Irish Counties and The Jones Surname

From Latin and Norman French, English was first written in the legal records of Ireland in the city of Waterford, 1365.  [Kilkenney 1434, Dublin 1450's, and Galway 1485 ]  From this English language, the Jones surname appears.

The figure below shows the counties in Ireland that had recorded a Jones family with a coat of arms before 1840.  These arms were recorded in Burke, 1884 edition,  pp.548 - 549.

Dublin had eight families, with Meath and Kildare having two Jones families.  Wrexford, Sligo, Leithrim, and Londonderry had one each.  The earliest JONES is "Sir Roger Jones, knighted at Drogheds, 24 March 1606".  These Irish counties would be the first to begin the JONES surname.

This research is from my own documents [RN # 23, RN # 88].  There is much to be learned regarding the Irish Jones families.  Any Irish JONES families out there?  Please post...:-).

For an outline of this research see tgjresearchnotebooks.blogspot.com. 

Jones Surname to Ireland (Part II)

It was not until Henry VIII pulled the English Church out of the Roman Catholic Church and required all Welsh to adopt the English system of laws and names (Act of Union, 1536), that the name JONES begins to widely appear. In 1500 there were only six (6) JONES surnames appearing in the English legal documents, and none (0) in Wales. In 1558, there were 134 JONES surnames [England], and 115 JONES surnames in Wales! I have seen several writers interpret this finding as the surname JONES beginning in England. However, it was the Welsh in areas that came under the control of English laws that took the surname JONES. Thus, first and foremost, the JONES surname is Welsh. This would also be true for the Welsh naming system as it was changed under English law.

The JONES surname concentrated around Dublin, with around 10 JONES families having arms recorded in Burke by 1840. Other Irish counties having JONES families with arms were, Meath, Kildare, and Wexford. [All being close to Dublin.] On the northwestern coast, Londonderry, Leitrim, and Sligo had JONESES. I would suspect that these JONES families began their history around Dublin, and branched out from there.

I have not had the opportunity to research Irish records regarding the first appearance of the JONES surname. Does anyone know the date and location? Please post a comment.

Jones Surname to Ireland

The Celtic tribal groups had exchanged their cultures and language across the Irish Sea from the earliest days. The Irish, taking advantage of Roman withdrawal, competed with the Scots, Picts, and Saxons, for a piece of Welsh territory. Inscribed stones document this exchange of culture, which became scattered about the landscape of Wales. [Ogam inscriptions, some with Latin and Ogam.] It was the threat of Irish invasion that brought Cunedda from the Men of the North to help save Gwynedd! [The northern most territory in Wales.]

Things had pretty much settled down by the Norman invasion. The Celtic Church had adopted the Roman Church way of life [hair cuts, calender, marriage, and the like] except for a few of those fringe elements that seemed to want to remain a little more independent. Hadrian IV, the first and only English Pope (1154-1159 AD), decided to give Ireland to Henry II. This Pope essentially wanted Henry II to conquer Ireland and bring this island under the influence and guidance of the Church in Rome. Henry II directed Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, nicknamed Strongbow, to take a leadership roll in this endeavor. Strongbow took a large number of Welsh archers and Welsh cavalry to Ireland. These folks were essentially private adventurers from Wales seeking lands of their own. This invasion was most successful around the city of Dublin, and English law was established as in an English shire. The area around Dublin became know as "the Pale". Under Edward I, Dublin, Waterford, and Cork became the major trading towns under English (was actually Norman) control.

It was during this time time that many of the Welsh families settled in Ireland. Here they began their families' tradition among the Irish. Of course the Welsh kept some of their culture, language, and naming system which was always a puzzle to the Normans, Anglo-Saxons, and ultimately what became the English. Thus the Welsh brought to Ireland their frequently used Christian name JOHN. The Church, using Latin, would spell it IOAN. The Normans using French would spell it JEVAN. The Welsh using their language would spell it SION. The Anglo-Saxons using their language spelled it JOHN. Those Welsh who mostly came to fight were under Norman influence and adopted JEVAN. The Irish would spell it "SEAN" (Shawn) The literature of the time records both "ap Jevan", "ap John", and in many cases "ap Ievan". Thus begins the JONES surname in Ireland. [More to come!]

For reference to Ogam see:

"A History of Wales", by John Davies, p. 47.

"The Celtic Realms", by Myles Dillon and Nora Chadwick, pp. 38-40.