Samuel Jones, Incorporation Commissioner

 

This is the last of a few references found for Samuel Jones in the Georgia online Archives.  It really reveals little about the man other than maybe how he was held in some esteem in the Ellijay and Gilmer County area.  I may have the interpretation of all this somewhat skewed but what follows is my brief take on what this is all about.

Ellijay at the center of the Map

It appears that this is an act of the Georgia Legislature during the 1853 and 1854 session enabling the incorporation of a Railroad Company and permitting it to sell stock in the State in order to finance construction.  Ellijay apparently may have been a terminal point on the new railroad or at least it was an area of some sort of importance to the endeavor.  As I understand the document Samuel Jones is among several men appointed as some sort of trustees or commissioners and assigned the task of overseeing the incorporation of the company and monitoring the proper handling of investors money.  Admittedly it is rather a dry document to read through but this is how I summarize the legislation and the role our Great-Grandfather played.

The act is dated February of 1854 and helps to establish a more accurate date that Samuel Jones sold off his Gilmer County property and moved more to the west in North Georgia, to what was known then as the Snow Hill community in Catoosa County.  Right smack-dab in the middle of some of the worst fighting of the Civil War in the Western Theatre of operations.  Actually in the middle of what became General Sherman’s eventual Military playground so to speak.  Samuel’s wife Narcissa Tate Jones had died in 1852 and this document establishes that he waited at least two years or more before making his move out of Ellijay.

I have tried to highlight the mention of Samuel’s name but online blog editing can sometimes be rather hit and miss.  I hope I succeeded.

A GALILEO Digital Initiative Database

Georgia Legislative Documents

Content of Act/Resolution

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ACTS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA, PASSED IN MILLEDGEVILLE, AT A BIENNIAL SESSION, IN NOVEMBER, DECEMBER, JANUARY, AND FEBRUARY. 1853-4. COMPILED, AND NOTES ADDED, By JOHN RUTHERFORD.

PART II.--PRIVATE AND LOCAL LAWS.
INTERNAL TRANSPORTATION. RAIL AND PLANK ROADS AND RIVERS*

* See No. 500, Broad River, Commissioners for; and Ohoopie River, Commissioners for.

†

† See No. 348, for Habersham and Union Telegraph Company incorporated.

UGUSTA AND [Illegible Text] RAIL ROAD COMPANY.
[Illegible Text] [Illegible Text] AND ZEBULON RAIL ROAD CHANGED TO [Illegible Text] FRANKLIN AND OXFORD RAIL ROAD.
CHARLESTON AND SAVANNAH RAIL ROAD.
CHATTAHOOCHEE RIDGE RAIL ROAD.
COLUMBUS AND HAMILTON RAIL ROAD.
COLUMBUS AND WEST POINT RAIL ROAD.
COOSA AND CHATTOOGA RAIL ROAD.
DALTON AND COPPER MINE TURNPIKE, PLANK AND RAIL ROAD COMPANY.
DALTON AND ALABAMA LINE RAIL ROAD.
EATONTON AND COVINGTON RAIL ROAD COMPANY.
EATONTON AND MONTICELLO RAIL ROAD COMPANY.
ELIJAY RAIL ROAD COMPANY AND THOMASTON RAIL ROAD.

1853 Vol. 1 -- Page: 425

Sequential Number: 453
Law Number: (No. 363.)

Full Title: An Act to open and construct a Rail Road, commencing at some point between Marietta and Calhoun, to be determined by a majority of the Stockholders herein incorporated, and thence the most practicable route, by Elijay, in Gilmer County, to the, or near the, Mouth of Fightingtown Creek, at the Copper Mines, in the County of Gilmer; also, to incorporate the Thomaston and West Point, and Thomaston and Milledgeville Rail Road Company.

 

WHEREAS, There are large developments of Copper Ore now raised and raising at or near the mouth of Fighting town Creek, on both sides of the State line, between Georgia and Tennessee, which cannot be shipped to places of manufacture without the aid of a Rail Road through that section of the country:

 

SECTION I. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Georgia in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That for the purpose of opening and constructing a Rail Road communication, from the Western and Atlantic Rail Road, beginning at some point on said Road, at or between Marietta and Calhoun, to be determined by a majority of the Stockholders herein after incorporated, and thence the most practicable route by the way of Elijay, in Gilmer County, to or near the mouth of Fighting town Creek, in Gilmer County, at or near the Copper Mines; the subscribers for the

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Page: 426

capital stock, herein after mentioned, and their assigns, shall be a body politic and corporate, by the name and style of the Elijay Rail Road Company, and by said corporate name shall be capable in law to purchase, accept, hold and convey real and personal estate; make contracts, sue and be sued, and to make by-laws, and to do all lawful acts properly incident to a corporation and necessary and proper for the construction of the works and transaction of the business for which said Company are incorporated; and to have and use a common seal, and the same to alter and destroy at pleasure.
[Sidenote: Elijay Rail Road Company.]
[Sidenote: Powers, rights, &c.]

 

SEC. II. And be it further enacted, That the capital stock of said Company shall be five hundred thousand dollars, but shall be liable to be increased from time to time, and by such sum or sums as may be deemed expedient, by the majority of the Board of Directors of said Company for the time being: Provided, That said capital stock shall not be so increased as to exceed in the whole the sum of one million and one half of dollars; And it is also enacted, That the Board of Directors for the time being, shall be authorized to prescribe the terms of subscription, for such additional capital stock as may from time to time be required.
[Sidenote: Capital.]
[Sidenote: [Illegible Text]]
[Sidenote: [Illegible Text] [Illegible Text]]

 

