An American Family of the South and Midwest: The Descendants of
Richard William Gines
THE NAME: Gines is a name with Welsh, English, German,
and Spanish origins, depending on the particular family. The name
developed in different ways, at different times, in different parts of the
world. It is related linguistically to many other names. For
example, the Welsh-English variant may be derived from the English Johns. Some scholars believe that the Welsh
names Joynes and Jones are variants of Johns. The name Gines may have developed thusly:
JOHNS---->JOYNES----->JOINES----->JONES----->JINES----->GINES
Evidence of this appears in some early
North American public records wherein members of a single family are
sometimes surnamed differently as Joines, Joynes, or Gines. For example, the 1787 tax records
of Rowan County, North Carolina list an Ezekiel Jones, apparently referring to
Ezekiel Joines. This man's son appears in the same records under the name
"Jines." Other variations of the English surname include Goins, Goines, and Gaines. (For more on the example cited,
see the excellent work on the Descendants of Ezekiel Joines.
The German root
of "Gines" is probably Geines.
The Spanish version of Gines is Gines. The name makes its most
notorious appearance in Spanish as the moniker of the ringleader of a gang of
condemned galley slaves in the novel Don
Quixote. Of course, the Spanish Gines is not a homonym
of the Welsh-English or German name of similar spelling.
EARLY AMERICAN SETTLERS: The Maryland State
Archives record one Joel Gines as the owner of
208 acres in Anne Arundel County in 1787. The 1810 Federal Census has
John Gines in
Johnston County, North Carolina. These early settlers may have come from
Warwickshire, England, the
county which includes Loxley (Robin Hood's birthplace in legend), Stratford-upon-Avon (where
Shakespeare lived) and, more importantly today, Birmingham.
In America today, there are at least
five Gines family groups. The Midwestern Gines families are largely
descendants of German and English immigrants in Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana.
Their genealogy has been well-documented by Ron Gines. (Ron and his mother, Wanda L. Gines, have
published a two-volume book called Our Brink
Heritage ([1998] Gynzer Publishing, Library of
Congress Catalog Card No. 98-71249, ISBN 1-57502-784-4), available at most
libraries.)
The LDS Gines families are centered in Utah and
Idaho. They were among the founders of the LDS cmmunity in Woodland, Utah. These families comprise the largest
Gines family group in America today. They trace their origins to the
German-English Midwestern Gines family group.
The African-American Gines families can be
found in the Midwest, the South, and Texas.
The Latino or Hispanic Gines families are
of two sub-groups: one is centered in the Southwest and is mainly of Mexican
descent; the other is found in the urban areas of the Eastern United States,
being primarily of recent Puerto Rican ancestry.
There is an Asian-Pacific Islander Gines
family group consisting of Filipino-descended individuals. They are
concentrated on the west coast and in Hawaii. Like the Latino Gines
families, the Filipino Gines families trace their roots to Spain.
OUR
FAMILY: Also now located primarily in the Midwest, our Gines
family ranges from Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi to Colorado, Kansas, and
Missouri to Minnesota. This American family seems to have begun in the
Carolinas and migrated to Louisiana. Mostly African-American, this family
has a strong record of achievement and service, counting among its members
clergymen, teachers, lawyers, entrepreneurs, military officers, media
executives, physicians, and community leaders.
The first verifiable
member of our Gines family would be Richard William ("Dick") Gines, born in
Louisiana in about 1860. There is some evidence that his father was born
in South Carolina. Dick lived for awhile with his brother Ed and Ed's
wife, Adlade, in Shreveport. He also worked as a laborer in the household of
Edmond Morris, a Negro from North Carolina. In 1883, he married
Sylvia LeJay, whose parents, Lewis LeJay and Syntrilla Brayboy, also had roots
in South Carolina. In Shreveport, Dick was an electrician. He and
Sylvia raised ten children. The locus of our family shifted to the Midwest
in the early 20th century when one of Dick's sons, William Edward Gines
("Eddie"), headed north to Kansas City.
Acknowledgements: Principal
Sources for information on the following pages
include--
º Delorise Annrie Gines, The 2004 Gines Family Calendar, (unpublished)
Copyright © 2004, The Descendants of Richard Gines & Sylvia
LeJay.
° US Dept of Commerce, Bureau of the
Census, Federal Censuses for Louisiana, 1870-1910.