JONES/JENNINGS - AUSTIN AFFILIATED FAMILY
William
Jones and Mary Virginia "Polly" Jennings
Flora Austin, who married Isaac Guilford "I.G." Van Leer on October 25, 1876 in Fannin County, TX, was the daughter of David Brice Austin and Mandana Jones.
Mandana Jones was the daughter of William Jones and Mary Virginia Jennings. [Go to Jennings Family History.]
There is a brief reference regarding William Jones in John O. Austin's 1907 letter [View letter] in which he states:
Lean Jimmie Jones, as he was called, was once governor of Tennessee. He was their Father’s cousin. So, I find no dark spot in my wife’s kin.
James Chamberlain "Lean Jimmie" Jones (1809-1859) was the Governor of Tennessee and lived in Wilson County, TN during the time William Jones was there. Governor Jones was the son of Peter Jones and Catherine Chappell, formerly of Amelia County, VA. Augusta B. Fothergill compiled an extensive genealogy of this Virginia Jones family "Peter Jones and Richard Jones Genealogies" in 1924. This researcher, to date, has not been able to connect the William Jones who married Mary Virginia Jennings to this family.
Known Facts
The following facts are documented for William Jones, mother of Mandana Jones:
William Jones married Polly Jennings [See Jennings Family
History.] in Wilson County, TN on June 5, 1819. John Pleasant
Maddox was the bondsman. His father Elijah Maddox (a Baptist) was the
minister.
Note: John P. Maddox married Polly Jennings in 1816 with bondsman
"Willie" Jones. Polly could possibly be William's sister.
The Maddox's move to Franklin County, IL as do any Wilson County residents.
William Jones (age 18-26) is listed in the 1820 Wilson
County, TN census with a wife (age 16-26), a daughter under 10 (Louisa) and a
female slave younger than 14 years old. Neighbors are typically listed together in the
early census roles. William and his young wife are listed next to:
* Redding Jones. He is over 45 years old with no living
wife. There are 3 girls between 16 and 26 and one boy between 18 and 26 in his
household. In the 1800 census, there is a Redding Jones in the
Hillsborough township of Wake County, North Carolina. This little
township includes 54 Jones families. The 1850 census indicates that
William Jones was born in North Carolina in the year 1800. Redding is possibly William's father.
* Joseph Jones. Joseph is over 45. There is a
female between 26 and 45 and a daughter less than 10.
* Mary Virginia Ginning's (Jennings) family is in the same general
area. John Ginnings seems to be her father. This household
includes a male and woman both older than 45 years of age plus 1 son between
16-18 (John?), two sons between 18-25 (William and Allen?), and 6
slaves. James Ginnings, her 4th brother, is head of a separate
household with a wife, 4 small children, and one female between the age of
26-45.
William Jones is listed as Head of Family in the 1830 census
for Lafayette County. Other early settlers (about 1822) are John Jennings,
Allen Jennings, and William Jennings - all brothers of his wife, Mary
Virginia Jennings.
William Jones seems to, in effect, have adopted the Austin siblings when they
arrive in Missouri. Two of his daughters and one son marry Austin
siblings.
Greenton, Lafayette County, Missouri, 1990. The William Jones family met the Austins while living in this community in the "Little Dixie" section of Missouri near Independence in the 1840's.
While five of the Austin brothers were in California seeking
gold, William Jones moved most of the Jones family to Texas. His
married daughter Missouri (John Overton Austin's wife) and their child,
Leanara, are included in the William Jones household in the 1850 Fannin
County, Texas census; apparently John had not yet returned from
California. The 1850 census says William is 50, born in North
Carolina. [There are, however, contradictions in other documents where
children give his birth place as Tennessee.] His household includes
Polly, age 51 born in SC; L. (Louisa), 31 born in TN; Mandana, 17 born in
MO; Robert, 15, born in MO; M.A. (Missouri) Austin, married daughter, age
20; L. (Leanara) Austin, 2 year-old granddaughter; and 2 slaves.
A Jones kinsman, however, was still in Lafayette County,
MO when the 1850 census was taken. William Marshall Jones, born Dec.
31, 1825 in
Illinois joined up with William Jones as a young man. He married
Missouri Ann Sloan in 1848 and was living with her parents in 1850 along
with their first son Charles L. Jones. William Marshall Jones appears
to be a nephew. The distribution of William Jones's estate
indicates that he is NOT a child. Yet he was close enough to assume
guardianship of one of William Jones's granddaughters after other family members
had died.
By the 1850's, most of the Austins and Joneses were
living in Fannin County. Then, a typhoid epidemic claimed the lives of
four of the Jones family in the 1859-60 period. Several continued the
westward movement, settling in California.
William Jones was a moderately successful farmer. The 1850 Fannin County census indicated that his household included two slaves. When he died in 1859, he left a 320-acre farm. His many heirs immediately sold 10 acres for $1 to Robert S. Jones; apparently he had built a homestead on his father's property.
The rest of the estate was not settled until 1877 due to the interruption of the Civil War. The property was sold by the sheriff at a public auction "at the door of the courthouse on the first Tuesday in June 1877." The property was sold for $595 to David Brice Austin and Richard Semple. David, in turn, sold his share of the property to Richard Semple "on behalf of his wife and other heirs of William Jones." The money received from Richard Semple was, then, distributed among the many heirs.
