|
The Search for Levin’s Parents . . |
|
After many years of family research I have learned that you start with family tradition, hopefully with a few names, dates, and locations and you then tackle primary records in an attempt to either prove or disprove these traditions. This Jones family is no exception — one of these traditions stated that Leven Jones was named Leven because he was the eleventh child in his family. Levin’s death certificate shows his name as Elevan. Actually, Levin/Leven is a very common given name during the nineteenth century. I was also told that somewhere along the line the surname was actually Pigg or Hog(g) and that one of the male ancestors changed his name because he was tired of being ridiculed. I discounted the “eleventh child” theory, not because it was improbable, but because it didn’t really make a difference in my search. The name-change tradition, on the other hand, may make a large difference in whether we can extend this family back in time. For this reason, I have routinely searched for Pigg/Hogg surname on earlier records as well as Jones — just in case! That’s why you may come across entries for the surname Pigg or Hog(g) among these pages.
Research on the Jones family began with the family bible of Milton Thompson Jones (see Jones Bible Records), a research sheet delineating the children and grandchildren of James Calhoun Jones, one indicating that Milton Thompson Jones’ parents were Eleven (sic) Jones and Margaret Branyon, and a couple of obituaries for later Jones descendants. Copies of these sources were given to me by a cousin, Liz Jones Waidelich. Apparently she had received most of this information from Ruth (Jones) Brown who was the “family historian”. Ruth was the oldest child of James Calhoun Jones. Family tradition indicates that Levin and Margaret were from Abbeville County, South Carolina. Margaret Agnes Branyon came from a family that is fairly well documented in Abbeville County. Our Jones family, however, is a different story.
With these clues in mind, I began my search with the Abbeville County, South Carolina census records. I am now fairly confident that Levin’s parents were Zacheriah R. Jones and wife, Susannah who were enumerated with their children on the 1850 and 1860 Abbeville County, South Carolina federal census. Margaret A. Branyon was listed with her mother, Jane Branyon, on the 1850 census only two households away from this Zacheriah R. Jones household. In 1860, she, Levin, and known children are listed next door to Zach R. Jones and family. I have been unable to find Zacheriah and Susannah on the 1870 census in Abbeville — only Levin, Margaret and children are listed. By 1880, we find Levin, Margaret, two of their younger daughters, and father Zechariah, age 90, listed in the township of Seneca, Oconee County, South Carolina. (See Census Records)
To date, I have been unsuccessful finding public records of Zacheriah R. Jones prior to 1850 in Abbeville County. There are several different Jones families in Abbeville at the time that might be candidates for Zacheriah’s parents, but I have not yet found proof to connect to any of them.
Thanks to another cousin, Ilene Jones-Cornwell, we know that Levin Jones served with the Confederate States of America during the civil war. He enlisted in 1861 at Abbeville, South Carolina and was paroled at Greensboro, North Carolina on May 1, 1865. He was wounded in the eye, later became blind, and is listed on the South Carolina Disability Pension Rolls from 1901 through 1910. These records show him as living in Pendleton/Anderson County, South Carolina. (See Military Records)
We have found a tombstone for Leven Jones and his second wife, Jane Long, at Return Baptist Church, near Seneca (Oconee County), South Carolina. First wife, Margaret Branyon Jones, is buried at New Prospect Baptist Church in Anderson County, South Carolina. (See Burial Records)
Levin’s descendants later lived in Anderson, Oconee and Greenville counties in South Carolina, northeastern Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee.
THE SEARCH CONTINUES . . . .
|