Major Thomas Jones...Welsh Privateer/Namesake of Jones Beach State Park, New York

Major Thomas Jones…Welsh PrivateerIn 1702, Lord Cornbury, Governor of New York,
Namesake of Jones Beach State Park, New Yorkcommissioned Major Jones Captain of the Militia in
By Albert WalkerQueens County, New York on Oct. 20; in that same
The family of Major Thomas Jones, sometimesyear on Oct. 14, 1704, he was appointed High Sheriff
styled the chevalier, and of whose descent from aof Queens, and on April 3, 1706 he was appointed
noble Irish family, which intermarried with one fromMajor of the Queens County Regiment.
Wales, is supposed to have originated inGovernor Hunter, of the Province of New York
Merionethshire or Glamorganshire. However that mayappointed him Ranger General of the island of Nassau
be, the characteristics of the Welsh race are plenty(Long Island),which gave to him the monopoly of the
discernable in almost every member of the familywhale and other fisheries from the north to the
and are very marked in all of those who may havesouth shore of Long Island. This commission was
become prominent in any walk of life.dated Sept. 4, 1710.
Thomas Jones, who fought at the Battle of theMajor Jones died Dec. 13, 1713, and was buried in a
Boyne, Aghrim and at the capitulation of Limerick,small grave yard on the banks of the then called
served under William III of England and under Jamesbrick House Creek, now called Massapequa Creek.
II of Ireland, having served as a Major in the army ofThe issue of Major Jones and his wife Freelove was
the dethroned Monarch, which had formerly been7 children. A brown headstone marked the spot on
from England, but of Welsh extraction, had long beenwhich the following inscription written by himself,
seated in the north of Ireland.“Here Lyes Interd The Body of Major Thomas
Major Jones was born about 1665. In 1692, MajorJones, Who Came From Straubane, In he Kingdom of
Jones was t the island of Jamaica at the time of theIreland, Settled Here and Died December, 1713.”
great earthquake of July 7th, being engaged in oneFrom Distant Lands To This Wild Waste He Came
of the numerous expeditions under the “LetterThis Seat He Choose, And Here He Fixed His Name
of Marque,” which so many of the English andLong May His Sons This Peace Full Spot Injoy
Irish officers of James II sought service after theAnd No Ill Fate his Offspring Here Annoy.
defeat at the Battle of the Boyne. In that same yearFor many years after his death many fictions existed
Major Jones arrived in Warwick, Rhode Island and atabout Thomas Jones. The exercise of his commission
this place met and married Freelove Townsend, theto sail as a Privateer under “Letters of
daughter of Thomas Townsend. Freelove was bornMarque,” from the French ports, leading to the
Dec. 29, 1674. Thomas Townsend was the son ofslander that he was a pirate. These myths were
John Townsend, a prominent Quaker, who came tocherished for over a century after his death through
New Amsterdam early in the 17th century aboutignorance and superstition, and through ignorance and
1635., from Norwich, England. The family were ofsuperstition that these fables extended into the
great antiquity, their lands being granted them frommiddle of the past century and today…
William the Conqueror.In 1929, the large tract of land given to Thomas
Thomas Townsend, the father of FreeloveJones and his wife Freelove , along with subsequent
Townsend, gave to Thomas Jones and his bride apurchases by Major Jones, officially became Jones
large tract of Land which had formerly belonged toBeach State Park, as part of the New York State
the Massapequa Indians, on the south side of LongPark System through the dedication from Governor
Island. To this vast estate Major Jones and his wifeFranklin D. Roosevelt, and the nautical vision of
removed in 1696, where he built a substantial brickRobert Moses.
house at the head of the creek.