Judge Alfred Hines Jones of Charleston

Alfred Hines Jones, about 1920

It seems that our grandfather, Alfred Hines Jones was a judge of some sort in his new home in Washington State after relocating with all his children to Charleston, Kitsap County Washington in 1912.  These days of course Charleston is an incorporated part of Bremerton but in the early 1900’s Charleston on the west side of the present day Bremerton was a distinct and separate municipal entity.

His obituary in the Bremerton paper on the day of his death March 3, 1922 states he served three years as a police judge in Charleston sometime between his arrival in the Bremerton area up until his death.  Just what years he was in that position is yet to be determined.

Our grandfather had finally left Arkansas behind in 1912 after liquidating his Arkansas holdings and moved on to Washington State in order to be with his children in his later years. Those children still living with him in Harrison were his daughters Eula and Ruth, sons Albert and Bill and granddaughter May Rutledge and assumedly this group made the trip to Washington together.  Already in Washington State were his sons Samuel and Charles.  Samuel can be found in Charleston in the 1910 census but Charles is yet to be located.  My memory is that Dad often said he arrived in Bremerton in 1909 which leads me to believe he was still there one year later.  Since he was in bridge construction for many years he very well could have been anywhere in the Northwest on a construction site and was simply overlooked in that census year.  Two years later Charles married Pearl Baker in Almira, Washington where her family resided suggesting to me that he truly was in the state in 1910.

Bremerton Searchlight 1922

      

                                            

                       Bremerton Sun, 1947

  























The following is taken from an e-mail to Charles F. Jones Jr. some time back where I explained what was found in the Kitsap County City directories:

“I just finished looking at Microfilm copies of all Bremerton and Kitsap County city directories covering the years 1909-1934.  I was just curious to see which Jones family members were living where and when.

A.H. Jones first appears in 1913 and his last entry is 1921 which was just a year before his death.  It's interesting to note that over the years much of his family lived with him off and on, even Dad and his first wife Pearl appear to be living with him in 1916.  The house address isn't given, it's just described as Naval Ave, corner of 4th or near 4th.

The directories listed city officials for Charleston and I never did see A.H. Jones listed as a judge.  I assumed that maybe he was a Justice of the Peace which were also listed.  Maybe he was something other than a JP.  The directories of course aren't all that accurate I am sure……………….”

So at this point I would like to bring to the record another facet of this story and it goes back to Arkansas in the period just preceding the families final departure from Boone County.  It is the record of the appointment of Alfred Hines Jones as a Justice of the Peace in Boone County, Jackson Township, Arkansas, in 1898, the location of the Arkansas origins of the Jones family.  This is the very area that A.H. Jones settled in shortly after the death of his father Samuel Jones in Gordon County Georgia in 1870. 

The Arkansas document above was provided to me by one Nancy Hicks, of the Atlanta, Georgia area, a valid descendent in our overall Jones line, during an internet e-mail exchange of several weeks in early 2011.  She really is very knowledgeable of the early family origins and is the collaborator with one Kristin Ingram Johnson recently at one time residing in the State of Oregon.  Kristin posted her knowledge of the family origins to the internet in the early 2000’s and fortunately I was able to download her data and I have used it as my baseline for the Jones family.  Kristin no longer shares that data online and I am grateful to her for all efforts in the past and I attribute her in a large part of many of the earliest mentions of Jones ancestors in my expanded database.  Much of what Kristin published was furnished by Nancy Hicks some ten years ago when as Nancy Hicks confirmed they collaborated on the overall data. 

I was eventually able to come across Nancy Hicks in 2011 simply thru Google searches.  Kristin had mentioned the help of Nancy within some of her source details and as internet search capabilities improved over the years it was eventually quite easy to make contact with Nancy.

My question at this point is just how accurate is the statement regarding A.H. Jones stating that he had been an early police judge?   I do wonder however after searching though early Charleston City Directories, was the statement found in his obituary an exaggeration of his early Arkansas position or did he truly preside as a municipal judge of some sort in Charleston and perhaps he acquired that position based on his Arkansas experiences? 

Interesting to speculate but until a thorough search of Kitsap County records can be achieved we may never really know the accuracy of the fact.

The obituary itself has errors in it that makes me wonder just how knowledgeable was the person providing the facts of the man’s life.  The newspaper article states he was born in Calhoun County, Georgia but it is well assumed he was born in Gilmer County.  The two counties are some distance apart and Calhoun County has no mention in any other early family records.  The obituary also mentions he came to Arkansas with Mrs. Jones when in fact he never married previous to his migration to Arkansas.  His first marriage was to Elizabeth Johnson in 1872 in Boone County a year or two after his arrival there.

Perhaps someday someone will answer the question by completing a search of all the early Kitsap County records and determine the accuracy of the statement in his obituary.

I can only conclude that I have no doubt that our grandfather was a Charleston Police Judge but at this point I have found no real documentation to either prove or disprove the statement.  I do believe he very likely did serve in such a position.  However I just want to suggest the possibility that if he did serve as a judge that perhaps his Justice Of The Peace experience in Arkansas may have been a factor in his being appointed to the position in Charleston.  Another possibility is that someone writing the obituary took license to extrapolate the facts to the point that described his history in Charleston as an exaggeration of the facts.  Time will tell once the actual County Records are accessed.

Georgia Connections

One might think that I tend to dwell on the "seedy or unseemly" side of our family history, but it is not intentional I can assure you and I certainly look at what I present here as far from seedy, it is just how people had to survive during difficult times. What is detailed here and an affair of another Willis Jones relative in Texas do tend to paint an unfair picture of what our ancestral family has experienced over time but I just find the stories interesting and worthy of sharing.  I tend to look at any story coming out of the past regarding all branches of the family as just contributing to the overall story fabric of the family regardless of any remote attachment one might feel. Life is what it is and we certainly have no control of what has happened in the past. Some might find this meaningless but some time in the future others might feel very much otherwise. The goal from my perspective is to find and record as much as I possibly can, and the attached story is something that needs to be saved and explained.

The real objective of this posting is to attempt to relate that the Jones family still has roots remaining in Georgia and that not all happened, began and ended with our family line originating in Arkansas with nothing else known of even earlier beginnings.  Over time we very well may be able to someday make direct connections with other remote lines in North Carolina.  Surely they are there, but to find the actual proof will take time.

The individual Jones distant relative mentioned in the attached newspaper article from the Atlanta Constitution newspaper of February of 1921 happens to be a second cousin to Charles F. Jones Sr., and through that connection certainly a shirt tail relative to all his descendants. The man is Wills A. Jones from the line of Jones's that remained in North Georgia after the Civil War, in the Northeast part of the State near the South Carolina border where first substantial documentation of our ancestors migrations can be found. Much of that portion of the State was carved out of the former lands of the Cherokee Indians after their unjust removal from their ancestral territory to Oklahoma in the first half of the nineteenth century. Our Jones family members of the time witnessed and some even participated to some degree in that tragic story now labeled as the "Trail of Tears" that occurred at the insistence of President Andrew Jackson and his administration.









