LINEAGE OF    JONES FAMILY DELMARVA

                                                         
                                    
The home of our Jones ancestors during their early years in America was on what is now called the Delmarva Peninsula. The Delmarva Peninsula is bordered on the west by the Chesapeake Bay, east by the Atlantic Ocean and the Delaware Bay, and on the north by the State of Pennsylvania. It consists of counties from Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. The Delaware counties are Kent, New Castle, and Sussex. The Maryland counties are Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico, and Worcester. The Virginia counties are Accomack and Northhampton. Our ancestors lived in 1663 west of present day Oak Hill, Accomack County, Virginia. About 1680 they moved to the Angola Neck and/or Loves Creek area of Sussex County, Delaware. Angola Neck and Loves Creek are southwest of Lewes, Delaware. About 1719 they moved to the Sheeppen Branch area of the Indian River in present day Dagsboro Hundred in Sussex County, Delaware. Sheeppen Branch is just northwest of Millsboro, Delaware.

The area on Sheeppen Branch where our ancestor settled was claimed for a number of years by both Maryland and Pennsylvania. Delaware was initially settled by the Dutch and Swedes, but when the Duke of York took New York from the Dutch, his agent captured Delaware in 1664. In 1682, Delaware was granted to William Penn along with Pennsylvania. Lord Baltimore disputed Penn's ownership of the three Delaware counties, and the southern and western areas of Sussex County were claimed by both Maryland and Pennsylvania, but were governed by Maryland until the Mason-Dixon Line was approved by George III in 1769; when all of Delaware was awarded to Pennsylvania. Most of the present Hundreds of Northwest Fork, Nanticoke, Seaford, Broadcreek, Little Creek, Gumboro, Dagsboro, and Baltimore were considered part of Maryland. Everything south and east of the Nanticoke River, which includes Sheeppen Branch, was part of Somerset County, Maryland until 1742 when the area east of Pocomoke, including Sheeppen Branch, was removed to establish Worcester County, Maryland. Worcester included the present Delaware Hundreds of Baltimore, Dagsboro, and Gumboro, and much of the territory west of the Pocomoke River. The boundary between Somerset and Worcester ran through the town of Salisbury, Maryland. Then after Kent, New Castle, and Sussex counties met in Constitutional Convention the State of Delaware was formed.

Our ancestors' long residency on the Delmarva Peninsula would be Accomack County, Virginia 1663 to 1680; Sussex County, Delaware 1680 to 1719; Somerset County, Maryland 1719 to 1742; Worcester County, Maryland 1742 to 1769; and from 1769 in Sussex County, Delaware.


                      I would like to hear from you at dmj@dmitchelljones.org