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 (6)

While all this heraldry stuff was being studied, my Jones family tree from the old Kentucky home, to the mouth of Red River [Madison/Clark/Estill counties joined along the Kentucky River] was also being accomplished.  It became evident that Virginia was the origin for my group of Jones, and there were a fair number of brick walls to be overcome.  It became apparent that Caroline Co. (VA) and Spotsylvania Co. (VA) [which had their roots in Essex Co., which had its roots in Old Rappahannock Co. (VA)] were the areas that grew most of my tree branches.  As time went along, the following book was found titled, you guest it... "Virginia Heraldica".

Originally published in 1908, it was reprinted by Southern Book Co. in 1953, reprinted again by Genealogical Publishing Co., 1965, and finally reprinted by Clearfield Company, Inc., 2000.  Since 1908 some folks were interested in this topic in Virginia.  Maybe there was more to this heraldry stuff yet to be discovered.  The story continues.

Heraldry Used In Tree Climbing (5)

Symbols and the tincture (base color) of the shield are the foundation to the "coat of arms".  Last post (4) described these topics for the arms that carried the surname JONES.  The next step was to see if the recorded families [for Jones] could be identified and located by counties.  The following tables show the results of this study by the symbols they presented in the last post. (4)

The surname Jones is listed by family groups from which the arms were identified in Burke.  The following figure continues the findings among the various symbols.

To show the geographic distribution among the counties represented, the following map was drawn.  Ireland, Wales, and central England gave the locations.

This was the distribution of the Jones families who were identified in Burke before 1870.  What a deal!

Heraldry Used In Tree Climbing (4)

My interest in understanding the use and implication of this field called Heraldry, lead to several more steps to analyze the Jones surname coat of arms.  The following two figures show the results of other steps taken to this process.  They are given just to show that additional information can be obtained.  Please recognize that I understand very few folks would be this interested in the steps and procedures shown, but they  are given to demonstrate the findings of my own tree climbing.

The next figure continues the analysis all done some years ago.

This analysis help me form some ideas as to where to look for the roots to many who came to carry the surname Jones.

Haplogroups

Brick walls come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and thickness.  Recently, the use of DNA analysis has produced all kinds of new brick walls.  Looking to your genetic past will often help give new directions for the family search, or solve some types of questions that have come to the forefront.

My own DNA analysis took some time to get to the lab, because I was worried that it might show that all my 50 some years of genealogy would be incorrect.  At any rate, the following table shows that there are a number of different genetic pathways that involves the surname JONES.

The figure begins with the year 2011.  It then shows the percent of each haplogroup that was found in those with the surname JONES and chose to have their Y-DNA analyzed.  Seventy-five percent of those were found to be in the R1b1 haplogroup. [n=275]  This was followed by a number of different haplogroups.  Eleven percent were those of Scandinavia decent, followed in decreasing order by E, G, J, R1a, and Q.

The most recent analysis [2016, n=257] suggest that a number of folks from several haplogroups are new to the JONES surname family tree.  Haplogroups B, N, and O were not present in the 2011 group.  There has been some changes in the percent of the various haplogroups which suggest that there are many other genetic groups that have connections to the JONES surname.  There has been a 14% decrease in R1b1 with an increase in I, G, J, and R1a haplogroups. 

All this to say that the origin of your Y-chromosome may show something amazing. Likewise, not all with the surname JONES have their roots in the same genetic family tree.

Two New Blogs

Brick walls come in all shapes and sizes as you climb out that family tree.  Those with a common surname like JONES will have all sorts.  Likewise, those who have a Welsh surname origin [like Jones] face another variety of brick walls once you reach a certain point in that tree climbing experience.  Two new blogs are being started with the purpose to provide a location to discuss all these themes and subject that might be of help.  One is titled: "Jones Surname Central".  The second is titled: "Welsh Surname Central".   Now I know that all tree climbers are not JONES or WELSH, but this combination offers many brick walls all their own.  The blog sites are :

       Jones Surname Central  at  tjgjscs.blogspot.com

       Welsh Surname Central  at tjgwsc.blogspot.com

If you share a few brick walls that need some thoughts, this may be the place to add your subject/topic at the comment section of each post [yet to come].  A place to share, discovery, and discuss these brick walls.

