Jonathan was the fourth son of Henry and Ann, baptised in Kingston Bagpuize on Valentine's Day, 14 February 1808.
On 9 April 1832 he married Elizabeth Bason, the probably illegitimate daughter of Mary Bason, in Kingston Bagpuize.
Jonathan and Elizabeth had ten children, all baptised in Kingston Bagpuize -
All ten of the parish baptism records show that Jonathan was working as a labourer. However on the 1841 census his occupation is shown as Woodman. That he was a woodman about that time is confirmed by an advertisement in the Readung Mercury of February 14 1845 for the sale of one hundred and twenty four maiden elm trees, at the bottom of which it says that the trees may be viewed on application to Mr. Murdoch at the Hind's Head and to Jonathan Jeffries, the woodman, Kingston.
In the other censuses on which Jonathan appears in 1851, 1861 and 1871, he is shown as being an agricultural labourer. Whether this means that he was no longer a woodman is not clear. It may be that the census enumerators recorded everyone who worked on the land as being an agricultural labourer, regardless of the type of work they did.
On the marriage certificate of Jonathan's son, Harry, on 26 March 1873, Jonathan's occupation is shown as Market Gardener.
Jonathan died at the age of 71 in Kingston Bagpuize on 28 February 1879 of disease of the kidneys and was buried on 5 March 1879.
Elizabeth Bason was born on the 18 May 1811 and baptised on 26 May 1811 in Kingston Bagpuize. The parish baptism register shows her as being the daughter of Mary Bason. At about that time, it was usual for the register to show the names of both parents, and if no father is shown to indicate that the child was illigitimate. In this case neither a father's name or an indication of illigitimacy is shown. However, the inference here is, I think, that Elizabeth was indeed illigitimate.
The family name, like that of Jeffries, is rather variable, and records have shown the name as Bason, Basson, Bazon and Barson. They were probably all pronounced like Barson.
Only in one census, that of 1851, is Elizabeth shown as having an occupation, that of laundress.
At some time between Jonathan's death on 28 February 1879 and the 1881 census, Elizabeth moved to Longworth to stay with her daughter, Elizabeth Hurley, and her family in Longworth, which is about a mile west of Kingston Bagpuize. The Hurley family were living in the Post Office, where Elizabeth's husband, Edward, was a grocer and draper.
Elizabeth died at the age of 79 in Longworth on 1 May 1881 from valvular disease of the heart and exhaustion. The informant was Edward Hurley, son-in-law. There is no record of a burial in the Longworth parish registers. She may have been buried in Kingston Bagpuize with Jonathan, but the parish burial register stops in 1880.