Jones, Robert F. (1846-1944)

JONES

Posted By: Joyce Hickman (email)
Date: 9/18/2008 at 16:21:29

Robert Fletcher Jones
July 12, 1846 - Jan 29, 1944

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.162, Macedonia Twp.)
R. F. Jones, farming, P. O. Carson, was born in Ross County, Ohio, July 12, 1846; his father, Joseph Jones, was born in Campbell County, Va., in June, 1804; came West to Ohio about 1839; thence, in 1849, to Davis County, Iowa, where he lived on a farm near Union Village, till moving to Appanoose County, where he still lives. Subject's mother, Mary E. (Dickie) Jones, was born in Virginia in May, 1804, and is living, and is the mother of nine children. Mr. Jones began working by the month at farming, in Macedonia Township, this county, in 1866; he worked for A. F. Rayburn, for four years; then married, and rented a farm in Davis County, Iowa, where he remained about six months, thence to Page County for eighteen months, when he returned to Macedonia Township, this county, and rented land for one year of A. F. Rayburn; then engaged with him in the stock business one year. He next bought land east of the town of Carson; this he sold in 1873, and bought the farm of 220 acres where he now lives. This farm cost Mr. Jones about $10.50 an acre, and is now valued at about $45 an acre; it is situated in Section 3, one and one-half miles west of Carson; it was raw prairie when Mr. Jones first took possession of it, and it is now one of the finest farms in the township (Macedonia). Our subject was married in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in September, 1870, to Miss C. F. Crane, born in May, 1853, in Lancaster, Ohio, daughter of John and Tabitha (Thompson) Crane; he, born in Pennsylvania, and she in Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have five children - Ora E., James A., Robert F., Albert L. and Loula M. Mr. Jones belongs to the I. O. O. F. of Carson and the Iowa Legion of Honor. He is a Republican.

(From the 1891 Biographical History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, p.359)
R. F. JONES of section 3, Carson Township, was born in Ross County, Ohio, July 12, 1846, the son of Joseph and Mary Elizabeth (DICKEY) JONES, the former a native of Bedford County, Virginia, an old Virginia settler, who was the son of Jesse JONES, who served in the War of 1812; the latter was born in Bedford County, and was also the daughter of an old Virginia settler. They had nine children, all of whom are now living.
R. F. JONES, the eighth child of seven sons and two daughters, was three years of age when he moved with his parents to Davis County, Iowa, where he grew to manhood, engaged at farm work and attending school. At the age of nineteen, he came to Pottawattamie County, where he lived for four and a half years. He first bought land in this county in 1872, in Carson Township, section 11, which consisted of forty acres which he afterward broke and sold. In 1874 he bought 120 acres of wild land, which he successfully broke, and built a good frame house. This was part of his present farm and he now has 310 acres in rich bottom land along the Nishnabotna River, adjoining the town plat of Carson, and is second to none in location in the eastern part of the county. Shadeland, the home, is a beautiful place and will compare favorably with any in western Iowa. Here Mr. JONES raises trotting and road horses of the Hambletonian breed, and he also has a fine herd of red polled cattle. He was one of the pioneers in raising of fine horses and cattle in the county, and his herds are as fine as any that can be found in this part of the State.
Mr. JONES was married to Miss Cora CRAIN of Macedonia Township, at Council Bluffs, Iowa, September 13, 1870, the daughter of John E. and Talitha (THOMPSON) CRAIN; the former was born in Ohio and was reared at Fairfield, Jefferson County, Iowa, and was educated at Philadelphia; the latter was a native of Lancaster, Ohio, and died when Mrs. JONES was eighteen months old. Mr. And Mrs. JONES have six children: Edith, Laura, James Arthur, Robert Franklin, Albert Lea, Lulu Way and Rolland Roscoe. Politically Mr. JONES is a Republican and in 1884 was elected Supervisor of the county by a large majority; the courthouse was built during his term. He has also been Township Trustee for six years and is a member of the I.O.O.F., Carson Lodge, No. 444. Mrs. JONES is a member of the Presbyterian Church of which Mr. JONES has been Trustee and is a supporter.