Magnorum haud umquam indignus avorum - Vergil

reetings! This is a web site for Alefounder genealogical research. I estimate that there are about 130 individuals with this surname throughout the world, mainly in England but with a few in America, Canada, New Zealand and (as far as I am aware) one in Australia. My guess (and that is all it is) is that the name in all its various spellings has been used by fewer than 2500 people since hereditary surnames came into general use in England in the last quarter of the twelfth century.

Here you can find:

• What is known of the origin of the name
• The largest of the family trees that I have assembled:
  • Dedham, Essex
    • pedigree
    • notes about some of the people mentioned
    • a photograph of the brass in East Bergholt church marking the burial place of Robert Alfounder (ca.1589-1639)
    • photographs of memorial inscriptions at Thurcaston
    • The earliest known published work by an Alefounder
    • a page about Thomas Alefounder and son, mapmakers
  • Faversham, Kent
    • pedigree — with links to the Roper and Finch families of Kent, the Lindley and Knowles families of Nottinghamshire, Brooks family of Combe Martin, Devon and the USA, Dines of Bristol and Liverpool, Clare, Rosbotham and Swift in Ormskirk, Lancashire, and the Kingsnorth family of Faversham. There is DNA evidence to support part of the Lindley and Brooks family trees.
    • notes (general)
    • notes for the Finch family (mediæval period)
  • Colchester, Essex
    • pedigree
    • an account of the life and work of the most famous member of the family, the artist John Alefounder (1757-1794)
    • notes about some other family members
  • Great Waltham, Essex
    • pedigree
    • notes
  • Suffolk: mainly Cavendish, Stoke by Clare and Stanstead, with connections to the Lambeth area of London.
    • pedigree, with links to associated Petts, Turner, Grey, Lawrence, Sharpe, Ward and Crawford & Hall families.
    • Notes, including photographs of some members of the family
    • Photographs of Turner family members, children and grandchildren of Amelia Turner née Alefounder
  • Shoreditch, London:
    • pedigree
    • Notes
  • Burnham, Essex:
    • pedigree
    • Notes
• A few Alefounder individuals not attached to a family tree
• The coat of arms
• An index of "other names" in Alefounder marriages
• A list of wills and administrations by or concerning an Alefounder, plus links to some transcripts.
• An index of people mentioned in those wills and administrations.
• Information extracted from manorial records, with an index to those named.
• Alefounder on the Map Topographic references to the name.
• Use of Alefounder as a forename
• Explanations of various terms used in manorial and other records, including sections on land and its measurement and Latin words of uncertain meaning.
• Alefounder in Poetry and Prose Literary and fictional uses of the name.

Alefounder entries from the GRO index have been sent to FreeBMD

vitoð ér enn, eða hvat? - Elder Edda

I have much more information than I have had time to put on this web site. If you would like to know more, please send an email to me at the address below:

I would like to acknowledge with thanks the help of all those who have sent me information about their own Alefounder ancestors. I give particular thanks to the late George Kearney who made substantial contributions to the one-name study as a whole.

I am a member of the and the Essex Society for Family History.

Personal
Alefounder group (for anyone with an interest in the surname)

Non quam multis placeas,

sed qualibus stude - Publilius Syris

Last updated 7th February 2024 by Peter Alefounder Web site started June 1998, moved to Rootsweb March 2002, and to Neocities December 2017