J. H. Jones, a lifelong resident of Adair county and one of the successful and substantial farmers of Grove township, residing on section 2, makes a specialty of breeding and feeding thoroughbred Poland China hogs. His birth occurred in Harrison township, this county, on the 25th of February, 1873, his parents being Elijah and Elizabeth (Lenocker) Jones, the former a native of Holmes county, Ohio, and the latter of Stark county, that state. They were married in Holmes county. In 1869 they came to Adair county, Iowa, locating on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres which the father purchased on section 5, Harrison township. Subsequently he bought and sold a number of farms but retained three hundred and twenty acres in his home place. He passed away in December, 1905, at the age of seventy-four years, and his demise was the occasion of deep and widespread regret, for he had lived in this county for more than a third of a century and had won an extensive circle of warm friends. His widow, who makes her home in Stuart, is also widely and favorably known throughout the community. She still owns the home farm of three hundred and twenty acres as well as eighty acres of our subject’s place and about sixty acres of timber land.
J. H. Jones acquired his early education in the district schools and later attended the city schools of Stuart. In 1895, when twenty-two years of age, he started out as an agriculturist on his own account, renting the home farm, which he operated for fifteen years. On the expiration of that period, in 1910, he acquired eighty acres on section 2, Grove township, buying the property from his mother, who owned one hundred and sixty acres of land there, all of which he has since cultivated. During his entire career as an independent agriculturist, covering twenty years, he has disposed of only one hundred bushels of corn, making this sale in the second year. He not only uses all his grain but also buys a great deal of corn, making a specialty of breeding and feeding pure bred Poland China hogs, in which line of activity he has been unusually successful.
In 1902 Mr. Jones was united in marriage to Miss Bertha Kliss, a daughter of Henry and Emily (Busch) Kliss. The father, long one of the prominent agriculturists of Harrison township, is deceased, but the mother survives and makes her home in Stuart. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have two children, Marie A. and Dorothy H.
Politically Mr. Jones is a democrat, while fraternally he is identified with the Yeomen. His wife is a devoted and consistent member of the Christian church. He has many friends and acquaintances, all of whom regard him as a man of exemplary character and high standards. His methods are progressive and his thorough knowledge of agriculture together with his business ability have been responsible for the attainment of the success which he now enjoys. | 