SEC. III. And be it enacted, That for the original capital stock of five hundred thousand dollars, books of subscription shall be opened at Elijay, in Gilmer County, by the following Commissioners, who are hereby authorized and made competent to do all acts incident to the said office, to wit: Benjamin Johnston, Peter Patterson, Joseph Patterson, Beverly A. Freeman, Lorenzo Gudger, Robert [Illegible Text] Jasper Johnson, Williamson Forrester and   Samuel Jones;   and if any of said Commissioners should refuse to act, others in their places shall be appointed by the remaining Commissioners; and there shall be no more than seven Commissioners at the above named place; at any time after giving twenty days notice of the day and place in two or more public places in said County, shall open said books of subscription. And Andrew J. Hansell, David Irvin and William P. Young, Commissioners at Marietta, Georgia; and John Burk, Hawkins F. Price and William T. Wofford, Commissioners at Cassville, Georgia; David Knot, William M. Peoples and William H. Dabney, Commissioners at Calhoun, Georgia; and Basil H. Overby, James M. Calhoun and L. C. Simpson, Commissioners at Atlanta, Georgia; and Robert J. Cowart, Andrew H. Shuford and William P. Hammond, Commissioners at Canton, Georgia, shall open books of subscription at said several places, under the same rules and regulations as are provided in this Act for the Commissioners at Elijay, in Gilmer County, Georgia; and receive, from individuals, companies or corporations, subscriptions for any number of shares, not exceeding two hundred shares to any one individual, company or corporation, Banking Companies excepted; and no subscription shall be received and allowed unless there shall be paid the Commissioners at the time of subscribing the sum of five dollars on each share subscribed; for which the Commissioners shall give the subscriber a certificate, setting forth the number of shares taken by such subscriber, and amount per share paid thereon; and if after ten days the shares are not taken they may be subscribed

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Page: 427

for without limiting the number of shares; and said books of subscription shall remain open for sixty days, or longer if necessary, at the discretion of the Commissioners, and when closed on the last day said Commissioners shall certify and sign to its being a correct list of said subscription, and thereupon make out a general list, setting forth the name of the subscribers, the number of shares taken by each subscriber, and the sum paid thereon, and if on summing up all the subscriptions the same shall appear to amount to the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, the said Company may be organized and go into operation; thereon and after the organization of the Company all future subscriptions for stock shall be by the Board of Directors of the Company; and the said Company shall at once proceed to the measures as hereinafter subscribed [prescribed] for the organization of the Company.
[Sidenote: Subscriptions.]
[Sidenote: Commissioners, [Illegible Text] [Illegible Text] &c.]
[Sidenote: Shares taken, &c.]
[Sidenote: Books to remain open.]
[Sidenote: Other regulations.]

 

For the entire document follow this link:

 http://neptune3.galib.uga.edu/ssp/cgi-bin/legis-idx.pl?sessionid=7f000001&type=law&byte=28478547

Samuel Jones- Slave Owner, Farmer, Planter

It cannot be denied that our Great-Grandfather was a slave owner prior to the Civil War.  The following census Slave Schedules have been found online.  Even after the war he is quoted in one obscure document as stating that he believed in the Southern Cause and since he had a considerable amount of his assets invested in slaves, it is understandable that he had such sentiments, for reasons of wealth if for nothing else.

I do not believe a separate Slave Schedule for 1840 was created, at least I have no access to such online.  If it does exist surely it would be available.  Thus it is not known if Samuel Jones possessed any such property in 1840 but a few short years after arriving from Lumpkin County to the east of Ellijay.  Sadly, property was one of the terms of the time to describe slave ownership.  However by 1850 he had acquired five slaves as revealed in the 1850 census. 

Slaves were enumerated separately and listed under their owners name.  The schedule under Samuel’s name lists a mulatto couple, middle aged, and three younger males ranging in ages from 12 to 18.  The younger boys, being black, obviously were not children of the mulatto couple.  This was in the Ellijay area in Gilmer County, Georgia.  After his wife Narcissa died in 1852 the man for some reason had decided to leave Gilmer County and relocated to the northwest of Ellijay some 50 miles, closer to Chattanooga, in Catoosa County, Georgia,  very close to the southern Tennessee border.  This of course placed him in the direct path of the Civil War fighting as the Federal Armies chose his region of Georgia as the route to invade south towards Atlanta.  That has been documented in my previous effort explaining what is known of the comings and goings of the Jones family during the time leading up to, during, and after the Civil War.

1850 Census, Samuel Jones, Slave Schedule

Gilmer County, Georgia

The total number of slaves for Samuel Jones in the 1860 census reveals he is listed as owning six slaves ranging in age from 48 to 12, and but one female.  It appears that Samuel had been buying and selling in the preceding ten years for the ages alone do not match the ages of the five listed in 1850.  Apparently he had replaced all his 1850 slaves.  By no means was Samuel a major slave owner for maybe 25-100 slaves or more was considered a major holding at the time.  Most common farmers or plantation owners probably did not have any slaves.  To be an owner required capital and that was not really the norm in the day in my understanding.   Many farmers, like Samuel,  the ones that probably worked the fields day in and day out along side their slaves really looked at slaves as a necessity in order to bring any profit at all to the land.  Sadly, they were looked on probably as a modern farmer would look at a piece of mechanical farm equipment today.  It is only assumed however that Samuel also worked the fields but he assumedly had an amount of acreage that probably required him to work to some extent.

1860 Census, Samuel Jones, Slave Schedule

Catoosa County, Georgia

 

The average value of a slave in 1860 was about $500 and that depended on health, age, sex, and abilities of the individual slave.  Samuel does give some hint to their value in his actual family census entry in the listing of his assets.  That census reveals also that all his family had left home for it appears the other two members of his household were probably a caretaker and his wife employed by him.  This gives hint that the caretaker possibly was the one directing the slaves or perhaps he was just considered a field hand as well.  Samuel very well may not have been working alongside his slaves at the time but it is a mute point that can never be determined.  His daughter Elizabeth was married and living with her husband and his extended family in Alabama, assumedly someplace in North Central Alabama, up until the war but sometime during the war, between 1862 and 1865, she was forced to flee Alabama with her children and sought refuge with her father in Georgia.  That is another story in itself for she once again found herself in danger as the war commenced fighting in the very vicinity of her father’s home near the famous battle field of Chickamauga.

