Saturday, October 27, 2012

Diary Mussings

There is something warm about holding this little book just knowing that 4 generations of Jones' have held and read it gives me a feeling of connection to 3 generations that have passed on.  This book measures about  4x6, so not very large.  I know without a doubt, that without this little book, I could have never found the family in Wales. The family "genealogy" portion, as you can see was only 10 scant pages.  There are several pages of home remedies which could be interesting, but they are written in Welsh, so I can't read them.
 


So, what did I learn in those 10 scant pages that I hadn't know when I started researching?  A great deal.  T.J. (as Thomas John Jones was know in his later years), grew up in Wales in the Pontypridd and Treforest area of Glamorgan.  His grandfather was Thomas John who married Mary Thomas who had his father David John, who married Margret Jenkins and provided TJ with siblings Maria, Samuel, David and Hannah, along with their spouses and birth and death dates.

T.J. Jones arrived in America March 4th 1883 with his wife Jimimah and children. His siblings seem to all already be living here under the name of Jones.  The vast majority of the family took the middle name of John (even the women) and appended the Jones surname.

TJ lived for a few years in Bevington, Iowa, being a farmer, carpenter and a Phrenologist (one who studies the bumps and measurements of a patient's skull).  Jimimah passed away June 24th 1893. He married Maribe Steele Bell sometime between 1893 and 1897 when their son Arvon was born. They relocated to Des Moines, Iowa and T.J. went back to school, receiving

TJ & Jimimah had 5 children together
Meribe & Thomas Bell had 8 children together
TJ & Meribe had 1 child.

So, this is how my father came from an only child but still had lots of Aunts & Uncles. And, without the help of TJ's little brown book, I came to know my Jones side a little bit better.

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