Richard Jones (JS-165) To Virginia 1649

Richard Jones (JS-165) was the first of my JONES family to move across the great pond, never to return to the Island.  The move was not his first choice, since he was part of that group forced to leave England after the close of the English Civil War. [ It seems that the family always managed to come down on the wrong side of the fence!]

He is recorded in Gray's Inn Admissions, p.116, folio 609, 1608 as "one of sons of Thomas Jones, of Llanvayer, Co. Denbigh".  [Thomas Jones (JR-180)]  Of course there is a great deal of history to this time in the family tree, and it took a good bit of tree climbing to put things all together.

It was the 13th of March, 1649 that he arrived to the shores of Virginia.  The story is yet to be told.

Thomas Jones (JR-180)

Thomas Jones (JR-180) of Llanfair is next in line among the leaves of this JONES surname family tree.

As you might expect, being number JR-180 means that there were 179 other folks examined before this Thomas was identified as the next branch! 

It was St. Asaph, created 1143 AD, that helped me get around this brick wall.  It seems that many family members were involved from the earliest days, including Llewelyn ap Ynyr (Leolinus de Bromfied) 1293 AD,  Davydd ap Bleddyn (Bletliyn) 1314 AD, John Trevor (I) 1352 AD, and John Trevor (II) 1395 AD. 

It was John Hanmer (Bishop of St. Asaph) 1576, and my Thomas Jones (JR-180) Chancellor of St. Asaph 1576, who made the connections to this branch come alive.  There is much recorded in my research notebooks that document this period of my JONES surname family tree.

Richard Jones (JQ-95) The First JONES

Richard ap John = Richard Jones, the first of my Welsh descent to take the surname JONES. 

His code number is JQ-95, which means it took me quite a while to get to this connecting point.  In  Chancery Proceeding (series II), Vol. I, AD 1558-1579, Bundle 104/ no. 165, is the document which identifies this Richard as being of "Llanfair".  Llanfiar - Dyffryn Clwyd is the place of  Llyn-onn where the JONES side of the family would come to reside.  Making this "bridge" connection was one of the most difficult branches to my tree climbing.  What a deal! 

JOHN (JP-1) The Jones Surname Bridge

John (JP-1) ap Robert (JO-1) is the next in line among the branches of my JONES family tree.  To become a JONES one must have a JOHN among the branches.  It was this JOHN (JP-1) of Llynn-Onn who was the one for my family.  His wife was Jane Almer (JP-1) who has a distinct family tree of her own.

It was during the period that Wales was placed completely under the laws of England (Act of Union, 1536 and additions of 1542) that the Welsh naming system [ name "ap" name "ap" name "ap", etc.] was truncated to the English "surname" system [first name then surname].  It was a matter of what the English "ear" heard when a Welshmen gave his "name ap JOHN" that was to become the surname JONES.

Robert (JO-1)

Robert ap Edward also married a Margaret.  She was Margaret Eyton (JO-2) of Rhuabon, Co. Denbigh.  He is given as "of Llywn-Onn" and continues the family story of balancing the fence along the border land between Wales and those folks from the other side of the Island.

The following figure tries to shown the border established by the Anglo-Saxons some time in the early 700s.  The first fence was called Wat's Dyke which in the Anglo-Saxon means "guard dyke".  It was followed by Offa's Dyke some years later, and became the flash point for more many struggles.  It was along this border that my family live for many generations.

North to south, east to west, the family survived riding the fence.

Edward (JN-1)

Edward ap Howel would be the next in line.  He is identified as "of Llwyn-Onn", and his wife is Margaret Wyle of Bersham.

Bersham was a border area along Wat's Dyke.  Llwyn-Onn of Llanfair was to the west, and Llywn-Onn of Wrexham was to the east.  It must have been along these roads that the family managed to survive both the Anglo-Saxon colonization, and the gradual Norman annexation.

The above figure shows the time analysis for these generations, Howel (JM-1) and Edward (JN-1).  Both the wives were named Margaret, and this name becomes the most common name among my JONES family tree.

Howel (JM-1)

Howel of Llwyn-Onn is the next generation.

His wife is recorded in Nicholas (p.355) as Margaret of Pengwern.  The name "Pengwern" must have been taken from the "capital" [family seat] of the Cornovii, for in Davis [A History of Wales pp.63-65] he discusses this term in the territory of the Cornovii.  Some feel this was originally located at present Shrewsbury, but it is a Welsh name given to several sites. [See A Gazetteer of Welsh Place-Names, p.93]  At any rate, Margaret seems to be from the same lineage of Tudor Trevor, who settles in the Welsh kingdom of Powys.  Powys was formed from the territory of Cornovii.  How about that for "internal consistency" in the old tree climbing experience.