Just what the level of contact between relatives residing in Georgia, Texas and Arkansas was at the time is not really known but some contact was obviously maintained.  One or two family photos taken of our Arkansas Jones family that survived within the belongings of our line were also found in the belongings of some of the Georgia Jones’s and were shared with me proving that they did correspond and were exchanging family photos during the latter part of the 1800’s.

The following photo was found in the old family suitcase filled with pictures from both sides of the family.  The photo is of Alfred Hines Jones and his brother Samuel Tate Jones, both living in the Harrison, Arkansas area when the photo was taken probably in the 1870 –1880 time period.  This very same photo was forwarded to me by one Nancy Hicks of Atlanta and was passed on down thru her family or other North Georgia Jones descendants. 







Adding to our obvious connections to other North Georgia Jones family descendants the following photo of the Alfred Hines Jones family of Harrison, Arkansas was also passed on down thru some vague but obviously family members and also shared with me by Nancy Hicks.  This photo did not survive within our cache of photos.  Based on the youngest child Ruth having been born in 1894 the year is probably 1895 – 1896.  The oldest daughter Mary Lou in the back row was probably the surrogate mother to the young children since her step-mother, Martha Elizabeth Moulder, second wife of A.H. Jones had died shortly after the birth of Ruth in 1894.  The other stepdaughter, Esther Almira Jones had married and left Harrison in early 1895.  She died quite young in Renton, Washington in 1901, apparently the very first member of the family to step foot in Puget Sound country.







The given name Willis in the Jones line extends into lines of three Jones brothers that migrated into Georgia in the early 1800’s from the Northwestern part of South Carolina in present day Anderson County, very near the Georgia border.  There was a total of five brothers known of and only the three, Samuel, William and John Calvin Jones have left any trace of their existence that can be followed up to current times.  The migrations of the times seemed to be of rather short distances as men and families would establish in new areas and raise their families.  Our particular ancestor, one of the three brothers, Samuel Jones, moved farther west in Georgia two more times in his life to the far western side of the State.  One brother, William and his descendants remained in place, in what is now Lumpkin County, Georgia and brother John Calvin is a difficult migration story to follow but for the most part after some confusing movements prior to and during the Civil War (he was of Northern sympathies) he and his descendants ended up in Gordon County, Georgia to the Northwest of Atlanta.  Gordon County is where our Great Grandfather Samuel died in 1870 where he had settled after the Civil War following the loss of his land further North in Georgia near the Chattanooga Battlefield. 

But the Willis Jones focused on in the attached newspaper article is from the area of original family settling, the Northeast part of the state where it seems there are still distant relatives well established there even today.  At this point I cannot be certain if the Jones surname has survived to current generations however, but through marriages the area is probably well represented with various descendants.  As the article suggests the area was a popular area for the making of moonshine liquor over the years and to some degree it may be so even today.  But this Willis Jones died protecting his source of income which many families in the area did as well in order to support their families when the times demanded such activity.

I made a brief internet contact two years ago with a descendant in the Atlanta area that had studied and researched the Jones line quite extensively and she is the one that discovered the connection of the current descendants back to the original three brothers.  She diligently followed up on many sources in Georgia and South Carolina and eventually was able to tie her ancestor John Calvin’s line in Gordon County to William and his descendants in Lumpkin County.  This connection then easily led to the connection to our Samuel Jones and what can now be found online primarily at Ancestry.com presents some fairly well documented family lines that we most certainly are connected to.  This researcher hinted at the involvement in the  moonshine business of some Jones descendants over time and just recently another descendant found and posted the attached article to Ancestry.com and what is attached here is copied from that posting.  This tends to definitely prove out what the lady had hinted at in some of our correspondence.

But the story is probably not the only such story to come out of that part of Georgia but it is definitely part of the fabric of what I try to pursue.

Mary Lou Ramsey- If I am Correct, She Must Have Been Like a Mother to the Younger Children in the Family-

Mary Lou Jones, an older half-sister of our father, Charles F. Jones, an aunt to my current generation.
The only photo discovered of her so far is her sitting for a Jones family photograph in Harrison, Arkansas around 1905 – 1906 if I have the photo dated reasonably close. The following is a close up of her cropped from that family photo.

Mary Lou Jones, Later Ramsey

1873 -1913

Probably about the age of 32 in the Photo

As is the case with so many of the facts regarding our family history be it the history of the Jones family or the McGinnis clan, only so much can be reconstructed based on public records or vaguely recalled anecdotal information.  So what follows is a description of what can be defined regarding Mary Lou’s life only from easily obtained public records and documents.

Her birth is recorded in the Jones Family Bible-
Mary Lou Jones, eldest daughter of A.H. Jones and E.A. Jones his first wife was born June 26, 1873





Two Mothers for Mary Lou, Only to Become a Mother to Her Siblings, Making Her Essentially the Third Mother of the Overall Family-
Her father had re-married in late December of 1879 after the death of her mother in March of the same year. Her stepmother Martha Moulder, now Jones, is the grandmother of our current generation, my generation. Mary Lou was but six years old at the time of her mother’s death. Essentially she was raised by her stepmother Martha. Martha gave birth to nine children when she died the same year of the birth of our Aunt Ruth in 1894. Mary Lou was 21 years of age when her stepmother died meaning in all likelihood she now became the surrogate mother to many of her step brothers and sisters.
This list of children in the household other than herself now included two siblings born of her own Mother, Esther, two years younger, born in 1875, and Brother Samuel, five years younger, born in 1875, then 16 years old. Also included are the eight living children of her stepmother, with the oldest being my Father, Charles, 13 years old, and Ruth, the youngest born that same year.
The next census year of 1900 reveals eleven individuals in the household of A.H. Jones including himself. A large family by any estimate, and certainly a huge responsibility for the eldest daughter to have to shoulder at such a young age. We will never know just what her role was in entirety, we can only speculate. It was not uncommon at the time for older daughters to be cast into such a role however and one can assume she certainly had a large influence on the younger children especially.
The following family photo taken in Harrison sometime around the 1905 to 1907 time period truly hints at her position in the family being seated in the front row near her father:

