The Iones Family cemetery is located in Fairfax Station between two homes on Innisvale Road. Lt. Robert Clarendon Iones and his wife Hannah Nevins are buried there. The survey, completed in November 2009, found the cross grave marker and foot stones are covered by leaves and brush. The foot stones appear to be at the head of the burial depressions, but do not appear to have been moved. This is just one puzzle surrounding this family.
Robert Clarendon Jones was born in Louisiana (b.1805). His wife Hannah immigrated from Waterford, Ireland in 1849. They were married in Pennsylvania and moved to Fairfax Station into the home Innisfail @ 1852. Later, Hannah takes the surname “Iones” and their three children became known by the surname “Ions.” To add to the confusion, from the book Brothers and Cousins by Johnson, Robert Clarendon Jones is described as being in the Confederate States Navy and Robert Clarendon Ions (same birth and death, same wife, etc.) is described as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. Also, Robert Clarendon Ions was described as being recorded on the Special Census of Union Veterans 1890, Fairfax County. The only Civil War naval records the surveyor found show R.C. Jones as a crew member on a Philadelphia Ice Boat, U.S.S. Ice Boat on the Aquia Creek in August 10, 1861. The Fairfax Herald of October 20, 1893 notes the death of “Capt. Iones, a retired naval officer, died at his home near Fairfax Station on Wed, aged about ninety years.” His epitaph reads: Lieut. Robert Clarendon Iones, U.S.N. Born May 1805 New Orleans, La. Died Oct. 18, 1893 Fairfax, VA.” The many questions surrounding Robert Clarendon Jones/Iones/Ions may never be answered.
