Welcome to the Fones (Fownes) Family Web Site
Fones (Fownes) Arms From
England
Fones (Fownes) Arms From Ireland
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This
web site was put together in the hope that it would be helpful to others as
well as myself doing research
on the Fones (Fownes)
and related families. It wouldn't have been possible to gather the
information shown
here without the help
of many wonderful people. If you find the information here helpful and
would like to help
support it along with the on going research please contact me. Please
check back occasionaly as information
here is updated over time, Good Hunting!
E. Bruce Fones, Web Site
Coordinator.
ebfones@fones.org
Some Family History
The
name of Fones (Fownes), as some family historians are of the opinion is a
variant on the Celtic personal
name of "Fionn", which
means fair.
Celtic Languages
Celtic
is a subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages, At one time during the
Hellenistic
period, Celtic speech extended all the way from Britain and the Lberian
Peninsula in the west
across Europe to Asia Minor in the east. Today the Celtic languages
that have survived into the
modern era are limited almost entirely to the British Isles and French
Brittany. The Celtic subfamily
is made up of three groups of languages: the Continental, the
Brythonic (also called Bitish), and
the Goidelic (also called Gaelic).
Continetal Celtic / Gaulish
Continental
Celtic, which includes all Celtic Idioms on the Continent with the exception of
Breton,
died out following the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The principal
example of this group is the
now extinct language Gaulish, for little remains of any other Continental
Celtic tongues. Gaulish was
once the language of Gaul proper (now
modern France). 
The
earliest record of the Fones (Fownes) name is of a Sir William Fones, a Knight
who came over with
with William the Conqueror in 1066. The Normans were commonly believed
to be of French origin but, more
accurately, were of Viking origin. The Vikings, under their
Jarl, Thorfinn Rollo, invaded France in about 911
A.D.. After Rollo laid siege to Paris, The French King, Charles the
Simple, finally conceced defeat, granting Northern
France to Rollo. William the Conqueror (Duke William) was decended
from the first Duke Rolio of Normandy. Sir
William Fones, Knight settled in a place called Saxby, where his descendants
lived for many centuries. Other early
records are of a petrus (Peter) Fonne, of Nottinghamshire, about the year
1292, those of Peter Le Ffoon, whose name
appears in the Close Rolls of the time of King Edward III, circa 1331, and
those of Willelmus (William) Fones, who was
living in Yorkshire in the year 1379. From approx: the 1500's into the
1700's Fones (Fownes) families could be found in the
Devonshire, Worcestershire and London areas of England. Some spellings
of the name through early English history are:
Fon, Fons, Ffones, Fonne, Fonnes, Ffoon, Foon, Foones, Fowne, Fownes, Fones
and others. The last two are the most
frequently used in modern times. Persons dong research on the Fones
(Fownes) families might want to contact Jill
Sothcott as she has a large amount of information on these families.
She is always looking for new contacts with whom
to exchange data with. Her Email is: Jsothcott@aol.com
Jill
has provided some of her notes on the Fones (Fownes) family in England and I've
added them to the web
page. They are
in html format and can viewed by clicking on the following link: Jill
Sothcott's Notes
The
Fones (Fownes) Families of America came from England in the 1600's and settled
in New England and
Virginia during the same periods.
The name was spelled differently by clerks and census takers who spelled it
as it sounded to
them. Examples are, Fauns, Fawns, Foanes, Foans, Fones, Fons and
Fownes. I have found
direct connections
were all these spellings were used, the most common are Fones and Fownes.
Today the two
areas of the U.S.A.
that have the largest concentration of Fones (Fownes) families are the
Mid-Atlantic and West
Coast States.
There were only approx: 374 Fones, 29 Fownes in the U.S.A. that had listed
phone numbers (1997)
The Fones (Fownes, Fawns) Families From The Tide Water Area of
Virginia
The Fones (Fownes) families that settled in the Tide Water area of VA., in the
counties of Richmond and
Westmoreland (part of
the area known as the "Northern Neck") have been traced to the
1600's. Many of
them were farmers and
carpenters. They fought in all the major wars and most belonged to the
Baptist Church
from the late
1700's. There are Fones (Fawns) in KY. whose ancestors left VA. after the
Revolutionary War (See
KY.information below). There are
Fones in Texas who's family left VA. after the Civil War. During the late
1800's many Fones resettled in Northern
VA. near Washington, D.C. to locate employment. These are only a few
of the many areas Fones families migrated
to from the Tide Water area of Virginia.