The Jones Family of Harrison, Arkansas

Circa 1905-1907

Back Row, left to right: Pearl (most likely), Bill, Martha or Mattie (most likely) Grady, Eula, Charles.
Front row, Ruth, A.H. Jones, Granddaughter Mae Ruth Rutledge, Mary Lou, Albert.
Note the identity of Grady and Albert is subject to change. They look so much alike at this age making it very difficult to be really certain but after several years of looking at this photograph, Albert in the front row right is most likely.
The photo had become rather damaged over the years particularly on the face of Charles Jones. A novice attempt to digitally repair the damage to the photo is shown above. It is far from perfect.
Two children, Esther and Samuel had already left home by this time as evidenced by their not being included in the picture. Esther, another subject for more research had died some four years earlier in 1901 in Renton, Washington leaving behind two daughters. Esther’s youngest child, Mae Ruth Rutledge, was sometime later sent to live with her Grandfather Alfred in Harrison meaning that now young Mary Lou, at the age of 33, also had the responsibility of raising a niece. The whereabouts of her other niece as well as the father remains undiscovered at the present time. That niece remained a close member of the family throughout her life. She also settled in Bremerton when her Grandfather gave up the family farm in Harrison and moved to Washington State in 1912 to live out his life among his children. The timeline of the arrivals in Bremerton suggests that Samuel, the eldest son, was the influence behind the decision to leave Arkansas.
It should be noted that the granddaughter, Mae Ruth Rutledge, attended Dad’s funeral in 1972 and signed the funeral register as “Ernie and Mae Orchard”, her married name. I have no recall of seeing the woman at the time or at any time in my life, but she obviously was there or viewed the remains prior to the funeral.




Mary Lou’s Marriage and a Rather Soon Divorce-

Nothing regarding her life survives until the notation of her marriage in the Bible in 1909:
Mary L. Jones- Eldest daughter of A.H. Jones and E.A. Jones his 1^st wife was married to- S.P. Ramsey at Harrison, Arkansas, October 17, 1909. By O.B. Murphy, J.P.

Mary would have been 36 year of age at the time of the marriage. Samuel Ramsey, apparently a widower with many children at home, was nine years older than Mary.  Mary was an attractive woman but perhaps her years at home helping to raise her siblings found her to be an aging spinster when she finally did marry. Were all the eligible bachelors of the area long gone and she felt that to marry into a pre-made family was her only choice? Perhaps a reasonable assumption.
This was approximately two to four years following the family photograph shown here. Mary did not live long after her marriage and now that a copy of her death certificate has been obtained it states that sometime between her marriage in 1909 in Arkansas and her death in Bremerton in 1913 she had divorced her husband Samuel P. Ramsey. A look at a rather large census entry for the 1910 census for the Ramsey household might suggest a reason for the divorce, but that is only speculation. It obviously was a second marriage for Samuel Ramsey and perhaps Mary Lou found it an environment she no longer wanted to be a part of. The census page enumerated on April 16, 1910 follows here:




The Ramsey family Mary Lou married into was also a large pre-made family and Mary Lou just may have felt she had jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. Online census searches bring no record of any of the Ramsey family in the 1920 census, certainly not of the father. He may have died during that period. Possible entries for some of the children have been traced down but that really is a subject for other families to pursue.




The Birth of Her Son-
To piece this together even more one has to return to the family Bible and note that Mary Lou had given birth to one child during her short marriage. The Bible states the following:
Garland Alfred Ramsey, son of Sam P. Ramsey and Mary L. his wife was born September 19, 1910 at Western Grove, Arkansas





The Death of Garland Alfred Ramsey-

Mary Lou was pregnant at the time of the Arkansas census in April of 1910. Sometime between the birth of her son in September of 1910, a year after her marriage, and the child’s death in Bremerton in 1912, Mary Lou divorced her husband and had come west to settle in Bremerton with her child and to be among all her family members, all now having left Arkansas by this time. The notation for the child’s death from the family Bible is as follows:
Garland Ramsey, Infant son of Sam Ramsey and Mary, his second wife died at the age of 2 years and 11 days, September 30, 1912, at 7 O’clock and was buried in Ivy Green Cemetery, Bremerton, Washington, October 1, 1912

The death certificate for the child reveals a primary and a contributing cause of his death.  The primary cause in medical terminology and difficult to read states “Gastritis and (unreadable) Colitis”.  Part of the colitis term is unreadable.  The contributing cause explains it all however as it states: “Food Intoxication, Probable”.   The term probable certainly adds confusion but for the most part it appears to have been caused by food poisoning.




Timing of the Family’s Migration to Washington State-

The Bremerton or Charleston city directories of 1910 do no list the presence of the patriarch, A.H. Jones or any of his family other than Samuel. This coincides with the obituary notation for our grandfather stating he arrived in Bremerton in 1912, obviously after the publication of the directory. The child’s death in Bremerton suggests that the family may have arrived around the middle of the year. I am making the assumption that Mary Lou may very well have accompanied her father to Bremerton making the location for her divorce in Arkansas.
Mary Lou was now 49 years old, and now on her own but living with her father and siblings, those un-married siblings that were still living with their father. The city directory for 1913-1914 shows living in the household of our Grandfather A.H. Jones, Albert, Grady, Eula and Ruth, ranging in ages from 30 to 19. Ruth married and left home in 1914, Eula in 1915 and Grady married sometime between 1914 and the death of his father in 1922. Assumedly the 1913 city directory entry was taken after the death of Mary Lou in March of that year.



Mary Lou’s Illness and Death-
The next date of record for Mary Lou of course is that of her death in Bremerton in 1913 about six months following the death of her only child. It had to have been a terrible shock to the entire family, for as suggested she was not only a sister but to some, even a mother figure. She had been living in Bremerton probably for less than a year. If she had arrived earlier than 1912, the year the majority of the family arrived, she surely would have been found in some record as living with a sibling. No directories reveal her presence earlier than 1912. Being that her son died in Bremerton it tends to establish 1912 as the year she came west.
Her death certificate has recently been acquired and it does explain the circumstances of her death and it appears to have happened rather suddenly. Apparently she had been under treatment for about two months that eventually required surgery. The reason of death, “Surgical shock- following abdominal surgery”. Apparently she was suffering from appendicitis and I suspect that in 1913 any surgery was a serious matter and perhaps that explains the two months of treatment. A search of the internet reveals that the first successful appendectomy surgeries began in the late 1890’s, but some 20 years before Mary Lou’s procedure. That is a relatively short time for a new surgical procedure to become well developed and it just might be that in 1913 an appendectomy was very serious and was used as a last resort. All speculation of course but it is a distinct possibility that Mary Lou was very ill and it became necessary to perform surgery in order to save her life.
As can be seen on the copy of her death certificate she died of surgical shock. A very faint entry below reveals the word appendicitis. To me that is the root cause of her illness. The rest of that entry as well as the entry regarding secondary causes are beyond my skills of reading medical terminology. I will leave that that task to others.





Mary died at the relatively young age of 39 years, 8 months, 3 days old. As noted on the certificate she is also buried in Bremerton, in Ivy Green Cemetery. It has been many years since I visited the Jones family plot in that cemetery and at the time I was not into the details of family history and I have no pictures or even much recall as to all that are buried in the plot or near by. I think it is reasonable to assume that Mary Lou lies somewhere near her father Alfred H. Jones, her son Garland Alfred Ramsey, a brother, Bill, a subject for a later posting still being researched, and her future sister-in-law, Pearl Baker Jones.
This is all that can be gathered regarding our Aunt Mary Lou Jones using what records that have survived. Her story was completely unknown to me as I grew up and I am pleased that at least something of her life can now be told.
If ever anyone might have the opportunity to once again visit Ivy Green Cemetery in Bremerton, new pictures of all the family grave markers would be greatly appreciated in order to imbed them within an overall family history constantly in the process of research and documentation.

