Chapter 15: JONES of Churchstoke, Montgomery and Swindon, Gloucestershire

Richard Jones was born in Churchstoke in about 1833. The parish of Churchstoke is situated in Montgomery (now part of Powys) on the Welsh/English border. The parish forms a spur projecting in to Shropshire, such that it is all but surrounded by its English county neighour. Such is its border situation that part of the parish is in the Welsh hundred of Cawres and part in the English hundred of Chirbury. The small village of Churchstoke is situated near the confluence of the rivers Camlet and Ceibutrach, on one of the principal routes between Wales and England.

Richard's father appears to have died shortly after Richard was born. By 1837 his mother, Mary, had married William Lockley, a stone mason who lived in Churchstoke. William had at least two children by an earlier wife, and seven, one born every other year, with Mary. Richard, and his half brother Francis, both became stone masons after their step-father and father respectively. Richard travelled to Swindon, a small village to the northwest of Cheltenham (not to be confused with Swindon in Wiltshire), with his trade.

Swindon, Gloucestershire

In Swindon Richard met and married Harriet Wasley (Chapter 16), the daughter of coachman. The couple lived first in the Rectory, then the grocers shop in the village. Whilst living in Swindon, Richard became a bricklayer as well as a stone mason. The couple had seven children, the youngest of whom, Harriet, is the only one with any known descendants. Harriet may have been a nurse for the Bishop of Chester's family in the Bishops Palace in the early 1890's. In 1899 she is known to have married Albert Edward Eggleton (chapter 14) in Birmingham.

. . . . .- JONES b.- d.<1937 m.Mary -
. . . . . . Richard JONES b.c1833 d.<1933 m.Harriet WASLEY (Chapter 16)
. . . . . . . Francis Richard JONES b.1861
. . . . . . . Mary JONES b.c1863
. . . . . . . Emily JONES b.1864
. . . . . . . Alfred George JONES b.1866
. . . . . . . Ann(ie) JONES b.1868
. . . . . . . Harry James JONES b.1870
. . . . . . . Harriet JONES b.1872 d.1956 m.Albert Edward EGGLETON (Chapter 14)