KISBY / KESBY / KISBEE / KEASBY SURNAME ORIGINS

Kisby, Kesby: Ralph de Kisebi 1205 Cur (L).
From Keisby (Lincs).
(A DICTIONARY OF BRITISH SURNAMES by P.H.Reaney, Routledge and Kegan Paul (1958))

Kisbee, Kisbey, Kisby.-
Local; v. Keasbey.
(A DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH AND WELSH SURNAMES by C.W.Bardsley, Henry Frowde OUP Warehouse (1901))

KEISBY a small hamlet in the parish of Ingoldsby, Lincolnshire, England.

Keisby
Li [Chisebi DB, Hy 2 DC, Kisebi Hy 2 DC, 1202 Ass] 'Kisi's BY'. ON Kisi, lit. 'cat', occurs as a byname.
(THE CONCISE OXFORD DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH PLACE-NAMES by E.K.WALL (1936))

Ass DB DC

= = =

Assize Rolls Domesday Book (1086) Danelaw Charters

Hy 2 Li ON

= = =

King Henry II of England (1154-1189) Lincolnshire, England Old Norse

NB. this would possibly explain why there appear to be significantly greater number of Kisby's in Cambridgeshire and the east of England. My own ancestors lived exclusively in the Whittlesey area of Cambridgeshire during the C19th, which is less than 30 miles south from Keisby. Spelling was not standard before the C19th and, during my searches through Cambridgeshire parish registers I have come across variants of Kisby including Kizby, Kisbee, Kisbey, Kisbye, Kisbie and Kysbie. The surname Gisby is also a possible variant considering that the 'G' could be pronounced 'K' in Latin texts.

Last updated 00.45am GMT 8 January 2001

KISBY'S OF COATES

During the C19th my Kisby ancestors lived almost exclusively within a few miles of the village of Coates, Cambridgeshire, England. Coates is 3 miles east of Whittlesey, a fenland market town. Coates and Whittlesey are only 30 miles from the Lincolnshire hamlet of Keisby.

CHARLES KISBY (c.1773 - 1829) and Sarah BAINES (c.1785 - 1864)
Charles was a labourer. He married Sarah in 1809 and they bought up their family in Southbank, near Coates. Charles was buried age 56 at Whittlesey St Andrew's church (Coates did not get its own church until 1850). Sarah moved to Whittlesey and died in poverty.

• John Kisby, 1810 - 81 (see below)
• Charles Kisby b.1812, married Maria BASS
• William Kisby, 1813 - 97, a farmer, fathered 11 children with Ann LINDSEY
• Sarah Kisby b.1815
• Jane Kisby b.1817
• Mary Kisby, died 1830 age 7
• Baines Kisby, died age 30, a railway labourer
• Richard Kisby, 1829 - 1905, a labourer, married Ann WHITWELL

• John Kisby, 1840 - 1853
• James Kisby, 1843 - 1916, a farmer, married Susan FITZJOHN
• Levi Kisby, 1844 - 1914 (see below)
• Alice Kisby, b.1847
• Alice Kisby, 1848 - 1920, married James SEARLE
• Charles Kisby, 1851 - 1902, and agricultural labourer, married Jemima FENN

• John Kisby, 1868 - 1940, a railway employee, moved to Yorkshire and married Zillah WRIGHT
• William Batson ('Bat') Kisby, b.1870, a labourer, married Mary WORLEY
• Charles Kisby, 1872 - 1955. A railway guard, he broke the link with Coates when he moved to Leeds, Yorks. and married Ada HALL in 1899. Charles is my great-grandfather.
• Mary Ann ('Annie') Kisby, 1874 - 1966, married a farmer, John GOODY and died at a ripe age in Coates.
• Levi Kisby, b.1875
• Elizabeth Ann Kisby, died age 8 mths 1878
• Emily Kisby, died age 3 mths 1879
• Walter James Kisby, 1882 - 1955