| Major Thomas Jones…Welsh Privateer | | | | commissioned Major Jones Captain of the |
| | | | Militia in Queens County, New York on Oct. |
| Namesake of Jones Beach State Park, New York | | | | 20; in that same year on Oct. 14, 1704, he |
| | | | was appointed High Sheriff of Queens, and on |
| By Albert Walker | | | | April 3, 1706 he was appointed Major of the |
| | | | Queens County Regiment. |
| The family of Major Thomas Jones, sometimes | | | | |
| styled the chevalier, and of whose descent | | | | Governor Hunter, of the Province of New York |
| from a noble Irish family, which intermarried | | | | appointed him Ranger General of the island of |
| with one from Wales, is supposed to have | | | | Nassau (Long Island),which gave to him the |
| originated in Merionethshire or | | | | monopoly of the whale and other fisheries |
| Glamorganshire. However that may be, the | | | | from the north to the south shore of Long |
| characteristics of the Welsh race are plenty | | | | Island. This commission was dated Sept. 4, |
| discernable in almost every member of the | | | | 1710. |
| family and are very marked in all of those | | | | |
| who may have become prominent in any walk of | | | | Major Jones died Dec. 13, 1713, and was |
| life. | | | | buried in a small grave yard on the banks of |
| | | | the then called brick House Creek, now called |
| Thomas Jones, who fought at the Battle of the | | | | Massapequa Creek. The issue of Major Jones |
| Boyne, Aghrim and at the capitulation of | | | | and his wife Freelove was 7 children. A brown |
| Limerick, served under William III of England | | | | headstone marked the spot on which the |
| and under James II of Ireland, having served | | | | following inscription written by himself, |
| as a Major in the army of the dethroned | | | | "Here Lyes Interd The Body of Major Thomas |
| Monarch, which had formerly been from | | | | Jones, Who Came From Straubane, In he Kingdom |
| England, but of Welsh extraction, had long | | | | of Ireland, Settled Here and Died December, |
| been seated in the north of Ireland. | | | | 1713." |
| | | | |
| Major Jones was born about 1665. In 1692, | | | | From Distant Lands To This Wild Waste He Came |
| Major Jones was t the island of Jamaica at | | | | |
| the time of the great earthquake of July 7th, | | | | This Seat He Choose, And Here He Fixed His |
| being engaged in one of the numerous | | | | Name |
| expeditions under the "Letter of Marque," | | | | |
| which so many of the English and Irish | | | | Long May His Sons This Peace Full Spot Injoy |
| officers of James II sought service after the | | | | |
| defeat at the Battle of the Boyne. In that | | | | And No Ill Fate his Offspring Here Annoy. |
| same year Major Jones arrived in Warwick, | | | | |
| Rhode Island and at this place met and | | | | For many years after his death many fictions |
| married Freelove Townsend, the daughter of | | | | existed about Thomas Jones. The exercise of |
| Thomas Townsend. Freelove was born Dec. 29, | | | | his commission to sail as a Privateer under |
| 1674. Thomas Townsend was the son of John | | | | "Letters of Marque," from the French ports, |
| Townsend, a prominent Quaker, who came to New | | | | leading to the slander that he was a pirate. |
| Amsterdam early in the 17th century about | | | | These myths were cherished for over a century |
| 1635., from Norwich, England. The family were | | | | after his death through ignorance and |
| of great antiquity, their lands being granted | | | | superstition, and through ignorance and |
| them from William the Conqueror. | | | | superstition that these fables extended into |
| | | | the middle of the past century and |
| Thomas Townsend, the father of Freelove | | | | today… |
| Townsend, gave to Thomas Jones and his bride | | | | |
| a large tract of Land which had formerly | | | | In 1929, the large tract of land given to |
| belonged to the Massapequa Indians, on the | | | | Thomas Jones and his wife Freelove , along |
| south side of Long Island. To this vast | | | | with subsequent purchases by Major Jones, |
| estate Major Jones and his wife removed in | | | | officially became Jones Beach State Park, as |
| 1696, where he built a substantial brick | | | | part of the New York State Park System |
| house at the head of the creek. | | | | through the dedication from Governor Franklin |
| | | | D. Roosevelt, and the nautical vision of |
| In 1702, Lord Cornbury, Governor of New York, | | | | Robert Moses. |