JONES, JENKIN (died 1689), Kilgerran, captain in the Parliamentary army, Puritan preacher, Independent

He dwelt at Rhos-y-Gilwen in the lower reaches of the parish, and came into prominence in 1656 as a supporter of the Protectorate of Cromwell by signing his name on the Humble Representation and Address. In Restoration times he secured, through Stephen Hughes, a licence under the Declaration of 1672 to preach in his own house; his followers were few, according to the report of Henry Maurice in 1675; in the census of 1676, only five nonconformists were counted in the parish. Under the proposals of James II in 1687 to grant freedom of worship to all (especially to Roman Catholics), Jones was suggested as a Dissenting J.P. to give force to these proposals, but there is not the slightest proof that he believed in the sincerity of the king or that he was willing to further the king's plans. His will, dated 2 January 1688/9 - it was proved at Carmarthen on 25 June - proves that he was a man of considerable substance: he kept four yoke of oxen, more than twenty horses, and was possessed of much landed property in the counties of Pembroke and Carmarthen. The overseers of his will were Stephen Hughes and John Evans of Trefenty in Abercywyn, high sheriff of Carmarthen in 1687-8; the first witness was the John Thomas (fl. 1689-1710) who acted as pastor of Independents on both sides of the Teivy after the death of Jenkin Jones, and engaged in sharp controversy with the Baptists of those districts. It is somewhat unlikely that the son, Theophilus Jones followed in the footsteps of his father; at least, his name appears with those of good churchmen who subscribed towards repairing the church of S. Mary's at Cardigan in 1702-3. Ann, the daughter of Theophilus, and the heiress of the Rhos-y-Gilwen property, married one of the Colby family, a pronounced Anglican. [See also Jenkin Jones (1623-)]

Author

• Thomas Richards, (1878 - 1962)

Sources

• Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, Chas. II, E.B. 38a, 85
• Broadmead Records (1847, 1865), Add. B, 517
• Salt MS. 2112 in the William Salt Library, Stafford 391
• Rawlinson Manuscript at the Bodlean Library, Oxford A. 139a, under Pembrokeshire
• Manuscript (the property of the Presbyterian Board) published by Alexander Gordon under the title Freedom after Ejection. A Review (1690–1692) of Presbyterian and Congregational Nonconformity in England and Wales, 1917, 144, 366
• S. R. Meyrick, The history and antiquities of the county of Cardigan (Brecon 1907), 175
• John Roland Phillips, The history of CilgerranS (1867), 126

Dolenni Ychwanegol

• Wikidata: Q6177546

Published date: 1959

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