97 Years

Here we are at week 16 of this blogging challenge. This week the prompt is 'live long'. In going through my tree the longest living ancestor that I could find is my 2nd great grandfather John Calvin Jones. I've written about his mother, Mattie Teel (twice), and his grandfather Bradberry Teel, both of which I know very little about. Now it's his turn.

John Calvin Jones was born July 28, 1860 in Columbus, Muscogee, Georgia. As I have written before, his mother was Mattie Teal but his father's name is unkown. I actually have no records even placing John Calvin with his mother, but after speaking with my great Aunt Frances, she said Mattie's will leaves everything to John Calvin and she refers to him as "my only son". Aunt Frances says this will is from a copy that is a part of her 'Cousins Book' that was put together many years ago by a few of her cousins, John Calvin's grandchildren.

The first record I have found for John Calvin Jones is his marriage certificate from Oct 1881, where he married my 2nd great grandmother Leona Bass. My great aunt Frances remembers her grandfather calling his wife "Loni" . Leona Bass was the daughter of James Martin and Maggie (Miller) Bass. John Calvin and Leona were married in Cooke County, TX, which is right on the TX/OK border.

Leona's family ends up in Moore, Pottawatomie, OK, in 1900 and that same year, John Calvin, Leona with ten children are found in Wheeler County TX.  On May 19, 1899 there is a John C. Jones appointed as post master in Mobeetie, Wheeler, Texas - I suspect this to be him, but I can't be certain. Using birth information for their children I can trace this family's movements during the 20  years between marriage certificate and the 1900 census.

Lou Jones (daugheter) was born about 1882 in TX
Mamie V. Jones (daughter) was born in Clay County, TX about 1883
Mattie Jones (daughter) was born about 1885 in TX
James Calvin Jones (son) was born in 1887 in Clay County TX
Claude Jones (son) was born in 1889 in Mobeetie, Wheeler County, TX
Ben Masterson Jones (son) was born in 1891 in TX
Thomas Frank Jones (son) born in 1893 in Mobeetie, Wheeler County, TX
John Arthur Jones (son) (my great-grandfather) born in 1895 in Mobeetie, Wheeler, TX
Jasper Helton Jones (son) born in 1897 in Mobeetie, Wheeler County, TX
Fannie Leigh (daughter) born in 1900 in TX
Emma Belle (daughter) born in 1902 in TX
William M (son) born in 1904 in TX


So sometime between their Cooke County marriage and the 1900 Wheeler County census they were living in Clay County, TX

In 1908 there is still a John C. Jones on the Mobeetie, Wheeler County, Tax list but in July of 1907 John Calvin's wife, Leona, applied for membership (and was denied) into the Cherokee Nation and in her papers she lists her residence as Guthrie, Texas, in King County. By 1910 John Calvin, Leona and all of their children besides Lou are found in Knox County right next door. The next 10 years would be full of loss for John Calvin. In 1913 his son Ben died at the age of 22, then the next year his oldest daughter Lou died at the age of 31, then three years later he lost his wife of 36 years at the age of 50 - cause of death, general break down. Then in 1919 his mother Mattie died. In 1920, widower John Calvin, is found living in Potter, Texas, as the manager of a road gang with three of his children, Mamie, Fanny Leigh and William.

The thing about living a long time is you tend to bury a lot of your loved ones. In 1925 John Calvin would bury another daughter, Emma Belle. She was only 22. Cause of death is listed as pneumonia.

In 1930 John Calvin is living back in Knox County with his daughter Mamie and son William, where he would live for the next 10 years. During that 10 years he would sadly bury 3 more children, Fannie Leigh in 1937, Claude in 1938 (from cancer) and in 1940 my great grandfather, John Arthur in a train/automobile accident.

Not long after the death of my great grandfather, John Arthur, after the family moved back to Truscott from San Antonio, John Calvin came to live with his daughter-in-law, my great grandmother, Lurie Myrtle, and her children. My great aunt Frances and her brother Edwin had already married their spouses and were out of the house, but my grandmother Winnie Sue and her siblings Charles and Myrtle Lou were still living at home. I can remember my grandmother Sue telling me stories of her Grandpa Jones sneaking her candy through the bedroom window. In a recent conversation with Frances, she confirmed this story. She said my grandmother was always his favorite, probably because she would always play dominoes with him. She said that during that time, because they lived so close to the school house, my grandmother and her siblings would come home from school for lunch and when they'd leave to go back to school, Grandpa Jones would open his window and say "Sister, come here" and he'd give her candy, until his daughter-in-law found out and put a stop to it! Frances also remembered that John Calvin hated cats! She said that her mother, Lurie Myrtle, had a cat and he would always kick at it until she told him, "Pa, that's our cat." Then he never kicked at it again.

In 1957 John Calvin Jones finally was laid to rest with only 4 (possibly 5, I can't find many records for his daughter Mattie) of his 12 children outliving him. He lived only a few days past his 97th birthday, departing this life on July 31st. Cause of death is said to have been a heart attack (Atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease ). He is buried in Truscott Cemetery in Texas with his wife and mother and several of their children.



I know so little about this family and it is my hope that some of my grandmother's cousins and/or their descendants will somehow find this and contact me. I would love to know more about my Jones line.

Until next week,
Becky

And don't forget to check out these other great genealogy blogs Days of Our Lives and Untangled Family Roots.

More than two years later and I have made contact with a JONES cousin via AncestryDNA. She descends from John Calvin's son Thomas Franklin. She has shared a lot with me and I am beyond grateful. Thomas Franklin Jones was the family historian and if it weren't for him many records and images would be lost to us forever. I did want to post this wonderful picture shared with me here on this blog post.

Back Row Standing: Mattie, Mamie, *Nettie Williams (friend and school teacher), and Lou
John Calvin and Leona are seated
Bottom Row: Claude, Johnny, Frank, baby Jasper, Jim & Ben.
Photo taken late 1897 or early 1898