English Roots

The Crabtree family originated in Yorkshire, England-the name coming from the fact that they lived by the crabtrees in the county of York. The earliest record from The Crabtrees of Southwest Virginia was of John Crabtree who lived in Yorkshire around the end of the 14th century; William Crabtree of Yorkshire, during the same time period; William Crabtree of the parish of Smithe, Yorkshire 1412; and a bit later, John Crabtree of Halifax, Yorshire.

All the Crabtree's are thought to have a common origin in the Crabtrees of Yorkshire. The Crabtree name can, with high degree of accuracy, be traced back to 14th century England. At about that time the use of surnames became popular. As far as we know, the Family Crabtree started in only one place, a village in Yorkshire. It seems that this large family group was centered about one large Crabapple Tree ('Crabtree Tule River Patriarchs, Marilyn Meredith, 1984, Golden West Publishers' )

The first known record of a Crabtree coming to America was in 1622 in Massachusetts. The record of these Crabtrees vanished until some Crabtrees appeared in Philadelphia and then moved on to Baltimore and then Virginia.

The Rhoden Family originated in both Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Early imigration records reveal that John Rhode settled in Viriniga in 1709 as did Phillip Rhode. From there our family migrated to Kentucky and then Ohio.