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John Jones (1691 - 1773)

Colonel John Jones
Born in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colonymap
Ancestors ancestors
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of — married 12 May 1713 in Hopkinton, Middlesex, Province of Massachusetts Baymap
Husband of — married 4 Aug 1726 in Boston, Suffolk, Province of Massachusetts Baymap
Husband of — married 21 Sep 1758 (to 7 Feb 1773) in Hopkinton, Middlesex, Province of Massachusetts Baymap
Descendants descendants
Died at age 81 in Hopkinton, Middlesex, Province of Massachusetts Baymap
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Profile last modified | Created 15 Oct 2014
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Biography

John Jones, Senior, or "the first Colonel Jones" as he was commonly called, was born in October 24 of the year 1691, in Boston.[1][2] It is said that his father was drowned when the son was very young, and that the latter was apprenticed when not more than ten years of age to a certain Saville Simpson whose daughter, in due course of time, he married. This Saville Simpson appears to have been a man of some substance in Boston, and later in Hopkinton. We hear of him first as a"cordwainer" which word according to the dictionary, means a worker in Cordovan leather. He doubtless made shoes during one part of his career for the people of Boston. In 1706 and 07 he was one of the wardens of the King's Chapel, the first Episcopal, and later first Unitarian Church in Boston. He acquired sufficient property to purchase a large tract of land, covering practically the whole of the present town of Ashland, Massachusetts, which at first was a part of Hopkinton. A monument to him has been placed in the old Jones burial lot in Ashland, with an inscription commemorating him as the "first settler in this Valley". His gravestone Inscription reads[3]:

Memento Mori

Here lies the body of
JOHN JONES Esq
Col of the third regiment of Militia
And elder Justice of the Peace
In the County of
MIDDLESEX
And many years Representative for this
Town in the General Court.
Who after a life well spent
in the service of this Town
And Country
Died on the seventh day of February

A.D. 1773 Aged 82.[4]

He owned a number of slaves, some of whom he bequeathed in his will as property. Their names were James, Tom, and Bacchus

12 May 1713, he married Elizabeth (Eliza), the daughter of Saville Simpson[5][6][7], and they became the parents of eleven children. She died in February 1726. He married on August 4th of the same year Mrs. Hannah Alden[8] and had by her one son named Isaac. The second Mrs. Jones died Jan 24, 1758, and on the following Sept 21st, Colonel Jones, as he was then entitled, married his third wife Mrs. Mary Baldwin[9], who survived him and lived to be more than a hundred years old.

In the course of time John Jones became the possessor of an estate of about 600 acres, which probably came to him through his first wife Elizabeth Simpson. He appears to have been employed at one time as a surveyor in the region around his home and soon rose to hold responsible positions in the community, being for some years a Justice of the Peace and Representative in the General Court. He became a Colonel in the 3rd Mass. Militia and saw service in the French & Indian wars. He died just before the outbreak of the Revolution.[10]

John Jones and Elizabeth Simpson had the following (11) children:[11]

  1. Mary, b. 13 March 1714
  2. Elizabeth, b. 2 August 1715
  3. Simpson, b. 3 December 1716
  4. Sarah, b. 9 July 1718
  5. Jane, b. 29 November 1719
  6. Anne, b. 15 November 1720
  7. John (twin), b. 9 January 1722
  8. Anthony (twin), b. 9 January 1722; died young
  9. Anthony, b. 8 June 1723
  10. Hannah, b. 8 November 1724
  11. Abigail, b. 9 February 1726

Notes

Some of the children's births are recorded in two registers; Boston, and Hopkinton[12] and/or Framingham.[13][14] It may be a church wasn't yet established in the new settlement so they had them baptized in Boston or they were born in Boston but also registered in their new home town once settled. The town of Framingham (about 20 miles from Boston) was settled in 1650 and incorporated June 25, 1700. The town of Hopkinton (less than 30 miles from Boston and about 5 miles SW from Framingham) was settled and incorporated much later, on December 13, 1715. The first town meeting wasn't until 1724. Once property records are located, the date of residence can more easily be deternmined.

