This article was written  by Dee Appleby,  for publication in the April 1988

                                 issue of  The Appleby Newsletter.  Research included a personal visit  with

                                George Bradford Appleby, living in Chandler, Arizona.   Included in the visit

                                were George's sister, Pauline Dobson; his sister-in-law, Dorothy (Loomis)

                                Appleby, widow of Barney William Appleby; and Maecel, his former daughter-in-law.

    "Winter is still zinging some parts of the country at this time of year,  but summer has come early to the   

 South-West, and George Bradford Appleby has already left for his summer home in the mountains.  George

 celebrated his ninety-first birthday last November and he long ago chose fishing the trout streams and lakes

 in the cool Arizona pine country, to remaining in the desert region when the Arizona Sun turns it's

 thermostat up to 110 degrees-plus.

     In 1913, a year after Statehood, Mesa, Arizona and it's neighbor, Chandler, were ver small settlements a

 few miles SE of Phoenix, itself not much of a town in those days.  In that year, because of health reasons, 

 George's father brought his family to Mesa from their previous home in Noble, Oklahoma.  After a brief 

 period of time, probably during the first summer, he decided it was just too hot and the family moved to Texas.  

 They farmed near San Antonio until a drought caused them to reconsider and give Arizona another chance.  

 This time, in 1917, they chose farm land in the vicinity of Chandler, and here they stayed....George Lee and 

 Emma Appleby and their three children, George Bradford, Barney William and Pauline Elizabeth Appleby.  

 Another son had died at the age of five years.

     They were true Arizona pioneers, and this staunch quality of character is quite possibly an inherent one. 

 For, as George Lee Appleby moved further West with his family, hadn't his own father, George Barnett 

 (Barney) Appleby, participated in the Oklahoma Land Run, and hadn't his own grandfather, Hezekiah 

 Appleby, been one of the first settlers in Washington County, Arkansas, and hadn't his own great-great-

 grandfather, William Appleby, come to America before the Revolutionary War and helped in proclaiming 

 this country's Independence; then, leaving Pennsylvania helped to open the new Southern frontiers in 

 Georgia and Tennessee?

      Hezekiah Appleby was born 22 June 1798 in Georgia.  He was a grandson of William and Elizabeth

  (McKeehan) Appleby.  He married Margaret Herron on 2 December 1819.  Their children were: Joseph N.,

  born ca. 1824-5, John Tate, born ca. 1826, Andrew Thomas, ca. born 1829, Mary Ann (Manervy) born ca. 

 1831, James Barnett (Barney), born 2 March 1834, and Margaret, born ca. 1836.  There may have been two 

  other children, who died young.

      No one seems to know for certain of whatever happened to Hezekiah Appleby.  It is said, "during the Civil

 War, with their lives endangered by Federal troops in the Fayetteville, Arkansas area, Hezekiah and a 

 neighbor loaded freight wagons with tools and household goods and set out for Waco, McLennon County, 

 Texas.  On the way, both men became ill with typhoid fever and died, but it is not known where this happened 

or if they  were buried in Arkansas or Texas.

      Three of Hezehiah's children, Andrew, John and Margaret are buried in Mount Comfort Cemetery, 

Washington County, Arkansas.  James Barnett (Barney) Appleby  died at his son's home in Noble Oklahoma, 

but was buried near his own farm in Tuttle, Oklahoma.  Barney was born 2 March 1834, in Washington County, 

 Arkansas.  He and Emilie (Emma) Newblack, were married 17 June 1895 in Tecumsah, Oklahoma.  Emilie lived 

until the age of 93, and George Lee until the age of 97.  They are buried the Mesa Cemetery, Mesa, Arizona.

      George Bradford Appleby married Elizabeth Rogers in 1922, in Glendale, Arizona.  Elizabeth died in 1982. 

 They had five children, David Robert, Lucille Ruth, Mary Ella, Georgia Lee and Elizabeth.  George's sister, 

 Pauline E., (Mrs. Roy Dobson and his sister-in-law, Dorothy (Loomis Appleby, both live nearby.  His brother, 

 Barney William died a few years ago.   Maecel Appleby keeps house for her father-in-law.

     A daughter of William Hezekiah Appleby, Alta, lives in Oklahoma City.  she is age 90 and last summer  

  visited her cousin, George Bradford Appleby, at his summer home in Overgaard, Arizona.  Neither of them 

 had  ever heard of their ancestor, Hezekiah Appleby, but that does not seem as important as knowing there 

 were hungry fish in the trout stream, just waiting for a fish-hook.

 End of article.

 Addendum:  Other items of interest, that did not appear in the above article.  One:  In a phone conversation with

 Dorothy (Loomis) Appleby, she said her husband, Barney William, was adamant that his given name was

 Barney,  never Barnett, like his father's middle name.   Two: George Bradford, in discussing the death and 

 burial of his grandfather, James Barnett,  said his father, George Lee,  placed James Barnett, at his death,  in the 

back of a farm wagon and drove it several miles to the Tuttle Cemetery.  Three: At a later date, George Bradford Appleby 

said that he did know of his grandfather, Hezekiah,  but he doesn't remember any  details ever being discussed 

within his family.

Points of  interest during conversation: It is quite probable at some time, Hezekiah's burial site was known,  by the 

same persons that knew he had died of an illness.   

George Bradford Appleby, died 26 February 1991, Mesa, Maricopa County, Arizona.  Pauline (Appleby) Dobson, died

15 January 1997.