Joan Applebee

   Another name for Joan was Joan Appleby.

  General Notes:

It has to be said that this village, as did so many others, had its share of what may be termed "problem families". The Appleby family was one of these and their time in the village spanned most of the eighteenth century. The first to be heard of the Applebys in North Waltham, is in 1700, when William and Sarah Appleby had their baby daughter baptised. (Again the baby, Sarah, was given the same name as her mother). There are no indications as to where the Applebys came from, but William and Sarah, were, for whatever reason, living in North Waltham. Between 1702 and 1708, they had a further four children, one of whom, also a William, died in infancy. In 1712, Sarah died, leaving her husband with a young family to care for, but a year later, William married again. This time his wife was called Mary and they produced four children between 1717 and 1726.
Their second child, Robert, who was born in 1719 married Ann Saunders when he was 26. She was expecting a baby at the time and a few months later, Ann gave birth to a daughter who they also called Ann. Robert and his wife had five children over the next ten years but In 1759, Robert was widowed. In 1762 he remarried, another Ann, Ann Martin however, it seem that no children were born of this union.
The youngest but one child of Robert and his first wife was called Joan and her name crops up in a number of parish records. In March, 1773, Joan was paid 4/= for picking 12 loads of stone at 4d per load. On May 1st, 1774, when she was a couple of months pregnant, the banns were called for her marriage to William Waite who was described as a "Blacksmith, resident in North Waltham". The marriage, however, did not take place. Maybe she was jilted or perhaps some tragedy befell William, but on January 1st, 1775 the baptismal record states:
"Appleby, Elizabeth, base born daughter of Joan Appleby and William Waite."
Little Elizabeth Appleby was kept "by the parish" for the next fifteen years, during which time Joan was given 4/= a month for her daughter's keep as well as being provided with shoes, clothes, material and coal at various times.
In November 1777, the Banns were called between Joan Appleby and Thomas Horsell. Interestingly, Thomas was not without a little education as he was able to sign his own name in the marriage register. It would be nice to think that Joan settled down to a life of domestic bliss with the three children they had together. However, Thomas had a brush with the law in some way as in 1780, the Overseers of the Poor had to make a payment for a justices order. No more entries appear in North Waltham's records for the Horsells so presumably they moved away.
Other payments for the Appleby family were also made from parish funds. Ann Appleby, Robert's second wife (Robert died in 1773), must have spent her widowhood in failing health and been very poor. Shortly after her husband's death, Ann received a "shift" (possibly a night-dress) and money and between 1775 and her death at the end of 1776. Widow Phillips and Dame Lock were paid to look after her. Members of the Appleby family continued to live in North Waitham, but through the female line which are less easy to trace because of changes to their surnames. However, of Joan's brothers and sisters, her brother, (another Robert), died as an infant, her eldest sister, Anne, died at the age of fourteen, Amy married a man from Dummer and Elizabeth married a prosperous North Waltham blacksmith. As for the fate of William Waite, Joan's first love, nothing further is known of him from the records of this parish

Joan married William Waite.

Joan next married Thomas Horsell, son of John Horsell and Mary, on 10 Nov 1777 in North Waltham, Hampshire, England. (Thomas Horsell was born on 14 Apr 1753 and was christened on 30 Apr 1753 in Old Church, Saint Pancras, London, England.)