The Identity of Sir Roger Jones and his sister
The quality of data commonly available leaves much to be desired. For example, it might be assumed that Sir Roger Jones, Constable of Sligo, would be reliably documented in various contemporaneous publications, but these seem not to have been exhaustively researched.
i) In “The History of Sligo: Town and County” by T. O’Rourke ABT. 1888, it is stated that:
“ the Taafes, Cootes, Coopers, Ormsbys, Joneses, Gores, Parkes, Straffords, and Radcliffs either came over from England with Cromwell (1649 – 1653) or were already in Ireland and made common cause with Cromwell” when the latter arrived.
On page 442 of this publication, we find:
“The PARKES of Dunally are one of the oldest Anglo-Irish families in the county. They came to this country with Sir Roger Jones, who was in Sligo in the first years of the seventeenth century, and probably earlier, as he succeeded Sir James Fullerton, in 1606, as constable of the castle of Sligo. Sir Roger was married twice. By his first wife he had issue, Thomas Jones, of Banada, and, at least, one daughter, Mary Jones, who was married, first, to John Ridge, Esq., a gentleman of high public office in the province, as also of large landed estate ; and secondly, to Sir James Dillon, who took a leading part on the Irish side, in the ten years’ war started by the insurrection of 1641. It is probable that Alice Jones, the wife of Robuck Crean, was a daughter of Sir Roger, though it is, perhaps, as likely that she was the daughter of a brother of his who lived in
Sligo at the same time.
Sir Roger Jones’ second wife was Mary, daughter of Roger Smith, of Crasmarsh, in Staffordshire, of whom there was no issue. Sir Roger’s sister was married to Roger Parke, to whom she bore two sons, Robert Parke and William Parke, from the latter of whom the Parkes of Dunally descend ; this William Parke being set down, in the Rental of 1692, as tenant of Dunally, by letters patent of Court of Grace. The elder son,Robert Parke, married Anne Povey, of county Roscommon, by whom he had one child, a daughter and heiress, Anne Parke, married successively to Sir Francis Gore, Knight, and Percy Gethins, Esq. In the documents of the period, as well before as after her second marriage, she is styled, after her first husband, Dame Anne Gore.”
ii) An on-line resource tells us that Sir Roger Jones (?1580–1635), an ex-lieutenant in the Elizabethan army, major landowner and one of the leading merchants in the town was a cadet of the house of Jones of Llantisilio Hann, Co. Denbigh, N. Wales.
iii) Another resource informs us that “he was the leading Anglo-Norman in Sligo in the early 17th century. He first found mention in local records in 1602 as the Constable of the gaol and Governor of the castle. He filled the office of High Sheriff in 1611, 1615 and 1625. In 1613, when Sligo became a Parliamentary Borough, he had the distinction of being elected its first Provost, or Mayor. He was also a wealthy merchant and ship-owner and an extensive landowner. His social standing was such that he resided in a large stone-build edifice in Abbeyquarter, commonly referred to as Jones’s Castle. According to an entry in the ‘Funeral Register’ in the Genealogical Office Sir Roger died at Sligo on August 12th, 1635, and was buried in the mortuary chapel he had built in or at St. John’s Church in accordance with the terms of his will: ‘My body I commit to the earth in my tomb in the chapel I lately erected in the parish of St. John’s in Sligo’. He was survived by his widow, Mary, known locally as ‘Lady Jones’, and Thomas and Mary, (his natural children)” – i.e. illegitimate children.
iv)Yet another resource (Cracroft’s Peerage) suggests that he was Viscount Ranelagh a son of Thomas Jones (ca. 1550 – 10 April 1619), native of Lancashire, who was Archbishop of Dublin, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Bishop of Meath. This Sir Roger Jones was Constable of Sligo 1606/7; knighted 1606/7; Member of Parliament for Trim 1613-15; Privy Councillor [I] 1620; a Commissioner in the six escheated counties in Ulster 1623; Vice-President of Connaught; Chief Leader of the Army and of the Forces in the Province of Connaught 1626; Joint Lord President of Connaught 1630-43/4. His father was the Thomas Jones referred to above, and his grandfather was Henry Jones of Middleton in Lancashire. Roger Jones was killed in battle against Confederate forces under the leadership of Owen Roe O’Neill in 1643 (the Battle of Benburg).
