Jones Ancestry

 

Jones / Stith relationship diagram.  (Courtesy John Jones, 1999)

Jones Wills courtesy Tom Almquist

Jones Wills courtesy of John H. Jones (some of the same wills but are
from a different transcription from the original photo copies. )

Jones Obituaries

majbills.jpg (3383 bytes)
Washington Hunter;
Major William Jones? see below
(click on photo to enlarge)


This picture is the home built in 1820 by Jesse Jonse's father Maj Billy Jones (who also was a brother to the Jones girls, Rhoda, Elizabeth and Nancy who married Stiths).   The cemetery where they are all buried was bulldozed by an owner of the property in 1955.  The house is now called 'Blenheim Farm' and is in Concord, Campbell Co VA.

Tom Almquist, January 1999

More Blenheim photos.

blenheim.jpg (136630 bytes)

       Jack Jeffers Scott says the farm that his grandfather (Charles Lee Scott) lived on when his father (Walter Lee Scott) was a boy had been a Jones place previously.

The following Courtesy of Johnny Jones of Ekron, Meade County, Kentucky:

    The children of Lucy Catherine Stith and Jesse Jones are given below. Note that Harriet Eveline married a Stith and moved to Rineyville.

    1. William T.         b. 1831         d. ??

    2. Benjamin A.         b. Apr. 1, 1833    d. Aug. 18, 1891
        married Ann O. Jones (a cousin, daugther of Lynch Jones), Nov. 8, 1859; no surviving  children

    3. Rhoda Ann         b. 1835    married Alexander W. Hunter, Oct. 8, 1856, three children

    4. Harriet Eveline     b. Mar. 8, 1837     d. Mar. 29, 1917
        married Richard W. Stith, Jan. 18, 1859; three children

    5. Elizabeth A. (Bettie)     b. 1838         d. 1903
        married George W. Morgan, Oct. 12, 1859; nine children

    6. Martha Walker        b. Aug. 23, 1841    d. Mar. 9, 1919
        married David McGhee; four children

    7. John Wesley        b. Dec. 14, 1843    d. Jan. 31, 1875
        married Isabella Louisa (Belle Louise) Jones (a cousin, dau. of Fayette Wesley Jones),   Oct. 28, 1866; four children

    8. Columbus        b. 1848         d. young (bef. 1860?)

    9. Jesse Howard        b. Jan. 9, 1851    d. Jan. 12, 1900
        married Nannie Catherine Jennings, Apr. 8, 1873; eight children

   10.  Ella Katherine        b. May 3, 1853    d. Jan. 14, 1937
        married Charles Richard Moorman; seven children

    11. Margaret        b. Abt. 1855         d. young (bef. 1860?)

        The Richard Stith file on your web page shows that Lucy Catherine Stith (my g-g-grandmother) married Jesse Jones and that they had a son, Jesse Howard. This much is true. They had a lot of other children too. Jesse and Lucy went back to Campbell Co., VA and raised their family there. The oldest son was William T. that we have lost track of. He may be the same William Jones that owned a hotel in Hardinsburg. Not sure. The next oldest son was Benjamin A. And somewhere in there was John Wesley (my g-grandfather). Sometime in the 1860's Benjamin A. and John Wesley moved to KY. In 1870 they lived at West Point. John Wesley did not live long after moving to KY and died in 1875. Do you know where Mays Grove is? It is in Hardin Co., not that far from Flaherty. There is a little church there, and an old, grown-up cemetery is just down the road. According to Yates family records (my grandmother was a Yates), John Wesley is buried there. Benjamin A. became the first postmaster at Stithton and is buried in the Jones cemetery in the middle of Fort Knox, which is about where Stithton was. You can still go there. It is on the main drag in Fort Knox, on a little hill. My grandfather is buried there, too, as are some of my other relatives. One of my cousins was recently buried there. Going back to Jesse Howard Jones, my other contact (that has the Stith books) traces his family's lineage to Jesse Howard.

Above from Johnny Jones of Ekron, Meade County, Kentucky:

 

There are two Jones Graves in the Hardaway cemetery
> James F. Jones
> Born Mar 20 1814
> Died Oct 18, 1868
>
> and
>
> Hicksey R. wife of J. F. Jones
> Born Mar 20, 1814
> Died Feb 20, 1864
These grave stones were in a little grave yard about a half mile north of the Bewleyville Methodist Church on a Ross farm:

>Laura A. Jones
>wife of James F. Jones
>b Apr 17, 1851
>d in 31 year of her age

>Thomas son of
>J.E. & L. A. Jones
>Died Apr 20, 1851

Also two or three other children of J. E. & L. A. Jones lined up in a row. The writing was difficult to read. Apparently several children died young.

