Sunday, July 30, 2017

Heraldry Used In Tree Climbing (10)

It did not take long to realize the counties in Virginia presented their own set of problems.  Caroline Co. was formed 1728 which was some 34 years before my Nicholas Jones was born.  His Revolutionary War service record stated that his father's name was Griffin Jones, thus it would seem likely that Griffin occupied this area when Nicholas was born.   Asking who was the first JONES to be settled in this area, I needed to understand the chronology of this county.  The following figure presents these findings.


Say what!  Where to begin?  The geography of Caroline Co. was next, and it was found that it lay along a river called the Rappahannock a far piece up stream from its mouth.  A text by T.E. Campbell described its history and gave the dates of the earliest settlements to this area.  In 1673, the first JONES was a Cadwallader Jones with 1443 acres on the south side and "in the freshes" of Rappahannock River.  Hum...seems like this name was uncovered before.  Lets see...on page 51 of  Virginia Heraldica [discussed in a previous post] there appeared this unusual name "Cadwallader" and gave the following arms connected:

     "Per bend sinister ermine and ermines, a lion rampant or a bordure engrailed of the last"

A "lion rampant" indeed it recorded.  Had not seen such an unusual name as this, but this arms was found in Burke. [See several previous post that describe the symbols used among the surname JONES.]  Who was this Cadwallader Jones, and was he the beginning of my family in what was to become Caroline County.

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Heraldry Used in Tree Climbing (9)

Having a JONES family from my own hometown publishing a book containing a well documented account of a "Captain Roger Jones" from Virginia and London, as well as picturing a "coat of arms" attributed to this individual...could it be...my own family?  However, some difficulties appeared.  First, the arms were supposed to be used by old Roger before his arrival to Virginia prior to 1700.  As described in previous posts, the total Jones arms given by Burke (1840 edition) did not contain a family with three heads chopped off at he neck.  If indeed this Roger Jones used this arms, it should have been contained in Burke.  Next, it was discovered that a Nicholas Jones proved to be the first of my family to have arrived in Kentucky. [No Nicholas found in this Roger Jones group]  A Revolutionary War Service Record S16169 recorded that my Nicholas was born in Caroline Co., VA November 14, 1762.  A pension application taken July 26, 1832 provided one of my most favored family heirlooms...his signature...


Now Caroline Co., VA was to become the center of my genealogical attention.  Who were the ancestors of my Nicholas prior to 1762?  Could using a coat of arms help here?  From Kentucky to Virginia...a link had been made.