John Paul Jones Family History mystery solved
Sam Sloan
Since I was a little boy, I have known it to be part of my family
history that we were descended from the sister of John Paul Jones.
John Paul Jones was a famous sea captain in the American Revolutionary
War. He would sail right into the British harbors and sink their ships
at anchor. The British called him a pirate but to the Americans he was
a hero.
He was born John Paul on 6 July 1747 in Arbigland Estate, Kirkbean,
Scotland. After several successful years as a merchant skipper in the
West Indies trade, John Paul emigrated to the British colonies in
North America and there added "Jones" to his name. He fought in the
American Revolutionary War, capturing or sinking many British Ships.
He is best known for saying, "We have not yet begun to fight" when his
own ship was in fact sinking. He proceeded to board the enemy ship and
capture it, while his own ship, the "Bon Homme Richard", sank. He is
considered to be the founder of the United States Navy and is buried
at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis.
My mother's grandmother was born in Scotland and was said to be
descended from the sister of John Paul Jones. Other relatives had
heard this too but none of us had been able to find a link. Yesterday,
I found it.
A sister of John Paul Jones was named Jean Paul. She was born in about
1756. She married James Melvin in 1777. Their child was Ann Melvin,
who was born on 20 April 1778.
Ann Melvin married Hugh Thomson. Their child was Samuel Thomson. He
was born 15 July 1815 in Wigtonshire, Scotland and died 6 June 1903 in
Madison County, Iowa and is buried in Stringtown Cemetery, Winterset,
Iowa.
On September 1841, in Greenockin, Scotland, Samuel Thomson married
Elizabeth MacRobert, who was born in August 1814 in Stranraer,
Wigtown, Scotland and who died on 19 February 1879 in Madison County,
Iowa. She is also buried in Stringtown Cemetery, Winterset, Iowa.
They had seven children including Elizabeth Grace Thomson, who was
born 25 May 1851 in Stranraer, Scotland and died 12 June 1932 in
Afton, Iowa.
She married Samuel Allison Graham on 3 June 1869 in United
Presbyterian Church, Macksburg, Iowa. They had eight children
including Mary Elizabeth Graham who was born on 13 June 1879 in
Pitzer, Madison County, Iowa and died 23 September 1956 in Creston,
Iowa.
She married Wesley Jacobson who was born 16 November 1877 in Four
Corners, Iowa and died 30 August 1963 on the family farm near Orient,
Iowa.
They had six children including my mother Helen Marjorie Sloan who was
born 17 March 1910 in Spaulding Township, Union County Iowa and died
16 May 2002 in Aiken, South Carolina.
She married Leroy B. Sloan and they had two children including me,
Samuel Howard Sloan.
While that solves this mystery, there is another. Who exactly was the
mother of John Paul Jones? It has been reported that the father of
John Paul Jones was named John Paul (1704-1767) and the mother was
named Jean or Jeanne MacDuff. However, looking through birth and
marriage records for that period in Scotland, I have found at least
six women named that or something similar born from 1704 to 1726, all
of whom were married to a man named John Paul and all of whom are in
the age range where they could be the mother of John Paul Jones. Their
names were Jeanne MacDuff, Jeanne McDuff, Jeane McDuff or Jean Duff.
They all married John Paul between 1726 and 1742. None of them can be
excluded as the mother. Paul is not a common last name in Scotland and
it seems difficult to believe that it was a coincidence that so many
women with those names were all married to a man named John Paul. It
is also elsewhere reported that the mother of John Paul Jones was
named Jean Temple or Jean Sample.
Sam Sloan
http://www.samsloan.com/pafg60.htm#1512
http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=samsloan&id=I1550
Sutliff
self-promotion, animus or any other purpose. Please respect the members of
this list and the purpose for which we are here and post on topic.
"Sam Sloan" <sl...@ishipress.com> wrote in message
news:3dec3ef6...@ca.news.verio.net...
Renia
online, including the 1851 census, which shows the Thomson/McRobert family.
http://www.dumgal.gov.uk/services/depts/comres/library/census_search.asp
For fee-based research, from the same site:
http://www.dumgal.gov.uk/services/depts/comres/library/gresearch.asp
If you have not tried this, they may be able to home in on your Paul family.
As to all the John Pauls marrying all the Jean McDuffs, are they not
several disparate entries of the same people on the IGI?
Paul is not so rare a surname in Scotland. There were 7624 birth/baptism
entries between 1553-1901, of which 227 were between 1740 and 1750, and
2481 entries in the 1891 census from this searchable Government site:
http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/
For general information on Kirkcudbrighsthire:
http://www.burgoyne.com/pages/djaggi/genuki/kirkcudb.htm#common
Renia
18ls...@eastbuch.com
Alex Maxwell Findlater
>
>
> While that solves this mystery, there is another. Who exactly was the
> mother of John Paul Jones? It has been reported that the father of
> John Paul Jones was named John Paul (1704-1767) and the mother was
> named Jean or Jeanne MacDuff. However, looking through birth and
> marriage records for that period in Scotland, I have found at least
> six women named that or something similar born from 1704 to 1726, all
> of whom were married to a man named John Paul and all of whom are in
> the age range where they could be the mother of John Paul Jones. Their
> names were Jeanne MacDuff, Jeanne McDuff, Jeane McDuff or Jean Duff.
> They all married John Paul between 1726 and 1742. None of them can be
> excluded as the mother. Paul is not a common last name in Scotland and
> it seems difficult to believe that it was a coincidence that so many
> women with those names were all married to a man named John Paul. It
> is also elsewhere reported that the mother of John Paul Jones was
> named Jean Temple or Jean Sample.
>
ej95...@gmail.com
Ian Goddard
> Hi Im somehow related to you but I've Kept the Jones name I don't Know How Far It goes but my Records that I have goes to Samuel H. Jones.
>
individual but in fact you're posting to what in effect is a notice
board. Google Groups often misleads people in this way. I think you're
probably replying to an old post. If so the original poster may no
longer be reading messages on the group so it might be a good idea to go
back to the original message, look up the email address of the original
poster and reply direct to that.
It's always good practice to quote the original post or just part of it
before your reply; very few people read the groups via Google which is
really an archive. All we can see is what you post so the context is lost.
If you want to find out a little more about newsgroups you could check
out the FAQ for the soc.genealogy.britain group at
http://www.genealogy-britain.org.uk/
Ian
(Replied to both poster & group)
--
Hotmail is my spam bin. Real address is ianng
at austonley org uk
Sam Sloan via
Jones. I have been hearing that since I was a child.
If you would like to test that please take a DNA test from either ftdna.com
or 23andme.com or ancestry.com
Then upload the results to gedmatch.com
Since John Paul Jones lived July 6, 1747 – July 18, 1792 he is only 7
generations back and it will show a match on gedmatch.
Sam Sloan T241983
M085839 Sam Sloan
A149200 Sam Sloan
