William M. Jones
1797-1867
March 6th of this year
2005 I turned eighty-four. Like
most geriatrics I noticed I was beginning to live in a “Memory World”. Maybe it was to
much time on my hands or that I am just plain lazy and had rather sit and
remember than to work.
My mind drifts back to the late
1920’s and early 30’s when I would visit my paternal grand father Jones
who lived in Graves County, Kentucky
between Mayfield and Lowes.
Wish I could talk to him again
because there must be several thousand questions he could answer for me about
his siblings, uncles and aunts, and grand parents. To bad!! He died in early 1942 just a month after the Pearl
Harbor incidence and with him in the Pleasant Green cemetery went
the answers to so much family history.
Guess I was some different from
the usual run-of-mill kids. Even
before twelve I was interested in the long line of my begatting
forebears ( I got this phrase from the Bible). Seems the only one who would tolerate my endless questions
was my grand dad. I remember one
time I ask him what his father’s name was. I remember his words like yesterday; “ His
name was William Bunting Jones, and he died in 1871 when I was nine years
old”. (“Paw” was born in 1861, the
oldest of six children).
Maybe I got my fondness for
memories from him because that day it seemed his mind wanted to drift back in
time. Without further prodding he
continued: “My dad came from Montgomery
County, Tennessee in the late
1850”s. My grand daddy Jones had
come down to Graves County
and bought three adjoining farms.
I don’t know if he sold or gave the farms to three of his many sons but
my dad got one of them and his brothers Thomas and Lentulus
got the other two”. He pointed
over to the East and said “ that one belonged to Lentulus. He
came here after the war with one arm.
The other one was shot off at the battle of Chickamauga.. He was said
to be the tallest man in the confederate army and stood seven feet and two inches
tall. They discharged him after he
lost the arm and he came here to Graves
County with his wife and two
boys. He never got well from his
wound and died just months after my dad passed away in 1871. The farm Thomas owned was located East of the Lentulus farm. Since he was killed during the war
having never been married the farm went back to his father”. (Recent research
reveals the three sons of William M. Jones were in Company E 11th
Tennessee Infantry. Thomas was a
First Lieutenant and was killed at Atlanta
a month after his brother Pvt, Edward B. Jones was
killed at Chattanooga and brother Lentulus lost an arm at Chickamauga).
On other occasions he would tell
that several of his father’s siblings came to Graves
County from Tennessee
during and after the Civil war.
One of them was his aunt Piety Coleman who had married James B. Coleman
back in Montgomery County. I am in the process of getting a copy
of their marriage license. (Great the information came today!!!! Here is what I
got from the Montgomery County Library. Quote: Mr. Jones: I have located information that I
believe you are looking for. James
B. Coleman married Piety Coleman on the 27th day of November,
1860. The information was found
using the Montgomery County Tennessee Marriage records index, 1838-1953. , and Montgomery
County Roll No. 65 microfilm.
If you would like a copy of the information found please indicate so.
There will be a $3.00 charge for printing and mailing one page. Please include shipping address. Best wishes, Christopher Drinkut, Library Technician-MCPL). For a few years they
lived on the farm that had originally belonged to Thomas B. Jones. While they lived on this farm they were
in almost daily communication with my grand dad’s family. I heard paw once tell my dad that about
once a year
Uncle Jim Coleman would come over to their house and say “Piety
gave birth to another girl last night. I’m going to keep trying until I get a
boy!!” According to the 1880
census of Graves County, Ky.
they did have
five or six daughters and no son.
They finally got lucky in 1882 and got a boy they named William H.
Coleman but he was to late for the 1880 census.. They also had a daughter named Maude
and a son named James who died before they were two years old and before they
moved to Texas. Both are buried in Pleasant
Green Cemetery
near Pottsville.
The Coleman family left Graves
County, Ky. about 1884. I get this date because Paw told me
they left for Texas the year
Grover was born. Paw and my
grandmother Belinda McMurry had married in 1883 and
their oldest son Grover was born in 1884.
I hope he didn’t tell me it was the year my uncle Will or aunt Grace was
born but I seem to think it was Grover.
When they left for Texas
their daughter Ella had married a Mr. Hale in Graves County,
Ky. and remained in Mayfield. Paw used to talk to me about his cousin
Ella Hale and once showed me a big two story house in Mayfield that she lived
in. I don’t remember ever seeing
her but paw told me she had children.
I was told recently that she had at least two grand children still
living in Mayfield named Bill and Willina Hale but Willina was in an assisted living home in Murray. I don’t know who Willina
married.
A few years ago I was rummaging
around in the Montgomery County
court house in Clarksville. I came across several legal letters
that the children of Margaret Bunting Jones had sent back to Chancery Court
giving up their rights to the old homestead so she could sell it with a clear
title to a Mr. Parham. The letters
were all dated in 1889. The one
from Piety and James B. Coleman came from Parker County,
Texas.
