New York’s 1st Family Of Finance And Law..Origins Of The Jones Family Of Long Island
New York’s 1st Family Of Finance And Law..Origins Of The Jones Family Of Long Island
New York’s 1st Family Of Finance And Law..
Origins Of The Jones Family Of Long Island
By Albert Walker
The ancestry of the family bearing the foregoing double name of Floyd-Jones has been authentically traced back to the time of King James the Second, antedating this troubled period fully six hundred and twenty-six years.
The favorite family Christian names which occur in every generation, and in almost every branch of the family are: Thomas, David, William, Samuel, John and Elbert. Like most of the Welsh surnames, it is derived from the Christian name.
The primitive orthography Johns is undoubtedly the correct mode of spelling it.
Family traits are as distinctly marked as national character and in part, the former result from the latter. The Welsh origin of the family of Jones is evident in other respects than in the peculiarity of the name alone.
The family of Major Thomas Jones, whose descent from a noble Irish family, which intermarried with one from Wales, there is a tradition, is supposed (but without any certainty) to have originated in Merionethshire or Glamorganshire.
However that may be, the characteristics of the Welsh race are plainly discernible in family members and are very marked in all of those who have become prominent in any walk of life.
Almost to a man choleric, sanguine, social, hospitable, independent and honorable, judgment and penetration, with remarkable memory, have distinguished the leading members of the family.
A fondness for genealogies marks the elder members, no less than local and personal pride, and that clannish feeling which is so prominent among the Scotch, and the people of New England.
Major Thomas Jones was born about 1665. In 1692, Major Jones was at the island of Jamaica at the time of the great earthquake of July 7Th, being engaged in one of the numerous expeditions under the “Letter of Marque,” and which so many of the English and Irish officers of James II sought service after the defeat at the Battle of the Boyne.
In that same year Major Jones arrived in Warwick, Rhodes Island and at this place met and married Freelove Townsend, the daughter of Thomas Townsend. Freelove was born Dec. 29, 1674. Thomas Townsend was the son of John Townsend, a prominent Quaker, who came to New Amsterdam early in the 17th century about 1635, from Norwich, England.
The family were of great antiquity, their lands being granted them from William the Conqueror.
There were other and earlier Joneses on Long Island, some of whom for their day and generation gained considerable repute and were in good standing with the early Dutch and English settlers of the time.
There were some bearing the same Christian names who were contemporaneous with the Floyd-Jones ancestral immigrant, Major Thomas Jones, and who must have at least been known to him; but no clue can be found in any record, either private or public, to show that he was in any way related to a single individual bearing his name in this country.
The origin of the family is, beyond a doubt Welsh, not only is the name indicative of this, but the traits and characteristics of the Welsh race are very pronounced in all its leading members, the transmission of which can be noted in the female lines in many of the allied families.
To quote the words of Edward F. deLancey, whose great aunt Anne Charlotte de Lancey, daughter of Governor James de Lancey, married Judge Thomas Jones III,”The distinguishing characteristics of the family were penetration, judgment, clearness of intellect, and a disposition extremely social and hospitable.”
Other characteristics of the family, those not based upon the ideas of any one individual, are its longevity, the excellence of its matrimonial alliances, the great eminence which many of its members have obtained in legal jurisprudence, and the continuance of the latter through successive generations.
On this point the great novelist, James Fenimore Cooper, in a letter to the Home Journal under date of 6 May, 1848, wrote “The Jones family has furnished legislators and jurists to the American colony and state for more than a century.”
Samuel Jones, second son of William Jones, and grandson to Major Thomas Jones was born on July 26, 1734, and was one of the most distinguished Lawyers that New York has produced.
In his early years he followed the sea, but abandoned that calling and devoted himself to the study of law. Samuel Jones was considered a patriot during the American revolution, being a member of a committee of One Hundred appointed in New York, May 1, 1775, to direct the movements of the people of New York, for the protection of the citizens and to resist the attempt of Great Britain to subdue the colony.
He married Ellen Turk, daughter of Cornelius Turk. She died about 1766, soon after marriage, without leaving issue. He then married Cornelia Haring, daughter of Elbert Haring, and Elizabeth Bogart of New York.
Samuel Jones, in time being admitted to the Bar, was speedily engaged in an extensive and lucrative practice.
At the request of the then Governor John Jay he organized the office of Comptroller in 1796, and was the first one to hold that office in the state.
In 1789, with Richard Varick, he was responsible for the revision of the statutes of New York State. His appellation was “Father of the New York Bar.”
He died on the 21st of November, 1819. His wife Cornelia, died July 29, 1821. Both are interred in the West Neck Burial Ground, Massapequa, L.I.
Their issue was seven sons: The first child William, died in infancy. The youngest, Walter, died in infancy. The surviving sons were: Samuel, William, Elbert Haring, Thomas and David.
To read more about the Jones family of Long Island visit http://www.jonesnyhistory.com
albert walker
publisher/author
www.jonesnyhistory.com
Submitted By ArticleUnited.com