Friday, August 29, 2014

Cumberland

Another English county with "zero" for JONES.  Cumberland it is.   A previous post outline four counties that did not contain a legal case with the surname JONES between 1400 - 1700 AD.  Having looked through my research on this topic [RN # 91], I discovered that Cumberland County had been missed in the previous post of 7/21/14.  So here it is.

Cumberland Co. is also among the northern most counties.  Durham, Derby, and Nottingham share some things in common with their legal history.  The Danes maintained what became known as "Dane Law".  The following map is my attempt to show the general distribution of these areas.

It is my hypothesis that this Danish/Norwegian influence limited the expansion of the JONES surname into this northern area.  Anyone with any other suggestions please post.

Friday, August 8, 2014

Northumberland

Ann Jones 1695 is the single case involving the JONES surname in Northumberland.  This reflects in the northern most counties a pattern of very few with the JONES surname appearing in the English legal system during the period 1300 - 1700.

The case involved a Thomas Wilson for money issues. [bundle 304/ no. 2 ]  Also, this case is one of the few that involve a female JONES.  Are there any out there who know more about this case?