that the name originated in England. So far, I have found very little evidence of spontaneous origination outside of England. A review of the 1841 census for UK shows that people with any variation of the surname were almost entirely living in and born in England, with a few in Wales, extremely rare in Scotland or elsewhere covered by the census.

The name is understood to be a place name probably distinguishing a family from a local landmark. The ending "lea" refers to a clearing or meadow. In old English "beo" is for "bee" and "beos" refers to bentgrass, a common name for the genus Agrostis. The usual interpretation is a "bentgrass meadow".

Historical occurrences of the name

Name frequency

Beasley is ranked #679 among surnames for numerical perspective with a count of 46,179 in the 2000 US Census. In order of prevalence is Beesley (Rank #11,171, count 2,604), followed by Beazley (Rank #17,984, count 1,431), and Beezley (Rank #30,120, count 723). The 2000 US census shows surnames with a count of at least 100. Other homonyms making that list include Besley (count 391), Beasly (count 221) and Beisley (count 138). Worldwide, the relative ranking of the four top variants is approximately the same

Distribution of the name

The largest present day populations are found in UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Data

Most of the work I have done personally so far is with Beezley's in the US. That record is becoming quite extensive. We have identified three major lines in the US that probably account for at least 90% of the living Beezley's in the US. These lines are well developed and proven distinct by DNA testing. Of those, one may be a result of a "non-paternal event" in the 18th century.

In expanding to all spellings, world-wide, we have been collecting clusters of data based on "Patriarch Trees", descendants of an earliest known Patriarch. In most cases, a Patriarch Tree is based on the pedigree of at least one living descendant. In the case where that descendant is a male Beasley who has participated in the YDNA study at FTDNA, that tree is typed, first by broad YDNA Haplogroup (specifically, R1b, R1a, E1b1 and I1), second, within that Haplogroup, into "CLANS". A CLAN would be defined by FTDNA participants whose genetic distance is near enough to "match" at least one other participant. For Y37 that would be a maximum of 4 mismatches or Y67 a maximum of 7 mismatches. We have very few Y111 tests. Y12 and Y25 are considered inconclusive in the absence of historical data. Other descendants of a given Patriarch Tree are considered of the same type lacking evidence to the contrary.

The CLANS are designated by color and the tree by the identity of the Patriarch: name, approximate date and place of birth. For example, mine is R-BLUE-WilliamBeesley1680MD. As earlier Patriarchs are identified, the Patriarch name would change, but the Haplogroup and CLAN remain the same. Those Patriarch Trees without YDNA confirmation are noted as Haplogroup X. Those with a tested Haplogroup, but no genetic match are designated as "WHITE" clan. Those without YDNA testing or documented connection but with evidence suggesting a possible connection (e.g. atDNA) are designated, for example, X-YELLOW. Those with tests submitted but awaiting results are designated X-PENDING. Those with no testing and no provisional connection are designated X-UNTESTED. As of January 2016, we have nearly 50 Patriarch Trees:

E-OLIVE - 2 trees

I SILVER - 1 tree

I-WHITE - 1 tree

R-BLUE- 5 trees

R-GREEN - 1 tree

R-ORANGE - 1 tree

R-PURPLE - 1 tree

R-RED - 1 tree

R-TEAL - 2 trees

R-WHITE - 5 trees

R-YELLOW - 5 trees

X-PENDING - 2 trees

X-UNTESTED - 15 trees

X-YELLOW - 8 trees

Most of the Patriarchs were born in America (US/Colonies) except England - 5, Australia - 1, New Zealand - 1, Sweden? - 1

DNA

We have a DNA project under the name Beasley that includes all variants. We have identified several larger groupings, each including all spellings. Spelling variations are rather constant after 1800. Most lines in the US appear to have originated during the colonial period.

Links

The formal FTDNA project website is at https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/beasley/about.

The publicly viewable site is at http://beasleygenealogy.net. This website is being rebuilt from the ground up, so doesn't have much data at this time.

Development of Patriarch Trees are presently being developed at Ancestry.com. Because of the speculative nature of some of the early material, all the Project trees are Private. They are (will be) referenced on the Project website and can be accessed with permission. We are also developing public access on the website via TNG.

Contact Details

Mr Douglas Beezley

General Search Results

Occurrences of the surname Beasley in the Guild Indexes

(Click on the number to view the search results in each index. Indexes marked by * are only accessible by logged in Guild members.)

Marriages of the World (public) 25
Inscriptions Index 3
Modern Newspaper Index 14
Marriage Index 1837-1945* 342
Probate Index* 15
World Wide Marriages Index* 30
BMD Index* 80
Members' Data Stores in which the name Beasley appears* 25

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