 

1860 Census, Samuel Jones Household,

Catoosa County, Georgia,

Near Chickamauga

1860 Census, Willis Jones Family,

Smith County, Texas,

Near Tyler

A.H. Jones in the Household, Attending School

In 1860 his son Alfred Hines was living with a brother, Willis and his family, in Smith County, Texas, very near Tyler in the eastern part of the state, and is listed in the 1860 census as a '”Student”.  After war broke out he obviously returned to his Father’s home in Catoosa County, Georgia, and enlisted in the Confederate Cavalry in the small town of Dalton in the nearby county of Whitfield.  Dalton would be an important area of battle later in the war when Sherman began his march south towards Atlanta.  Just when our Grandfather departed for Texas and why he chose to continue his education in Texas in the first place is not really known but I do find it rather curious to consider.  Regardless he headed back home to Georgia when the Confederate draft was about to begin in earnest.

Based on somewhat subjective formulas found on the web today, the total value of the Samuel’s holdings in today’s currency, is hard to determine.  I don’t consider him to have ever been extremely wealthy, but probably comfortably well off.  Perhaps his pre- Civil War holdings would amount to about $300, 000 today.  The eventual loss of most everything, if not all he held when war broke out, as revealed in his 1870 census entry must have been devastating to the man, and to all those around him. 

When looking at his story and that of his daughter Elizabeth during the war, and without knowing all the day to day happenings, it is easy to say that the surviving Jones family suffered greatly during and after the war.  He died in Gordon County, Georgia in 1870, in or near the small town of Calhoun.  Calhoun was some 30 direct miles to the southeast of the family home near Chickamauga.  It is easy to imagine the ordeal that Samuel must have endured during the period for with his slaves obviously gone and his daughter and what appears to be her four young children in tow, one of which must have been near infancy, he attempted to keep himself and his wards out of harms way.  Not knowing how and where they traveled in order to avoid the battles one can only speculate it had to have been a stressful situation for the community of Calhoun, where the man and his remaining family around him ended up was also directly along the path of the fighting.  From day to day, it is quite possible, based on typical family accounts of the time, that as they moved away from the scenes of battle, they simply placed themselves in the path of the next ensuing battle.  It must have been a terrible thing to have endured.

 

Do keep in mind that much of this is but speculation on my part.  However, based on a several years of reading of Civil War history, the theory of what happened is well within the realm of possibility.

Georgia Legislature 1836- Appointment of Samuel Jones- Gilmer County Road Commissioner

As mentioned in a previous posting, a biography of sorts was created by some family historian sometime in the mid to late 1900s.  Probably written by the unidentified shirt-tail relative that did much of the research that has survived on the internet.  A brief excerpt from that biography mentions the appointment of Samuel Jones to a Road Commission to build a connecting road to the Federal Highway to enable other North Georgia Counties to access the Federal North-South route from Atlanta to Tennessee. 

The paragraph reads:
“The legislation authorized  the construction of a road from Dahlonega, by way of Elijay, to the Federal Road in Murray County near the Summer house.  The act provided for three commissioners to lay the road out and complete its construction.  Samuel Jones, Isaiah Clayton, both of Gilmer County and Richard Bearden of Lumpkin served on the Commission to build it.” 

Recent access to the Georgia Archives online database has provided a copy of the very act of the legislature making the authorization for the road building.  This was in 1836 some two years before Samuel was elected to the State Legislature for the Gilmer County area in 1838 and 1839.  A downloaded copy of the act from the Archives follows.  His name is mentioned in section 2.

http://neptune3.galib.uga.edu/ssp/cgi-bin/legis-idx.pl?sessionid=7f000001&type=law&byte=16342387&lawcnt=143&filt=doc

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Georgia Legislative Documents
Content of Act/Resolution

Act/Resolution 143 of 175

ACTS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA, PASSED IN MILLEDGEVILLE AT AN ANNUAL SESSION IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1836.

ACTS of the General Assembly of the STATE OF GEORGIA, PASSED IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1836.

ROADS.

1836 Vol. 1 -- Page: 243
Sequential Number: 143

Type: AN ACT,

Full Title: To appropriate a sum of money, and to lay out and put in good order, a road from Dahlonega, in Lumpkin county, by way of Elijay, in Gilmer county, and on from thence to the Federal Road in Murray county, where the Commissioners may deem most expedient, and to appoint Commissioners to carry the same into effect.

Sec. 1st. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Georgia in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That from and immediately after the passing of this act, the sum of ten thousand dollars, be appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of laying out and putting in good order, a road from Dahlonega in Lumpkin county, by way of Elijay, in Gilmer county, and on from thence to the Federal Road in Murray county, where the commissioners may deem expedient: Provided, the same is between Sumach creek and Coosawattee river.

Sec. 2d. And be it further enacted, That Michael Smith, and Richard Bearden, of the county of Lumpkin, and Samuel Jones and Joseph Clayton, of the county of Gilmer, and James McGee, of the county of Murray, be, and they are appointed Commissioners for said road, and they are hereby vested with full power and authority to contract for, and superintend the laying out and putting in good order, said road; and before they enter on the discharge of said duty, they and each of them shall severally enter into a bond with good and sufficient security, payable to the Governor for the time being, and his successors in office, in the sum of four thousand dollars each, for their, and each of their faithful performance, and discharge of their duty in contracting for said work, and for their, and each of their superintendence as aforesaid, in the application of the sum appropriated, or of such parts of the same as may severally come into their, or each of their possession, which said several bonds shall be taken and approved by the Justices of the Inferior Court, or majority of them, in the county in which the said Commissioners severally reside, to be by them transmitted to the Governor as aforesaid, and field in the Executive office: Provided, that no one Commissioner shall draw more than a proportionable part of the appropriation aforesaid, to the number of Commissioners aforesaid.

Sec. 3d. And be it further enacted, That upon the receipt of such bonds in conformity to the above and foregoing sections it shall be the duty of the Governor, to issue his warrants in favor of the Commissioners aforesaid, for the aforesaid sum of ten thousand dollars.

