Appleton Surname and My Appleton Ancestors

Appleton

Surname Saturday

Name Origin

Appleton is a surname based upon habitation, that is to say based upon where a person lived or came from. If it were Orchard, you would know right off; however, Appleton comes from æppeltun, Old English literally meaning “apple enclosure.”[i]

Geographical

The Appleton is said to come from England. The 1840 Census indicated there were 137 Appleton families in the United States. Fifty of them, or 36%, were living in Massachusetts.[ii]

My Earliest Appleton Ancestors

HERE LYETH BURIED Ye BODY OF COL. SAMUEL APPLETON AGED 70 YEARS DECd MAY Ye 15th 1696 photo by: John Glassford via Find a Grave

My earliest known Appleton ancestor is my 10th great grandfather, Samuel Appleton. Samuel was born 2 Feb 1624 in Waldringfield, Suffolk, England. Some records I have indicate that he was a Junior, so I suppose his father, Samuel Appleton is my earliest known Appleton Ancestor, although I have no information on him, yet. When Samuel (the younger) was ten, his family came to the colonies and settled in Ipswich, Essex County, Massachusetts. He married Hanna Paine (1627-1656) and had two children, Judith and Samuel. Hanna died and then he married Mary Oliver and had two more children, Isaac and Oliver.[iii] Samuel died on 15 May 1696 in Ipswich, MA. He is buried in the Old Burying Ground in Ipswich. I believe his marker is the oldest marker of a direct ancestor that I know of.

Judith Appleton married Samuel Wolcott (1656-1695) in 1678.[iv] They had nine children, their eldest son, Samuel (1679-1734) is my 8th great grandfather.

My Direct Appleton Ancestors

#6562 – Samuel Appleton (1624-1696) – Generation 13
#3281 – Judith Appleton (1653-1741) – Generation 12
Wolcott – Four Generations – Generations 8 thru 11
Parsons – Two Generations – Generations 6 and 7
Sanford – One Generation – Generation 5
Brown – Two Generations – Generations 3 and 4
My mother – Generation 2
Me – Generation 1

My known relatives.

My records have 364 direct-line descendants identified over sixteen generations, which is 8% of my known Brown/Montran Ancestors.