Family tree, individuals and histories

The Sun Inn, Bilsdale

The Ainsley ancestral family is huge! My Ainsley family hails from Bilsdale in the North York Moors, England, and my particular branch is the descendants of Stephen and Charity Ainsley who farmed in Bilsdale in the late nineteenth century.

The Ainsley family in Bilsdale has many branches which have been extensively researched by William Cyril Ainsley, with significant input from Peter Brown (who started his research in 1947) and Joyce Mitchell. With the kind permission of Mary Smith, William Cyril Ainsley's daughter, his Bilsdale Family Tree is also included on the website.

In general, information about younger members of the Ainsley family will not be published.

While researching the local family connections in Bilsdale I naturally visited the Sun Inn where for the very first time I met William George Ainsley - a lovely man, married to Margery (Madge), a kind and lovely woman. He ran the farm and was the last in a long line of William Ainsleys to be landlord of the Sun Inn, which is still going strong with new tenants. William showed me his copy of Cyril's Family Tree and I made arrangements to return in order to make my own copy. During that second visit (when with true Yorkshire hospitality they offered me dinner, complete with Yorkshire puds of course) I spent several hours copying the tree. I also later established contact with William Cyril Ainsley.