Sec. 4th. And be it further enacted, That if any of the aforesaid Commissioners shall refuse to serve, or execute such bond as provided for in this act, that the Justices of the Inferior Court, or a majority of them, in the county where such refusing Commissioner may reside, shall fill such vacancy by appointment, who shall give their bond and security as aforesaid.

Sec. 5th. And be it further enacted, That each Commissioner appointed and superintending as aforesaid, shall be entitled to compensation, at the rate of two dollars per day, for each and every day he shall be engaged in laying out and superintending the work in completion of the same: Provided, that no Commissioner shall receive pay for more than fifty days.

Sec. 6th. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of said Commissioners or a majority of them, to report from time to time, to his Excellency the Governor, the state, condition, and progress of said work, and that said Road shall be completed within eighteen months from the passage of this act.

JOSEPH DAY,
Speaker of the House of Representatives,

ROBERT M. ECHOLS,
President of the Senate,

WILLIAM SCHLEY, Governor.
Approval Date: Assented to, Dec. 24, 1836.

Timelines Can Help Sort Out The Past

Several Timelines have come into play for me to use as a tool while strolling through our families past.  Creating a timeline helps to keep facts and related dates in a pictorial format.  Just organizing and entering the data, combing over various pieces of information to make sure all is included really initiates a learning and memorizing process.  This was a pleasant surprise to me personally.  Gathering the facts and recording them helped immensely in attempting to commit much, but not all, of this to memory.  To coin a phrase, it really is a process of “memory osmosis”.

Samuel Jones- Summary of Georgia Archives References

The State of Georgia along with several other States are committing many old archived documents to a digital format and uploading them to the Internet for public access.  These efforts have opened many new avenues of research for some families attempting to document their past.  The Jones family is no exception for a few references of the patriarch, Samuel Jones, 1796-1870, have been found rather easily online.

Due to some local prominence, especially in Gilmer County, Georgia, and Ellijay specifically, his name has found it’s way into some obscure references and recorded in the annals of the State.  For what it’s worth, but primarily to partially fulfill some of my continuing interest in recording anything of interest regarding family, I have copied what has been found to date for my Great-Grandfather, Samuel Jones.

The first reference here is from what the Georgia Archives calls their Master Card Index file, with but brief mentions of names and topics.  Just when and how this was compiled I have no idea but assumedly the indexes were extracted from some other data sources and of course do not elaborate very much at all.  If time and energy allow perhaps another visit to the Archives in Atlanta might reveal more detailed information.  But for now, this is what is available online.  The following image is a copy of one of two card indexes found for the man.

There is little room for doubt that this is our ancestor.   What I consider to be reliable family trees that have been found on the Internet refer to Samuel’s time spent as a judge of the inferior court of Gilmer County.  Inferior Court assumedly meaning the lowest court,  perhaps similar to a Justice of the Peace or even some municipal courts.  An inferior court as I understand it requires no official recording of the proceedings and primarily only records the charges and the judgments, if that. 

So in interpreting what is written here the significance of the roman numeral VII following the name escapes me for now.  The data is obviously a compilation of of the periods that he was assigned the duty of judge.   Without the aid of an official explanation perhaps the individual dates were dates of official duties or of a renewal of a swearing in process.  Regardless, the entries cover a period of several years beginning in March of 1836 through perhaps December of 1855, a period of some nine years.  Further research in the Archives will probably clarify these dates to be an uninterrupted span of duty or perhaps individual short periods of assignment.  Someone accessing our Family History many years past obviously did a considerable amount of research for some of the accounting of his activities found in his short biography online are now easily confirmed.  That is always a good thing in my estimation for at times I truly wonder how reliable some of the sources really are.  What I have personally found in the online Archives really adds to my feeling of the accuracy of what I consider my baseline of the family tree found some ten years ago.

The next Master Index file card cannot be easily verified, but based on dates, location and rank, specifically Captain Samuel Jones, reflected in many online family trees, I am rather confident that this is also our ancestor.  Lumpkin county is the county where Samuel was a sheriff and was the location where the family began it’s Georgia history, most likely in or near the town of Dahlonega,  after leaving South Carolina some 50 to 75 miles to the east. 

During this period of our Countries history, and not only in the State of Georgia, Militia Service was compulsory.  Men of good health and of the proper ages were well organized and trained to some level of capacity strictly from the necessity of protection from either Indians or marauders of any sort.  They were the “Minute Men” of their time and the forerunner of our current National Guard units.

Dahlonega was the center of commerce during the period of the Georgia Gold Rush beginning in 1828 on what was Cherokee Indian land, and was described as a wild west area.  Lumpkin County was formed from a portion of Habersham County in 1832 and Samuel Jones was elected the first sheriff of the county and served for two years or less.  That information also passed down in other family trees has also been verified in History of Lumpkin County, For the First Hundred Years by Andrew Cain and published in 1932.  He is listed in the appendix as the first sheriff and sworn in on March 9, 1833.  The author relates that “Sheriff Samuel Jones stepped to the door and sang out “Oh yez, Oh yez, the Superior Court of Lumpkin County is now open”.  This was contained in the authors description of the opening of the first court session in Lumpkin County in August of 1833, some eight months after it was formed in December of 1832. 

The first seven of eleven children that Samuel and his wife Narcissa Tate spawned were born in Habersham and later Lumpkin Counties.  Lumpkin County was carved out of a portion of Habersham County.  This card index reveals that his time served in the Militia ended in 1835 suggesting he was not directly assigned in a military capacity to the expulsion of the Indians during the period of the “Trail of Tears” of 1838-1839.  There is some vague reference that Samuel was appointed to sell assets of some Cherokee families and to forward the funds to Oklahoma to be given to the owners of the personal assets, but I am not sure that this responsibility was of a military capacity.  This apparently occurred after he had moved his family some 30 miles further west in Georgia to Gilmer County, where he and his family first appear in the U.S. Census of 1840.  The seventh child, Willis, was the first born there in 1837.  Our Grandfather A.H. Jones was the last child born, in Ellijay, Gilmer County, in 1843.  All this establishes the time of the move to Gilmer County between 1835 and 1837.  In all likelihood Samuel was also a member of the Gilmer County Militia but that requires further research.