Networking : A New Blog

The JONES surname comes at you from all angles and many different places.  This new blog is presented to help those who share this surname, or have an interesting in exploring the branches of this vast family tree.  It is organized around many themes [subjects] that play an important role for the genealogist.  These are geography (g.), chronology (ch.), DNA (d.), key variables (k), individual researchers (i.), resources (r.), and coat of arms (a.). The blog can be found at http:// tjgnjg.blogspot.com.    Come join the networking...perhaps it will help with some of those brick walls.

Where To Look

Resources that aid genealogical research are everywhere.   Readings, references, and resources are to be part of the hunt, and can provide the tools for those brick walls.   For the surname JONES, the following is a wonderful resource for getting help in times of need.

Started by Mrs. Darla M. Jones, [Pialto, CA], in 1973, it consists of 19 volumes of reprints from this magazine.  Published quarterly, until 1992, it provides all sorts of information for the JONES surname.  Information from all states are contained.  Genealogist from all around provided their contributions to this newsletter.  The volumes are indexed. (Which helps a lot.)  There is no cumulative index, which means you have to examine each volume one by one.

Volume 19 ends 1991-1992.  The genealogical information for the JONES surname is contained within.  Where to look, a place it is.

[Note: All genealogical information needs confirmation and I have found some errors.  A complete set is located at the Joseph Wheeler Jones Memorial Library, Danville, KY.]

A Genealogy Bed And Breakfast

"We close in 5 minuets"...was often heard when I had just gotten everything lined up and ready to go.  "What ... you've got to be kidding me..." would flash through my head.  "I can't leave now...I've only just begun...", but what was a fellow to do?  I may never be able to come this way again, and I have just found what I needed.   How can one keep this from happening...over...and over...and over again.     A genealogy Bed & Breakfast was my answer.  You can come....research all night if needed...and keep going until you've climbed all the branches.   Wow, how does one go about setting up a Bed & Breakfast for the genealogist?

 Some ten years in the making, a Bed & Breakfast dedicated to the JONES surname exist.  It is called "The Golden Lion", named after my families' coat of arms.  It contains my personal research library on the JONES surname [some 52 years of research], a Jones Surname Museum, and all the time that is needed to break down some of those brick walls so common to the surname JONES.  A picture of the B&B is shown, along with information on how to contact us.  A "genealogy" Bed & Breakfast...who would have guessed.

Come...stay a while...we are not closing in five minutes.

BWP(35): Your Own Research - An Example

There often comes a time when things just seem to go nowhere. No helps, no records, no documents, no leads, and no direction to help get you around those brick walls. What is one to do?

At this point in my own tree climbing, I would begin to do my own research. What do I need to know? Where do I need to go? What questions can I try and answer for myself?

The following two figures represent such a research attempt. I wanted to know if those who shared the JONES surname were more likely to go to Oxford or Cambridge. If so, would there be an area of the county which they would more likely come. I wanted to try and bridge that part of colonial history which sent their sons to England for their "higher" education. I was hoping this would connect my Virginia JONES family back to an area of the "mother country".

These first figure shows that the JONES surname attended Oxford roughly 3 to 1. This would help me decided to go to Oxford first, looking for my "Richard Jones".



The second figure shows a map that outlines the counties from which those JONES originated. Blue for Oxford, and pink for Cambridge. Yellow showed those counties that had did not have a single JONES for the time period under study. I would at least know that the JONES surname would not come these counties.

This study also showed me that Wales seemed to send their boys to Oxford. The eastern counties seemed to send their boys to Cambridge.

This at least gave me some ideas as to where to start looking.