A growing number of people are now delving into their family history as a serious hobby and this personal family history, fully illustrated with original maps, old photographs and documents, could certainly be used as a model and guide to others on how to present the results of such research.
George Appleby has traced his family history back to the 1560s with beginnings in Eppleby, a North Yorkshire village established by Danish Vikings. It describes a route which most families have followed, from agricultural beginnings to the seeking of industrial and commercial opportunities found on Tyneside during the last 200 years.
Original information from church records, wills, census reports, medieval documents in the National Archive, account books, even a bill of sale for land in 1687, culminated in the author identifying 1100 individuals, 250 marriages and 200 surnames.
William Appleby, a butcher, moved from Manfield in North Yorkshire to Tyneside in the 1830s, married and set up home in Castle Garth, Newcastle, and established a grease manufacturing business supplying collieries, shipbuilding and other industries. On his death in 1872, his family pursued a variety of business enterprises and by 1901 William’s son, Richard, was a fish dealer and bought a fish and chip shop in Gosforth Street, Newcastle, in partnership with his son, Joe.
The photograph was taken in 1902 during an engineering strike when they gave the strikers’ children free fish and chips. In 1911, Joe bought a store at North Shields Fish Quay, became a wholesaler, prospered and donated a new clubhouse to North Shields FC who renamed their ground, Appleby Park.