My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Howard County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1890.  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.

* * * *

Thomas L. Jones, farmer, Columbus, Ark. Of the many prominent tillers of the soil now residing in the county none are more deserving of mention than the subject of this sketch, who started out to work for himself about 1857, and who is now the owner of 260 acres of land, with some 250 acres under cultivation. He was born in Bowie County, Tex., on November 29, 1837, and was the fifth of nine children, the result of the union of Dr. Isaac N. and Elizabeth (Littlejohn) Jones, natives of Granville County, N. C., where they were married about 1827 (this was the father's second marriage). Dr. Isaac N. Jones was educated in and graduated from the Oxford University, of North Carolina. He afterward studied medicine and completed his medical course at the old Philadelphia Medical College in 1818. After this he practiced his profession for some time in North Carolina, and then, for seven years, in Philadelphia, with Dr. Rush, who was a celebrated physician of that city. Dr. Jones owned the first steamboat that sailed up the Bled River (1830), and was also the owner of a great deal of land on the Red River in Arkansas. He did considerable farming in Arkansas, having settled on Lost Prairie, Ark., in 1830. He was killed in 1857 by a boiler explosion on his Lost Prairie farm. The mother died in January, 1867. Of the nine children born to this union, five are yet living: Daniel W. (of Little Rock, was attorney-general of Arkansas for four years, filling that position from 1885 to 1889), Robert W. (who is at present county clerk of Hempstead County), Mary C. (wife of Judge Caswell, of San Francisco, Cal., who is at present grand lecturer of the Masonic order of that State), and Nannie R. Moore (who resides in Hot Springs County, Ark., at the present time). Thomas L. Jones attained his growth and received his education in Hempstead County, Ark., and was married January 28, 1859, to Miss Ella E. Simmons, who is a native of Louisiana, born in 1842, and the daughter of Col. Simmons, of Louisiana. Mr. Simmons was a colonel in the Seminole War. To Mr. and Mrs. Jones were born eleven children, seven of whom are living: Bettie B., Thomas S., Sallie, Robert W., Ella E., Mary E. and William, and all of whom reside at home. Mr. Jones is a Mason, having joined Dooley's Ferry Lodge No. 169 in 1859, which is at present Hope Lodge. He is a Royal Arch Mason, belonging to Chapter No. 10, of Washington, Ark., also Council No. 4, of Washington, Ark. Mr. and Mrs. Jones, with their two eldest daughters, are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Jones takes very little interest in politics, and is independent in his views. He was elected magistrate in Saratoga Township in 1884, and is yet serving in that capacity. He gives farming his closest attention, and judging from the manner in which his farm is tilled, it can readily be seen that in the art of cultivating the soil he has few, if any, superiors.

* * * *

This family biography is one of 116 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Howard County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Howard County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

To view additional Howard County, Arkansas family biographies, click here

Use the links at the top right of this page to search or browse thousands of other family biographies.