THE JONES FAMILY NAME 

In the early years of settlement in Wales, men were often known only by their Christian names and by their families. "AP" a Welsh term meaning "son of" was used as a prefix when determining the family of the person in question. This proved to be very confusing, as a person named John could be known as John ap Henry ap Charles ap Thomas. King Henry VIII insisted that the Welsh take permanent surnames in 1509, to try and simplify things. As a result, men often took their father's name and added an "S". Thus John (or Jone - the Welsh pronunciation) became Johns or Jones. Estimates suggest that 90% of all Jones' are of Welsh origin, simply because of the popularity of the Christian name "John" in Wales during that period of time.

The Migration to America

In 1681, a man named William Penn acquired land in America. Penn was a Quaker Leader in much sympathy with the oppressed and persecuted Welsh. The British Authority accepted no church as legal except for the Church of England and specifically not the Quakers.

Quakers irritated the English by refusing to take up arms, except in self defense, or to take oaths of allegiance to any other church or military service. Penn himself, although a member of the Aristocracy, was not popular for his views. King Charles II had owed Penn's father a large sum of money for helping him gain the throne, but Penn Senior died before the debt was paid. With William as the heir to the debt, he offered to take a grant of land in the New World as payment. King Charles quickly agree. Why not, he thought, here is an easy way to settle my debt and end a rebellion. Let Penn take the Quakers to America - let him worry about them!

It was about 1701, when Welsh Quakers from Marionshire County, Northwestern Wales were led by Edward and William Jones to 5,000 acres of picturesque and fertile land along the Schuylkill River to settle in a place now known as Marion, one of the garden spots of America and where the first proven history of our Jones ancestors is found. William Penn went on to plan and name Philadelphia and it is he for whom Pennsylvania is named.  

First found in Denbighshire, where the Jones family was seated from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.