These are but the first of  a small handful of what can be found of Samuel in the Georgia Archives.  More will  be posted as I collect them and ponder any of the questions that arise from them.

Martha Elizabeth Moulder Jones & Her Older Sister, Amanda Melvina Moulder Roark

A Photo Has Suprisingly Emerged…..Sadly Not What Has Been Hoped For

By occasionally examining genealogy web-pages for current postings I find more and more individuals interested in the Jones side of the family adding their family lines. Many are tracking back to the Tates and even parallel branches in the 16 to 1700 time period. Not quite as many individual contributors are concentrating on our Jones line of that period, which by the way is becoming a bit more clouded over time. There seems to be a second wife and more children attached to one Willis M. Jones, my generations Great-Great Grandfather, that not all contributors are validating in their data, as well as the place of his death, be it North Carolina or Tennessee. But that’s a story for another time and it is something that helps to occupy my time in attempting to sort out the differences.

But this posting involves a later generation, that of our Grandfather Alfred Hines Jones and specifically his Mother’s line, Martha Elizabeth Moulder, and her parents, Samuel Tennessee Moulder (1801-1888) and his wife Nancy Luster (1811-1899).

Denver Cemetery

Carroll County, Arkansas

The Resting Place of Many of the Moulder Family

Twenty miles to the northwest of HarrisonWhere our great grandparents, Samuel Tennessee Moulder and his wife Nancy Luster Are buried along with many succeeding generations of the Moulder family. County and family records record the name of the burial cemetery, but the grave markers have since been lost.

Don and I as well as Juanita and of course Chuck and Bernie share a distant and almost unknown grandmother. Martha Elizabeth Moulder. She is at rest in a remote Boone County Cemetery, some three or four miles to the west of Harrison, Arkansas. Of course she is not totally unknown, but we know so little of her in actuality. But she definitely is from a past that we may have trouble relating to for our real family lines were never really shared in depth with us as we grew up. A picture of her grave marker is shown here. I hope to someday have an additional marker placed before the current one rusts away in place.

Grave of

Martha Elizabeth Moulder

1850 - 1894

Denning Cemetery

Boone County, Arkansas

As mentioned the purpose of this post is to share some related information regarding our Grandmother, Martha, wife of Alfred Hines Jones, and the mother of our father Charles F. Jones Sr.


While browsing thru internet resources I have recently come across a real surprise to me personally. A picture, sadly not of our Grandmother Martha Elizabeth Moulder, but that of her older sister of two years, born in 1848, Amanda Melvina Moulder. Both these sisters were born in Tennessee prior to the family moving to the Harrison, Arkansas area. All the family of fifteen children were born in Tennessee prior to moving to Arkansas sometime in the 1860’s, perhaps early 1870 simply based on census data. Some had left home prior to the family’s migration west to Arkansas but at least half of the family were still with their parents in the 1870 census in Harrison. Our Grandmother Martha Elizabeth Moulder was one that came to Boone County and then on to neighboring Carroll County with her parents where she and her remaining siblings were raised.



The Jones families migrated to Arkansas from Georgia, one branch to the Conway area, the other two branches to the north of Conway to Harrison assumedly after the death of their Father Samuel Jones, and at about the same time the Moulder family arrived. Our Great-Grandfather died in 1870 in Gordon County Georgia, near Ellijay, the birthplace of our Grandfather A.H. Jones.



Shown here is a photo of what is our Grand Aunt, an older sister of our Grandmother Martha Elizabeth Moulder, Amanda Melvina Moulder. She was married to one Samuel Thomas Roark, in Arkansas in December of 1870 according to internet sources and they finished their lives in New Mexico and were buried in Tucumcari. I judge the photo to be taken in the 1880-1895 time period when Amanda was about 32 to 47 years old. No it certainly is not a picture of our Grandmother, but it might suffice for the moment as a hint of what our Grandmother may have looked like.

Amanda Melvina Moulder Roark

1848 – 1924

Probably taken about 1880 -1895

32-47 years of age

Sister of Martha Elizabeth Moulder

A correspondence with a great-granddaughter of Amanda Moulder that resides somewhere in California that posted the photo to the Internet has been started. She suggests that there are many more family photos that were passed on to her that very well might contain a view of our Grandmother Martha. I have no great expectations here but I do have hope and perhaps someday she just might be able to come forth with such a photo. After all, we do have a photo of our Grandfather A.H. Jones and it certainly would be fitting if by some chance we might also some day acquire a photo of our Grandmother. Wishful thinking actually but it remains to be seen.


If you remain a bit confused about your family lines at the moment a family tree still exists at

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0BxPVuWItV_l5MzAzOWMyZWYtNGNlZS00ZWU3LTg1ZDQtZGZkNzQyYWMwMDJl&hl=en



It has to be accessed via a permission list of e-mail addresses of family members. If you are unable to access the Family Tree let me know and I will add you to the list. It probably needs updating but for any immediate purposes it should provide you with an idea of just where you are positioned regarding this current discovery.


A small discovery but yet important for it does fit the overall puzzle of who, where and when we came from.

A Letter From the Past- Dad’s Recall of Family History

As far as I Know, Only One Letter From Dad Has Survived and We Have Bernie To Thank For That-

Charles F. Jones Sr.

Taken About the Time of His Marriage to

Mary Agnes McGinnis, in 1923

Nancy has inherited many family pictures that her Mother so neatly organized during her final years. Among some of these photos were some Jones and McGinnis family pictures as well. During my last visit to Oklahoma I scanned all these older family photos and I am attempting to organize them with names and dates when the occasional motivation occurs.

Bernie also saved a letter written by Dad in 1961, probably because Bernie may have been asking him about family history. He sat down and did his best but he was also 79 years old at the time which might account for some of the discrepancies appearing in his account. His Father had passed on some 39 years earlier so he was far removed from reliable sources. That is but one possibility, but he very well may have never known some of the details he attempted to explain. Most likely he was just going on vague recall of many family conversations during his lifetime.

