Genealogy Apon Family
This website is an initiative of Johannes C Apon (Cees) and Paul Droog, aimed at serving as a central database for anyone interested in the genealogy of the original Dutch Apon family. The primary purposes of this site are to publish a comprehensive, reliable, and up-to-date family tree for future generations, and to facilitate international research on the Apon family. Additionally, the website aims to serve as a central hub for interested family members by providing information (while maintaining respect for privacy laws), collecting new information, and preserving the family’s history and heritage.
Contact information
Johannes C. Apon (Cees)
johannes.apon@gmail.com
The first known Apon household had Engebrecht Apon as the head of the family. He was baptized on the 3rd of September 1677 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Click the link to read our English article about Engebrecht and his family.
Today, we can also find family pedigrees in Indonesia, the United States, Canada, and other parts of the world. Our database contains more than 4,000 persons.
How to use this website?
To use this website, you can start by visiting our persona index page to search for family members. While most of the website is in Dutch, the different headings can be easily understood, or you can use Google Translate. Please note that, on our public website, we exclude living people and those with an unknown date of death (born less than 110 years ago) in accordance with privacy laws.
Additionally, our pedigree page visualizes the different sub-pedigrees of our family tree, with links to dedicated pages. For Apon “expats,” we have special pages available in English, including Sub-pedigree II.d.1 for Huibertus Apon (USA, “The Herberts”), Sub-pedigree II.d.2 for the USA Peekskill Clan, and Sub-pedigree II.d.3 for Dirk Cornelis Apon (Canada). Sub-pedigree III.a is dedicated to Johannes Arnoldus Apon (Indonesia).
If you have information about your own part of the family or are searching for information, you can send us an email. We can check for matches in our database and send you an overview of your ancestors. We are always grateful for any new information not currently in our database and are happy to answer any questions or translate Dutch information on our website. You can reach us at johannes.apon@gmail.com.
We welcome any Apon family members to reach out to us, and we are particularly searching for descendants/family of the following names:
- APON, Andrew James (1941-2006)
- APON, Arthur Wayne (1925-1995)
- APON, Christiaan Jacobus (1923/1924-1980)
- APON, Christiaan Wilhelm (Wallace) (1895-1965)
- APON, Christiaan Wilhelm (1908-1972)
- APON, Cornelis Dorotheus (1894-???)
- APON, Eugene Kenneth (1922-1977)
- APON, Gerrit Johannes (1906-1966)
- APON, Herbert (1920-1991)
- APON, Herbert (1944-1999)
- APON, Jan (John) (1901-1971)
- APON, Pieter Christian (1946-2009)
- APON, Robert Jack (1959-1999)
What’s the Origin of the Apon Family Name?
The rare Dutch Apon family name is not common, and even people in The Netherlands often misspell it, with the Dutch words for “Apple” and “Apes” being the most common mistakes. Rumors suggest the name may be French, originally “Hapon,” which became “Apon” through anglicization. An often-heard story is that the Apons may have been Huguenots who fled to the Netherlands in the 16th century. Jacobus Maria Apon, who conducted genealogical research in the 1960s and 1970s, dismissed the Huguenot myth after contacting Paris and finding no Apons in the French phone book.
A story also claims that the original name was “A Pont,” which means “at the bridge” in Dutch and that the “t” was lost during registration. Engelbrecht, the first known Apon, worked as a wine merchant in the early 18th century, and it is possible that the family was French or that their trade relations with France influenced their choice of name. The French word “taponneur” has no direct equivalent in Dutch or English. It refers to a profession mainly related to the French wine industry, where someone hammers wooden plugs into barrels to prevent leakage of the wine or other liquid. Similar professions in English are usually described as “cooper,” or “barrel maker.” The French word “appontement,” which means “landing place/pier,” could also have inspired the name, as the first Apon worked at or near the Port of Rotterdam.
A genuine family crest has not been found, but the family has been sold a false one, claiming that it belonged to an expert bridge builder from France.
The full Dutch article about the origin of our family name can be read here.