The one from Mary Rossanah and Robert Knight
came from Navarro County, Texas.
Although the Robert Knight family
was living in Navarro County when the 1880 census was taken and were obviously
living there in 1889 when they sent the letter back to chancery court I have
not been able to find a trace of any of the female members of the Knight family
except for Mary (Molly) Hudspeth since that date. In 1900 Mary was living in Erath
County with husband William and
several children. Since I have
very good records of Molly’s descendants down thru the 4th
generation I will send it as a separate attachment. Some time after 1880 some
of Robert B. Knight’s family (At least Thomas, William H. and Mary (Molly))
moved to Erath County
because Robert B. Knight has a tomb rock in the Pony Creek cemetery stating he
was born in 1830 and died in 1896 at age 66 years. I have been told his wife is buried there also but her name
does not appear on her husbands marker. I believe this information could be in
error because another source told me that Robert B. Knight came to Erath
County to visit his children and
died while on the visit. William
H. Knight his oldest son died in Comanche
County but both he and his wife are
buried in Pony Creek cemetery. I found the two oldest boys living in Childress
County, Texas in 1900. The oldest born in 1856 was William H.. In 1880 he was living with his parents
in Navarro County, Texas
and it did Not show he was married. But in the 1900 census of Childress
County, Texas he has a wife named Annie and
either he or his wife has a sister named ?Nettie
living with them. In the 1910
census of Texas
we find him in Hamilton County
with wife Melissa Ann, a daughter named Florence
and a 3 month old son named Walter.
In 1920 Census Hamilton
County we find him with wife “Annie”
a daughter and a nine year old son named Walter. In the 1930 Census we find him in Comanche
County, Texas with a 19 year old
son named Walter. The Social
Security Index shows a Walter Knight who died in Hardeman
County, Texas in the town of Quanah. Since the birth dates match I assume
this Walter was the son of William H. Knight. Walter died in the year 2001.
Walter’s oldest son was Robert
Dale Knight who was born in 1930 and died on February
17, 2002. Robert was
married three times amd had the following children:
Linda Sue born in September 1953, Gerald Dale Knight born June 3, 1961, Bruce
Wayne Knight born January 30, 1964, Debbie Knight (Do not know Debbie’s birth date or where she lives.
Hopefully one of her brothers can help me).
Their next to the oldest son was Robert born in Graves
County, Ky
in 1858. Robert did not go to Texas
with the rest of his family. In
the 1880 census of Graves County, Kentucky
he was living in the household of his uncle Presley Knight (his fathers younger brother). It is not known what year he did go to Texas. In 1900 Robert was living in Childress
County, Texas next door to his
brother William Holland . He was married to a lady who had been married to a Bowman
before because Robert had two Bowman step children in his house hold. He also had four children of his own: Rosette born 1893, Nancy Ann born 1895,
Robert born 1896 and Thomas born 1898.
I couldn’t find Robert or his wife in the 1910 census but all of his
natural children were living with their grand parents William and Herietta Barnes in Childress
County. Also living with them was a fifth child named Flora who was
eight years old. I had no idea
what happened to Robert after the 1900 census was taken but I remembered my
grandfather told me he had a cousin named Robert who was murdered in Texas. So I assume it was Robert Knight. I still don’t know whatever happened to
his widow, except she was living with her father in Hall
County, Texas in 1920 and was
listed as Minnie Ward age 50. One descentant told me Minnie was married nine times and had
children by most of her many husbands and died and is buried in Wichita,
Kansas. Another grand child told me she was killed “some where” in a
train wreck. (Note for descendants
of William A. Barnes. In the 1870
census of Larue County, Kentucky we find him age 30 with wife Henrietta age 20 and
daughter Minnie age 2. His father
was born in Kentucky
and his mother in Scotland.
In the 1860 census of Larue County, Kentucky
we find James B. Barnes with wife Mary with him born in Kentucky
and the wife in Scotland. The children were James age 26, William
A. Age 20, George F. age 11 and S.E. (Female) age 6. Larue County
in central Kentucky is where
Abraham Lincoln was born). I have
never found a trace of Robert’s sisters except for Mary (Molly). Girls are very hard to locate because
they change their names after marriage.
I also don’t know where his parents lived after 1889. Until then they were in Navarro
County. Checking the 1930 census of Childress
County, Texas I found Robert
Knight age 33 married to Thelma age 30 with daughters Melba 6, Vera 5 and Mary
M. 3. Checking the Social Security
Death Index I fount where Thelma died in 1975 and Robert died in December
1986. A copy of the obituary revealed
that all of his daughters were still living. They were Melba Patterson of Conway,
Texas, Vera Knight of Arizona
and Margaret Wyatt of Childress. I
have also learned that Robert was a Methodist Minister. His brother Thomas and Thomas’s wife
Clara had at least three children: a boy named ? Othel , a daughter named Juanita Poth,
and a daughter named Carmaine Kottkamp. Carmaine
Kottkamp has two sons named Loki and Sheen. I later learned that Juanita had a
daughter named Gayle and a son who is a pharmacist(Bill
Jones the submitter of this paper is also a retired pharmacist and his father
was a Methodist minister).
