My Quest to Find John Jones - Part VI - The Fan Club

Birth, marriage, and death records are sources we often use in family history research. However, they weren't kept consistently in early America, especially on the new edges of civilization. Births might have been noted in a family Bible or in church christening records - but the Bible may have become lost and there might not have been an organized church in a frontier area to keep christening records. Marriage records are found a little more easily but again may not be available. Deaths of men were usually recorded with a will or probate records but not all of the early probate records have survived. Deaths of women, because they weren't property holders, are harder to find since generally the only ones who had wills were widows who had inherited land from deceased husbands.

Census records in the United States began in 1790, but it was not until 1850 that the names of all members of the household were listed. The census records before 1850 list only the name of the head of household and include a tally of other household members by various age categories. We have access to tax records for many early localities.

Consequently, for the time period of the lives of John Jones and his family, we have to find as many clues as possible and fit them together. A major difficulty in this research is the fact that there were so many men named John Jones and David Jones. How do you sort them out?

One strategy is to look for their FAN club. FAN stands for Family, Acquaintances, and Neighbors. This is the strategy I was using as explained in the Part IV blog post when I noticed that the name Israel Lortan showed up on John Jones' will in Indiana and also earlier in Montgomery County, Virginia.

When I search the records of any locality where I think John or David Jones may have lived, I also search for the names of their children or siblings and the children's or siblings' spouses. I note the names of witnesses to wills or land transactions who probably had some connection to the family or were neighbors who could easily be summoned as witnesses. 

George Sumpter, John's father-in-law is much easier to find in the early records. Whenever I find him mentioned I look for John and David - after all, John must have been in the same vicinity as George some time in order to become well enough acquainted with George's daughter Sarah to marry her.

As noted in the Part V blog post, we have names of John's siblings and their spouses from the writings of Clara Lewis Hall. This is what I have found so far in records about them. Clara's info is in italics. Remember that her birth dates are probably estimates.

Levin Jones, born in Virginia in 1775; officer in War of 1812. I have yet to positively identify him. I have found references to a couple of different men named Levin Jones. One problem is that I do not know if he stayed in Virginia or migrated to Ohio as most of the John Jones siblings did.

Solomon Jones, born in Virginia in 1777. I have searched for a Solomon Jones in every place I find a John Jones reference, hoping that would identify our John Jones. But he is elusive. Is this the Solomon Jones who posted the bond for the marriage of John and Sarah? Either this Solomon died young or moved away from the family early on because I cannot locate him.

Mary Jones, born in Virginia in 1779; married James Burton in about 1815. A Mary Jones was married to a James Burton/Burten on 13 August 1812 in Clermont County, Ohio by a John Denham. Clermont County, Ohio is just across the Ohio River from Kentucky. A Mary Burdon/Burdin shows up in Clinton County, Ohio census records of 1820 and 1830 living near her sister Mercy. John and Sarah Jones also lived in Clinton County. It seems probable that this is John Jones' sister. 

As other travelers of the time, the Jones families likely used Daniel Boone's Wilderness Trail through the Cumberland Gap when they migrated from Virginia to Ohio. The Warrior's Path took off from the main Wilderness Trail in Kentucky and led to Ohio towards the area where we later find the Jones families. We do not know the exact year of their migration nor if they all traveled at the same time. We do know that Anna Jones' older siblings' birthplaces are listed as Virginia while Anna and her probable twin Allie were born in Kentucky in 1809 or 1810, presumably as the family was in the process of this move (I have seen both dates given for Anna's birth.) We don't know if the Jones families moved as quickly as possible from Virginia to Ohio or if they made lengthy stays in some places. 

Mercy Jones, born in Virginia in 1781; she married Francis Smith in about 1811. I have not been able to find this marriage. He shows up in the 1820 and 1830 census records of Clinton County, Ohio and in James Stapleton Lewis' records. 

A descendant of this couple, Marc Snelling, and I have had an email correspondence for the past 9 or so years. His information on the Jones siblings matches well with what we have from the JSL and Anna Jones descendants' records. He wrote that Mercy went by the nickname Massa/Massy which I have seen in other records as a nickname for Mercy. The family tradition for his Jones branch is that Mercy's and John's father was David Jones and their mother was Sarah. His family also has the tradition that the Jones line may have Native American ties. 

Teresa/Tressa/Tessa Jones, born in Virginia in 1783; married Joseph Trout about 1813. Marc Snelling has her husband as Benjamin Trout. In Franklin County, Virginia, I found the record of a marriage bond for Trout, (Trent), Joseph and Sarah Jones, dau. David and Sarah, Oct. 3, 1798. Sur. Jacob Miller. (The reason for the (Trent) is because the handwriting in the record looks like it could be either surname. I have found records where one indexer listed it as Trout and another as Trent.)

This record raises some questions. It says Sarah Jones. Is that an error where the mother's name was written instead of the bride? Is this the wrong couple? Was her name Sarah Teressa? Are our family records incorrect as to the names? I don't know. It does give the parents' names as David and Sarah. The place is the same county where John Jones' marriage bond is found. 

There is a Find A Grave record for a Sarah "Sally" Jones Trout who was born in Virginia 23 July 1783. She died in Boone County, Indiana in 1848. (Boone County is 3 counties west of Randolph County where John Jones died in 1847.) The Find A Grave record says her husband was James Benjamin Trout born in Virginia in 1782. One of their children was John Jones Trout. A daughter Caroline married in 1835 in Clinton County, Ohio which was the location of other related Jones families. So, it seems possible that this could be the correct family because of all the circumstantial evidence, but the issue of the name Sarah versus Teresa remains a problem.

Anna Jones, born in Virginia in 1785; married Joseph Tyler about 1815. This is another marriage I have not be able to verify, but Marc Snelling had the same names in his records.

Karisah/Keziah/ Jones, born in Virginia in 1787; married Charles Burton about 1817. I found a marriage of a Keziah Jones to a Charles Burton in Fleming County, Kentucky on 25 May 1811. Fleming County area would also have been on immigrant trails leading from Virginia to Ohio. It is thought that Charles Burton and James Burton (who married Mary Jones) were related, perhaps brothers.  Keziah may have had other marriages, but the ones I find don't seem to fit either by exact name or by dates of children's births. For example, there is a marriage record for a Keziah Jones and a Henry Bray in 1788. However, it lists her father as Richard Jones and the date seems to to be more what we have listed as her birthdate. 

This gives an idea of some of the names in the John Jones FAN group. Next post we will look at George Sumpter.