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.

Average Age Admission, Oxford 1500-1599 For Jones Surname

Researching the JONES surname often requires some additional work. How to get around all those brick walls when they present their ugly heads seem to be a common experience. For me this occurred in my JONES family tree climbing when I discovered a number of family members attended that university called Oxford. Thomas, Richard, and Henry, all coming from Wales between 1500 and 1599. How does one go about sorting out all those with the first name Thomas, Richard, and Henry? Over the years, a detailed chronology has served to help separate many among the branches. See:

http://thebrickwallprotocol.blogspot.com/2011/08/bwpl-brick-wall-protocol.html

To aid this chronology, I asked what was the average age of those who where admitted to Oxford for the years 1500-1599? This was necessary since there were 146 individuals with the surname JONES admitted to Oxford, and only 72 gave their ages at admission. [49%] Knowing the average age at admission, no matter what the first name, would allow one to estimate a birth year. The figure above shows the results of this study.

There were 72 individuals with the surname JONES admitted to Oxford with the age at admission given. The range was 12 years [the youngest], to 30 years old [the oldest]. The average age at admission was 17.32 years. The most common age was tied between age 16 and age 19 [ each with 12]. Two folks were at the upper range of 29 and 30 years. Removing these two in the totals would only change the average age to 16.97 years. So, overall, it would seem that the JONES "young ins" were around 17 years old when they left Wales to visit the big city. If a Richard JONES was admitted 1576 and no age at admission was listed, it would estimate his birth year around 1559. A starting point for exploring those JONES families having children around 1559 in the area of Wales.

Jones Surname: Oxford/Cambridge 1500-1600 County of Origin

Folks who shared the JONES surname, and attended Oxford and Cambridge between the years 1500-1600, were evaluated for their county of record. Every JONES admission who had their county of origin listed was recorded. The map to the right displays the results.

Pink color represents those recorded from Cambridge and the Blue color represents those from Oxford. The yellow color shows those counties that did not have a JONES surname recorded. Those counties that had a JONES attending both Universities are represented in white, with a pink and blue outline around the county.

Twelve counties in England did not have a person with the JONES surname attending between 1500-1600. All the Welsh counties had a JONES recorded, with only Pembroke going to Cambridge. Twenty one counties had a JONES attend Oxford only, and eleven counties had a JONES attend Cambridge only. Seven counties had a JONES from which both Oxford and Cambridge were attended.

Those attending Cambridge seem to cluster to the north, east, and southeast. Those attending Oxford seem to cluster from the west, and southwest.

Ireland also had a number of JONES attend, going both to Oxford and Cambridge.

The JONES surname moving into the educational system of England 1500-1600. There were a few of us there.

Jones Surname at Oxford - Cambridge 1500-1660

The JONES surname first appears at Oxford 1505 (Richard Joonys) and at Cambridge 1531 (Gawen Jones). The drawing to the right shows the JONES surname attending both during the years 1500-1660. The numbers are shown in roughly 4-5 year periods, with those attending Cambridge giving by the X. [X marks the spot!]

One can see clearly that Oxford was the center of higher education for those with the JONES surname. The Welsh tended to be supports of the Crown from the time of Edward II, when he was first called "Prince of Wales" by his father Edward I. [1301] On the whole, Oxford seemed to support the Crown with it being the first location of Charles I to organize the defense of his monarchy. There appears to be a gradual increase in the numbers of JONES from 1561, peaking at 1631-1635.

For Cambridge, the peak years were 1595-1600. There was certainly a strong showing at the close of Elizabeth I (Tudors) to that of James I (Stuarts) most likely reflecting the conflict between Catholics and Protestants. [ This conflict had much to do with the period leading up to the English Civil War [1638-1660].

This figure also shows that the JONES surname was increasing in numbers, with almost an exponential curve appearing. This of course was stopped by the Civil War. Those attending Cambridge appear to decline starting at the reign of Charles I only to make their come back under the Commonwealth.

For "Alumni Cantabrigienese" see pp. 484-489, a total of 115. For "Alumni Oronienses" see pp. 817-833, a total of 342. About a 3 to 1 ratio is shown.

For the references used see the last two post.

This is research done by The Jones Genealogist, 1985-1991 while researching his own JONES surname. All rights reserved.

First Jones to Cambridge 1531

Two hundred and fifteen individuals with the surname JONES are recorded in the "Alumni Cantabrigienses" from the earliest times to 1751. The first to attend was Gawen Jones, in 1531-32. His record is given as:

"Jones, Gawen (appears also as Gawen). B.D. 1531-2. A friar." [p.485]

I would guess that the surname was somewhat uncertain, since it states "appears also as Gawen" which implies the surname, not the first name, since the spelling is exactly the same. "B.D.", I believe is an abbreviation for "bachelor of divinity" but if someone knows for sure please comment.

The reference for the above is titled:

"Alumni Cantabrigienses : A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office At The University of Cambridge, From The Earliest Times To 1900." Compiled by, John Venn and J.A. Venn, Cambridge, at the University Press, 1922.

Say hello to Gawen Jones, a friar.

First Jones to Oxford 1505

Joseph Foster records the alumni of Oxford University starting 1500. His account is titled:

"Alumni Oronienses: The Members Of The University of Oxford, 1500-1714: Their Parentage, Birthplace, and Year of Birth, With A Record Of Their Degrees."

It goes on to describe:

"Being The Matriculation Register of the University, Alphabetically Arranges, Revised, and Annotated, by Joseph Foster. Volume I-Early Series."

It was printed by Kraus Reprint Limited, Nendeln/Liechtenstei, 1968.

On page 827 it list the first JONES to attend Oxford. A Richard Jones (Joonys) to be exact. It is recorded that he received a "B.Can.L. 1 March, 1506-7". [Bachelor of Canon Law] He is called "chaplain" in 1507. An exact copy of this entry reads:

"Jones, Richard (Joonys): B.Can.L. (sup. 16 March). 1505-6, chaplain 1507, B.Can.L. 1 March 1506-7."

Way to go Richard! The first to carry the surname JONES to Oxford.

U.S. Census of 1790 and The Jones Surname

The U.S. Census began in 1790 and has been done every ten years since this beginning. The "Name of head of family"; the "number of free white males of 16 years and up, including heads"; "free white males under 16"; "free white females, including heads"; "all other free persons"; and the "number of slaves" were all listed.

There was a booklet published by the U.S. Government Printing Office in 1909 that lists all the surnames and their variations which were represented by at least 100 white persons in the U.S. in 1790. Listed are approximately 5700 surnames plus variations of the spellings, average size of each family, total number of heads of families, total number of all other members, and a breakdown of the number of families per state. My research notes show that a copy of this booklet was available from "The Researcher's Bookshelf, Division of Heritage Quest, Orting, WA. [I do not know if this reference is still available, but would make a valuable research tool.]

A listing for the surname JONES is as follows:

Total of "Heads of Family" = 2,561

Average size of family = 5.6

All other members = 11,739

Heads of families for each state:

North Carolina = 558

Virginia = 345

Pennsylvania = 289

Massachusetts = 287

Maryland = 239

New York = 210

South Carolina = 190

Connecticut = 173

New Hampshire = 104

Maine = 87

Vermont = 59

Rhode Island = 20

So there you have it. The JONES surname in the 1790 U.S. Census! North Carolina and Virginia seemed to collect the most. [35%] Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maryland, and New York had roughly the same. Poor Rhode Island missed out. At any rate, if you carried the JONES surname, you had a good chance of being from North Carolina or Virginia in the 1790 census.

This research was first published in The Jones Genealogist, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, July/August, 2006.