I would never have been able to discover any of the family history had not the internet provided such rich resources for one to find family data. Had the opportunity not opened up in this day and age I would have been even more confused or lacking in facts than Dad was in 1961 when he attempted to at least record some things he knew of.

But in order to record what he did write I am posting a transcription of the pages where he did write out his known facts. I will annotate his words with what has been found since.

From pages 4 through 7 of the letter. The italics are his words:

My Father was born in Georgia near Atlanta. My grand Father was born in Wales. I don’t know when he came to the states that or how old he was. He had a large Plantation near Macon, Geo and quite a few slaves.

First off, if common sources claiming many of our distant ancestors are correct, Dad’s Grandfather, Samuel Jones, was born in 1796, in Pendleton, South Carolina, in the Northwest corner of the state. This was very near the North Georgia area where he and one of his brothers and many of the Tate family eventually settled.
I think Dad had his Grandfathers confused in this first portion. It certainly is true that the name is of Welsh origin, at least common knowledge would assume so. But from what can be found in current sources the actual ancestors that originally left Wales cannot be identified. 
 
The oldest known birth date in the Jones line is for Dad’s 3rd Great-Grandfather, Edward Jones, born about 1701 in Gloucester County Virginia. All of the Jones line with known dates were born in North America.

Before 1701 we only have names without birth dates or places. That does not really mean that Dad was incorrect. Other data may very well surface some day that might prove his recall to be correct. After all, just how valid is anything that is available. I only give a credence value to the data that I have personally accessed and that isn’t all that much. But when one compares what is found to other sources it begins to become rather obvious just what data can be trusted.

Regarding the large plantation and slaves his Grandfather owned near Macon, well his memory is somewhat distorted here. True, his Grandfather was a plantation owner, the exact size of is unknown, and he did have slaves, a total of six in the 1860, shortly before the outbreak of the war. The location of the property was in Catoosa County, Georgia, in the very northwest corner of the State, just 10 miles south of the center of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Macon is some 175 miles to the southeast, between Atlanta and Savannah, from the Snow Hill location of his holdings as indicated in the pre-war census.

Father had three Brothers and four sisters. He was the youngest of them all.

Family Tree sources available on the internet reveals that his father actually had nine siblings, four sisters and five brothers. Not all internet sources agree with this total at the moment.

His bros names was Sam, John and Bill. His sisters I only remember one of their names Rebecca. Her husbands name was Simmons. They lived in Dallas, Tex when the civil war broke out.

Samuel Jones, Harrison, Arkansas

A.H. Jones and Brother, Samuel Jones

Taken in Harrison, probably sometime in the late 1870’s

Samuel, John and Bill are verifiable now after really studying Dad’s letter. John was born in 1819, but some family trees also show a George being born in the family that same year. This is rather doubtful at the moment. At least Dad did verify John making it easier to eliminate one of the two 1819 births. Twins ? Perhaps, but that remains to be seen. Another brother, or uncle of Dad’s, Thomas Jefferson Jones, shows up as born in 1832. Nothing else is known of him but further research may yet find him in later years.

The available online records for Samuel Jones to date reveal that two sons were named Willis, obviously in honor of Willis M. Jones, Dad’s Great Grandfather. One son named Willis was born in 1822 and the other a William Willis Jones was born in 1837. Some data suggests that the latter died during the Civil War. No records of him past the time of the Civil War have been found. 
 
Any record of the first born Willis reflects his name only as Willis in two U.S. census records, both in Texas, in 1860 and 1870. This Willis based on age as revealed in the census would have been the son born in 1822. No middle name for this individual has surfaced to now. Just who the Bill that Dad refers to is not clear but perhaps Dad’s memory had faded and he had confused the two sons named Willis. Some records of the descendants of the Willis in Texas are beginning to surface on the internet.

Dad’s four aunts were Martha, Margaret, Elizabeth and Rebecca. Rebecca is somewhat verified by other internet data including later census entries as Rebecca Simmons living with her husband Amos Simmons in Parker, Texas in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.
Dad did not mention his Aunt Elizabeth by name only that one sister went to Arkansas with others. This aunt of Dad’s lost her husband to disease in a Confederate Army camp early in the war. She and her two young children came to live with her Father, Samuel Jones, at that time and lived with him through the war and up until he died. His son Alfred Hines, my grandfather, also came to live with his sister and Father in Gordon County, Georgia after the war ended. Elizabeth has descendants tracking her family on the internet today. Kristin Ingram Johnson, someplace in Oregon, is from this line. Her data was the first discovered some ten years ago and it has been invaluable and I use her as my most reliable source.

Nothing regarding his Aunts Martha and Margaret has surfaced so far. Perhaps Dad’s recall of how many Aunts and Uncles he had is actually correct.


This particular census page finds Dad’s Father living with his brother Willis in Smith County, in East Texas, in June of 1860, some eleven months prior to his enlisting in Confederate Army in Georgia. Smith County is in the vicinity of Tyler, Texas to the East of Dallas. Dad states his father was going to college when the war started which is somewhat verified by the notation of student in his entry.
However he implies in his letter that his Father was living with his sister at the war’s beginning which really cannot be verified. More likely he was still with his brother some 100 miles to the south east of his sister’s home in Parker, Texas.

Dad was out there with them going to collage when war came. He went back and joined the army. He was not quite 18 years old when he went in.

Not to be too detailed here, but actually his Father had just turned 18 years old some 23 days before he enlisted on May 15, 1861. That is if the dates of his birth and enlistment are correct. The enlistment date very well may be inaccurate or purposely changed to disguise his possible actual enlistment as sometime before his 18th birthday. We will never know for certain and it is a mute point after all.

He stayed in until the war ended. His Father lost every thing the had. He had lots of gold that was taken away from. Of course the slaves were freed. Dads Mother died some time before the war began. Dad was in many Battles through Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia. When Sherman came through and the siege of Atlanta his army destroyed every thing in sight. The Battle at Atlanta lasted four or five months. The north won the Battle and went through to Savannah. The war didn’t last long after that.

