It All Started with John Paul Jones

In one of Jim's early lessons about our heritage, she mentioned in passing that we were related to John Paul Jones. "His name wasn't really Jones though," she said. "It was Paul."

I didn't learn much more than that until much later. Oh, I learned in school that John Paul Jones had taken over the fledgling American navy and had surprised the arrogant British by defeating them on several occasions. I learned about his famous battle with the British Man of War, Serapis, during which the British commander asked if he was ready to surrender. John Paul Jones replied, "I have not yet begun to fight," and then went on to win the battle.

In recent years, while doing research about the family, I found out that John Paul Jones was notorious for more than just being the father of the US Navy. More in character for a Paul, he actually came to America as a fugitive from justice. John Paul - his original name - was born in Kirkcudbright, in southern Scotland. He left home at age 13 as a ship's apprentice, and by age 21 he had been promoted to the rank of captain. The Paul temper eventually got John into trouble though. First he flogged a sailor who died of his wounds, and later he ran a man through during an argument over pay. Ben Franklin said that John Paul told him that the man had been involved in a mutiny attempt, but John must have thought there were some holes in his defense, because he didn't stay for the trial, but instead high tailed it to the American Colonies, where his brother William had recently passed away. John was the executor of the will and received a sizable inheritance. Along the way, he changed his sir name to Jones to throw off his pursuers.

I suppose a lot of people claim to be kin to the founding fathers, but I believe that our claim is legitimate, not just because John's behavior seems to fit the Paul mold, but because when I was a teenager, Uncle Haskell travelled to Virginia and checked out the court documents. Also he corresponded with some cousins of ours who had enough proof to get themselves admitted to the DAR.

According to Haskell's research, William Paul, John Paul's brother, was the great grandfather to Smith Paul, my great great grandfather, and the founder of Pauls Valley.