What is the source for this surname? Neither I'ON nor ION are SWISS surnames, they are both ENGLISH. JAHN however appears in St Gallen ( in Flums Dorf and Wartau) prior to 1800. The name JOHN can be found in the community of Mels in SG, but is a possibility but not likely, because the German "O" would have been more of an "oh" or "uh" sound to English ears, while the "A" would sound much as it does today in our name as "aw" or "ah".
Now, the name JANN originates in Marbach, SG and is found as early as 1559 in Rebstein, which is also in St. Gallen. YON, YONN, YAUN and YAWN are attempts by English speakers to to spell the German "J" with the English pronunciation of "Y". These are the most common spellings in America today of the ancestors of Niklaus and Barabara JAHN. The name of ION in South Carolina can be traced back to a single individual - one "RICHARD I'ON" who was an ENGLISH privateer captain, who settled in SC and 'bought' his land from another individual, one George Bennison, another Englishman. We know Niklaus Jahn was given a land grant from the English King for 200 acres of unproved land. I have been on this land and it was a good 90 miles through swamp and dirt track to Christchurch Parrish where I'on lived in the 1840s. Making it very doubtful that they even knew each other. We know also that land was not owned until it was proved (developed) (i.e. certain number of acres per year) and if it wasn't developed could be then confiscated by the king. So land could not be sold unless it had been completely developed and then released by the King. This mans history, residence, occupation, name, nationality and how he acquired his , completely preclude him of having any sort of relation what-so-ever to the Swiss family JAHN who arrived amongst a party of fellow SWITZERS in 1735. The name I'ON is an ENGLISH surname and first appeared in the year 1273, in the "Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire" this time belonging to a different Richard Ion.
The name of my great grandfather was definitely NOT I'ON nor ION. We are left with either JANN or JAHN for a birth surname.
