Category

Applegate Surname

John Edward Beyl’s marriage to Edna Mae Applegate gives me a whole new line of ancestors to research. My initial search on the Applegate surname looks promising.

I did a quick search on Ancestry.com to find the origin of the surname Applegate. It appears to be a variant of Applegarth, which comes from the northern Middle English word gate or road.

Fortunately, Ancestry seems to have hundreds of thousands of records for the Applegate surname, so this may be very promising when researching this line of genealogy.

It looks like most of the Applegate ancestors immigrated to New Jersey.  Many also immigrated to other areas of the Northeast, including Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.  But of course, there are some scattered throughout the rest of the United States.

Naturally, I will be looking for how they got to Indiana.  Edna Mae was born in Indiana, which is not to say that her immediate ancestors originated there.  But they ended up there, so I will be looking for where they were immediately before Indiana and where their arrival point was.

I don’t yet know where her parents were born, so I’m not sure how far back in the Applegate line they immigrated. Based on the time frame, I would venture to guess that it would’ve been her grandparents or great-grandparents who immigrated.

It seems that many Applegate immigrants came from England, while many others came from Great Britain. A couple came from Denmark, and one came from Ireland.

Since 12% of my DNA comes from Great Britain, we could assume they immigrated from Great Britain, although I’m not into making assumptions about genealogy.

That could come from a different line.  So I’ll have to research this further.

Most of the Applegate families seem to have immigrated between 1851 and 1890.

There was a pretty big spike in 1857. It would be interesting to find out what happened that year, if anything, that caused so many more to come over.

This time frame would appear to be the time of Edna’s great-grandparents. I’ll definitely want to confirm this.

I haven’t seen any passenger lists for this line, though I’ve only done the research for one person so far. Hopefully, I’ll find more on them soon.

As expected, most of them were farmers, and many were Laborers.  I’ve found a lot of Laborers in the Beyl lineage.  I’m guessing I’ll also find many more in the Applegate lineage.  But you never know.

I’ve found that most wives prior to the 1900s were housekeepers or housewives, so it’s not surprising to see the 6% in this chart. I’ve also seen a few Carpenters in there, but again, that’s on the Beyl side.

It’s interesting to see a few Blacksmiths in this line.  I hope to find one or two among my ancestors…just because I dare to be different.

Edna’s father was a Drayman who owned his own house.  I just learned that a Drayman is a person who delivers beer for a brewery.  That is different, I like that…alcohol aside.

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Applegate Ancestors I’ve Researched So Far

Finally, the Applegate family’s life expectancy has been pretty close to that of the general public.

It seems as though many lived to see their 70s.

I do find it interesting that life expectancy spiked in the late 1950s by over 20 years! It’s commonly known that technological advances began in the 1950s; perhaps this is the reason for the spike.

Researchers are still trying to determine the reasons for such differences. So, I will continue focusing on my own ancestors and let the scientists tackle that question.

There is not much information on this line just yet, as I’ve only researched one person so far. But, as always, I will come back and update this page as I find more information. There is so much to do, so little time!

It would be nice to know more about these ancestors.  Where did they come from before Indiana?  Why did they immigrate to the United States?  Are there any notable or famous ancestors in this line?

Have you found Applegate in your family tree yet?  If so, I’d love to hear from you!

Even if you haven’t, have you found reliable places to research the history of your family name? I’d love to know where to go to find out accurate facts about surnames that can provide some of the history behind the name. Do share and let us know how you do it. Just drop a line in the comments below.

That’s all for now, I’ll check back regularly and update this page as I find additional information.

Happy searching!

~Kris