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How do I find my Great Great Grandparents Parents? I have found all the below information on my Jones line but have had no luck finding James P Jones’s Parents. I have no Reference as to his parents names or birth dates. I know they where born in Wales and thats about it. What are the steps I should Be taking to find the next generation back. Using the online sites both pay and free I have not been able to find a marriage certificate or death certificate for James. The 1850 Census has a couple of possibility’s but nothing promising. I have talked to all the living relatives that I know and no one knows anything. I have also posted messages on a few genealogy sites hoping to find relatives of this line that may have information. Below is the information I have found on James and his Family. Any help would be appreciated and if you know this family I would realy love to hear from you!!

James P. Jones and his Family.
He was married to a Maria and i am fairly sure her last name was Griffith, Griffen, Griffeths or something close to that spelling. James and Maria are both from Wales.
They have children born in Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. According to the 1900 Census James Jones came to the US in 1849 from Wales (he would have been 15 so probably came with his parents but not for sure on that). Here is what I have so far.

1860 US Census
Cleveland ward 6, Cuyahoga, Ohio

James Jones 26 Wales (Great Great Grandfather)
Maria Jones 24 Wales
William Jones 2 Ohio (Great Grandfather)
Sara Jones 7/12 Ohio

1870 US Census
Munising, Schoolcraft, Michigan

James 35 Wales Listed as a Moulder
Maria 33 Wales
William 12 Ohio
Sara 11 Ohio
Edward 9 Ohio
Henry Michigan
Margaret 8 Michigan
Ellen 5 Michigan
Rachel 3 Michigan
Hannah 2 Michigan

1880 US Census
Northampton, Rooks, Kansas

James P 42 Wales
Maria 40 Wales
William P 21 Ohio
Maggie 16 Ohio
Henry 13 Michigan
Nellie 12 Michigan
Hannah 10 Michigan
Lizzie 9 Pennsylvania
Martha 4 Pennsylvania

1885 Kansas State Census
Northampton, Rooks, Kans
as

James 56 Wales
Maria 54 Wales
Edward 21 Ohio
Nellie 18 Michigan
Hannah 15 Michigan
Elizabeth 12 Pennsylvania
Mattie 9 Pennsylvania
James 1 Birth place blank

1900 US Census
Northampton, Rooks, Kansas

James P. 70 Widowed Wales
William P. 39 Ohio
Geanal-Jeanas 15 (listed as James’s Grandson spelling is probably wrong very hard to read on census record)

Rooks County Kansas Marriages That could be our Jones Family

Edward Jones to Dora Hayworth Oct 29, 1896
Maggie Jones to W.W. Wiley Dec 14, 1884
Hannah Jones to D.T. Ashton Oct 29, 1886
Sara Jones to Hugh M Wilson Jan 30, 1887
Sara J Jones to Gurley W. Sargur Oct 23, 1879
Elizabeth Jones to J.A. Hampt Oct 7, 1896
Mattie Jones to T.A. Myers Mar 26, 1893

Notes: Our Sara was out of the house for the 1880 Census so The Sarah J is probably her and she was either widowed/divorced by 1887 or the other Sara is not the same person.

Rooks county Kansas Births that may be related to our Joneses

William Jones and Nellie Unknown = Baby Jones July 17, 1891
Edward Jones and Jennie Pickenpaugh = Baby Jones Jul 1, 1899
Edward Jones and Dora Hanosth = William Jones July, 13 1897
Maggie Jones and Whright Wiley = Baby Wiley Sep 24, 1890

I have a Sarah Griffiths in my genealogy, from Wales, late 1700s. I have never found anything about her parents, or her husbands parents (only 5 generations ago for me). There are Jones in my tree also, but from England or unknown origin.

I know they always say find the census, birth/marriage/death certificates, but these things don’t always exist today in the U.S. of A. Life was so cheap back then that often there were no records.

Your best chance of finding any info is throught the "User Submitted Trees". If that works, then you can always look to see if they show up in the Census or official records. Another option is to check newspaper archives. Still another is to check genealogical/historical societies and library archives (the Library of Congress, state/university libraries such as in Ohio, New York, Virginia, and Alabama).

I always take the easy route: if I cannot find one ancestor, I look for another.

With some help from this site I was able to find my Great Grandfather William P Jones in the 1920 Census (thanks Ted Pack). And using free sites recomended from another site I was able to find them in the 1910 Census. And also found a possible death Certificate for him!! But now I am stuck and have a few more questions.

Below is the Death Cetificate I found. Acording to my aunt he lived in Puyallup when he died wich was before she was born so she is not 100% sure but is sure my Grandmother jane died in Puyallup in the 40’s. So this looks like it may be him. I wrote to the Puyallop library and they could not find a Obit for him. I also wrote to the Pierce county library and am awaiting a responce. So my Question is am I on the right track here? Is there another way to verify this record? My hope was that a Obit would contain more info and hopefully confirm that this is my G Grandfather and maybe give some more information as to my family history.

Name: William P. Jones
Death Date: 10 Nov 1929
Death Place: Puyallup, Pierce, Washington
Gender: Male
Race (Displayed on Form):
Age at Death: 73 years 7 months 18 days
Estimated Birth Year: 1856
Birth Date:
Birth Place:
Marital Status: Married
Spouse’s Name: Jane Jones
Father’s Name: James Jones
Father’s Birth Place:
Mother’s Name: Griffits
Mother’s Birth Place:
Occupation:
Street Address:
Residence:
Cemetery:
Burial Place:
Burial Date:
Additional Relatives:
Film Number: 2022645
Digital GS Number: 4222938
Image Number: 1776
Volume/Page/Certificate Number: 565

I also have noticed that the ages given in the 1910 and 1920 census do not match up. However in 1910 a Dosha Jones is listed along with a Martha Jones. My aunt verified that Dosha is her aunts name (my great aunt). I will copy the 2 census pages below could these be the same family even though the ages don’t mach up?

1920
Name: Jane Jones
Residence: , Lewis, Washington
Estimated Birth Year: 1876
Age: 44
Birthplace: Ohio
Relationship to Head of Household: Wife
Gender: Female
Race: White
Marital Status: Married
Father’s Birthplace: United States
Mother’s Birthplace: United States
Film Number: 1821933
Digital Folder Number: 4390969
Image Number: 00537
Sheet Number: 5
Household Gender Age
Spouse William P Jones M 56y
Jane Jones F 44y
Child Martha M Jones F 17y
Child George W Jones M 6y

1910
Name: Jane Jones
Birthplace: Ohio
Relationship to Head of Household: Wife
Residence: Prescott, Lewis, Washington
Marital Status: Married
Race : White
Gender: Female
Immigration Year:
Father’s Birthplace: Michigan
Mother’s Birthplace: Virginia
Family Number: 83
Page Number: 17
Household Gender Age
Spouse William Jones M 55y
Jane Jones F 43y
Child Dosha Jones F 11y
Child Martha Jones F 9y

I know this is a long winded question. And also that it has multiple questions in it. I just don’t know much as far as how to look stuff up and how to verify things that i do find.

Thanks
Ian

Ages in census records are frequently incorrect. I’d say you have the correct family. Since it says Dosha and Martha were born in Kansas, I would look for the family there in around 1900. Actually you did well to find the information you did. I just wasted 15 minutes with Ancestry’s "great new" search engine and couldn’t get the 1920 census at all.

A few other things I noticed that might help, his parents were from Wales and he and Jane were married in about 1896.