Study details

Study Variants are Toynbee, Toynby, Toinbee, Toinby, Toynbe

A study where research using core genealogical datasets and transcriptions is in its early stages.

About the study

It was no secret my paternal grandfather’s surname was actually his mother’s maiden name, and the identity of his father was unknown. Therefore further research of his paternal line was consigned to the bottom of the intray.

Then with the advent of DNA, my brother and I both sent off our tests, and months later we unexpectedly received a match. With our match’s help and a newly found newspaper article when my great-grandmother had taken the father to court in an attempt to seek financial support for her baby son. The newspaper revealed the name of the father, whereby we had now identified the biological father of my grandfather to be William Toynbee. They do say the clue is in the name and in this situation was proven to be the case.

My grandfather William Toynbee Jackson was born Aug 1899 in South Kyme, Lincolnshire, my great-grandmother Sarah Jackson was at the time a servant in the village. Here she met a farm labourer now known as William Toynbee, this relationship saw the birth of Grandad. Sarah registered my grandfather under her maiden name Jackson, hence we carry her surname. The research of the Toynbees has taken us on a new family journey, my autosomal DNA test, has revealed many matches to the Toynbee name not just in the UK but in Canada and the USA. To finally remove any doubts my brother has done the Big Y – DNA, and one 111 Toynbee match which has confirmed I am a direct descendant of the Toynbees from Lincolnshire.

Today, due to the surname issue the Toynbee line for us has technically died out despite Grandad having male descendants. 

The Surname

It is evident this surname is uncommon, failing to appear among the top 1000 surnames. This has led me to register the surname with the Guild of One Name Studies, as we work to discover the Toynbee surname journey.

Lincolnshire Links

My research has identified the surname is prevalent in Lincolnshire and my Toynbee’s descend from the Toynbee’s of Coleby, Lincolnshire. I previously mentioned I have traced direct descendants from my Lincolnshire Toynbee’s to Canada and the USA, and with whom I am now in touch. We are working together on building the Toynbee tree. and to ascertain if those who emigrated are linked back to Colbey, so far the evidence is proving that to be the case.

To date the Toynbee tree goes back to 1565 – to our 9th grandfather William Toynbee who was born in Waddington, Lincolnshire. Before the family moved to Coleby.

Data Collection

I am now in the process of collating the data and their sources on each person in the current tree which is growing regularly. I have begun the collection of parish registers and BMDs.

Variant names

The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, 2016 -The name derives from Tumby (Lincs) and is recorded as Tunnebi in 1209. The place-name derives from Old Scandinavian tún ‘enclosure’ + bý ‘farmstead village’.

Variants also include – Toinby, Tumby, Toynby, Toinbee, Toynbe.

Name origin

The surname can be located in areas of Lincolnshire including Coleby, Waddington, Heckington, Timberland, North Kyme, Billinghay, a lesser number in London, and Kent.

Canada -Prince Albert City, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada, Winnipeg, Canada

USA – Minnesota, Lafayette County, Mason City, Cerro Gordo, Iowa, USA, Coloma, Waushara County, Wisconsin.

Historical occurrences of the name

Following a DNA match with a 4th cousin in Canada, it has now been established my 2nd great uncle Charles Toinbee (Toynbee) b.1838 in Dorrington, Lincolnshire (the family settled in North Kyme, Lincolnshire) in 1854 along with his two brothers emigrated to Wisconsin, USA, they joined their maternal aunt and uncle Francis and Jane Weaver and settled in Lafayette County, Wisconsin, United States of America, Francis was a farmer.

Charles in 1861 joined the Confederates 13th Louisiana Regiment and saw action in the Civil War. It is not known if his brothers joined. After the war, Charles married and with their 2 sons moved to Mason City, Iowa, USA, Here he settled, remarrying after the death of his first wife. Charles died in 1910.

It transpired that in 1853 another Toynbee family – Charles Toynbee (b 1820) second cousins to Charles moved and settled in Coloma, Waushara County, Wisconsin, United States of America. I am now in touch with the descendants of Charles’s family in Iowa.

Charles Toinbee (b. 1838 Lincolnshire – d.1910 – Iowa, USA) note the surname variant, my Great Uncle x 2

I have since discovered another Lincolnshire family emigrated to New Jersey circa 1860.

A very distant relative – Joseph Toynbee (b.1815 in Heckington, Lincolnshire – d.1866 – London). Joseph Toynbee FRS was an English Otologist, whose career was dedicated to pathological and anatomical studies of the ear.

One of the most famous of the Toynbee surname is the historian Arnold J Toynbee  (1889-1975), whose best-known work is the 12-volume Study of History. Interestingly Arnold Toynbee was the grandfather of Mary Louisa “Polly” Toynbee a well-known journalist and writer today. That means we share a spoonful of DNA.

Name frequency

The name in 1881 was most prevalent in Lincolnshire.

In the 1881 census, there were 162 Toynbees and name variants living in England.

Distribution of the name

Lincolnshire, England 

London, Surrey, Essex, England

Iowa, USA

Winnipeg, Canada

Toronto, Canada

DNA

I have taken the autosomal test, and my brother has taken the YDNA test with FTDNA, we belong to the Toynbee name interest in FTDNA.

During the research two significant matches who are also direct Toynbee descendants located in Canada and the USA, we are now working on mapping all our DNA to ascertain more Toynbee descendants worldwide.

Previously all Toynbee matches came through autosomal tests, now we have updated the Big YDNA test we can be more specific about the Haplogroups. 

My brother’s YDNA Haplogroup to be – R-FT395523

These results have provided a single match on 111 Y Haplogroup R-YP609 to a Toynbee living in Canada, but originally from London, England

 4 matches on 67 markers / 6 steps – 2 matches with the Y Haplogroup R-YP609.

1 match with Y Haplogroup R-M198.

1 match with Y Haplogroup R-FTE72761.

Interest – if you are a Toynbee or related to the Toynbee’s we would love to hear from you.

Contact Details: Ms Linda J Jackson email address: jackocats2@gmail.com

For more information about the Guild of One-Name Studies, this is a direct link to their website: https://one-name.org/

You can find us on Facebook – Toynbee Facebook page – this is the direct link to the page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/toynbeeonename.org