I don’t know how long Grand Father lived after the war ended. Dad and uncle Sam his bro and one sister left Georgia and came to Ark. There were several families came together and settled near each other. We have many relations in the south. Dad had one sister that married a man by the name of Tate. They had a large family. He was a state Senator. Very well to do. My Mothers folks were named Moulder. They moved to Ark from Tenn. They were of German descent. They settled not far from where Father did. Dad was married twice. His first wife died when your uncle Sam was a Baby. Two sisters older than Sam Mary & Ester were their names.

It would take to long to tell the history of both families. That is Father and mothers and our family. I started this letter last Sunday and today is Wed…………………………..

Love to all,

Dad’s Grandfather Samuel lived until 1870 when he died in Gordon, County Georgia. Living with him until his death was Dad’s father Alfred H. and his Aunt Elizabeth Jones Steele. It seems that when Samuel died it provided the motivation for the remaining family to move on to Arkansas. Samuel is found in the 1870 census with very little property. It isn’t clear to me at this point if he had landholdings or if he was renting in 1870.

Elizabeth had apparently inherited property in the area of Conway, Arkansas through her husband Jefferson Steele where she settled with her children and farmed successfully until her death. She never re-married.

Those at Rest, Ivy Green Cemetery, Bremerton

A.H. Jones, 1843-1922

Graves of Garland Ramsey (left),

Mary Lou Jones (Ramsey), William Tate Jones

Garland Ramsey,
1910-1912,

Born in Arkansas, Two Year old Son of Mary Lou Jones-
Died in Bremerton, officially of Gastritis and Ulcerative Colitis. 

Based on the year of his death he had only been in Bremerton with his Mother and her Family for less than a year.

Mary Lou Jones, 1873-1913

Mary Lou died of surgery complications in Bremerton in 1913, about one year following her arrival from Arkansas to be with her father and siblings.

William Tate Jones, 1894-1917

Bill Jones, died of Tuberculosis in a Sanitarium in the South end of Seattle in 1917

Graves, Samuel A. Jones and Wife

Berthe T. Jones

Samuel A. Jones, 1878-1957

Oldest Son of A.H. Jones

Berthe Jones,1881-1967,

Wife of Samuel A. Jones

Graves, Ruth Jones (Mogford) and Husband

Allen T. Mogford

Allen T. Mogford, 1888-1930

Ruth Jones Mogford, 1894-1975

Thomas Donahue- Why Did He Enlist in the U.S. Army? A Possible Pre-Military Scenario, But as so Often is the Case When Looking Back, It Is Only Conjecture-

I have debated for quite some time about taking the liberty of posting the following that really has no documentation to support it. It does occur to me though that this is an excellent place to at least present a possibility regarding some of the early activities of Thomas Donahue. The danger is that some in the future may accept this as fact. I do hope that I have made it clear that what I present here is not fact but to me personally it is a distinct possibility, no more, no less.

Ft. Knox, Maine, A Possible Scenario-
Just what brought Thomas Donahue to enlist in Maine? I have one theory and it suggests that Thomas did not enter Maine directly from Canada, but was even recruited in Boston to go north to work as a laborer. During the diplomatic negotiations with Britain in the years following the war of 1812 the U.S. decided it had to improve and increase its defenses along the Atlantic. This was a period of upgrading and new construction of fortifications to defend our harbors from Maine to Florida.

Fort Knox

Bucksport Narrows, Maine

Bangor, Maine, upriver to the right,

The Atlantic Ocean, downstream, to the left, perhaps ten miles

I suggest that Thomas Donahue may have been caught up in this period of military strengthening. There were diplomatic dust-ups with Britain at the time producing ever growing tensions between the two countries. Britain was afraid that the US was planning to take Canada by force, and the new country of the United States felt that Britain would attempt to gain back territory lost during the revolution. For just such reasons the U.S. Army always had a presence in Maine and other border states in order to be positioned to defend the border with Canada. Regardless of any theory about the travels of our Thomas, Maine was a likely destination for any new immigrant focused on joining the Military especially if he entered through Canada regardless of what year. As others have suggested he may have come through Quebec but that would have have more required overland travel to Maine. Even today, that is a tedious drive over many two lane highways if one wants to take the most direct and shortest route. Arriving through St. John, New Brunswick would have allowed for much easier access to Maine by ship or coastal packet.

What I am only speculating on in the following is all predicated on the one record of one Thomas Donahue traveling from New Brunswick to Boston in 1842, about three years before the Army enlistment of our ancestor, and but seven months after the birth of his first child Amelia Bridget in Ireland. Is this our man? We may never know. Was this enough time to travel between Ireland via Canada and then on to Boston? I must admit that during those times that may not have been enough time for the entire journey but entirely possible. It is most likely that he was in Ireland at the time of his daughter’s birth, but if perhaps he had departed home prior to the birth by a few months, then the scenario begins to become very possible in my opinion.

Amelia Bridget Donahue

1842-1921

First Child of Thomas Donahue Sr.

Born in Ireland, Assumedly County Galway

Married John Shimunok in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 1862

Four years after her Father brought her from Ireland

Any record of Thomas first landing in Canada corresponding to this timeline has not been found. Not necessarily a requirement but if records of his arrival from Ireland were found it would add some additional viability to what I am suggesting.

Obviously the Archives have somehow added other data to the actual record shown below. Therefore it would be necessary someday to see the actual microfilm to determine just how the date and the ports involved were determined.

The small port of St. George is inland to the west of St. John, a major Canadian immigration port, by approximately 50 miles. Why would someone arriving in St. John make the extra journey to another town to find transportation? Perhaps it was cost, perhaps it was expedient, but the record shows that the Donahue in question chose the Ship North America sailing from St. George to Boston as his method of choice to enter the U.S. I have to remind myself that nothing in this brief record states that the man was an Irish immigrant. This individual very well may have been a Canadian citizen or even an American citizen returning home following a business endeavor in Canada. Thus the record of a Thomas Donahue entering Canada shortly before the time suggested here might prove most helpful.


