Jones Family History
Updated 1/15/2018
Solomon and Lidia (Sill) Jones
Research and new family records have established that Solomon Jones, birthdate unknown) was the father of Samuel Jones and four other boys, William, Isaac, Zachius, and Benjamin. Solomon is said to have immigrated to America at an early age from England and by 1809 the family is in Knoxville Tennessee. Where they were previously is an area of continuing research. In 1814 Solomon and William will move to London, Madison County Ohio, where they will establish themselves quite successfully. Zachius and Isaac will move to Ohio about 1815 settling in Lawrenceville (Limerick) Madison County. Both will die in 1823, apparently in the massive malaria outbreak that hit that portion of Ohio in 1823. William, Isaac, and Zachius will all marry and have large families many staying in the Madison County area of Ohio and many becoming prominent citizens of the community. This area of research has resulted in many newfound relatives being added to the family tree.
No information is available concerning Benjamin Jones.
Samuel and Mary (Britton or Britten) Jones
The earliest records about the Samuel Jones family indicate that the family came from Tennessee in the early 1800's. Mary Jane (Jones) Humphreys' obituary, daughter of Samuel and Mary, indicates she was born in eastern Tennessee in 1813.
His wife, Mary Britten, has family records that connect her to Britten (Britton) families in Hawkins and Washington Counties Tennessee and then earlier to families in Maryland and Pennsylvania. A handwritten family genealogy written by Joseph Britton in 1822 establishes the connection to Mary and documents the family's linage to Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, finally to Staten Island, New York with the earliest Britton being Nathaniel Britton born 1666. Joseph Britton, a Revolutionary War veteran, is covered in much detail in the Bailey-Britton History and Genealogy (1962) and moved with his brother and family from Maryland to Washington County Tennessee and finally to Hawkins County Tennessee.
Records show that Samuel and Mary made a move to Clark County Ohio sometime before 1820. The best guess is that this happened after the end of the War of 1812 and the Treaty of Ghent which solidified American claims to the Ohio valley. A Samuel Jones is noted in the list of participants in that war, both from Tennessee and Ohio but there is no way to prove this is our Samuel Jones. Once in Ohio their family continued to grow, Elias their eldest son was born there in 1820 as was their youngest son Samuel Jr. in 1827. Census records for 1820 and 1830 show a Samuel Jones in Springfield Township in 1820 and in Springfield City in 1830. We have no records of Samuel Jones's occupation while in Ohio. The family bible shows that his wife, Mary died in 1828 but we do not have a burial location.
The family moved again in 1833, documented in a family letter from that year, following the rapidly westward shifting frontier, this time to Noble County, Indiana. It appears that the Jones clan was accompanied by the Humphreys family and possibly some others from Ohio. Samuel's third daughter, Mary Jane, will marry Andrew Humphreys in Clark County Ohio in 1833 and then move to Indiana. Over the years many of the Noble County families can be traced by to their roots in Clark County Ohio. Of the other daughters of Samuel Jones, Lydia will marry John Fenton in Clark County Ohio in 1832, have nine children and then die at the age of 37 in 1848. John will remarry and go on to have five more children. The last daughter Narcissa, was the toughest to track down. She must have come west with the family and was married in 1840 to William Cowan of Elkhart County Indiana and will have three children.
The original land grant for Samuel Jones is dated 1834 and it appears that the Samuel erected a log cabin on this claim and began farming. A later picture of the family property shows a log cabin, which the caption claims, was built in 1832. Samuel Jones passed away in 1838 and is buried in the Wolf Lake Cemetery.
Dr. Elias and Rachel (Piper) Jones
Of the children of Samuel and Mary Jones, Margaret Jones appears not to have married and is buried in the Jones section of the Wolf Lake Cemetery along with her father. Others who are also eventually buried there: Elias, the oldest son, Mary Jane (Humphreys), and Samuel Jr. The burial locations for Lydia (Jones) Fenton and Narcissa (Jones) Cowan are not known at this time.
Elias appears to have inherited the family farm and will eventually build a very respectable home next to the old log cabin. (see photo) He marries Rachel Piper, one of six children of Widow Jane (Prickett) Piper who came to Noble County from Clark County Ohio in 1841. Again, there appears to be a strong connection between Clark County Ohio and Noble County Indiana. Investigations of the records of many Noble County families show connections to this section of Ohio. Later in life Elias will take up guardianship of two minors, John A. Tuttle and John Tuttle, again from Clark County Ohio.
Elias appears to be quite successful in Indiana, he will service as a Justice of the Peace in the 1840's, become a respected doctor, and will run, with a number of partners, a drug and general store in Ligonier Indiana. The family records contain many receipts, account lists and other records from these and other business ventures including the various land deeds of property purchased by Dr. Jones. Between the mid 1840's and the early 1870's Elias will purchase over a dozen parcels of land making his holdings well over 900 acres. What happened to this land after his death is one of the mysteries still needing researching. In a couple of these land deals Elias will work as a partner with George W. Piper and Robert Buckles, who in fact all own connecting pieces of property. George is the brother of Rachel, Elias's wife, and Robert Buckles will marry another Piper sister, Catherine. All these families will have large families and the Piper connection is a major branch of our family tree. Interestingly, another Piper sibling, John J. will come back from California in 1856 to study medicine with or under Dr. Elias Jones, and then return west to homestead in Peone Prairie, just outside of Spokane Washington. There is good history of him published in an early history of Spokane County.