All of the stories I heard in my
youth has made me want to preserve tales told to me along with court documents,
censuses, obituaries and Social Security Death Index records.
First I want interested
descendants to meet the earliest Jones ancestor I have been able to find. He is William M. Jones and according to
the 1850 census of Montgomery County, Tennessee
he is fifty-three years and born in South Carolina. The 1860 census of Montgomery
County states he is 64 years old and
born in South Carolina. In the 1910 census of Tom
Green County, Texas Piety Coleman
states her father was born in North Carolina. At least we know about when he was born
and the event took place in Carolina.
William M. Jones was twice
married. The first marriage took
place in 1818 to Elizabeth Penny the daughter David and Kiziah
Penny. The wedding probably
occurred in Robertson County, Tennessee. I say this because up until 1830 the
county line separating Montgomery County and Robertson County lay one mile West
of where it is today. In that year
the State of Tennessee had the
line moved one mile east, so without moving their residences several families
found themselves in a new county.
From 1819 Elizabeth
bore him several children with four of them living until adulthood. They were Eliza Jane born in 1819. During her life Eliza Jane married 4
times and had children by all four husbands. The first marriage was when she was 15 years old was to
Turner Coleman (Probably a kinsman to James B. Coleman). This marriage is recorded in the
Clarksville Gazette with Magistrate Reasons officiating.. In 1835 she bore a daughter named
Elizabeth Coleman. Family
lore reveals that a few months after Elizabeth
was born a tree fell on her father and killed him. A year or so later she moved to Scott County, Mississippi
and married a Parker. (It is possible the Parkers married in Tennessee,
but their two children were born in Mississippi). The Children were Steven and Jackie Ann
(Female). Mr. Parker died in
1844 and after a year or so Eliza married Silas Manor to whom she bore three
children. Mr. Manor died in 1853
and about 1855 she married George Keeton a widower with children from his
previous marriage. Eliza and
George had three children. About 1890 She and George
moved to West Monroe, La. She died in 1901 and is buried in the Hasley cemetery in West Monroe.
The next child of William M. and
Elizabeth Penny was David Russell Jones born 1822. As a young man he moved to Scott County, Mississippi. The only way I can tell the story of David R.
Jones is to say “He Took Scott County By Storm”!! When he was twenty-four years he was elected sheriff of Scott
County, an office he held until 1846
until 1852. The 1850 census shows
him to be worth $25000.00 with a large plantation and nine slaves. In 1852 he was elected to the
Mississippi House of Representatives, an office he held for six two year
terms. At age 38 he married Mary
Shaw a lady 14 years younger than him.
Mary Shaw’s father died when she was an infant and she was reared by her
uncle John Shaw who owned the largest department store in the state of Mississippi
and was located in Jackson. He was also reported to be the
wealthiest man in Mississippi. David and Mary were married in 1860
when he was38 years old. In 1861
Mary bore him a son named John Shaw Jones (He is the one named in his grand
father’s will as “Heir name not known”.
In 1862 Colonel David R. Jones died. It is not known how he acquired the title “
Colonel”, but I have seen him referred to this several times including a
book written by Kate Flannigan (His great niece and grand daughter of Eliza
Jane Keeton), in 1962 called The McGuire Papers”. All descendants should try to
get a copy of this publication. It is about the
first four children mentioned in David’s father’s will. If Margaret Mitchell had known the
family of David R. Jones Gone With The Wind Would have been written about
Mississippi Joneses. John Shaw
Jones lived in West Monroe until his death in 1914
having never married.
The next child of Elizabeth and William M. Jones
was Martha born 1824. She married
Certain T. Halsell in Montgomery
County and moved to Scott
County about 1849. Martha is the great grand mother of
Colonel Jim Halsell the astronaut.
From the time of Martha’s birth in
1824 until the birth of James D, Jones in 1830 it is thought one or two infants
died. James D. Jones was born in
1830 and was pretty young when he moved to Scott County, Mississippi. He married in 1850 and had many
children. After the war several of
his children moved to Falls County, Texas. I am in frequent touch with several of
his great grand children.
Elizabeth Penny Jones died about
1831 and in 1833 William M. Jones married Margaret Bunting ca 1810-1890. She bore William M. many children with all named in the
will with the exception of Thomas B. born 1833 and Edward B. Born 1840 who were
killed in the Civil war and were unmarried.
