Vortiger Onward (generations 11 - 18)

My genealogy continues through Vortiger, who for the most part got blamed for everything that was felt to go wrong after the Romans left the island. Much of this story has been presented under my blog called "The Jones Surname". If interested, you can go to this blog site thejonessurname.blogspot.com and read about the family written by those in the church who had something to say about this Y-chromosome. [Starting with "Who's on First?", Monday, October 11, 2011.] The generations shown to the right are given in their simplest form as given in the Welsh in Dwnn, Vol. I, pp. xv-xvi. Please remember you can right click on the figure to enlarge it. You will need to do this in order to read my writing.

The Next Generations (generations 5 - 11)

The Y-chromosome continues through the next generations as shown to the right. Starting with Enddolan (Js-2) at the top of the figure, the next six generations are shown down to Vortiger (Jm-1) [Gwrtheyrn in the Welsh]. From the first generation known, Manogan (Jw-1), to Vortiger (Jm-1), there is a total of 16 generations. This group of Y-chromosomes would roughly represent 450 years, defining approximately 41 years per generation. [450/11]. This would be the time of Roman occupation. [Roughly 50 B.C. to 400 A.D.] Much more to come.

The Beginnings (generations 1-5)

The first five generations of my Y-chromosome lineage is shown in the figure to the right. Starting with Manogan(Jw-1); the descent is through Beli mawr(Jv-1); the fourth son, Llefelys [Afflech](Ju-1); on through Afallah(Jt-1); to the fifth generation, Enddolan(Js-1)...a good fifth generation Celtic family group. The coding process is an extension of the first Jones surname coding system described in a previous post which began with Gadvorch(JA-1). [See: My JONES Family Coding System, Wednesday, January 19, 2011, under The Jones Surname blog spot.]

When I started this system some twenty years ago, I thought I had gotten as far back as I could go. As time would tell, there were a few generations yet to be uncovered. Thus, to go farther back in time, I would use the same coding 0nly using small case letters for representing the earlier generations. Thus Manogan is 22 generations ( small a- to small -v) back in time from Gadvorch (JA-1)! [capital letters used to code for each generation from Gadvorch.]

The documentation is from the earliest Welsh literature. A discussion of this literature is given in the introduction to a translation of "The Mabinogion" by the Jones boys, Gwyn and Thomas. On page 75 is given the start of the family in an account titled "Lludd and Llefelys". A very insightfull account of this literature is also given in a book titled "The Fates of The Princes of Dyfed" by Cenydd Morus. These references are given more formerly as:

Jones, G., Jones,T., The Mabingogion", Everyman, J.M. Dent, London, 1949.

Morus,C.,"The Fate of the Princes of Dyfed", Theosophical Book Co., London, 1914.

According to the Story

My Y-chromosome DNA certainly has its origin in the mist that shrouds the mountains of present day Wales. The Celtic tribal groups that occupied the island first called Albion, seemed to be the most likely source of this DNA. [see post Celtic R1b1, Sunday, February 20, 2011.] The Cornovii, Demetae, and Ordovices all had something to do with it. At the time of the first record keepers (the Romans), they had already settled the Celtic society among the occupied territories. The Mabinogion identifies Beli mawr as a leading figure among this culture, and the translation by Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones states:

"To Beli the Great, son of Manogan, were three sons: Lludd and Caswallawn and Nyniaw; and according to the story a fourth son of his was Llefelys." (p. 75)

It is through this forth son Llefelys (Afflech in Dwnn), that my direct JONES line is descended. This lineage is given in great detail in Dwnn, Vol.I, pp. xv-xvi., to the Welsh tribal group of Tudor Trevor, which has been given in my blog "The Jones Surname", [ the post: Tudor Trevor, Monday, December 27, 2010.] This is followed by a number of posts that give this lineage using a coding system to help follow this genealogy. This family line comes through Vortiger (Gwrtheirn Gwrthenau) who gets blamed for much of the troubles brought on by those folks called the Saxons. To put this lineage together has taken a little more than 50 years.

Geographical Orientation

From around the world, more than 35 countries have joined the reading of these posts. It has occurred to me, that many in these various countries may not know geographically, where Wales is actually located. The map to the right is intended to show the geographic location of Wales in relationship to Ireland, Scotland, and England. It is a land area just over 8,000 square miles, hooked to the west side of the main island called England. Hopefully, this will help give a view of this little part of the world with a long history.



The figure is taken from: The Jones Genealogist, Vol.III, No.5, Jan/Feb, 1992. You can enlarge the figure by left clicking on the image. Hope this is helpful.

Celtic Tribes to Welsh Tribes

Translating the Celtic tribal groups [see Celtic R1b1, 20 Feb., 2001] to the Welsh tribal groups is the purpose of this post. This will hopefully give a "visual" picture of the origins of the Welsh tribes and a general view of the inter-relationships between them. The first table gives the geographic locations for the Royal and Noble Tribes of Wales. [These are recorded in "The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales", by Burke, Harrison and Sons, London, 1884, pp. lxi-lxvi.] First is listed the title of the tribe, i.e., "Noble Tribe X". Next is listed a geographic area that the tribe seems to have originated. Third, is listed the "founding father" of the tribe.



The next figure shows a map of Wales and the general geographic location of these Welsh tribes. The "Royal" tribes occupied the major divisions (states = gwlad). The "Nobel" tribes are scattered about. A JONES surname is derived from many of these Welsh tribal groups!














The table and map are taken from The Jones Genealogist, Vol.IV, No.5, Jan/Feb, 1993, pp. 4-6.