Westmoreland
County Museum and Library
The
Westmoreland County Museum houses a nice collection of historical artifacts and
maintains a research
library (The Henry Hungerford
Library) on the 2nd floor. The library can be useful to those doing
family
history research in the Northern Neck of
VA. area. The Museum is conveniently located across from the old
Court House in Montross, Virginia.
One staff person is normally available to assist you.
(Foneswood,
VA. is only 5 miles approx: 10 min's from the museum.)
Bruce Fones (left) and James "Jamie" Fones (right) at
Foneswood in Richmond County, VA. Sept. 1998
Jamie
Fones passed away September 30, 2007 (a great loss to all doing research on the
Fones family)
Tombstone photo's of Fones graves in The Northern Neck Area of
VA.
Here
you'll find pictures of Fones headstones I had time to photograph in
2007. If by chance anyone else has photo's of others
please send them to me and I will add
them. Click on the link to view the photo's (Updated Mar. 08, 2011).Fones
Tombsones
Westmoreland Pictures
I've
added some pictures here I thought might be of interest to those who have
ancestors from Westmoreland
County, Virginia.
Click on the link to view them
Westmoreland Pictures
Virginia Fones (Fownes)
Data Available here on line:
I've uploaded most of the data I have on Fones (Fownes) Families originating
from Virginia so others can view it here.
You will need to first
click on the "Fones data available here on line" link below.
You will see a list of surnames included
in the data.
Click on FONES or FOWNES and a index of names will come up. This is only
a partial list, at the bottom
you can click on back
or next which will make the whole list available. Chick on
the name of interest and the data will
come up, click on any name that shows up
in the tree and that persons information will come up..
Kentucky Fones (Fawns) Information
The
Fones (Fawns) Families of Kentucky are descendents of John Fones who moved from
Virginia to Bath County
KY. in approx; 1812 bringing his
family with him. Some of this family adopted the spelling of Fawns
instead of
Fones in the 1800's and still use it
today. I have placed some of the information I have on this family here
for your
viewing, you can see all of the data on
individuals by looking them up in the VA. FONES (FOWNES) family data base
above.
(The KY. data here is in Windows Notepad
format so anyone using a windows based OS can view it.
Below is the link for most of the KY.
data only (updated Mar. 20, 2011):
KY. Fones (Fawns)
data
Tennessee Fones Family Information
I started doing a study of the Fones families of
Tennessee in approx: 2002. I believe this family is descended from the
Fones
families of
Virginia but as of yet I can’t tie them together. As you look at the data
I now have and find you
have
information that could be added or if there are corrections to be made please
contact me.
E. Bruce Fones,
ebfones@fones.org
The TN. data here is in Windows Notepad Format so anyone
using a windows based OS can view it.
Below is the
link for the TN. data only (updated Mar. 24, 2012)
TN. Fones Data
Fones (Fownes) Families From New England
(Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut)
While
doing research on the Fones from Virginia I have had contact with many folks
doing research on
their New England families. Many of
them shared information in the hope that I might come across
data that would be helpful. I put
this data into a file and only looked at it when asked for help concerning
New England Fones families. I've
hoped that a person with a zeal for genealogy would come along who
would take the led for this site
collecting and sharing New England Fones information. Possibly acquiring
enough data to put a data base on the web
site like the one for VA. Fones. Well such a person has come
along who is willing to take on the task.Rick Fones who has
been doing research on his own New England
roots is willing to take it on. This
will provide a central place where we can maintain the New England data
we now have and obtain in the
future. It takes a lot of effort from many people to take data from
different
family lines and put it together.
So if you have New England roots and are willing to share your data with
others it would be helpful if you
contact Rick. Lets remember he has a life other then working on genealogy
so let's not expect miracles over night
.
