Guild of One-Name Studies

One-name studies, Genealogy

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Retained profile for the former
Appleby One-Name Study

This study is no longer registered with the Guild, but this profile page has been retained at the member's request. Please note that neither officers nor members of the Guild are able to answer any questions about this study.

A study website has been preserved by the Guild: appleby.one-name.net

About the study

The Appleby Research Organisation (ARO) was set up in 1991 by Peter Talbot-Ashby. In 2013, due to failing health, Peter passed over the registration of the one-name study to Sue Mastel.  Unfortunately, she is no longer able to manage the study but the website will continue to be available online, and hopefully at some point another Guild member will take the study over.

Variant names

In early parish records and manorial documents the surname was spelled in a wide variety of ways (APELBI, APULBE, APPILBE etc) - but by the 19th century the majority of holders spelled their surname APPLEBY. The main variant is APPLEBEE, but there are also a small number of families that have retained the alternative variant of APPELBE(E) - many of these families now live in Australia.

Name origin

APPLEBY is almost certainly a locational surname. Possible sources include:
  • 1. Appleby-in-Westmorland,
  • 2. Appleby Magna and Appleby Parva in the Midlands,
  • 3. Appleby in Lincolnshire

and two small villages in North Yorkshire:

  • 4. Uppleby by Easingwold and
  • 5. Eppleby near Richmond.
However as well as known place-names, it is possible that early holders of the surname acquired it because they lived or came from a farm or hamlet where apples were grown.  This could account for the early origins of clusters of families located in the south-west (particularly Somerset) and the South East of England.

Historical occurrences of the name

Some notable Applebys:
* Henry de Appleby, rector of Bolton-juxta-Bowland 1367
* John de Appleby, instituted as vicar of Tilney, Norfolk, England in 1372
* Sir Edmund de Appleby who died in 1375. He fought at the Battle of Crecy in France with King Edward III
* William Ivers Appleby 1811-1870 Journalist and pioneer on a Mormon Wagon Train to Utah.
* James Appleby, 1824-1835 who died aged 11 along with 75 boys in the Walsend Colliery Disaster.
* Thomas A. Appleby 1843-1925 Veteran of the American Civil War
* Stuart Appleby The Australian World Class golfer.

Name frequency

 
In Great Britain, Public Profiler gbnames, estimates that in 1998 there were 7,157 holders of the APPLEBY surname (192 per million names) and 189 holders of the APPLEBEE surname (5 per million names). There were too few holders of the APPELBE/BEE spelling to be included in their analysis.

According to World Names Profiler, the Frequency per million (FPM) for the two main variants were as follows:

Country  APPLEBY APPLEBEE
United Kingdom           170.41 4.18
Australia 127.89 23.17
Canada 121.95 5.73
New Zealand 77.24 1.76
Ireland 27.43 -
United States 25.29 5.9

 

Distribution of the name

In the 1881 census of England and Wales, there were 5054 individuals carrying the surname APPLEBY or close variants, 346 carrying the surname APPLEBEE or close variants, and 72 carrying the surname APPELBY or close variants.

The above distribution maps (created using Archer software's 'Surname Atlas') show the clear distinction between the origins of the Appleby spelling mainly in the north of England and the Applebee spelling in Somerset and London/SE.  The third map reflects the much smaller number of surnames which were probably pronounced Appelbe/bee/bie.  Many of the holders of this last group of the surname are now found in Australia.

As a result of migration to the New World, APPLEBYs and APPLEBEEs are now found in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States.

Data

In addition to core records such as GRO Births, Marriages and Deaths, and Census Returns, the website provides details of Parish Register entries, Passenger Records, Wills and Probate records, Military and Criminal records as well as pedigrees and research material submitted by members and friends. 
 
There are currently details of over 80 reconstructed Appleby lines featured on the Appleby ONS and DNA Project website. 

DNA

In 2010,  the APPLEBY DNA PROJECT was created at Family Tree DNA of Houston, Texas, USA and  additional male Appleby descendants are encouraged to represent their line of Applebys by participating in the yDNA project.
 
The Y-DNA test tells you about your paternal ancestry, which would be your father, his father and back in time through the direct male line.  You must be a male to take this test, and you should have one of the surnames shown above.  
 
The Appleby DNA Project has successfully demonstrated connections between a number of different Appleby lines - with clusters in the North East of England, around Essex and in the Midlands.  It has also shown  connections with lines in the USA and Australia which have English roots.  As more volunteers come forward to participate in this project, it is hoped to build a clearer picture of the origins of many more Appleby lines. 
 
Further information about the most recent results of our DNA Project is available here, please use the link to Family Tree DNA if you are interested in joining the project.

Links

 

 

General Search Results

Occurrences of the surname Appleby 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.)
  • Global Marriages (public)  1028
  • Global Marriages (members)* 1248
  • Inscriptions Index  5
  • Modern Newspaper Index  7
  • Probate Index* 59
  • Datastores (public)  8
  • Datastores (members)* 2
  • Study materials for the study Appleby* 26

Other Guild Websites

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