Note from Johnny Jones:  "    You mentioned James F. Jones. That rang a bell, although I do not know who he was. I suspect strongly, though, that he is a relative. And I can tell you something about him (probably). In 1844 Mary Ellen Jones married William Eidson, consent given by James F. Jones. According to your cemetery records, wife Hicksey died. In 1865 James F. Jones married Mrs. Martha H. Eidson. James F. is listed as of age, that he was born in Campbell Co. VA (where the Stiths and Joneses came from), and that this was his third marriage. I presume that James F. married his daughter's mother-in-law after Hicksey died. It is conceivable that James F. was a brother to Jesse, my g-g-grandfather, a son of William Jones, son of Maj. Tom. However, he was not mentioned in William's will. It is more likely that James F. was a cousin of Jesse, but I don't know which family."

   "James F. was, he was the son of Dudley.  There was a Thomas Jones living in Campbell Co. VA who does not
appear related to the other Joneses there. [He may BE related, but not that I have deciphered, yet.] He appears to have moved there from Orange Co.; several of his daughters were married in Orange Co. So that is who James F. is. On the face of it, he is not related to the Jones sisters who married Stith brothers. However, I am now suspicious. It seems a little too
convenient that this strange Jones just happened to move to Stith Valley.  I have a contact in North Carolina who
has apparently done a lot of work on VA Joneses. "





The following is an exerpt from a report by Frances Shacklette Fast:  The first paragraph is from page 11 .  The remainder is page 25 and page 26 of the report.


In the summer of 1924 while visiting in Kentucky, I, Frances S. Fast, visited my Aunt, Mrs. Thomas J. Stith, (my mother’s oldest sister, formerly Hannah Williams) who showed me two old Bibles from which I copied the following records. In William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 6, No. 2, April 1926, printed at Williamsburg, Virginia may be found the record which I sent to them. The Bible was dated 1828, New York; published by N. Bangs and J. Emory; Azor Hoyt, printer.

THOMAS JONES


According to the Bible records we know that the father of Elizabeth Jones, who married Richard Stith, Nancy Jones, who married William Stith, Rhoda Jones, who married Thomas Stith, was Thomas Jones, their mother named Elizabeth _______.

In one record the title Major Thomas Jones is given to him. The sister of Richard, William, and Thomas Stith, Catherine Stith, married James Jones, Sept. 17, 1791. This James Jones was not a brother to Elizabeth, Rhoda and Nancy. His parents were Cl. Wm. Jones and Agnes Walker. (Virginia Hist. Mag. Vol. 36, p 259)

But we know almost for a certainty that Elizabeth, Nancy and Rhoda had a brother, James Jones. In his will Thomas Stith directs that "my son, Thomas, is to be educated as a physician at the expense of my estate and if he should return from Virginia, not having opportunity to study with his Uncle James he must have an inheritance with his brethern" --- Since Thomas Stith, himself, had no brother James it falls that he must be the brother of Rhoda to be an uncle. (How nice it would have been if Thomas had troubled to name "his uncle James ___ rather than to leave it to deduction.)

In Campbell County Chronicles there is a quote from a letter to Major Thomas Jones from Hampden-Sidney College "-your sons, James and Buckner have completed their course - James with honors - Sept. 27, 1809. Thomas Jones is listed as the father of Martha Jones, who married John Wood, 1814; Dolly Jones married James Glass in 1803; Dorcus Jones married Achilled Moorman in 1798. So we begin to arrive at the list of children of Thomas Jones and his wife, Elizabeth ____. From another source registering for a land patent Thomas Jones is listed as Thomas B. Jones, 1791.

-25-


MAJOR - THOMAS B. JONES, wife Elizabeth.

Their children: As far as we know Rhoda was the oldest,
                and we know she was the oldest of the three sisters.

Rhoda Jones, :b Jan. 11, 1777 :d Feb. 1851 :m March 12,
1793 Thomas Stith. *

Elizabeth Jones :b Jan. 1779 :d Aug. 24, 1844 :m Dec. 20, 1798
                            * Richard Stith

Nancy Jones :b 1781 :d prior to husband (1854) :m Dec. 28, 1796
William Stith *

James Saunders Jones :b (finished course in Hampton-Sydney 1809)
married Martha West

Buckner Jones b (also finished course in Hampton-Sydney 1809)

Martha Jones b :m 1814 John Wood *

Dolly Jones b :m 1803 James Glass *

Dorcus Jones b :m 1798 Achilles Moorman *


* Campbell Co. Va. marriages, list these women as daughters of Thomas Jones. Much remains to be found about the Jones line.
**************

We get the name of James Saunders Jones from this item: William Saunders Jones, son of James Saunders Jones married Virginia Judith Moorman, b 1826, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Clark Moorman.

