James Jones

ID # 944, (1734-)
BirthJames Jones was born in 1734. 
MarriageHe married Christiana Folke
BurialHe was buried at Hodgkinson Family Burying Ground, Grantham Twp.. 
NoteHe Page 30 of Early Ontario Settlers, A Source Book, by Norman K. Crowder (1993, Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore), is a source of information for the family of James Jones. The book is essentially a transcription of returns of Loyalists and provisioning lists for the Loyalist settlements from Detroit to the St. Lawrence River's north shore. Page 30 is headed as follows:

Return of Persons under the Description of Loyalists, Specifying the Numbers, Ages and Sexes of each family in Capt. McKinnon's Company in the Corps of Rangers at Niagara, 1 December 1783.

Rations are discussed, but of greatest interest are the names and ages of family members and these are as follows:

Ja's Jones 49; Mrs. Jones 39; Andrew Jones 17; Marcy Jones 15; Samuel Jones 12; Elizabeth Jones 11; Jonathan Jones 9; Sarah Jones 4; Nansy Jones 6.

This is probably not the family of James and Christiana in its entirety, but is taken as a starting point.

In 1998, the Niagara Peninsula Branch of the Ontario Generalogical Society, St. Catharines, Ontario (publication OGS #3272), published a transcription of the Hodgkinson Family Burying Ground, assembled by Maggie Parnell. In 1913, to accommodate a route for the Welland Canal, this old cemetery was dug up and removed to Victoria Lawn Cemetery in St. Catharines. Numbers of the stones did not survive the move and we have no idea how many remains might have been moved at the time. Information regards names of those buried in the family cemetery were the subject of an exchange of letters in November of 1913 between Fred Parnell and Janet Carnochan of the Niagara Historical Society. Mr. Parnell lived on the family farm and, as a child, had spent much time in and around the cemetery. He provided Miss Carnochan with a list of names of 'persons known to be buried in the Hodgkinson Burial Ground prior to November of 1913'. This appears on page 2 of the OGS transcription. This list includes the name James Jones. Approximate years of birth and death are given as 1732-42 to 1794-97. Immediately below is listed Christiana Folch Jones, wife of James Jones, born April 1, 1746.

With this testimony, we shall consider that James and Christiana were in fact buried in the Hodgkinson Family Cemetery, however, we have further evidence that narrows the year of James' death still further.

In a petition to John Graves Simcoe dated 1 August, 1795, at Newark, son Andrew wrote as follows:

That your petitioner is eldest son of his late father James Jones who on his discharge from the late corps of Butlers Rangers settled himself and family in the township of Grantham. That his family consisted of a wife and eight children - seven of whom he brought into the country. That he received three hundred acres for himself, and one hundred acres as part of his family lands. Your petitioner therefore humbly prays your Excellency will be pleased to grant the heirs of the said James Jones the remaining part of such family lands as may be due them...

With this, we may say that James Jones died either in 1794 or early 1795.

Many years ago, this researcher had a conversation with an elderly gentleman (name long since forgotten) who was a Hodgkinson descendant living in the United States. He told that James Jones was incarcerated in an American jail for some three years because of his loyalty to the British cause. With him in this prison was a Hodgkinson, who later married James' daughter. The Hodgkinson family was said to have engineered a jail break and the two of them were freed and then joined Butler's Rangers. There is a story to the effect that James was a member of Butler's Rangers prior to his arrest and imprisonment.

In 1787 at Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake), James filed a claim for losses suffered during the Revolutionary War. In this, he states that he was jailed for three years, so the above story will have some validity.

With reference to James' above noted claim, this is to be found via records of the Audit Office in London, England. See AO12-028, Claims, American Loyalists, Evidence, 1787, New York. This is to be found on Ancestry's image 43 of the same.

This is addressed to the commissioners and it is headed:


The memorial of James Jones late of Ulster County and Province of New York, but now of Niagara, Pro. of Quebec, Private in Lieut. Col. Butlers Corps of Rangers.

In the body of the text he states that he suffered three years and two months confinement and losses amounting to 250 pounds New York currency.

A family story has it that when the cause was lost and Butler's Rangers' soldiers found themselves at Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake), James had no idea where his family was to be found. He ran into one his sons on the street and was reunited with them. He settled in Grantham Township. 

Children of James Jones and Christiana Folke

Last Edited4 Nov 2023