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OK, I have settled on just one family -- David Jones (b 1812) and Anne Bevan (b 1817) and their five sons: John Bevan Jones (b about 1837); David Thomas Jones (b about 1851); Edward Jones (b about 1853); Pryce Jones (b about 1856); and William Jones (b about 1858). So Anne was 41 or so when William was born. John Bevan Jones moved to Wolverhampton and several others drifted there and stayed with his family as well, but William kept going and ended up in Australia.  Thanks for all your help, especially heywood.
Geoff

I have followed heywood's advice and got the transcript of the official marriage registration for William Jones, which was not among the family documents I had. That says he was born in Wolverhampton and is 29yo on 2 Nov 1893, so born about 1864. It gives his father as David Jones (furnaceman) and his mother as Anne Bevan. We know William stayed with John Bevan Jones in Wolverhampton, who had the same parents. I thought that might have been his uncle, but perhaps it was his brother. I have John Bevan Jones' baptism at Berriew on 20 Nov 1836, and the marriage of David Jones and Anne Bevan at Berriew on 2 Mar 1835. Anne Bevan was baptised at Berriew on 11 May 1817 and David Jones was baptised there on 29 Apr 1818, if I have the right people. So when John Bevan Jones was born, his father was about 18 and his mother was about 19. If they are also the parents of William, born about 1864 (I haven't found a baptism), then Anne would have been 47 and David would have been 46, which is starting to ring a few alarm bells.
We know from the family picture album that John Bevan Jones' daughter Zillah Anne (Gillian) is described as William's sister, whereas she would have been his niece, but with only four years' difference in age. That doesn't worry me.
However, the other possibility is that the original scenario is correct, with William as an illegitimate son taking his mother's name as his own, and that William was filling in the gaps in his own parentage by borrowing names and details from his uncle when it came to filling out forms in Australia.
The other consideration is that the child born out of wedlock at Berriew is William ALEXANDER Jones, and none of the Australian material carries a middle name.
So I have made progress -- I think. If Anne Bevan was born in 1817, perhaps William was born earlier than 1864, but has shaved a few years off his age on his marriage papers -- especially as his bride is only 15. If I could find an earlier baptism, where Anne Bevan was, say, 44 rather than 47 when she gave birth to William, I would be happier. Thanks to everyone.
Geoff     

Yes, I have read the divorce file. He was actually born at Ejgde norr, Kville, Västra Götaland, Sweden. I think the Croydon reference is another part of the attempt at Anglicisation. Geoff

Hi all,
Is it possible to get digital copies of deed poll records from the Public Records Office of Victoria for the period before 1890? Adolph was born Adolph Carl Johannesson in Sweden in 1868. At his marriage in 1890 in Melbourne he gave his name as Adolph Johnston. I don't know for sure that he changed his name officially, he may have just decided to Anglicise his name unofficially. But if there is a deed poll record I would love to find it. The only PROV files on him that I could find was his divorce in 1927. But it seems from the PROV index that it might only have change of name records after 1904. Any help gratefully appreciated. Thanks, Geoff Turner

Yes that is the right John Jones and Louisa Deaken. They had four children including a daughter Zillah Annie (married name Gleve). We have pictures of Zillah and her family in the family photo album. I think Anne Jones who married Thomas Morris was probably the sister of John Jones, which means her father was also David Jones the miller.
I have communicated with Haze02 who has Anne Jones saying at her marriage that her father was William (decd), but of course that is the Anne Jones who married EVAN Morris.
There is a Thomas Morris who died in 1891 in Llanfyllin (where Thomas Morris was born in 1828) which could be Anne's husband. But i is hard to tell with such common names.