About this site
This site is in the process of becoming a detailed family tree for the Sleep family, UK.
So far, our earliest known ancestor is Henry Sleepe, b.1655 at St Columb Minor. Until the late 1780's most of this branch of the family lived, married and died in Cornwall (St. Columb Minor near Newquay, later Altarnun, St Breward and Callington on the edge of Bodmin Moor). From the 1800's Plymouth, in Devon, was home to the Sleeps. Some emigrated to the USA although I have not yet added what is known about them. Our current generations live in and around London and the South coast.
Based mainly on research done by my dad, Russell Bernard Sleep (1915-88), because nobody can read his handwriting, with additional information from Gerry Taylor, myself and others. Now all that needs to happen is a lot of paper notes need to be transposed to here. That is ongoing...
Incidentally, some of the names of earlier Sleeps may appear mis-spelled, eg Georg, Gartrude and Daniell. These are not typos, but reflect marginal literacy, or phonetic variations in 17th and 18th century English, in Cornwall. Sleep appears to have been spelled Sleepe in 1655, but elsewhere I've also seen Sleap, Slepe.
The origin of the family name is unclear. One family theory has it that we have French Hugenot ancestors, around 50,000 of whom fled Catholic persecution in France c.1680. Plymouth was a destination for many, and there are still more Sleeps in Plymouth than anywhere else in UK. Back in the 1970's when we had proper phone directories I counted 7 pages of 'em. However Henry Sleepe was born in Cornwall some 25 years before the Hugenot diaspora arrived, so this seems implausible. No name resembling Sleep appears in the Hugenot records I have found.
A John Sleep (under John, Earl of Huntingdon), and three Slepes (under Neville Thomas, Lord Furnival) participated in the Hundred Years War of 1336-1453 according to official records, so the name was in use much earlier, although I have no idea whether there is any bloodline connection.
In Anglo Saxon 'Sleep' was Slēp or Slǣp. The name may have earlier Saxon origins as Slêpe. My dad once remarked that he believed this was Saxon for 'arrow'. My own research suggests it rather less glamorously meant 'a muddy place or midden', and in Saxon times many surnames derived from places of habitation. Most likely, we are the children of the muck. Perhaps that is why so many Sleeps were miners and farmers.
Site access
For privacy reasons there is no public access to records for living descendants, nor for those who died since 1990 or born after 1930. If you have a legitimate family or research interest and want full access, please contact me through the registration form. You will need to supply a user name and password that you wish to use. Please explain who you are and what you are looking for. For approved members export and download in standard GEDcom file format is possible from this site, if you wish to add our Sleep family history to your own. I encourage this, and hope other branches of the family will collaborate. I will review your application as soon as possible, and add appropriate privileges to your account.
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