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Below is a family biography included in the book, The History of Lewis County, Missouri published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1887.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Jacob C. Jones, farmer and stock raiser, was born in Belmont County, Ohio, in 1828. He is the eighth of ten children of Capt. Asher and Mary (Coleman) Jones, the former of Welsh ancestry, and born in Virginia in 1785. The grandfather was a spy in the Revolution, and some years after settled in Ohio as a farmer. Asher went with him, and for several years was a keel boatman on the Ohio and Kenawa Rivers. He volunteered as a captain in the war of 1812, but, owing to sickness, did not serve. He located in Belmont County, and in 1843 came to this county, and spent the remainder of his life near Canton. The mother was born in Pennsylvania, and died January 7, 1886, in her ninety-second year. Our subject was fairly educated, and after the death of his father, the support of the family fell upon him and an elder brother. In 1850 he started with a cattle train to California, and was over five months on the journey. After some success at mining, he returned by way of Panama and Cuba. Soon after he and his brother-in-law and brother erected a flouring and saw mill, south of Canton, and familiarly called Jones mill. In 1856 Fanny E., a daughter of Obediah and Martha Koch, became his wife. She is a native of Monroe County, Ohio. (Her parents were natives of Pennsylvania and England, respectively.) Their children are Mary M., the wife of W. Gordon; Fanny E., the wife of W. H. Turner; Charles A.; William H.; Addie M., the wife of J. W. Anderson; Lottie H.; Reuben J. and Jessie L. He soon sold his mill, and went to Moundsville, W. Va., where he had married, and engaged with his father-in-law in merchandising. After two years of this, and on a farm nearby, he went to Ohio, and three years later bought a farm in Washington County. He has been in Lewis County since 1876, and is now the owner of 190 acres of valuable land, besides ninety acres in another tract. He took a course in bookkeeping, which has been of service to him, and during his travels he kept a journal. He is a thorough business man, and a successful farmer. Pierce received his first vote as a Democrat, but since the war he has been a Republican. He is a prominent Mason. His entire family, with two exceptions, are Baptists; one is a Methodist.

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This family biography is one of 293 biographies included in the Lewis County, Missouri portion of the book,  The History of Lewis, Clark, Knox and Scotland Counties, Missouri published in 1887.  For the complete description, click here: Lewis County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Lewis County, Missouri family biographies here: Lewis County, Missouri Biographies

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