Still Here

For 2018, things have been interesting.  This is just a note to let those who read this blog..."Still Here".   If anyone has a brickwall that keeps one up at night, please post a note in the comment section below.  Would be glad to discuss this topic with those who might have an interest.  If anyone has had their own success climbing their brickwall, please let me know by making a comment.  Perhaps this information would help someone else.

The following headstones show the results of my own brickwall demolition.  It took roughly 20 years of three climbing before these family markers were discovered in a long lost and forgotten family cemetery.   I was first told of "W.C." by my grandmother at age nine.  For these stories one can go to https://thejonesgenealogist.blogspot.com.

Heraldry Used In Tree Climbing (12)

From Kentucky, to Virginia, then to London, and now to Wales.  Had not thought about Wales, and knew very little about this part of the world.  What in the world... became... where in the world.  Burke had provided a good deal of information about the Jones surname, and the particular arms that had become my lead.  The following text became the next source of information.

This reference became my guide book to Wales, and directed my search into the arms: "Per bend sinister ermine and ermines, a lion rampant or a bordure engrailed of the last".

It was a fairly slow process, and to give you some idea of the tree climbing involved, the following page in this text is shown.

You can see that a lot of marking and underlining took place among the pages, but a completed family tree is to be found around every curve.  "per bend sinister, ermine and ermines, a lion rampant or" is given among these branches leading from a fellow named Tudor Trevor.  A   "bordure engrailed" was not included, and this became another issue among all this heraldry stuff.  What was the JONES surname doing in Wales anyway.  Little did I know.

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There was a fair amount of research under the bridge before all this heraldry stuff could be sorted out.  Cadwallader Jones became the focus, and he ended up the bridge to that place across the great pond. [ This research can be found at https://cadwalladerjones.blogspot.com which is still in progress!]  At any rate, the arms "Per bend sinister ermine and ermines, a lion rampant or a bordure engrailed of the last" became the direction of search into the great amount of literature pertaining to heraldry.  The following reference was one such item:

Whew, pretty heavy stuff I thought.  The father of Cadwallader was a Richard Jones described as "...of St. Clement, Eastcheap, but died in Virginia...".  This was of course located in London, and on page 140 of the above reference it stated :

 "Jones, Roger, als Jenkens, of London, descended from the house of Trevor in Wales : parti per bend sinister ermine and erminois, a lyon rampt. or, a crescent for diff. with 4 quarterings, 3 June, 9 Jac., 1611, by Segar...."

Wow...a Jones in London around the same time of Richard who carried the arms given for Cadwallader.   Could this be a connection?

On the same page of the reference, another Jones was listed:

"Jones, Edward, of Lansayre, Dyffryn Clwyd, co. Denbigh, confirmed by R. St. George, Norr.....(descended from the family of Trevor of C. in said co....Quarterly: 1 and 4, parted per bend sinister ermine and ermines and a lyon rampant within a bordure engrailded..."  Hum...from London to Wales it was.  House of Trevor it was...not knowing what this meant.   A place called Lansayre, Dyffryn Clwyd it was.  More branches to climb it was.

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It did not take long to realize the counties in Virginia presented their own set of problems.  Caroline Co. was formed 1728 which was some 34 years before my Nicholas Jones was born.  His Revolutionary War service record stated that his father's name was Griffin Jones, thus it would seem likely that Griffin occupied this area when Nicholas was born.   Asking who was the first JONES to be settled in this area, I needed to understand the chronology of this county.  The following figure presents these findings.

Say what!  Where to begin?  The geography of Caroline Co. was next, and it was found that it lay along a river called the Rappahannock a far piece up stream from its mouth.  A text by T.E. Campbell described its history and gave the dates of the earliest settlements to this area.  In 1673, the first JONES was a Cadwallader Jones with 1443 acres on the south side and "in the freshes" of Rappahannock River.  Hum...seems like this name was uncovered before.  Lets see...on page 51 of  Virginia Heraldica [discussed in a previous post] there appeared this unusual name "Cadwallader" and gave the following arms connected:

     "Per bend sinister ermine and ermines, a lion rampant or a bordure engrailed of the last"

A "lion rampant" indeed it recorded.  Had not seen such an unusual name as this, but this arms was found in Burke. [See several previous post that describe the symbols used among the surname JONES.]  Who was this Cadwallader Jones, and was he the beginning of my family in what was to become Caroline County.

