History and Genealogy

HISTORY AND GENEALOGY OF THE ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS OF Captain Israel Jones WHO REMOVED FROM Enfield to Barkhamsted, Conn. In the Year 17,9 COMPILED FOR HON. ASAHEL W. JONES BY L. N. tARKER DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF ALL WHO HAVE CROSSED THE SILENT RIVER ERRATA. Page 44, second line, for "Loisantville," read "LosantiYille." Page 85, No. "2<l2" should be in large type. Page l'l7, twenty-second line, for No. "274," read "277." Page 87, thirty-third line, for No. '' 344," read" 347." Page S!l, second line, for No. "2iii"i," read "2iiS." Page \H, twelfth line, for No. "~48," read" 051." Page !)7, to No. 347, add,•· He d. June E, 1802.'' Page 107, second line from bottom, drop '' of,'' preceding '' where.'' Page 108, eighth line from bottom, for No. "2,54,'' read "257." Page 111, top, for No. "39,i," read" 398." fage 159, to No. 740. add, "m. Genevie\'e, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles William Fore, of Oakland, Cal., Sept. G. Hl02. · Page 2:29, No. 13.''i(;, for " Gersharn " read "Gersham." Page 2:~2, for No. " 1:135," read " 1357." Page 24S, for No." 337," read "33G." Page 26G, No. 1417, read "Martha b. 1S22; 111. \Villiam Lloyd at Pulaski, N. V., liWi. He was b. Nov. 7, 1811; d. at Emerald Grove, Wis., Oct. 80, 1876. Shed. there Oct 21, 1848. Their only child, Henry Gilbert Lloyd, was h. at Emerald Grove, Jan. 11, 1848; m. Eliza M. Jones, whose father, David Jones, emigrated from Montgomeryshire, ~forth Wales. He d. at La Prairie, Wis., Dec. 213, 1X99, leaving a widow and five children. Interm~nts at Emerald Grove." n'-..:::.:=========--r:CT~=========-D EXPLANATIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS Numbers in large tyre indicate a continuance of the )_!enealogy further on. b, born; m, married; d, died; unm, unmarried; unn, unnamed. (j 00 D PREFACE. While I have headed this a " Preface," I am unable to tell why, unless, because others, under like circumstances, haye done so. For more than forty years, I have vigorously prosecuted my professional work, giving little time to outside matters; although at many times, I have paused, not to inquire, but to wonder as to whom my ancestors were and where they came from. Often I have queried, whether or not some one of our numerous family, would take upon himself the labor and expense of tracing the family, and recording it in some substantial form for the in formation of present and succeeding generations; but as no other Jones seemed willing to assume the burden, reluctantly I deter mined that Thomas Jones, who settled at Cape Ann (Now Gloucester, Mass.), about 1629, and his descendants should have a historian if one could be found, suitable and competent, for the work. Fortunately I fell upon one in every way '' worthy and well qualified." Learning that Mr. 'L. N. Parker, a cousin of mine through my maternal grandmother, Lucy Andrews, had prepared an elegant genealogy of the Parker family, I became satisfied that he ,vas the man I wanted for the work. \\'hen I approached him upon the subject, I found that he was not eager or anxious for the job, and it was only by my persuasive power that I induced him to undertake it, and then he put conditions that were somewhat galling to an employer. Among those conditions were these: First, that he shoulrl be the absolute autocrat and dictator. Second, that he should determine what should go in, and what should go out. Third, that he should prepare all the personal sketches, giving just such praise or criticism as in his own judgment was right and just. To these and some other con ditions I assented, believing him eminently fair and just. Under these conditions he has gone forward and prepared this history of the ancestors and descendants of Capt. Israel Jones, who was (vii) viii PREFACE. born at Enfield, Conn., and settled at Barkhamsted, Conn., about 17i'i9, and died there. Whatever credit may attach to the tracing and compiling of this family history belongs to him; and on the contrary the criticisms, if any, must rest on his shoulders. Speaking for myself, I am highly pleased with the accurate, careful and correct manner in -which he has spread our family tree. In his work, patience and perseverance has been fully exercised. Considering the fact that our family runs through nearly three centuries, in this country, I think the result of his patient and untiring work is nothing less than wonderful, indeed, beyond my most sanguine hopes or expectations. While he has not fully traced our family prior to Capt. Israel Jones, he has shown the direct line, so that the descendants of Thomas, Benja min I, Benjamin II and Lieut. Thomas, may "catch on" and_ extend it to the latest generation. There are some things in this book which I would ha\·e pre ferred left out, and have so expressed myself to him, notably many things personal to myself. But Parker, the" Autocrat and dictator," said they should go in, and so yon have it, good or bad. By many, the question will probably be asked, where did Thomas Jones emigrate from-on the other side of the Atlantic? This is a question that has greatly interested us, but after much inquiry, correspondence and search, we are compelled to say, we don't know, and are unable to get the slightest clew. While the old records at ·Gloucester, Mass., and other places are quite full in reference to his quarrel with his son-in-law, Jackson, and the location and disposition of his property, they are entirely silent as to the nativity of our oldest known ancestor. Tradition says our family is of Welsh extraction, and I incline to believe such to be the fact, but our only evidence is tradition coupled with the fact, that Jones is generally regarded a Welsh name. It would seem a little singular, that while we are able to find full records of his age, marriage, family, property and quarrels, not one word has been left to show the place of his nativity. But without doubt it was somewhere within England's broad domain. Many theories have been suggested as a reason for this apparent suppression of evidence of the old home. Possibly the best reason may have been that he did not care to have it known. PREFACE. ix The reader of history will remember that the unwarlike King James came to his death on March 2i, 1G25, and that Charles I, with his French queen, Henrietta Maria, immediately came to the throne, and the unprincipled Duke of. Buckingham became chief in command of the affairs of state. The established church, with its episcopacy, became part of the government, and to deny its teachings, authority, form of worship; or to attend, give encouragement to, or be connected with any dissenting church, was treason against the king. This was especially hateful and distasteful to those of the Presbyterian faith. Not only was the established church main- . tained, with all its original dogmas, but new ceremonials pecu liar to Romanism were adopted, and their observance enforced under the reign of Charles. Not satisfied with compelling the people of England to worship God in his way, he undertook to enforce like subservience upon the staid Scotch Prtsbyterians, but they would have none of it, and they formed their well known League and Covenant to resist to the last this encrodcll ment upon their religious faith, and became known to the world as Covenanters. War was the result, but Scotland remained true to its faith, for Charles was compelled to yield to the inevitable. Under the guidance of his leaders and advisers, Charles not only made war upon the dissenters from the established church, but he sought to make himself above and independent of the House of Commons and the people, with authority to assess, levy and collect his own revenues. On the other hand, the Commons and the people revolted and asserted their lawful and rightful authority, resulting in putting Cromwell at the head of the Par liamentary army and its final supremacy; the conferring upon Cromwell the title and office of Lord Protector of the Common wealth of England. During all these stormy times and bloody scenes, though danger signals were flying thick and fast, and the swiftly flowing current was hurrying in but one direction, Charles did not stay his hand or change, his det~rmination until his head came to the block. While these scenes were transpiring, all, or nearly all, were active upon the one side or the other, and, therefore, guilty of treason and reasonably sure of the penalty, if the enemy should be successful. Actuated by fear of the final result many escaped X PREFACE. to foreign countries, and many more to hide in the ""-'ilds of North America. So great did the exodus become that Charles forbade the shipmasters to receive them without royal assent. While it is probably true that those which escaped to foreign countries were safe from extradition for their supposed crimes, it was equally true that those who betook themselves to the wilds of this now fair land were then still within the domain of the sovereign of Great Britain, and liable to arrest, hence the neces sity of concealing their identity; and it is a matter of history to-day that many, for this purpose, changed their names. Pos sibly the name of our ancestors beyond the sea was not Jones at all. We may belong to one or the other of the great families of Smith or Brown, or possibly some less distinguished name.

Load more