Unlocking my mystery, help pls!

[NikiKL]

My whole family, and many of the branches would love to know the history of our strange surname.
There was even a genealogist hired at one point in the 80's. It all rests on one man, Edward Wones.

We KNOW he died in 1820 in a mining explosion in Hursthill, Staffs
We KNOW he married in Shelve, Shrops 1784, and we KNOW his bride's name.
We believe he was born in 1760, or thereabouts. We suspect Yorks.
We know of 9 children and their birthplace, marriages, descendants and deaths

The marriage records in Shelve were apparently lost in a flood, and I understand the same goes for his children's birth certs.

I would love to unlock our puzzle, does anyone have any bright ideas??
Thanks

[Finder]

Not sure if this helps but Wone is old English for "Wunian" which means Dwelling, Abode etc, seems to have German & Dutch connections also

On my great grandmothers side the family name refers to people of the fields of golden flowers, that goes back to Anglo Saxon times, all very interesting stuff

Bit of a kick start anyways, I'm sure others will be of assistance

James

[bykerlads]

Wone seems a very unusual name.
I would guess that researching it may be difficult as it might be prone to be mis-spelled/copied/transcribed.
Any idea which part of Yorkshire your man might have been born?

[alpinecottage]

The marriage records in Shelve were apparently lost in a flood, and I understand the same goes for his children's birth certs.

I would love to unlock our puzzle, does anyone have any bright ideas??
Thanks

According to the Bishops Castle Local History Centre, records and information for Shelve are still in existance.  See here  http://www.bchrc.co.uk/downloads/LHC%20Resources%20Index%20full%20version%202.pdf

Though you may already know everything they contain?

[Ruskie]

What is the earliest instance of the surname Wone/s that you have found? It may be that the family were immigrants, and as already suggested, very likely to have been interpreted in various ways, even with a first letter other than W.

Have you checked with GOONS?

The IGI shows quite of number of Wones in Shropshire - and Wone appears in Lincolnshire/Lancashire.

[Rena]

I see the National Archives has the name going as far back as 1510 to a vicar in Cornwall

I also found the surname in Norfolk which often buried foreign sailor/military men
http://www.doun.org/transcriptions/surnames.php?letter=O
23 - ONES / WONES - 20 / WONNE - 1 /WONNS - 3 /WONS - 2 /
Also, I wouldn't write off ONG and ONNG as being ones too.
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You may like to see if this profiler website has a note of your surname
http://worldnames.publicprofiler.org/
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In case the surname arrived here from Hanover (Germany) when James of Scotland was given Hanover as a dowry for the hand of his grand daughter Sophie I did a search in the white pages of the German Telephone book.

Enter "WONES"   result was 37 private addresses for "VONES"

enter "WONE" result was 84 private addresses for "FOHNE"

[Ruskie]

Enter your surname here:
http://gbnames.publicprofiler.org/
 

I have a 2004 edition of the Genealogical Research Directory and the contact details for the surname Wones is:
Mrs Rosemary Weir
*

This person may be able to provide you with more information.
Some or all of these details may have changed since 2004. If so, a google search of key words may throw up some more recent details.

[to the moderators - as these contact details were published in a commercially available publication, I trust it is acceptable to repeat them here on rc]

(*) Moderator Comment: Rootschat policy does not permit posting personal details regardless of what is posted on other sites.

[Ruskie]

I imagine that there can be various theories about the origins of surnames, even similar sounding surnames may have completely different origins. You may never get a definitive answer to your question.

[Finder]

Interesting family name, after a bit of research it shows origins also to Anglo Saxon, 7th century, Wan, as in Pale, first record of the written name seems to be a Warner Wan dated 1297 on the subsidy rolls of Yorkshire, but I suspect you're already aware of this


James