Jones Family, From the Earliest to the Latest-

About 1905-1906

Harrison, Arkansas

 

The family left Arkansas in 1912. Charles F. Jones arrived in Bremerton circa 1908-1909.

At the time of this picture Samuel had already left home and had married in Seattle in

1904 and was living in either Seattle or Bremerton. Samuels older sister Esther Almira, a half-sister to Charles F. Jones, had died in Renton, Washington in 1901.

 

(As mentioned in an earlier posting, the photo had a large damaged spot on the cheek of Charles Jones.  What you see is the result of an unskilled attempt to repair the image.)

 

About 1911-1912, Bremerton

 

All the individuals are identified on the back. Since Dad's first wife, Pearl Baker is not in the photo, the date may have been prior to their marriage in October of 1912. It is assumed the location is somewhere in Bremerton.

 

 

About 1911-1912,Bremerton-

Presumably taken the same day as the previous group photograph

About 1913-1917 in Bremerton

 

From Left, Back Row: Sam, Bill (Bill died in 1917), Charles

Front: Albert, A.H. Jones and Grady.

 

About 1915-1917, Bremerton

 

For some unknown reason, Eula nor Bertha, Sam’s wife, are not present for this family photograph.

In some ways the individuals appear older than what their actual ages are.  Since all five of the Jones sons are present, and knowing Bill, standing second from the left, died in 1917 the photo date really has to be around the time of his death.

 

 

1	A.H. Jones, about 72 years of age
2	Albert Sidney, 33 yrs.
3	William Tate, 32 yrs
4	Henry Grady, 26 yrs
5	Lillian Ruth, 22 yrs
6	Allen T. Mogford, 28 yrs (Husband of Ruth)
7	Mae Ruth Rutledge, 17 yrs (Granddaughter to A.H. Jones, Daughter of Esther Almira Jones)
8	Samuel Alfred, 38 yrs
9	Pearl (Baker) Jones, 23 yrs  (Wife of Charles)
10	Charles Franklin, 35 yrs
11	Unknown
12	Unknown
13	Unknown

 

About 1921, Bremerton

 

This photo was probably taken very near the time of death of A.H. Jones in March of 1922 judging by the age of the child, Allen Mogford Jr. being held by his father.  Allen Jr. was born in 1920 and around a year old perhaps in this family group.  Our Grandfather was 78 years old at this time.  He was 78 years and 10 months old when he died.

Again, Eula is not present nor Bill who had died about four years prior.

 

 

 

1	Pearl Baker Jones, Wife of Charles
2	Charles F.
3	Grady
4	Bertha, Wife of Samuel
5	Sam
6	Allen Mogford
7	Allen Mogford Jr.
8	A.H. Jones
9	Albert
10	Mae Ruth Rutledge, Granddaughter
11	Unknown
12	Probably Loreta Mogford, Ruth’s oldest child
13	Probably Norma, daughter of Bertha & Sam
14	Ruth Jones Mogford

 

 

 

Maybe between 1935-1940

From Left: Eula, Pearl, Martha, Grady, niece Mae Ruth Rutledge (later Orchard) and Ruth

The date of this photo has me baffled making the credibility of the date questionable.

The following four photos were all taken on the same day.  It appears to have been taken in the front of Ruth’s house on fourth street in Bremerton.

 

About mid 1940’s to maybe 1949.

From Left: Eula, Martha, Ruth, Pearl.

Pearl had traveled from her home in the Joplin, Missouri area and Martha, or Mat or Mattie as she was also known, lived in the Los Angeles, California area.

 

 

 

From Left: Aunt Bert, wife of Samuel Jones, Pearl, Eula, Ruth, unknown and Martha

 

 

From Left: Charles F., Grady and Samuel

 

From Left: Charles, Martha, Eula, Samuel, Ruth, Pearl and Grady. 

Missing is Albert.  Three others had already passed away, Esther Almira Rutledge in 1901, Mary Lou Ramsey in 1913 and brother William (Bill) Tate Jones in 1917

The Jones Family Was Divided, Some Were Rebels, Some Were Not-

James F. Jones, First Cousin Twice Removed,

Raised on Southern Soil, Died 10 May 1864, as a Yankee in Andersonville, Georgia,
A Wretched Rebel Prison

Andersonville Cemetery, from Wikipedia

Andersonville Prisoners of War

(From Ancestry.com)

Surname: James F. Jones
Rank: PRIVATE
Company: K
Regiment: 1
State: AL
Arm of Service: CAVALRY
Death Date: 10 May 1864
Cause Of Death: ANASARCA
Remarks: JNO. F. JONES [3]
Reference: p 1 [3]
Page: 31
Code: 10996
GRAVE: 996

John C. Jones, the Reverend John C. Jones in fact, a Methodist Minister, is a younger brother of our ancestor, Samuel Jones, Captain Samuel Jones. Captain? Well that’s another subject for another time. Following the family line of John on the Internet has given a fair amount of validity to his family tree for the ancestral line for the man’s genealogy matches our own. In accessing the most popular and most consistent resources currently available at Ancestry.com it appears is that he is a brother of Samuel Jones. The tracing of his offspring is difficult and very little evidence of his descendants has been found.


The Civil War had a major impact on this family of Jones’s and the activities of but two brothers during the war have surfaced. Our great-grandfather Samuel Jones, and how the war affected him, can be traced reasonably well just by reading of the war activity that occurred around and on his very property as well as following vague census entries for him and his family before and after the war. That story has been extracted already primarily from the Military report assembled in the 1870’s.

What further emerges from our family history is that our ancestors were like many families, especially in the Border States, when hostilities finally opened in 1861. North Alabama, Tennessee, and to some extent, North Georgia, had a mix of loyalties. The war split families, some quite bitterly, when personal loyalties forced cousins, siblings and even parents to take sides. The two Jones brothers were one of the many families that eventually emerged on opposing sides. Samuel pronounced his loyalty to the Confederacy by remaining on his property in North Georgia, very near the Chickamauga Battlefield, and continued his farming activity. His brother John took the opposite path and remained loyal to the Union and found his way north into Tennessee from North Alabama to offer his services to the Union. His story is best told through his own words, as well as the words of his son and friends after the war when they all swore to a legal document.