Sources

  1. "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FCWL-2J5 : 14 January 2020), John Jones, 1691.
  2. Vital Records of Hopkinton Massachusetts, to the year 1850 - p. 118 births: JONES, John [h. Elizabeth], Oct. --, 1691, in Boston. P.R.1.
  3. Find A Grave: Memorial #91835718 accessed 23 May 2017.
  4. Vital Records of Hopkinton Massachusetts, to the year 1850 - p. 431 deaths: JONES, John (h. Elizabeth (Simpson), h. Mrs. Hannah Alden, h. Mrs. Mary Baldwin), Feb. 7, 1773, in 82d y.
  5. "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QG1V-1HJ8 : 29 November 2018), John Jones and Elizabeth Simpson, 1713; citing Marriage, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL microfilm 007011046.
  6. Vital Records of Hopkinton Massachusetts, to the year 1850 - p. 309 marriages: JONES, John and Elizabeth Simpson, May 12, 1713. [1]
  7. "Massachusetts Marriages, 1695-1910, 1921-1924", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHQQ-NQS : 24 January 2020), John Jones, 1713.
  8. "Massachusetts Marriages, 1695-1910, 1921-1924", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHQW-BQW : 24 January 2020), John Jones, 1726.
  9. "Massachusetts Marriages, 1695-1910, 1921-1924", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FCHG-FQW : 24 January 2020), John Jones, 1758.
  10. Revolutionary Cemetery Ashland Historical Society. See also gravestone inscription.
  11. Esther Littleford Woodsworth-Barnes, Mayflower Families through Five Generations, Vol 16, Part 1, The Descendants of John Alden, General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2002. "The Silver Book" Page 300
  12. Vital records of Hopkinton, Massachusetts, to the year of 1850 Pgs 116-120.
  13. Vital Records of Framingham, MA Jones
  14. Example dgtr Elizabeth, Boston "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:DCT9-5MW2 : 10 November 2020), Elizabeth Jones, 1715. Hopkinton "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VQXP-6QH : 15 January 2020), Elizabeth Jones, 1715.
  • Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed June 2, 2017), "Record of John Jones Sr.", Ancestor # A062326. Rejected line due to date of death being before the Revolution. John Jones Sr was a pre-Revolution Colonel in the Militia.
  • Diman, Louise. Leaves from a family tree, being random records, letters and traditions of the Jones, Stimson and Clarke families of Hopkinton, Medfield, Norton and Boston, Massachusetts, and Providence, Rhode Island. Providence, RI: Roger Williams press, 1941.
  • Massachusetts. Secretary of the Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War. Vol. 1-17. Boston, MA, USA: Wright & Potter Printing, 1896-1908. page 930
  • Drake, Samuel Adams. History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts: Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, Volume 1. Middlesex County, MA: Estes and Lauriat, 1879. Pages 443, 485-87, 495.
  • J. H. Temple. History of Framingham, Massachusetts, early known as Danforth's Farms, 1640-1880; with a genealogical register, Town of Framingham, 1887.
  • {PR1=private record, from the Bible of Col. John Jones Esq., now in the posession of Mrs. F.E. Weston of Roxbury}
  • {PR2=private record, from the Bible of Col. John Jones Jr. now in the posession of the heirs of Elijah Fitch late of Hopkinton}
  • 0416780 Middlesex Co. probate papers - case #12863 John Jones 1773 Will and Probate Papers




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It may be possible to confirm family relationships with John by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with John:

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Comments: 2

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We always had this John as Col, but as it turns out, he wasn't the Esq. who was Col: (https://ma-vitalrecords.org/MA/Middlesex/Hopkinton/Images/Hopkinton_D431.shtml). This profile will be really mixed into the bowl of all the John Jones(es) without the prefix of Col, but he wasn't that John Jones, Esq. The DAR has closed his entry secondary to this death year of 1773, citing the same source: ma-vitalrecords, images of public domain books.

He was a shoemaker after an apprentice with Savil (at the time, his future father-in-law).(needs citation)

Here are some records to add:

posted by [Living Britain]

Rejected matches › John James (1731-1775)

J  >  Jones  >  John Jones

Categories: Simpson-Jones Burying Ground, Ashland, Massachusetts