Records and research have accounted for all of the children of Elias and Rachel. Four will die young and are buried in the Wolf Lake cemetery, Charles Edwin (4), Elias Irving Jr. (1), John Piper (12), and William Cowan (2).
Of the remaining four children, George Washington Irving Jones will marry Elsa La Dora Wiley, another old Noble County family and have 13 children. As our direct ancestor there will be much more about GWI later. His sisters Rachel Kitt and Elida Samantha appear to have married the same man. Andrew M. Jackson first married Rachel Kitt Jones, and then upon her death, will seven years later marry her younger sister Elida. The family records have a postcard from Colorado where Andrew states that Rachel's condition has not improved but we do not know her illness. Later Andrew and Elida will move to Indianapolis where he will run a lumber yard and where they will have four children. The 1920 census shows Elida as a widow and the four children still living at home. GWI records in his diary about getting and sending letters to the Jackson's in Indiana. The last daughter, Emma Jane, will marry Dr. George W. Randell in Noble County. It appears they began moving west soon after their marriage and will eventually end up in Seattle Washington, living on Jackson Street. GWI, in his diaries, will spend many Sundays, while he is home alone in Seattle, going to dinner at the Rendell's. Some time before 1920 the Rendell's move to Orange County California. Social Security and California death records are available for their children but little is known of what happened to them.
Both Elias and Rachel will pass away in the same year, Rachel first in February of 1878, and then Dr. Jones in August of 1878. Probate and will records have not yet been examined so what happened to the family property is not known at this time.
George Washington Irving and Elsa La Dora (Wiley) Jones
Life does not appear to have been too kind to GWI. The family records show a man without a firm career, he will be listed as a druggist, livery worker, and salesman and self-employed. He dabbles in a gold mine in Colorado around the turn of the century and is constantly on the move with his family for much of his life. George and La Dora are married in 1871 and have three children while living in Noble County, only Clarence Victor, known as CV, will live beyond childhood. By 1877 he and La Dora have moved west to Walkerton Indiana where in five more children are born, Hazel and Pha being the only two to survive beyond infancy. By 1887 the family is now is South Chicago where the last three boys, Ben, George, and Robert are born along with their sister Rachel (Raye). Phonebook records show the family running a music store both on the loop and later out of their home. The same records show that the family appears to have a number of addresses, all in South Chicago. Pha attends Phil Sheridan Elementary and CV graduated from South Chicago High School. There is no record of Pha graduating from High School. By 1902 GWI is working with Electric Milling and Mining Company and is spending time in Colorado working on a claim of which he is one-third owner. Apparently this work did not pan out as GWI and family will move west to Washington around 1903. Hazel Jones stays in Chicago and marries Harold Aurelius. Oral tradition has the family in Spokane in 1906 and GWI's diaries show the family in Seattle by 1908. The family splits time between their home at 712 31st Ave Seattle and a home in Vancouver BC. CV by this time is working for Mason-Risch and routinely is sending GWI money. Early in 1917 CV will get a promotion taking him to his company's home office in Toronto where he will be until about 1919. GWI appears to be working in Real Estate and for a while is a traveling salesman for a Gas Company selling “gas machines and lights.”
World War I and the time right after the war are very difficult times for the Jones family. George serves in France as a nurse and appears to have had a tough time when he came back. Living family members recall Uncle George as somewhat of a drifter who may have been married a couple of times. Raye who marries William Jacques in 1911, will die in the Great Influenza outbreak right after the war, leaving a young daughter Audrey. Audrey will marry into the Woodley family in Canada and there are a number of Woodley relatives still in Canada. Both GWI and CV die in 1920, causes unknown. CV's death seems to create some financial distress as a number of the brothers had worked for him or in the music business during his time in the industry. This all ends with his death. Hazel's husband, Harry, also passes away right around the end of the war. Hazel and her two daughters, Hazel Jr. and Marcia, will move to Seattle and live with La Dora Jones at the home at 712. Pha and Bess will settle down in Seattle to raise their family, suffering hard times in the coming depression during the 1930's. Ben will marry, work for a while out of state and eventually return to stay in the Seattle area but little is currently known about his family. The youngest son, Robert, will marry Helen Taylor and have one son Dennis, and they will also live in the greater Seattle Area. George will also marry but struggles with issues related to the war and alcoholism. Neither Ben nor George will have any children.
Pha Wiley Jones and Besse Mildred (Yeo) Jones
Pha and Bess will be married in 1910 in Portland Oregon. They will have eight children from 1913 to 1927, six of whom will live to be adults. (Rita Ann (Jones) Walker, La Dora (Jones) Daly, Elizabeth Wiley (Jones) O'Boyle, William Irving Jones, Richard Wiley Jones, Thomas Frank Jones)
Pha will never establish a solid career, moving from job to job over the years. (see list of occupations on the Jones Document Page) He spends some time working with his father in some of his ventures and will also work for awhile for Mason Risch with Clarence his brother. Pha and Bess are lifetime renters and there is no record of they every owning a home. The Great Depression appears to have a very significant impact on the Pha Jones family, every job from 1932 on will be some form of government work. He will move from job to job in side the relief programs. Records have them being evicted from their home in the early 1940s. World War II will provide Pha more consistent work in the Bremerton Naval Ship Yards but the war's end will leave hime unemployed and destitute. He will be on pulbic welfare and in public housing when he dies. Family records also recored that Pha will struggle with alcohol addiction most of his life like his father.