That document was a post-war affidavit sworn to by the Reverend Jones required being included in a claim for property seized by the U.S. Army during the Civil War. The property involved was a mule, something of considerable value during the war especially, that was seized by the U.S. Army as his son was attempting to bring it north to keep it from the hands of the Confederates. It was quite common for both sides to seize horses and mules from civilians of the opposition especially for the Armies depended heavily on the animals for transporting goods and military equipment. Regulations required compensation for such property seized from any U.S. civilian. Usually the owner of the property was issued a voucher by the commanding officer in charge with the intent that the voucher would be paid by a U.S. agent authorized for such payment after the close of the war. The practice of acquiring the voucher was rather haphazard and commonly the civilian was at the mercy of the honesty of the military officer in charge of the seizure.

Please note that the original source of the following transcription is not entirely clear but I do believe it came through a distant Oregon cousin, Kristin Ingram Johnson. This cousin transmitted it to Mike and Louanne sometime in 2001 to the best of my knowledge. How it came to the Oregon branch of Jones’s is not known at this time. One can assume that as the document has passed into the hands of several individuals it has suffered in translation and the wording as presented here reveals several questions regarding wording, facts and dates.

Some things simply do not make sense. I present it here as it has survived my computer storage for over ten years now. Who knows how many crashes in Windows of ten years or more that the file has survived meaning full well that I am not certain that what I possess is the most perfect form of the translation. But it is interesting and fascinating reading to me at least and it needs to be included in a more formal version of our family history. That is my intent here, only to preserve what does exist today. If my accreditation of the origin of this document is improper I do apologize but all such documents that came out of the Government Committees set up after the Civil War to investigate and settle all war claims are a matter of public record. Someone put forth a considerable effort to retrieve the testimony from the archives. Of course a copy kept by some family branch over the years may also be the source.

The following map contains the areas mentioned in the deposition.

Testimony of John C. Jones Sr. June 26, 1873


(Brother of Samuel Jones, our Great Grandfather, Uncle to Alfred Hines Jones)

1. During the year 1861 and until the first day of July, 1862 I resided in Winston County, Alabama. until 1864 (sic) . I then started to the Federal lines with between two and three hundred other men to Davis Spring, I think in Morgan County, Alabama, at the foot of said mountain. The Federals was camped at Davis Spring at the time.

Winston County Alabama where John was living at the time of the war is 50 miles to the Northwest of Birmingham. As his deposition continues below he apparently was established in or near Houston in Winston County indicated by the yellow marker on the following map. Houston is 50 miles to the southwest of Huntsville, Alabama which lies to the north of the Tennessee River near the Tennessee border. Apparently the Federal lines were just to the south of the River near Davis Spring which does not appear on current maps and about halfway between Huntsville and the family home in Houston.

2. Three of my sons were with me and we went from Davis Spring to Huntsville Alabama with the 51st Indiana Regiment commanded by Col. Straight. After I left Huntsville, Alabama I was not residing in any particular place but for nineteen months was acting as a hospital steward with the Union Army without pay and in the Police of the Army at Nashville, Tennessee to prevent contraband of war. For this last service I received pay For the Police service. I refer to papers attached to this claim. (He has attached the orders he was given. I also have attached a copy for you to see.) After I left the police service I was in Nashville, Tennessee until about the 29th day of April 1864. From Nashville, Tennessee I went to Indiana and remarried there. 13 months while there I traveled as a preacher going where I pleased and followed whatever avocation that would make a support. From Indiana I went back to Tennessee to Gallatin, when I was on the first day of June 1865. I boarded near Gallatin, Tennessee in 1861 and up to the 14th day of July 1862. I was in Anniston County, Alabama. I was a farmer and had about 8 acres rented land in corn and potato patches.

What is revealed here is that John Sr. re-married in Indiana. The fate of his first wife is unknown but regarding the health care of the times it is reasonable to assume she may have died before the war.

Some genealogy information of John and his family found on the internet, the reliability of which is not verified as yet, reveals he had four sons and four daughters. Current sources only list his wife as Mary R., last name unknown. This apparently is the second wife meaning little or almost nothing is known of either of his wives at this time. Two of the sons that accompanied their father to the Union lines may have been, James, birth date unknown, and Thomas, born about 1839 and would have been about 23 at this time of the story. Since the testimony states that James F. was his youngest son he was probably 18 to 22 years old at the time based on the age of his brother Thomas. John Sr. was 56 years old, 12 years younger than his older brother Samuel, our Great-Grandfather. Testimony of son John Jr. is included at the end of this testimony where he describes his joining the Federal Army at a different time and place than his father and brothers.

The answers recorded in this deposition seem to be replies to what may have been a standard list of questions presented to all claimants requesting war damages, especially anyone from a southern family claiming to have never sworn loyalty to the Confederacy. If one had been connected in any way with the Government or Military of the Confederacy then the implication based on these questions is that any request for payment would have been denied.

3. I never passed by the military or naval lines of the United States and entered the rebel's lines.

4. I never took any oath of allegiance to the Confederacy and had to loose my home in the State of Alabama and all my property because I would not take the oath. I said in a public speech at Houston, Winston County, Alabama that I would hang before I would take the oath and when I had to leave, I left everything behind except what clothes I had an I could not even get my watch.

John and Samuel are the only siblings of this family that any trace or records of war experiences have been found at least for now. What is ironical is that both of these men, one loyal to the South, the other loyal to the North, lost their homes and all their fortunes as a result of the war. John of course lost his property in 1862 as he testifies to here. His brother Samuel maintained his property a bit longer until the end of the war in 1865 when for all intents and purposes he lost it to carpetbaggers and their cronies as so many did after the war. We really don’t know for sure but Samuel may have evacuated his property earlier and moved further south into Georgia from Catoosa County as military activity picked up in the vicinity of his holdings. His property eventually came into the path of march of the Confederate Army as it moved from its concentration area to engage the Federals at Chickamauga, Georgia on the Tennessee border. Samuel Jones’s farm was perhaps two to five miles from the actual battlefield but as stated, one of if not the main road that the Confederates followed to Chickamauga ran directly in front of his farm.

5. I took the amnesty oath after the war. I took it because it was required of me by the United States. I took the oath at Jasper, Pickens County, Georgia. A Captain Hess of the United States Army administered the oath to me. It was in 1865 but I do not remember the exact time. The President never has pardoned me. I think I can safely say I never did anything to be pardoned for.

The Tate ancestors of our family line established themselves in business in and around Jasper very early on. Other Jones relatives may very well also have settled in the area which may have been the reason John was located in Jasper after the war. Brother Samuel was probably in Gordon County in the area of Calhoun some thirty miles to the west of Jasper around this time. I definitely feel that Samuel had established himself near Calhoun prior to the end of the war.

Jasper, Georgia, as mentioned above, is but 15 miles south of where our Grandfather Alfred Hines was born in Ellijay. The family had left the Ellijay area some time in the mid-1850’s several years before the outbreak of the Civil War. The relocation was likely prompted by the fact that our Great-Grandmother Narcissa Tate Jones died in 1852 in Ellijay. Sometime soon after her death her husband, with all the children now grown, left Ellijay and settled on a farm in Catoosa County Georgia to the west of Ellijay. Samuel is found in the 1860 census in Snow Hill, Georgia, just south of Chickamauga in Catoosa County. He has living with him a married couple, probably hired to help farm and look after Samuels six slaves.

