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.