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Having a JONES family from my own hometown publishing a book containing a well documented account of a "Captain Roger Jones" from Virginia and London, as well as picturing a "coat of arms" attributed to this individual...could it be...my own family?  However, some difficulties appeared.  First, the arms were supposed to be used by old Roger before his arrival to Virginia prior to 1700.  As described in previous posts, the total Jones arms given by Burke (1840 edition) did not contain a family with three heads chopped off at he neck.  If indeed this Roger Jones used this arms, it should have been contained in Burke.  Next, it was discovered that a Nicholas Jones proved to be the first of my family to have arrived in Kentucky. [No Nicholas found in this Roger Jones group]  A Revolutionary War Service Record S16169 recorded that my Nicholas was born in Caroline Co., VA November 14, 1762.  A pension application taken July 26, 1832 provided one of my most favored family heirlooms...his signature...

Now Caroline Co., VA was to become the center of my genealogical attention.  Who were the ancestors of my Nicholas prior to 1762?  Could using a coat of arms help here?  From Kentucky to Virginia...a link had been made.

Heraldry Used in Tree Climbing (8)

By the mid to late 1980's, several topics regarding the Jones surname and coat of arms came into focus.  First, as a surname, there were more than 100 Jones families that had a "coat of arms" registered in Burke by the 1840's. [post of 6 November (1)]  Second, a fair number of references were available to help understand the basics of  "Armorial Bearings", and a general understanding of this topic could be achieved. [post of 28 December (2)]  Third, there seemed to be a clustering of symbols among these arms with 45% having some form of the "lion".  Various other symbols appeared being on the most part less than 10% for each symbol.  [post of 1 February (3)]  Four, beside the symbols, there were a number of ""tinctures" (base colors) scattered about these shields with the color "gold" being the most frequent (37%). [post of 2 March (4)]  Five, the geographic location of these Jones families could be outlined showing the counties of England, Wales, and Ireland that contained these arms.  [post of 26 March (5)]  Six, on this side of the great pond, an attempt to identify those families who were "Entitled to Coat Armor" had been published from those in Virginia where my own Jones family arrived in 1649. [post of 27 April (6)]  Finally...seven, a Jones family from my own home town published in 1891, an account of "Captain Roger Jones" that contained a coat of arms dating back to London. [post of 14 May (7)]

Wow...line 'um up!  Beside the Roger Jones listed above, Virginia Heraldica contained only three other Jones families "Entitled to Coat Armor" :  1) Jones. Sussex county...Ermine three lions , 2) Jones. Frederick county...Argent, a lion rampant vert, vulned in the breast gules , and 3) Jones. Prince George county... Per Bend sinister ermine and ermines, a lion rampant or a bordure engrailed of the last.  On to Virginia it is.

Heraldry Used in Tree Climbing (7)

Early on in my various tree climbing experiences... beside family stories... local resources play a dominate role.  The "court house" and local "public library" were often explored.  During one visit to the library the following reference was discovered:

Wow...I thought, a JONES family from my very own home town, written by a fellow JONES from my very own town, about a family being from "London and Virginia".  Could this be my JONES family?  Now "Roger" was not a first name that had been used among my family tree, but a "Captain"...hey I liked that.  Also, there were lots of other family surnames that seemed a bit foreign to my own tree branches.  The word "Descendants" was understood, but... antecedents?  Then I opened the book and...

On my...a coat of arms came with this family.  What a discovery it was believed.  Got to find out more about this fellow from Virginia and London.  Thank you Judge Lewis Hampton Jones who published this book in 1891... lead away.