John certainly was rather mobile in his later years moving from place to place. It appears that both brothers may have died in Gordon County Georgia in the early 1870’s. Samuel’s death is well established as Gordon County but only vague references to where brother John died have been found but very likely they both lived near one another near the end of their lives.

6. I never was in any way connected with the Civil Service of the Confederate States.

7. I never held any office or place of trust, profit or honor under the Confederate States or under any State in the rebellion. I was offered the office of County Superintendent of Education in Alabama before I left there. I was told that to accept that I would have to abandon my Union principles. I said I would not accept and I never did.

8. I never did anything whatsoever for the Confederacy but to get away from it and I was determined if it was successful, never to return to it again.

9. I never was in the Military or Naval services of the Confederacy.


10 I never was an officer or soldier in the Confederate Army.

11. I never was in the State Militia of any State while subordinate to the Confederacy.

12. I never was in the home guard or upon any vigilance committee or committee of safety while subject to the Confederacy.

13. I never was connected to the rebel Army.

14. I never furnished a substitute for the rebel Army.

15. I never was connected with or employed by any department or branch of the Confederacy in any way.

16. I never was employed in any way by or for the Confederacy and I never did anything for it in any way.

17. I never had changes or traded of anything what ever for the use or benefit of the Confederate Army, Navy or government.

18. I cannot recollect anything I even did for the Confederacy. I never was employed by it, for it or by or for any State in the rebellion. I abhorred the name of Confederacy and Rebellion. I never had any connection with it in any manner whatsoever.


19. I never was employed in the manufacturing of any thing for the Confederacy or for its use for army or navy and never had any interest or shine in such manufacturing.

20. I never was employed in any way or for any purpose directly or indirectly by or for the Confederacy in any thing connected with it, or any State in the rebellion. I never had any store or interest in anything connected with or in the interest of rebellion. I abhorred it.

21. I never was engaged in blockade running or illicit trade between the lines. I never had any shine or interest in goods, wares or contraband brought into or exported from the Confederacy during the war.

22. I did leave the Confederacy between the 19th day of April 1861 and the 19th day of April, 1865. I left my home in Winston County, Alabama on the fourteenth day of July 1862 and went into the Federal lines. I never was in the rebel lines again during the war. The answers to the oral interrogatory will be found in my answer to the second oral interrogatory on the 2nd page of this examination.

23. To the oral interrogatory claimant says he never was arrested but he would have been if he had remained in the Confederacy.


24. The United States during the war never arrested him.

25. I was gone from home when a Lieutenant Bibb of the rebel cause took a fine Gray horse that belonged to me. Another, a citizen came and took a Gray mare that belonged to me. Another mare and colt and other property was gone, taken, but I did not know what became of any of it but the horse and mare. This was all done after I left my house in Winston County, Alabama. I never got any pay or any part of it back.

26. In consequences of my position as a Union man at a public speech I made in Winston County, Alabama, an arrangement was made and a day set to arrest me. I went and armed myself for this and left the county. I went armed to fight my way through.


27. I was informed I was going to be arrested and I left the County on account of it. I lost my property and I was to that extent informed I had to leave the County on account of my loyalty.

28. I never contributed anything but my services to the United States or Union army. I did contribute to sick soldiers and did all I could for them and I never charged anything though offered pay by them. This was Federal soldiers. I contributed all the influence I had against the rebellion.

29. I gave all I had, my services, my sons and all to the Union. I used all my influences I had to raise men for the Union army and I, in connections with others, raised a company of between two and three hundred who went through the lines at the same time I did. Two hundred and fourteen of these men were mustered into the Federal army at times. I saw them mustered in, my son commanded all of the companies. He commanded Co. A, 1st Alabama Infantry and was transferred to Col. Stokes Calvary of 5th Tennessee and about a year after was transferred back to 1st Alabama. When the company was transferred back my son was not in command. He had been in prison but had been exchanged. He had been captured at Rome, Georgia with Col. Straight by Forest. He at the time while serving under an assumed name, Johnson. My youngest son was captured by the rebels and died in Andersonville prison on the 10th day of May, 1864. As shown by the records.

The son that died in Andersonville was James F. Jones, as he stated, his youngest son. His year of birth has not been found as yet. The son in command of Company A would have been Thomas, the next to the youngest son. There is another son that appears in this family’s genealogy, one Willis Jones, a common family name, year of birth unknown. Strangely enough his genealogy information lists him as Captain Willis Jones. Apparently he did not serve in the Army as the testimony here reflects that only three sons served in any Army.

30. I never had any sons or brother, in the Confederate army. I had three nephews in the rebel service, wrote to them while I was in Nashville, Tennessee, to come to me where they could keep out of the Confederate army. They came and all joined the Federal army. The names of the nephews was, Anson Jones, Samuel Jones and Barnubas Jones. Anson and Samuel were living at last account. Anson in California and Samuel in Lumpkin County, Georgia. I never contributed to any of them anything or given them any encouragement or support while in the rebel army. I never could see them, I have tried to keep them out of the rebel army. After they joined the Federal army I aided them all they wanted or all I could. I refer to my nephews in the last sentence.

Current searching of 1860 census data of Lumpkin County Georgia, in the Northeast corner of the state, reveals what might be the family of the three nephews mentioned above living with their Father, William. If this proves to be factual then it brings into the record one more sibling of the generation of our Great-Grandfather Samuel Jones. To today’s generation, William Jones would be a Great-Granduncle.

Here we have three young Jones cousins that apparently began the war in the Confederate Army but if the deposition is correct, due to the influence of their Uncle John C. Jones, they deserted and moved north to join the Federal Army. How this played out back home in Lumpkin County, Georgia, is not known but it could have brought some ridicule if not deep resentment from the friends and neighbors of William Jones, another Brother of our Great-Grandfather, Samuel Jones. This would have depended on the stage of the war at the time of this change of sides of the three brothers for sympathies for the Southern Cause were deteriorating rapidly near the end of the war.

31. I never armed any Confederate bands or had any interest or shown them any interest in loans to the Confederate government or did anything to support their credit of the Confederate states. I do not think I ever had more than two dollars in Confederate money even and I did say it should not stay in my house.


32. I never gave any aide or comfort to the rebellion, only to leave it.


33. I never was in Canada or its adjacent waters.


34. I never was engaged in holding in custody any body or held by any rebel authority as misgivings of war or political prisoners.


35. I did belong to the secret society called the Union club while in Nashville, Tennessee in the interest of Union views.


36. I served in a campaign as Lieutenant in the Florida war in 1837 and 38. That was all the office I ever had in the army of the United States. I never was educated by the United States.


