Australian Appleby Family Heritage
INTRODUCTION
Over the past years family trees and histories have become very fashionable and when once no one would reveal that they may be descendant of a convict, it is the "in thing" to be able to claim a convict, unless of course that said convict was sentenced for something best forgotten. No such convict has been revealed in the Appleby research.
There is no doubt a growing awareness of the past that is evidenced by increased involvements in History Societies and an immense amount of information becoming available to help through Genealogy research and of course now through the Internet.
Why do people delve into the past? For many the cares and pressures of the present are more than sufficient. It's not a matter of nostalgically yearning for the good old days and wanting to live in the past - nor is it a case of snobbery. There is no desire to expose and rattle some ancient "skeleton in the closet" and there is certainly no intention to deliberately pry into the private affairs of other people even though genealogy is necessarily a very personal exploration into history. In this case I have been very careful to only record about people what has been freely given to me.
The basic reason for undertaking family research, I suppose, is one of natural curiosity. People are forever asking questions about how, when, where and why. Are we like our grandparents: Who were our great grandparents? Is that Appleby related to us?
Where did we come from? When did our grandparents come to Australia. How many times have people asked these questions?
Although Samuel Lewins and his family are not direct descendants of the Appleby family - Samuel was James Appleby's half-brother - they grew up together and so much of their lives are tied together I thought it would be of interest to some of the people concerned in this history to add a few details of Samuel and his family and their lives in Bathurst.
I have been heartened by the interest and help given to me by relatives, for without their help this story could not have been written. I am also grateful for any photos which have been lent to me. I have written numerous letters, some answered, several not, spent many hours at the N. S. W. State Archives, State Library and Society of Genealogists of which I am a member. I am also a member of Appleby Research Organisation in England who research Appleby names. I have had lots of surprises, many frustrations and disappointments but in all it has been a most rewarding undertaking and one which I enjoyed doing.
I must thank Major Lloyd Kenyon Fuller, from Darlington, Durham, England for the interest he showed and for his help with a great deal of the research of the Goldsborough and Tinkler families, also to Phillip Atkinson and James Smith, relatives in Durham for their help with Appleby side. My thanks to my family, to my sister Dorothy Treseder for her help with the compiling of the history and to Joan Borstell with her help in the research.
In compiling this history into a record I don't claim to be an author, my aim is simply to have a record for our children and future generations to be able to read and have their questions answered. The history remains incomplete and I would value any information from anyone who can fill in the gaps, correct inevitable errors and help to keep it up to date. I hope one day to meet some of the relatives mentioned in the Family History.
The story of the Appleby family in England and Australia is no great "saga". There are no famous deeds or bitter scandals; no illustrious crest or mottos. It is a simple tale of ordinary folk, some of whom were illiterate. Yet there is a story to tell and might be judged as interesting to those who share a common bond.
SURNAMES: ORIGINS AND VARIATIONS.
Origins of many Appleby families seem to stem from the North of England, possibly the County of Durham or Appleby in Westmorland. There is evidence of a French connection through the Huguenot Silk Weavers of Spitafields. (1)
Prior to the Norman Invasion of 1066, all our original ancestors used a one-part name, whether they were Celts, Anglo-Saxon, Danes or Normans, though there was a growing trend among royalty to distinguish the single name with a personal title, such as Ethelred the Unready and Edward the Confessor.
Following the conquest of England by William the Conqueror, increasing numbers of noblemen had an additional "byname". It was not until the early twelfth century that surnames became hereditary among the nobility. A law passed by Edward 1 (1272-1307) gave families a strong reason to have surnames passed down from father to son, instead of a new one being invented for each person. It stated that land was to pass to the eldest son on the father's death. Consequently sons used their father's name to help prove their identity.
The process of acquiring surnames spread throughout the land during the thirteenth century, from the top ranks of society to the bottom. Even the poor peasants took surnames especially after Richard 11 imposed an unpopular law in 1381 requiring everyone to pay four pence tax. Again people used surnames to identify themselves so that it would be recorded that they and not someone else had paid the tax. By 1400 almost everybody had a given name and the father's surname.(2)
A person's distinguishing name or surname described his trade, his place of residence, his father's name or some personal or physical characteristic, and passed that name on to his children, and thus the surname became hereditary.
Many efforts have been made during the past 100 years to determine the origins of surnames. Learned professors, researchers and so called experts etc. have all produced their own interpretations of the origins of individual surnames, but at the end of the day most of these are pure guesswork. That is not to say that they are in themselves wrong, but that any such origins of a surname need not be accurate either.
The following is one such example: the surname APPLEBY is derived from the place where the initial bearer once lived or held land, and is derived from the old Norse word "apall" meaning "apple" and "bye" which originally meant "homestead or farm" but which in time came to denote "village or town". Thus the name can literally be translated as "homestead. or town where apples grow".
One of the earliest recorded Applebys dates back to the twelfth century when one Vlf (?) de Appeli was recorded in the Pipe Rolls in 1163. In 1204 Hugh de Apelby was listed in the "Pleas before the King or Justice" between 1198-1202 in Yorkshire. Thomas Appleby was mentioned in the "Assize Rolls" in London in 1366. In 1372 John de Appleby was Bishop of Carlisle during the reign of Richard II.
VARIATIONS OF THE SPELLING OF THE NAME.
| Apelbe | Apelbey | Apelbie | Apelby | Apelby |
| Aplbie | Aplebe | Apelbey | Aplebie | Apleby |
| Aplebye | Apletree | Aplyby | Appelbe | Appelby |
| Appelbye | Appellbe | Appilby | Applbee | Applebee |
| Applby | Appleby | Applebby | Applebe | Applebys |
| Applebey | Applebie | Applebie | Applebye | |
| Applyby | Apulbi | Azzlebie |
The list is derived from the "Joiners Marriage Index", a list of 294,000 Brides and Grooms from the County Durham and the North Riding of Yorkshire in the period before civil registration began in 1837. The most common spelling, in the Joiner's Index were Appleby, Applebie and Appelby. This list derives from a time when many and most of the participants were likely illiterate and also the recorders.
The top first names, again from the Joiners Marriage Index, were
| BRIDES | GROOMS |
|
Elizabeth
|
John
|
|
Ann
|
William
|
| Mary | Thomas |
| Margaret | Robert |
| Jane | George |
And the most unusual first name was Zpoferus Appleby (1603)
This is one big factor for those of us engaged in Genealogical research - not only do we have to find the missing people, but we have to figure out how they might be recorded.(3)
REFERENCES.
- Information obtained from the Appleby Research Organisation. U.K.
- The Relevance of Surnames in Genealogy, Society of Australian Genealogists. Leaflet No. 7.
- Other information found on the internet and from the Appleby Research 4
More:
JANE ANN APPLEBY 1884-1918 / Atkinson