Jones Brickwall and Rant

Hi All,

It’s been awhile since I last posted. I read on here when I get a chance, but with 3 kids and all their activities, family life keeps us busy. Anyway, if any of you have seen my previous posts, you know that my brick wall is my 3rd GGrandparents, Harvey and Martha (Rosser) Jones. I have been searching this line for about 15 years now and haven’t been able to get past them – filled in tons of detail from their 11 kids forward, but nothing, zip, zero, ziltch beyond Harvey and Martha. I can not find any trace this family anywhere before a 1841 marriage record that was filed in Greene County, Ohio. Here is what I do know…

I have seen Harvey’s name written as: Harvey, Harvy, Herby, Harry, Henry, Herbert, Harbort, and Harvard.

Per the census records, here is how his age changed:

29 in 1850 (born 1820 – 1821)

[I can’t find them in 1860.]

46 in 1870 (born 1823 – 1824)

60 in 1880 (born 1819 – 1820)

His headstone says he was born in 1812, which his death certificate agrees (He died in 1899 at the age of 87y 15d).

Of the dates that I have, 1812 makes the most sense (because his oldest child was born in 1833), but I have as much as a 12 year gap in there. This means the standard +/- 2 years age difference that works on every other line in my family doesn’t apply here.

Oh yeah, in 1850, the census enumerator initially wrote that Harvey and Martha were “black”. The “B” was smudged out and the whole family was then listed as “mulatto”. In the 1870 census, they were listed as “white”. In the 1880 census, they were listed as “white”. In an 1881 township directory, they were listed as “col’d”. On Harvey’s death record in 1899, he was listed as “white”. In the 1900 census, his widow was listed as “white”.

My Jones family was from Virginia. Where in Virginia? I am not quite sure. Depending on the record that I have, it ranges from Petersburg to Dinwiddie County to Greensville County to Roanoke County. The location listed most in the records that I have is Petersburg/Dinwiddie County, but guess what?!! Dinwiddie is a Burned Records County meaning the county court records prior to 1833 were destroyed in 1865.

Did I mention his last name is Jones, which is the 4th most common surname in the U.S.?

So, I am looking for a H(something) Jones, who could be white, mulatto, or black, born anywhere from 1812 to 1824 somewhere in Virginia, but I can’t rule out looking for them in North Carolina either since the locations that I do have are near the VA/NC border.

Why can’t Ancestry have a little paperclip assistant in the bottom corner of my screen like Microsoft Office that will jump up and down, dance, wave, and say “Whoo-hoo they are over here!”? It would make thinks so much easier. 😀

O.K. I am done ranting. If anybody sees someone matching my oh-so (not) specific descriptions of Harvey Jones, send them my way.

Thanks,

Stacey