37. I never had a pass from any rebel authority during the war.


38. I never was under any of the disabilities imposed by the 14th amendment. I never have held any office under the United States since the war. At the beginning of the rebellion all my sympathies was with the Union cause. I exerted my influence for and cast my vote for the Union. I voted against secession.


39. I never had a pass from any rebel authority.


40. At the beginning of the rebellion my sympathies was with the Union cause. I never exerted my influence for, and cast my vote for the Union. I voted against secession, my feelings was horrible. I could not even tell you what all I did say against the war. I voted against the war and for the Union. The question of ratifying the ordinances of secession was never submitted to the people of Alabama. When the ordinance of secession was passed and after, I still adhered to the Union. I never went with my State.


41. In conclusion I solemnly swear from the beginning to the end of the war my sympathies were constantly with the United States.


I was not present when the mule was taken. I did not see it taken. It was taken about the 20th or 25th of January 1864. It was in Tennessee near Charleston. It was taken I know by Col. Long of Ohio. I do not remember the command. It was a donk boy mule. I do not know its age, it was a little over average mule. Sound good eyes and when I last saw it, it was in good order. I was in Nashville, Tennessee at the time the mule was taken. If I had the value of the mule I would value it at more than the amount charged in the claim. I think the mule was well worth one hundred and forty dollars, the amount charged. I understand the mule was branded "US" but I did not see it. Others only told me about it. I never got any voucher for the mule. I could not get one because I was not present. I did not get any pay for the mule. There never was any mortgage lien judgment or debt against the property since I lost it. I am a native born citizen of the United States. I never have gone into bankruptcy or passed through any bankruptcy proceedings.


Signed


John C. Jones Sr.


Sworn to and subscribed before me this May 26, 1873


A. Daniel


Special Commissioner




Next is the deposition of John C. Jones Jr.:

This would be a first cousin of our Grandfather, A.H. Jones and a nephew of our Great-Grandfather Samuel.

John C. Jones Jr. Sworn in answers to questions by claimant's council. He says his age is 46 years and he resides in Gordon County, Georgia.


His occupation is farmer.


I am the son of the claimant but have no interest in his claim. I saw the mule taken at Columbus, Tennessee near Charleston.


It was in the last of January or the first of February of 1864 when the mule was taken. I do not know the command that took the mule. Col. Long of an Ohio command I think took it. It was taken on the road to where I was going. They took the mule and left me the saddle. They ordered me to ride the mule down to Charleston, Tennessee. When we got to Charleston the mule was branded "US".


When the mule was taken I was on my way to Athens, Tennessee.


I think it was a man by the name of Shepherd that branded the mule. When the mule was taken we went to the headquarters of Col. Long at Columbus, Tennessee. I had just came up from Georgia through the lines and was on my way to Athens, Tennessee. I was going into the Federal lines for protection. After the mule was taken and branded, I went down to Chattanooga, Tennessee and took the oath of allegiance. It was in camps inside of the Federal lines at the time it was branded. I saw the mule last after it was branded and knew it was the same mule. It was taken in the daytime about the middle of the day in the morning heat of the day. It was a fine mule donkey boy over medium size, sound in good order and good eyes. It was worth over a hundred dollars, it was well worth that sum. I made known to Col. Long my objection being there. He never said anything to me about paying for the mule. The mule was fit for service, any sort of service. It was my father's mule. When taken I had known it for four years. I never thought about asking for a voucher for the mule and I got no pay for it. An officer, a lieutenant I think with 25 or 30 men was present at the time the mule was taken. It was United states soldiers that took the mule and I saw it in their possession after it was branded. I do not know what brand name it was but Col. Long was at the place when I left.


I went to Columbus, Tennessee and took possession of the mule and ordered us all, mule and all, down to Charleston, Tennessee. I made no complaint about the taking of the mule. I went right in the camps after the mule was taken. The first I heard of my father after the war commenced was that it was believed he would be hung. I had no personal knowledge of him early in the war but from what I heard he was said to be in danger of being hung as a Union man. He lived in Alabama and I lived in Georgia when the war commenced. When the report reached me I thought I should leave to go over there and settle with some of them for killing my father as I expected or informed they would. The first time I saw my father after the war commenced was in Nashville, Tennessee in January 1864. I went through the lines. On my way the mule was taken. I was taking the mule out of confederacy to keep it out of the hands of the rebels. I intended to kill it before they should have it. I went to Nashville, Tennessee and there and then for the first time after the war commenced, I saw my father. I was as strong an Union man and as much in favor of the Union as I knew him to be. At Nashville I went into the services of the United States as a teamster. I served a month and was honorably discharged by Capt. Ishom. After I was discharged from that service, I went as a pilot with Sawl Wilson who had a pass from Eric Grant and who was going to destroy the bridge on the Etowah River at Cartersville, Georgia if possible. The bridge was then in the rear of the Confederate army. Soon after this I volunteered as a guide to Col. Murray of the 3rd Kentucky Calvary. I was with him until I went into the Federal army at Cleveland, Tennessee. I joined the Federal army about the 25th of December 1864. I went into Co. K, 5th Tennessee Mounted Infantry and remained with that command until July 1865 When I was honorably discharged at Nashville, Tennessee. I knew the claimant to be disloyal to the Confederacy through the war. So far as my knowledge extended he was strictly loyal to the Government and causes of the United States through out the war. I had two brothers in the Federal army. James F. and Thomas H. Jones. Thomas H. Was Capt. Of the 1st Alabama Infantry Co. K. They both went into the war early in July in the year 1862 I think. They both died in the Federal services out at Andersonville, Georgia in prison. As far as I know my father was held to be an uncompromising Union man. I never heard it doubted. I have heard him say that he never wanted a disloyal child. I do not know that there is any language that I could use that would be stronger than his loyalty to the United States. It cannot be expressed stronger than it was. He never could have proved his loyalty to the Confederacy. There were no earthly clues to do that. Every body would testify that he was disloyal to the Confederacy so far as I know.


Signed: John C. Jones Jr.


Sworn to and subscribed before me this May 26, 1873


S. A. Daniel


Special Commissioner



It should be noted here that our Grandfather A.H. Jones was also riding about some of these same areas of Tennessee at the very time described in some of the testimony. A.H. Jones enlisted in the 4th Confederate Georgia Cavalry in May of 1862 and his unit was immediately assigned to conscription duty in Tennessee through the fall of that year when they rejoined the main Confederate Army in North Georgia. Conscription duty was an active effort of the Cavalry to enlist volunteers behind the Union lines as well as to draft or conscript eligible men still within the lines of the Confederacy. The Cavalry would roam the countryside on both sides of the lines evading the Federals when necessary. Tennessee was a state of very mixed loyalties so the Confederates rode far and wide in order to comb pockets of loyal Confederates for enlisting in the Rebel Army. I wonder if any of these cousins knew of the possible presence of other relations in the field.