This period of our American history was the time of the boom in Canal and Railroad construction in the Eastern U.S. A specific need for young and energetic construction labor was the enlargement of the Erie Canal an ongoing project begun in 1836. All these endeavors required back breaking labor and the Irish fulfilled much of that need. There very well may have been a competition for labor to supply the workforces for the many projects in progress at the time and the Irish may have been recruited into labor gangs immediately upon stepping off the ship. If so, Boston would have been an active recruiting ground with immigrants arriving at a rapid rate. The Irish obviously welcomed the opportunities, for even being near the bottom of the social rung of American society, they found themselves in far better living conditions than what they had left in the old country. The coal mines of Pennsylvania employed many Irish as well. The speculation proposed here requires one to believe that our Thomas Donahue very well may have entered the US at Boston under these circumstances and that he was recruited and transported north as a laborer to work in construction gangs. There was need for labor in many large projects with Ft. Knox being but one of them.
Fort Knox again, is very near Bangor, Maine, the city where Thomas enlisted in the Army.

The fort is named after an early Revolutionary War General, who interestingly enough has a fort in Kentucky named after him as well. The fort was being constructed inland from the Maine coast, at Bucksport, to defend Bangor and the surrounding area, an area rich in timber resources. Again, if Thomas was involved in any of this, it is but a theory.

The period between his possible arrival in Boston and his enlistment in Bangor is roughly two years seven months. If he participated in the very beginning of the construction at Ft. Knox that commenced in mid 1844, then we have roughly twenty months of unknown activity, assuming that he did come through Boston. This leads me to speculate even further that he may have been part of an organized work gang that went from job to job. This would have given him ample time to wander north and eventually find himself employed in the Bangor area. I don’t see how we will ever be able to answer any of this.


Ft. Knox was and still remains a large and impressive granite fortress overlooking what is known as the Bucksport Narrows. It was intended to prevent the British from coming inland off the Atlantic and capture Bangor and the surrounding rich timber producing areas. The fort was being constructed under the supervision of the Army Engineers to be eventually transferred to the Artillery for manning upon completion. The first Battery, dug into the earth close to the river in front of the eventual completed stone structure, was completed in 1845. The fort continued under construction for many years as other Batteries were slowly added to a permanent fort until it was finally completed in 1869. It still stands today as a Maine State Park and is quite visible from US Highway 1, the scenic coastal route of Maine as one crosses the bridge at the narrows. Available Internet sources of the Fort’s history do not specify which Artillery unit manned the first Battery.
The 1^st US Artillery very well may have been already stationed in Maine or brought in from out of State to man the first and original defenses at Fort Knox. It is quite possible they were even involved in the day to day building tasks.


Bangor would have been the nearest large town or city at the time, a logical place for the military command to Headquarter early on in our history due to the vulnerability of the area around Penobscot Bay. Again, that is but conjecture, but certainly possible. Recruitment certainly was one of the duties of the military command regardless of their actual location. Oversight and supervision of the work site could surely have been easily conducted from Bangor. The fort itself was but twenty miles downstream from the town. Overland Telegraph was in it’s infancy during this period making it possible that Bangor may have provided access to a Telegraph line, a huge consideration for the establishment of a Military Headquarters. The stone material for the actual fort that began after the completion of the river battery was quarried along the Penobscot River closer to Bangor and transported downstream to the building site by river barge. Steamboat service along the river and bay had been established by the early 1840’s enabling travel accommodations between the fort construction site and the towns along the water. This meant that being part of a work crew 20 miles downriver from Bangor did not mean the men were totally isolated and surely if desired might spend their free time in Bangor, a larger town than Bucksport. All this combines to make me be less surprised that Thomas ended up enlisting in Bangor. If he were part of the fort construction effort then he had opportunity to be in Bangor on probably many occasions.


Thomas’s enlistment record states he was a laborer (as required in any construction effort) at the time of his joining the ranks of the 1^st US Artillery, Company “G”. If he was involved as a civilian in the construction of the fort he may have found himself temporarily out of work at the completion of the first Battery sometime in 1845. The Army was looking for men as the Mexican War was looming on the horizon and the Army may have been a promise of some kind of continued employment for Thomas.

In support of the other possibility that he landed in Canada first and went directly to Maine in order to enlist then he probably would have become aware of the opportunities for employment to the south in Maine immediately upon arrival in Canada. The U.S. Army was in a recruiting phase of some degree at the time and perhaps the promise of a secure Military life is what motivated Thomas to cross the border to the south and find his way to Bangor. No one will ever know if he set foot on North American soil and immediately decided to seek out a way to enlist in the U.S. Army. It was not uncommon for the Army to occasionally advertise for recruits in Irish newspapers in the home country as well in North America. Travel and shipping out of Canada to and from New England was primarily accomplished by small vessels making communication between coastal cities and towns quite easy. Travel to Bangor would have been much easier in this manner rather than traveling overland from inland New Brunswick or Quebec. An immigrant arriving on Canadian soil through St. John or Halifax would have found it easy to obtain passage south the U.S. Perhaps passage or Military records may be found someday to verify either of these scenarios.

I am sorry I cannot provide more facts and I offer only speculation, but I just want others to be aware of what may have been the case. This all took shape during my Canadian trip in 2007 when we passed over the Bucksport Narrows and saw the commanding view of Fort Knox as one crosses the bridge traveling south. It then occurred to me, yes something of that impressive size would have required many laborers and being in the vicinity of Bangor I just started poking around the internet to see what might be put together. Shortly after giving up on the possibility I was reminded by others of the Thomas Donahue entry found on Ancestry that I had looked at but a few months earlier and totally dismissed it until the reminder caused me to apply a little imagination to the situation. Unfortunately my only access to records is via the internet.

All I can provide so far is imagination and conjecture but be assured I will always be tuned into such a possibility. I am fully aware of large holes in all this. Imagination is not one of my strong traits but when the opportunity arises I attempt to go along for the ride since for me personally the opportunity does not come that often.