The Mapleys and Mableys worldwide originated in England, with two identifed clusters.
A Norman-based cluster of Mapleys descended from William the Conqueror and successors, establishing a predominant
presence, farming in middle England, around Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Lace was made in these
Eastern Counties from the 1500's, and still remains a flax growing area - as a result we see many Mapley women engaged in the lace-making industry.
The Mapley population grew in this area during the Middle Ages, moving slowly closer to London, along trade routes
based on the old Roman Roads such as Watling Street. The advent of the UK railways, the
oldest railway system in the world, led to expansion hand-in-hand with the Industrial Revolution and the demand for
bulk materials, coal, iron and later steel. Many Mapley became skilled artisans, working on the railways with wood
and metal. These skilled Mapleys then spread throughout the UK as the railway network expanded.
The Mableys, however, seemed to derive from Brittany and northern France, becoming established in Cornwall, predominantly
around St Minver. Given the local economies of farming, sea-faring and mining, the advent of commonwealth mining opportunities -
"gold rushes", together with improved sailing and depleted local mines, gave rise to Mabley emigration to USA and Canada in the
19th Century, as well as spreading to South Wales (mining) and the shipping industry around Bristol. When France ceded
Canada to England in 1763, and the American Revolution in 1776 resulted in independence, the availability of cheap
land within the British colony of Canada gave rise to the "Great Migration" between 1815 and 1850 once the War of
1812 had ended. Canada is predominantly populated by Mableys, many farmers from large Cornwall acreages, who spread west
as the railways opened up the prairies before they helped to establish the mining communities of Alberta.
Economic developments were the engine of migration - end of the Napoleonic wars and the industrial & agricultural revolutions
gave rise to high unemployment in the countryside and migrations to cities for work in the new factories. Corn laws raised
the prices of bread, and the advent of steamships and much shortened sailing times, after the end of the War of 1812, attracted
many English to North America, including soldiers who remained after the war. With the Corn laws pushing up the price of food,
Richard Mapley of Great Linford was tried and shipped to Tasmania, Australia in 1844 for
stealing food. After he was pardoned, he was joined by his wife and family 4
years later, and a whole new branch of Mapleys was established in Australia.
Richard's cousin William, however, of neighbouring Little Linford, ventured west, and his family settled
in New York state and Michigan State in the 1860's and remain there to this day.
© Copyright David Mapley