(Thomas Moorman was a son of Zachariah Moorman.)
-26-

Also from page 14 footnote:

 

****Rhoda Jones, :b Jan. 11, 1777 :d Feb. 1851 m March 12, 1792 to Thomas Stith
        (She m. 3 more times) 11 ch.
        (2nd Oct. 12, 1828 Matthew Partridge
        (3rd May 1, 1845 John H. Gibbs
        (4th Sept. 16, 1847 Henry S. Bell

    They say after the last wedding she kicked off her slippers and said save them she might need them again. Buried Ben B. Stith Cemetary. *Married Bedford Co. Va. *** Rev. record. *** M Campbell Co.

The above written by Frances Shacklette Fast about 1924.

This addendum by Tom Almquist January 1999:

        I would suggest an addendum to the letter of Francis Fast. She has done what many have done with all these intertwining of Joneses, she has mixed generation and families. There were at least 3 Thomas Joneses families in the Falling River area of Campbell County during this period.  I think the Fast letter is important as it is for many reasons. It is historical and also shows how this family has been inadvertently mingled and co-mingled.

The children of Major Thomas Jones and Elizabeth Johns were the following, and this is well documented now by his will. He was very explicit to name his children and grandchildren and the settlement of his Estate ran on and on with children and grandchildren being explicitly named on into the 1850's and 1860's. One account says even as late as 1890. His children were:

1. Rhoda Jones Jan 11 1777,
2. Elizabeth Jones, Jan 1779,
3. Nancy Jones 1781,
4. William (Maj Billy) Jones July 4, 1783 married Nancy Hunter Dec 19, 1804,
5. John Jones ca 1784 (his wife is under dispute),
6. Buckner S Jones ca 1785 appears to have not married,
7. Joel Jones ca 1786 -died Oct 26 1842 married Dolly Cobbs,
8. Thomas Jones ca 1786 married Elizabeth Wood,
9. James Jones 1789 died May 29 1869-now he is the one who became a physician. He moved to Buckingham County VA (John and I have this proved beyond doubt with court records of deeds and Estate dispersal ) and married Nancy Jones whose father was a Charles Jones. (Nancy's maiden name is not proved yet-this is where John Jones of Ekron descends also,
Nancy and Dr James were the parents of Fayette Jones)
10. and lastly Martha Jane Jones b 1801-1869 married first John Wood (whom Maj Tom Jones shot and killed
in 1825 I have requested the newpaper article on this) and secondly Patterson Jennings (one of my lines).

           From the Fast letter, James Saunders Jones was probably a nephew or a cousin of Maj Thomas Jones he was not a son. We think his father was a William Jones of Buckingham. Dolly Jones' father was a Thomas Jones SR (this Thomas Jones Sr. was the grandfather of Nancy Hunter who married Maj Billy Jones he also left an explicit will with names of children and grandchildren) who lived next to Maj Tom. He was probably a cousin or an uncle to Major Tom. Again the evidence is unclear so far. Dorcus Jones was the daughter of YET ANOTHER, Thomas Jones. The one from Orange County. And the Thomas B Jones that was referred to another one again. Trying to summarize here a little, Maj Tom, Thomas Jones Sr., and James Saunders Jones were of the same family as was the James Jones who married Catherine Stith (James' father and Maj Tom were brothers) and all closely related. Thomas B Jones and the Thomas of Orange MAY be of the same family but they were related much more distantly if they were.

The above addendum by Tom Almquist January 1999.

 

Washington Hunter photo discussion:

Yes, I can tell you how the photograph of Washington Hunter became confused with William Jones.  Washington Hunter's daughter, Macca Barksdale Hunter (1835-1885), married Lameck Jones, son of Major William Jones.  My wife descends from all four of the above names, and the large photograph of Washington hangs on the wall of her first cousin in Appomattox, VA. Washington was a justice of the peace and judge in Campbell and Appomattox Counties (Appomattox was carved from Campbell in 1845).        Wilmer L. Kerns   14 Dec 2002

I received the photo from a Mr Marshall of Atlanta.  He had done a 'book' about Major William Jones and had the photo in question attributed to Major William Jones. His wife was descended from Maj Billy.  Mr Marshall, the man from whom I obtained the negative, said that he had seen the original and taken the photo of the photo himself. He said the original photo had been charcoaled and it was common in the time period to give them a more portrait look  Mr Marshall said the one he copied was in the possession of Mrs Betty K Ford of Appomattox whose late husband was descended of Maj Billy.  I had contacted her about the photo but she told me she knew nothing about a photo portrait.       Tom Almquist  14 Dec 2002  

Perhaps there are two copies of this photo in Appomattox?  J. B. S.  Dec 2002