He had sisters Jane (married Henry Piers) and Margaret (married Gilbert Domville) was the mother of Sir William Domville, Attorney General for Ireland. He did not appear to have a sister called Alice. He did not appear to be brother-in-law to Roger Parke.
v) An on-line article bySligo library tells us that he was born in Derbyshire, England: “Sligo’s most powerful Gael, Sir Donald O’Conor-Sligo, in his Irish tongue, entered into a Treaty of Peace with Queen Elizabeth I (reign 1558–1603) and was re-granted castles, royalties and customs in the Barony of Carbury and later petitioned regarding de Manerio Castro et Villa de Sligagh alias Slygo (The Manor Castle and town of Sligagh alias Slygo). Sir Donough O’Conor-Sligo (d.1609) protested against Sir Fullerton’s grants at Sligo Friary and Ballymote Castle but his objections fell on deaf ears as Fullerton being both Courtier and Knight of the Stool to King James I, was amongst that monarch’s most trusted confidantes. Upon Fullerton’s return to Court in England, Roger Jones became the Constable or Keeper of the newly erected Jail of Sligo in 1609. An Elizabethan solider and wool-merchant, the Derbyshire-native became the first Provost of Sligo in 1613”.
“However, by 1604 Sir James Fullerton, a Scottish Spy and Courtier to King James I (reign 1603–1625), based in Trinity College Dublin, became the Constable of Sligo. King James 1st granted a patent to hold a weekly market and two fairs in Sligo on St John the Baptist’s and St Michael’s Day, and a court of Pye Powder and the usual toll; he was further granted the foundation of a water-mill, the water-course and two fish weirs upon the River Sligo, with all the tithes etc belonging to the Sligo Priory”.
“Sir Donough O’Conor-Sligo (d.1609) protested against Sir Fullerton’s grants at Sligo Friary and Ballymote Castle but his objections fell on deaf ears as Fullerton being both Courtier and Knight of the Stool to King James I, was amongst that monarch’s most trusted confidantes. Upon Fullerton’s return to Court in England, Roger Jones became the Constable or Keeper of the newly erected Jail of Sligo in 1609. An Elizabethan solider and wool-merchant, the Derbyshire-native became the first Provost of Sligo in 1613.”
vi) In a book, “Surgeon Major Parke’s African Journey 1887-89” by J.B.Lyons, Dublin 1994 (text on page 13 and footnotes on pages 21 and 28) Surgeon General Thomas Heazle Parke believed that Roger Parke was of Kentish stock coming to Ireland c.1601 with Sir Roger Jones of Denbeigh in Wales, whose sister Alice he married in 1609. His sons were Robert (M.P. for Leitrim 1661) and William. Captain Robert Parke lived at Newtown Castle (now called Parke’s Castle) on the shores of Lough Gill near Dromahair and his daughter (Anne) married Sir Francis Gore, ancestor of the Gore-Booth family of Lissadell.
vii) In Betham’s extracts of prerogative grants up to 1802, he shows Sir Roger Jones as being the son of Griffith Jones of Ruthin in Denbigh. Knighted in 1624 by Lord ?Milford? Will dated 9th August 1635, ?buried 12th August 1635 in Sligo. Sir Roger’s wife is Mary Smith, daughter of Roger Smith (of Crackmarsh, Stafford). Sir Roger had a son Thomas and a daughter Mary, who married John Ridge of Roscommon (no children). Mary had a brother, Roger Smith, who had a son William (wife’s name not recorded). It also appears that Alice was married to a Roger Parke.
viii) On the, now defunct, website http://landedestates.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/estate-show.jsp?id=1703 there was the following information:
Jones (Roscommon) – The Jones family were resident incounty Westmeath in the 17th century.
Richard Jones 3rd Viscount Ranelagh was created Earl of Ranelagh in 1674. He was governor of the
castle at Athlone and owned land in county Roscommon.He died without male heirs in 1711. Two of
his daughters married the Earls of Kildare and Coningsby. The Ranelagh estate owned property in
Athlone and endowed a number of schools for the promotion of English Protestants.
Establishing the ancestry of Sir Roger Jones will probably require research in official papers from Elizabeth I (17 November 1588 – 24 March 1603) and James I (24 March 1603 – 27 March 1625), but he may not be Viscount Ranelagh.
In the National Library of Ireland there is a manuscript #5102: GO MSS 175 p375-8 “Pedigree of Jones of Benada & Idryell, county Sligo, 1635-1845”, which could be searched for possible answers to this question.