Designing our Appleby DNA project

So far, the individuals that have undertaken DNA testing as part of the project have done so out of their own personal interest in finding out more about their ancestry, and in the hope that another Appleby's test results would match theirs. But to gain the most benefit from a project like this, it is important to spend some time and effort in reconstructing all known family trees in order to target living male Appleby’s whose yDNA test results can provide absolute proof of all our genealogical research into written records.

By testing two males who are as distantly related as possible within the same family line (i.e. two distant male cousins whom we believe share a 2 x great grandfather) we can demonstrate conclusively whether or not the paper research for that line is correct or not.

Once we build up a number of sets of yDNA results, we will also discover whether there are links between DIFFERENT family lines – and also establish more about the migration patterns of our Appleby ancestors, possibly back before written records were generally available.

For our many fellow researchers who are descended from Applebys who emigrated to the New World, yDNA testing could provide the answers about their ancestors’ origins in England that can be so difficult to find.

In the first stages, we need as many Appleby family historians to contribute details of their own family trees – some of these are already held in various formats at the Appleby Research Organisation. These will be presented on this website in chart form – divided into geographical areas of most distant known ancestor. Hopefully this will encourage others to add their own details to those shown. This may throw up some overlaps (and indeed may also reveal inherent differences!) but as long as they have been researched using reliable sources, they can all contribute to our overall understanding of the spread of the Applebys across England from their early origins.

In order to build up even more trees, we need to collect BMD and census data in specific areas known to be Appleby strongholds, and identify family groups within this data. I have started with my own area of interest - London - but we need others to focus on other parts of the country.