Alsobrook

This interesting name with variant spelling Allsebrook, Alsebrook, Alseybrook, Olesbrooke, Holsebrook, Allsibrook is probably of English locational origin from one of the estimated seven to ten thousand villages and hamlets that have now disappeared from maps in Britain. The prime cause of these "disappearances" was the enforced "clearing" and dispersal of the former inhabitants to make way for sheep pastures at the height of the wool trade in the 14th Century. Natural causes such as the Black death of 1348, also contributed to the lost village phenomenon. The original place is believed to have situated in Derbyshire, as numerous recordings of the name are found here, especially in parish registers. The place name is composed of the elements "Aelle", an Old English personal name, plus the Old English element "brocc", brook or marshy ground, hence "Aelle's brook or marsh". Thus the origination of the name is pre 9th Century. The London Church Registers records the christening of one Margaret Alsebrooke at St. Giles Cripplegate on June 7th 1635, and the marraige of Hannah Allsobrook to Benjamin Stone at St. Leonard's, Shoreditch on November 19th 1860. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Awsibrooke married Grace Leison, which was dated May 24th 1597, at Church Broughton, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.