Rick has recently provided enough
information from his research to put up a data base of the New England
Fones family information he now has which
is tied together. Please take a look at this data to see if you have
any information that can be added or see
errors that need to be corrected. Even if you can't find a connection
with your own families history please
share what you have with Rick so he can keep it the hope that he
might be able to tie it in later. You can contact Rick at:r_rfones@yahoo.com
To see
the information presently in the data base first
click on "N.E. Fones data available here on line"
listed below.
You will see a list of surnames included in the data base. Click on FONES
and a index of names
will come up.
This is only a partial list, at the bottom you can click on back or next which
will make the whole
list available.
Click on the name of interest and the data will come up, click on any name that
shows up in the
tree and that persons
data will come up.
New England Fones data
available here on line
The Fownes Family In Canada
Notes by Anita Fownes
The
first known Fownes to arrive in Canada is believed to be William Fownes (known
as William Fownes the loyalist).
There is varying opinions and evidence of
when the family arrived in the colonies.. One belief is that William and his
wife Isabella arrived from New York
County with the overwhelming majority of the loyalists in 1772 to Nova Scotia.
What is missing
from this research is documented proof that William was either born in America
or England or even as
some say, Holland. The Provincial Archives
of New Brunswick in the "Background on the Grant book Database"
indicates that
land grants issued between 1763 and 1803 were for land located in the area
which makes up present day
New Brunswick. The arrival of great numbers of loyalists to Nova Scotia,
created land demands that could not be met.
In order to accommodate and administer the new settlers, the province of Nova
Scotia was partitioned and New Brunswick
was formed in 1784. There are
records at the St. Martin/Quaco Museum (Arrivals published by the New Brunswick
Museum), indicate a William Fownes, Loyalist born 1750 who died 1846 was said
to have come to Cumberland 1772 Brit.
soldier,
who removed to St. Martins 1801. In Esther Clark Wright's book, "The
Loyalists of New Brunswick" she sites
a William Fownes (Fowns, blacksmith p432 St. John Co.) a parrtown grantee, a
Loyalist and may have settled at St. Martins
as early as 1798. Copies of land titles verify that William (1750-1846)
petitioned for land at St. Martins in 1805 for three lots
of land on the
Bay of Fundy with his two sons, William (1783/1785?-May 16, 1824) and John
(1787-May 13, 1858) and
again later in 1826, William "a British subject has served in his
majesty's service during the American rebellion is a native of
Great Briton" applied for and was granted "a tract of vacant Crown
land situate in the parish of aforesaid lying in the north
rear of these
lots to be in rear of Howard's grant (Quaco)", Situated in a grove of
trees on these lands at Melvin Beach
County (Little Beach) are the headstones of William, the Loyalist (1750-1846)
and his wife Isabella (1768-1833). These lands
are
now encircled by the Fundy Trail Parkway between St. Martins and Hopwell Cape
which the New Brunswick gov't is
developing. William and Elizabeth McCoy spawned a family of six children,
two daughters and four sons. The oldest and
youngest were daughters, Ann Louisa and
Mary E., the sons William, John Abner and Thomas completed the family.
It is
my hope that I will be able to add a data base here on line like the one for
the VA. based Fones (Fownes) families
to help others with their family research.
If you
have information on this family line please contact me.
E. Bruce Fones at: ebfones@fones.org
Further Ongoing Research:
One of
my goals is to locate records that will document the connection between the
VA., New
England and English Fones (Fownes)
families. So far this information has eluded me. I also want
to keep working with Fones (Fownes)
families that originated from New England and Virginia to find
their roots. It has taken over 40
years to obtain the data I now have and I will share openly.
Persons
doing research on the Fones (Fownes) family might also want to review the
postings on
the "Fones Family Genealogy
Forum" at: http://genforum.familytreemaker.com/fones/
Also
the "Fones Surname Message Board" at:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=an&p=surnames.fones/
Some Outstanding Free Genealogy sites On The Web
Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites
USGenWeb Project
L.D.S. Family
Search
Find a Grave
Please E-mail me
If you have any information (even if only a little) on any branch of these
families please contact me. Sometimes
what we regard as unimportant
information is enough to help others who are looking for their roots.
Lets work
together and share what
knowledge we have to help others and our later generations be able to know
their
families history.
E.
Bruce Fones
ebfones@fones.org