Simon Jones (Bala)

Simon Jones (Bala) 1

Birth Name Jones (Bala), Simon
Gramps ID I0009
Gender male
Age at Death 68 years, 1 month, 20 days

Narrative

* Why do he and Grace go to Sheffield? Presumably where they are for the 1841 census.
* Both his wives produce their sole offspring in their 30s.
* Surnames: Bwthyn Tegid, a satire by Michael D Jones (of Patagonian and nationalist fame) published serially in Yr Amserau in summer 1859 (https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4239529), has as its protagonist a leading Bala trader, who entertains other identifiable figures from local society in a lodge on Bala Lake. MDJ calls him Syr (Sir) Simon ap Simon, and I'm quite clear that he is Simon Jones (Bala). Both that Simon Jones' sons are called ApSimon, not Jones, and I think that Thomas and half-brother David were merely putting into English/official documents what was already/still normal in Welsh and in less formal documents a generation earlier - the Lôn generation. The social advantages to Thomas of differentiating himself from the other Joneses can be seen in the image.
* There was improbable family speculation that police sergeant William Thomas ApSimon, born 1865 Ruthin, living in Toxteth Park in 1911 with wife Frances and children Gwilym, Emrys and Idris, was an illegitimate son of Simon Jones by a chambermaid.
* One JW told HTA that another branch headed by a Thomas ApSimon with a family home in Mold had no connection with Simon Bala.
* Simon Jones' Congregationalist Cromwellianism come from Cromwell's association with the Independents

Events

Event Date Place Description Sources
Birth [E0021] 1805 Lôn, Castell, Llanuwchllyn, Merionethshire Obit: 1805. 1851 & 61: 1805-6. Llanuwchllyn obelisk: 68 at death on 21/02/1873, i.e. 1804 or early 1805. Family: September 1805. 2 3 4a 5a
Event Note

NAMEBASE seems to suggest he was born in Bala: (B)

Religion [E0867]     Congregationalist. 6
Occupation [E0791] estimated between 1815 and 1825 Richard Tibbot, grocer, draper & spirit dealer, Llanfyllin, Montgomeryshire Apprenticed "when very young" to Mr. Tibbot, son of Rev. R. Tibbot, formerly from Llanbrynmair - presumably family of the dissenting minister Abraham Tibbott who lived at Llanuwchllyn in the late C18th. 7a 8a
Occupation [E0905] between 1825 and 21/2/1835 Llanfyllin, Montgomeryshire Grocery/drapery in partnership with Edward Davies. End date is London Gazette, start date is guess. Termination presumably connected with marriage in Nov 1835 to Grace Jones. Quote, perhaps from Welsh obit: "For some time in Llanfyllin he has taken a trade forward with another young man." 9a
Occupation [E0901] estimated between 1836 and 1840 Sheffield, West Riding, Yorkshire Draper, perhaps staying with brother Edward, who died there in 1846? In the Mary-bird story, David Evans of Carmarthen says he was living in Sheffield when his sister Mary died in 1837. He's in Bala by 1843, when Thomas is born. Presumably moved there after marrying Grace in 1835. Not in 1841 Sheffield/Bala/Llanuwchllyn census or local trade directories, so no big impact in Yorkshire.. 7 10
Occupation [E0234] estimated between 1841 and 1873 Simon Jones’s chandlery, drapery and grocery, High Street, Bala, Merionethshire Draper, grocer, chandler, radical orator. John Parry, then supervising the Carndochan gold mine near Llanuwchllyn, appears to have taken over his business on his death, Thomas and David being unwilling/unable to do so - see cuttings. 2 3 7
Occupation [E0796] from 1845 to 1850   Shareholder, National Provincial Bank of England: pioneering joint-stock bank, focus of new trend for middle-class investment in equities, predecessor of NatWest. Not mentioned in his rabble-rousing speeches about his rise from nothing... 9b 5b
Media Note

Wider Share Ownership?: Investors in English and Welsh Bank Shares in the Nineteenth Century by John D. Turner is good. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20543011

 

 

Occupation [E2073] 1851 Capel Newydd, Bala, Merionethshire Deacon. "Capel Newydd, Independents Erected 1779 Attendance - morning 122 scholars, afternoon 152, evening 201 Simon Jones, Deacon" 11
Death [E0017] 21/2/1873 Bala, Merionethshire   12 4a
Burial [E0088] 25/2/1873 Parish cemetery, Llanuwchllyn, Merionethshire AMA: Robert Thomas (Ap Vychan) gave the sermon at the memorial service for Simon Jones at the Independent Chapel in Bala on the evening of 25 February 1873. 12

Parents

Relation to main person Name Birth date Death date Relation within this family (if not by birth)
Father Simon Jones (Lôn) [I0018]30/10/177426/4/1854
Mother Mary/Mari Thomas [I0019]176831/10/1852
    Brother     David Jones [I0032] between 1798 and 1799 1/1833
    Brother     Edward Jones [I0033] between 1799 and 1800 7/1846
    Brother     Thomas Jones [I0034] between 1800 and 1801 1/6/1847
    Sister     Jane Jones [I0035] between 1803 and 1804 5/1833
         Simon Jones (Bala) 1805 21/2/1873
    Sister     Margaret Jones [I0036] between 1808 and 1809 8/1832
    Sister     Mary Jones [I0037] between 1811 and 1812 4/1837

Families

Family of Simon Jones (Bala) and Grace Jones [F0004]
Married Wife Grace Jones [I0010] ( * 27/12/1804 + 15/5/1870 )
   
Event Date Place Description Sources
Marriage [E0023] 18/11/1835   Source Family Bible?  
  Children
Name Birth Date Death Date
Thomas ApSimon (Jones) [I0008]21/11/184318/9/1919

Family of Simon Jones (Bala) and Jane Rowlands [F0007]
Married Wife Jane Rowlands [I0020] ( * 27/2/1836 + 20/12/1880 )
   
Event Date Place Description Sources
Marriage [E0026] 8/1871   Ancestry says 3rd quarter. 13
  Children
Name Birth Date Death Date
David Jones/Ap Simon/ApSimon [I0021]6/5/187228/2/1947

Family Map

Family Map