Another older brother of our Grandfather, Willis Jones, was also in the Confederate Army but only vague records of his involvement have been found to date. He was living in East Texas at the time of the war and hints of his active service have been found but not tracked down as yet.

Next witness:


William B. Evans, 49 years old and living in Gordon County, Georgia. He testified that he heard the citizens of Alabama that he should be hung for bringing Yankees into his own county where he had lived. His understanding is John was in Alabama and the next thing I understood was that he was leading the Yankees in Rome. I heard his sons were in the Federal army. Son John was compelled to go and save his fathers life. He was shot at and hunted with guns and dogs on account of his loyalty.


I heard the rebels took his property in Alabama. I saw the mule taken. It was taken the time we went across the lines. I think it was near Nashville, Tennessee. Sometime in January 1864. It was in the possession of John C. Jones Jr. At the time it was taken. John C. Jones is the son of the claimant. I believe I heard him say he was going through to his father. It was Col. Long of an Ohio Regiment I think. There was a Lieut. And 25 or 30 men who met us in the road and took the mule. They took


possession of all of us. This was near Columbus, Tennessee. Between taken before the Col. Long at Columbus, who sent us all together, mule and all down to Charleston, Tennessee. This was a military post for the Federal army. We went to the Provost Marshall's office and delivered of the mule.


The mule was turned over to the officers by claimant's son. The mule was branded "US" and the last time I saw it. It was well worth the money of one hundred and fifty dollars.


Next witness:


L. Brooks is sworn in and answers to questions by claimants council. He says, my age is 40 years, I live in Gordon County, Georgia. I am a farmer. I have known claimant for seventeen years. I was not intimately acquainted with him during the whole war but visited him in the first year of the war and was with him 2 weeks in his own house. I never seen him after that until the war was over. He was North and I was South during the beginning of the agitation of the war except after 1864. In 1864 I was captured. I volunteered into the United States Navy at Rock Island Ill. During that time after 1864. I was in the services of the United States with the 5th of August 1865 when I was honorably discharged at Cairo Ill. When I visited claimant in Alabama in 1861, I talked with and he talked with me about the war. I heard him denouncing it as being wrong unnecessary and uncalled for. He denounced the whole Confederate Movement from the beginning to the end of my visit at that time. He advocated the cause of the Union. He said Lincoln ought to take his seat and when he violated his oath it would then be time enough to cause. His whole talk was of the war. He seemed to be abhorred and angry at what was taking place. He told us we would all be killed in a wrong cause and he was sorry for it. He said the Government of the United States was a good one and if torn down and a Confederacy established, the poor man would be reduced to want and begging. He would have no chance for education or anything or other advantages and in worse condition than slaves.


When I was in Alabama on the visit, I became acquainted with facts that convinced me of the Union cause. After the war or just after the surrender in 1865 I was present at my own house when claimants and his brother was there. His brother said he did not think it was right to set the Negro's free. Claimant said if the south had behaved themselves and accepted the terms of Lincoln's Emancipation proclamation it would not have been done. On all occasions from the commencement of the agitation of the question of succession, claimant was a fierce abhorrent of the Union cause, so far as I have knowledge. I know Mr. Jones the claimant as a Minister of E.L. of E. Church North. (?) His character for loyalty among his neighbor's both loyal and rebel and among a large circle of acquaintances was and is now extensive. He has been a Methodist Preacher. I knew him for 20 years. I have known him as a preacher that long. I had a large circle of acquaintances in the same area in which claimant was known. Some men are spoken of in the community in which they live are known as Union men and others known as uncompromising Union men. The claimant is known among his acquaintances as an uncompromising Union man. A strong friend and adherent and advocate of the Union cause during the war, he was notoriously so. He had three sons in the United States Army. Two of them died in the services and one was honorably discharged at the end of the war. I do not know any thing of my own knowledge about the property of claimant being taken by the rebel, but I heard that all he had was taken. I heard it soon after it was done. He could not have proved his loyalty to the Confederacy at all if it had been established as an independent Government. He was to strong a Union man to do that. When I came home and when he came home, he said he was glad the United States had established its rights and glad the Confederacy had been put down. I knew the claimant personally for 17 years and as a Minister by character and his son for 20 years. Sworn to and subscribed before me this May 26, 1873.


Included with the testimony John C. Jones Sr. included his original papers from Head Quarters Fourteenth Army Corps. The Department of the Cumberland. It was from the Office of Chief of Police. Dated January 31st. 1863. It gives orders to John C. Jones Sr.. He was appointed Special Police and his station is the Harded Pike. He was to stop all persons to verify they had a pass and to check for contraband goods, arms, ammunition letters and papers against the Federal army and United States. It was ordered by Major General Rosecrans and signed by the Chief of army Police. I have attached the copy. As you can see it was folded and carried in his purse.


John C. Jones Sr. Claimed he fought in the Florida Campaign. This would have been the Seminole Indians. This was a unit of volunteer soldiers from the State of Louisiana who served in the second Florida Campaign, called the war of 1837-38. The troops were under the command of General Thomas Jesup who fought against the Seminole Indians in the fall and winter of 1837 and 1838. The roll does not show any information other than the muster roll and John C. Jones is listed as serving in this campaign.


John C. Jones Sr. Said his son, Thomas H. went into Andersonville Prison under an assumed name. This could be due to the ill treatment he could receive because of his rank as Captain. Captains were not eligible for the prisoner's exchange and it was under the assumed name he was able to get out. There was three men of the name of Johnson who were part of the prisoner exchange group from Andersonville Prison during the Civil War. There is a Captain Thomas H. Jones who died in the Civil War.


His son James F. Jones died in Andersonville Prison. His code is prisoner code #10996. His grave is marked as grave #996. He is listed as a Private in Co. K, Regt. 1st Calvary of Alabama. He died May 10, 1864 of Anasarca (Severe Edema)


Andersonville Prison


Andersonville prison was designed to hold 10,000 prisoners but by August 1864, the prison had swelled in population to 32,000. This atrocious overcrowding quickly led to health and nutritional conditions that resulted in 12,912 deaths by wars end in May 1865. The prison guards, composed mostly of older men and boys, watched from sentry boxes (called pigeon roosts by the prisoners) perched atop the stockade and shot any prisoner who crossed a wooden railing, called the "deadline." The prison pen initially covered 16 ½ acres, but was enlarged in June of 1864 to 26 ½ acres. A small, slow moving stream running through the middle of the stockade enclosure supplied water to most of the prison. Eight small earthen forts located around the exterior of the prison were equipped with artillery to put down disturbances.

All the text in italics was included in the original copy of the deposition including the last description of Andersonville prison. This was probably not a part of the actual testimony and has since been inserted by some later relative.


But they were a divided although scattered family. The fact that the known family members were living in different corners of the early Confederacy must have greatly reduced the possibility of any family tensions to arise.