FAMILY OF WILLIAM JONES AND MARY VIRGINIA "POLLY" JENNINGS
| Name | Birth | Comments | |
| 1 | Louisa J. | 1819, TN | Never married. Died 1882, Fannin County, Texas. |
| 2 | John G. | 1821, TN | Married Margaret C. Brown in Lafayette County, MO in 1841. First family member to move to Texas--about 1847. he was living in Grayson County in 1882 when he inherited Louisa's property. |
| 3 | Alfred McClain | 1823, MO | Moved to California before 1859. He may have never returned from the Gold Rush in 1849. He died in 1906 in Alameda County, CA. |
| 4 | Hillard Miles | 1825, MO | Married Mary Emily Austin in 1848 in Missouri. They followed William Jones to Texas about 1855. Moved to California about 1860. He died in 1912 in Alameda County, CA.. |
| 5 | Milbury R. | 1829, MO | Married Elijah Peters in 1848 in Missouri. Died in 1860 in Fannin County, Texas. |
| 6 | Missouri | 1830, MO | Married John Overton Austin, 1848 in Missouri. Came to Texas with father while husband was at Gold Rush. Died in 1860 in Fannin County, TX. |
| 7 | Mandane R. | 1833, TN | Married David Brice Austin, 1850 in Fannin County, TX. Inherited Louisa's bedding in 1882. Died in Coleman County, TX in 1884. This is line followed by website. |
| 8 | Robert S. | 1835, MO | Married Mary Portman, 1855 in Fannin County, Texas. Marriage certificate signed by David Brice Austin. Died in 1860 in Texas. |
| 9 | Mary Jane | 1836, MO | Married John Lauderdale in Missouri. After his death, she married Spencer Bomar in Fannin. Her child, Anna Eliza inherited land and two slaves from the Lauderdale grandfather. Guardianship transferred several times through legal documents in Fannin. |
JENNINGS
FAMILY HISTORY - ENGLAND/VIRGINIA/NC/SC
This Jennings Family has been well researched and documented in:
"Mr. Henry: A
Twig on the Jennings Family Tree"
by Mildred Jennings Deering
Available through inter-library loan at Lebanon, Wilson County, Library
The family has been traced to 1650 Warwickshire, England. The oldest identified ancestors are Humphrey Jennings and Mary Milford. Our line, then, follows 4 John Jennings.
John Jennings I. Born 9/5/1667 in Warwickshire.
Married Mary Green.
John Jennings II. He was born 12/8/1706 in
Warwickshire. He and his wife, Ann Barton, embarked from Whitehaven,
Cumberland County, England in December 1754 for Fredericksburg, Virginia,
landing on the Rappahannock River. His gravestone is located in the
Jennings Cemetery about 13 miles north of Wilkesboro, NC on Highway
18. He died in 1811 and is buried in NC.
John Jennings III. Born about 1730 in England.
He (or his father) were granted 90 acres of land in Dinwiddie County, VA as
recorded in the County Book 2 in 1755. His brother, Luke, is listed as
a Revolutionary War Patriot (performed public service - not a soldier) by the DAR.
John Jennings IV. He was born about 1762 in
Virginia. By 1788 the Jennings family was living in North
Carolina. In the 1790 census, the family is living in Fairfield
County, Camden District, SC. (just 100 miles south of Wilkesboro, Wilkes
County, NC.) Mary Virginia "Polly" was born in South
Carolina in 1799. By 1820
the Jennings Family was living in Wilson County, TN.
John Jennings IV married Mary Grubbs about 1787. Both John Jennings and his wife
are believed to have died in Wilson County, TN
between 1820-1830.
JENNINGS WESTWARD MOVEMENTS - TN/MO/TX
John Jennings IV and Mary Grubbs had 5 children - 4 sons and Mary Virginia "Polly" who married Williams Jones (the line followed by this website).
The Jennings brothers were very aggressive frontiersmen - among the FIRST settlers in Tennessee, Missouri, and West Texas. Williams Jones and Polly sometimes moved with the brothers or followed a few years behind. The history of each of the four brothers is briefly described below.
1. JAMES JENNINGS. Born in 1788, probably in South Carolina. He was an early settler in Lafayette County, MO in 1825. He moved his family again in 1846 - arriving in Texas two days after Texas joined the Union. They came by wagon train with the Peters Colony to Sherman, Grayson County, TX. James Jennings died in Sherman, Grayson Co., TX in 1866.
James married Martha "Patsey" Rutland in 1813 in Wilson County, TN. She was the daughter of Blake and Martha Rutland. Patsey was born in NC 10/28/1794 and died 2/8/1891 in Sherman, TX.
Mrs. Mildred Deering, family researcher, is descended from James and Patsey's oldest son John (born 1814 in Wilson County, Tennessee.) Most of the Jennings information came through this line. John's daughter Mary Ellen Jennings documented the family's history in private letters during the period of 1932-1934, including identifying their sister, Virginia "Polly," as being the wife of William Jones of Fannin County, Texas.
2. WILLIAM JENNINGS. Born about 1793 in the Fairfield District, SC. He died at Berry Creek, Georgetown, TX. He married Elizabeth Hopper 3/9/1828 in Lafayette County. She was born in Indiana and was the daughter of Thomas and Becky Gray Hopper. They moved to Texas about 1850.
3. ALLEN JENNINGS. Born about 1800 probably in South Carolina. He died in Lafayette County, MO in 1857. He married Lucinda Whitsett 1/20/1828 in Lafayette County.
4. JOHN JENNINGS. Born 1802 in South Carolina and died 11/4/1867 in Burnet County, TX. He married Sarah C. Harris 8/29/1821 in Wilson County, TN. William Jones was the bondsman. They soon left for Missouri.