Jones Family

The Jones Family

by Kelly Warman-Stallings

Published to "Window to the Past" website, March 2015

The origin of the name "Jones" is a Welsh surname, and first mentioned in Denbighshire (Welsh: Sir Ddinbych), which was a county created in 1536 at the Act of Union with England. This old county, located in northeast Wales, was once the home of many American "Jones" ancestors and their ancient family seat was at Llanerchrugog.

The name "Jones", currently one of the most prolific surnames in the world, descends from three main lineages: 1) Gwaithvoed, Lord Cardigan, Chief of one of the 15 noble tribes of North Wales in the year 921; 2) Bleddyn Ap Cynfyn, King of Powys; and 3) Dyffryn Clwyd, a Chieftain of Denbighland. All three lines merged in Denbighshire about the 11th century and it is not known which of the three can be considered the main branch of the family.

While many "Jones" families left their native Wales for America in the 1800s and 1900s, my Jones family of Miller County has been in America since before her birth as a nation. Capt. Richard Jones III, patriarch of the Miller County Jones family, was born in Colonial Virginia in 1660. He married Amy Batte in Brunswick County in 1685 and they had at least one son, Richard Jones IV (1692-1759), who beget Peter Jones (1720-1799), who beget Peter Branch Jones (1751-1830).

For at least three generations, if not more, the Jones family resided in Colonial Virginia. Peter Branch Jones left his home colony and migrated into Kentucky, there marrying 1) Isabel Louder then returning to Virginia to marry 2) Sally G. Bacon after the death of his first wife. Peter Branch Jones eventually returned to Kentucky and put down roots in Warren County. Two more generations - Peter and son, John Lowell Jones (1780-1819) -, remained in the area.

By the early 1800s, John Lowell's son, Henry Jones (1808-1872) left Kentucky and first ventured into Illinois where he married Nancy F. Davis in 1832, then moved on into Missouri before 1840. Nancy (Davis) Jones was born in Warren County, Kentucky in 1813 and was the daughter of Rachel (Pearce) Davis. From 1840 to 1870 the Henry Jones family was living in Miller County, in Richwoods township. He was listed as a farmer in those censuses. It is from the children of this ancestral grandfather - Henry Jones - the descendants of the Miller County Jones family descends.

Henry and Nancy (Davis) Jones had 10 children:

1) James Wilkerson (1834-1913)

2) Elizabeth (1836-?)

3) Bethaire Jones (1838-1925)

4) John Francis Marion (1841-1887)

5) Henry C. (1843-?)

6) Sarah Jane (1845-1929)

7) Thomas (1848-?)

8) Wm. Marshall (1849-1888)

9) Alexander (1853-?)

10) Mary Frances (1854-1889)

My great-great grandfather was William Marshall Jones, who married Fetna Slawson (1850-1937) in Miller County on 13 March 1867. Fetna Slawson was the daughter of Joseph O. Slawson (1811-1877) and Cecilia Williams (1812-1853). Their children included:

1) Laura A. (1868-?)

Note: I believe Laura died in infancy

2) Sarah E. (1870-?)

3) Joseph H. (1872-1967)

4) Nancy Emeline (1874-1966)

5) Sophia (1876-?)

6) John Thomas (1879-1960)

7) James Walter (1882- ?)

8) Ottie Martin (1884-1958)

9) William Gordon (1886-1983)

Pictured on Right: Fetna (Slawson) Jones [seated] with eight of her nine children.

My great-grandfather was John Thomas Jones, better known as J. T. Jones to those around the Iberia vicinity. On 28 December 1905, he married Ardora E. Irvin (1888-1980), daughter of James G. Irvin (1860-1919) and Martha E. Haizlip (1862-1920).

J. T. and Ardora lived near Iberia, where they reared their children, and later moved into town [Iberia] in their elder years. Their children were:

1) Ethel Mae (1906-1988)

2) Lattie Cecil (1907-1993)

3) Ernest Clark (1908-1999)

4) Luther Gemp (1910-1910)

5) Raymond Earl (1912-2000)

6) Jasper Hamen (1913-1984)

7) Vernon Ausborn (1918-2004)

Pictured on right: John T. Jones in 1900

Ardora (Irvin) & John T. Jones c/1940s

My grandmother was Lattie Cecil Jones; she married Rev. George Warman (1894-1967), whom she met while he was preaching in the Brays community. They later laid down roots in Dixon, in neighboring Pulaski County. Lattie (Jones) Warman was laid to rest in Brays Union Cemetery. Her father (John T. Jones) and grandfather (William M. Jones) also are buried at Brays Union Cemetery, a few miles east of Iberia. J. T.'s children was the last generation of his Jones' lineage to live in Miller County. Today the family is widely scattered, mainly throughout Missouri and Illinois.

From Capt. Richard Jones III, who was born in Colonial Virginia in the 17th century, to J. T.'s children, of Miller County in the 20th century, the generations number nine; if you add my grandchildren to the mix, the generations number 13. For 355 years this particular branch of the Jones family from Wales has been living on American soil and more than 120 of those years were spent in Miller County. Now that's what you call longevity!