| ![Show Contents]() Joneson History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
The name Joneson came to England with the ancestors of the Joneson family in the Norman Conquest of 1066. It comes from the given name John and the name literally means "son of John." 1 The given name John is derived from the Hebrew name Johanan, which means Jehovah has favored. The name was extremely popular in the Middle Ages as a result of the numerous connections between the name John and the Christian Church. "With the exception of the south - western counties, where it is absent or conspicuously rare, this name is distributed all over England, but in much less numbers in the south than in the midlands and in the north. The counties most conspicuous for the number of Johnsons are Cambridge, Cheshire, Derby, Durham, Lancashire, Leicester and Rutland, Lincoln, Norfolk, Northumberland, Notts, Stafford, Warwick, and York." 2 Johnson is the 10th most popular surname in England and Wales. Early Origins of the Joneson familyThe surname Joneson was first found in Lincolnshire, where many of the ancient and leading houses of the family name claim descent originally from the house of FitzJohn in Normandy, particularly that of one of the leading branches and oldest, the Johnsons of Ayscough-Fee. 3 Later, the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379 list many of the name: Willelmus Joneson; Willelmus Johnson, 1379; Robertus Johanson; Juliana Jonesson; Ricardus Joneson; and Robertas Jonson. 1 Early History of the Joneson familyThis web page shows only a small excerpt of our Joneson research. Another 82 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1296, 1375, 1503, 1572, 1629, 1637, 1644, 1659, 1675, 1680, 1682, 1688, 1689, 1713, 1717, 1719, 1735, 1775, 1797 and 1890 are included under the topic Early Joneson History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Joneson Spelling VariationsAnglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Johnson, Joneson, Jonson, Joynson and others. Early Notables of the Joneson familyOutstanding amongst the family at this time was Benjamin Jonson (1572-1637), an English playwright, poet, actor, and literary critic; Daniel Johnson (1629-1675), an English buccaneer born in Bristol, who sailed against the Spanish during the late 17th century becoming known among the Spanish as "Johnson the Terror"; Sir Nathaniel Johnson (1644-1713), an English soldier and a Member of Parliament for Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1680-1689); Sir Henry Johnson...
Another 64 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Joneson Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.  Migration of the Joneson family to Ireland
Some of the Joneson family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 76 words (5 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Migration of the Joneson familyBecause of the political and religious discontent in England, families began to migrate abroad in enormous numbers. Faced with persecution and starvation at home, the open frontiers and generally less oppressive social environment of the New World seemed tantalizing indeed to many English people. The trip was difficult, and not all made it unscathed, but many of those who did get to Canada and the United States made important contributions to the young nations in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers with Joneson name or one of its variants: Alice Johnson, who settled in Virginia in 1635; as did Abraham Johnson in 1648; Benjamin Johnson, who immigrated to Barbados in 1660; Thomas Johnson, who sailed to St. John's, Newfoundland in 1666.
- Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
- Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.
- Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
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