Somerset

Being a maritime county, the Bristol Channel [to the northwest] played a major role in this counties activities.  From the earliest days of Tudor reign, the JONES surname appears.  John Jones it is of course, related to a tenement in Yeovil. [Bundle 9/ no. 57]  The case was brought by a Thomas Lane, and a bundle number of 9 would indicate that it was very early in the 1485 - 1547 records.  A fair number of JONES surname cases are involved in this counties records prior to 1547.  A very active group indeed.  I suspect that it dealt with the trade and merchant activity around the port of Bristol.

Stafford

The Court of Request Proceedings, Vol. I represents the period from 1485 - 1603.  The names are arranged alphabetically in the index which also uses the Roman numeral system for the records of bundles and numbers.  These records are also transferred to the numbering system using the dates of the monarchs.  Our John Jones of Stafford is found in bundle 1-13 representing the reigns of Henry VII - Henry VIII, 1485 - 1547.

The first Jones surname for this county is found in bundle iv (4), No. 55.  It is John Jones.  Another John, who would have guessed.