First child of Margaret Bunting
Jones was Thomas B. Jones born 1834 killed at battle of Atlanta. He was First Lt. Company E. llth Tennessee Infantry.
William Bunting Jones
born 1836. moved to Graves
County 1859 and married Sarah Wright
in 1860. This was the great grand
father of Bill Jones, Milan, Tennessee, the submitter
of this paper. Eleven years
after marrying Sarah
they had born to them six children.
Mary Rossanah
born 1838 Married Robert Knight and moved first Graves
County, Ky. and in 1879 moved to Navarro
County, Texas. Robert B. Knight was born in Christian
County, Ky. in 1833 (Before some of his descendants correct me because of the
dates on his tomb stone 1830-1896 I want to point out that EVERY census shows
him to have been born in 1833.
This leads me to believe that whoever had his tomb stone inscription was in error and that he was only 63 when he died). ( His father was Robert H. Knight born in Georgia
in 1810 and his mother was Mary ? born in Georgia
in 1808. Their children were all
born in Kentucky. In the 1850 census their children were Dorothy Ann
age 18, Robert B. 16, May E. 15, Presley A. 12, America V. 10, Lucy C. 8, John
B. 5, Infant 2 months old.).
(Although I have a list of their children of Rossanah
and Robert Knight from the 1880 census I can’t find records of the
daughters except for “Molly” Hudspeth who lived most of her married life in Erath
County. I mentioned before that
Robert who was murdered had a son named Robert who was a United Methodist
minister in the North West Texas Conference. Molly Hudspeth also had a grand son (Rev. Morgan Garrett)
who was a Methodist Minister and at one time was pastor of the church in
Stephenville. There were other
daughters listed in the 1880 census Navarro
County.. Will some descendant help me!!!) Although I
have found three of their sons I have not been able to find their son Needham. Their oldest son William Holland
was living with them when the 1880 census of Navarro
County was taken. Their second son Robert was still
living in Kentucky in 1880 in Graves
County. Their other two boys Thomas and Needham
were still at home. It was interesting that
Mary Rossanah named all of her children after members
of her family. William H. was
named after his grandfather Jones
Until recently the last word I had on them is the letter they sent to
Chancery Court in Montgomery County
in 1889 from Navarro county, Texas. Since then I have gathered a lot of information on
the three boys. We know that
William H. Knight and his wife Malissa Anne Bell
Knight were living in Childress County
, Texas in 1900 and lived next door
to his brother Robert. They didn’t
have children at that time . (Don’t know if “Nettie” was William’s sister or Milissa
Anne’s sister). In
1910 and 1920 census William H. and Melissa are in Hamilton
County with a son born in 1910 named
Walter and a daughter named Florence Myrtle born in 1902. They had several other children who
died while they lived in Oklahoma
where he owned a general merchandise store. Their daughter Florence Myrtle (Called Myrtle) married
Charles Ura Connally. Their children are Ina Ruth born
1926. Hazel Faye
born 1928 and Married James Wade Davis. Joycelene born 1933 married
Charles Max Johnson. Thomas born
1939 married Flourette and lives in Comanche
County.. Although I have the grand children and
great grand children of Myrtle space doesn’t permit me to include them in this
resume. Robert B. and Rossanah Knight’s son Robert married Minnie Barnes. Robert was murdered in Halls
County, Texas sometime between
1903 and 1908. After his death Minie married seven more times.
Robert B. and Rossanah
Knight’s son
Thomas married first Mary Doughty and she died after giving birth to their
first baby. She is buried in Pony
Creek Cemetery
in Erath County
next to her father-in-law. After
her death Thomas married his first wife’s sister. They lived in both Texas
and Oklahoma. He died in Pawnee
County, Oklahoma in 1943.
Next was Edward B Jones born 1839. Killed at Chatannooga. (He was a private in same organization as his two
brothers).
Next is Lentulus
born 1840. Wounded at Chickamauga
died six years after the war in Graves County, Ky.
as result of wounds. He
married a neighbor girl in Montgomery
County named Payne. They had two sons when he died named
William and Henry. Lentulus was seven feet two inches tall. After his death his widow married a Mr, Wright.
Next was Piety born 1842. She married James B. Coleman in Montgomery
County, Tennessee. During the war the Coleman family moved
to Graves County, Ky. About 1884 they moved to Parker
County, Texas and stayed until
after the 1900 census was taken. In 1900 the only child still living with them
was William H. age
17. By 1910 they were in the town
of San Angelo, Texas
in Tom Green
County with William age 27 still
living with them. James and Piety
disappeared in the 1920 census, but their son William was now married to “Elizabeth” , had an eight year old son named William Jr. and a seven
year old daughter named Irene and were living in Tarrant
County, Texas. Last month Janiece
Nolan sent me the death certificate
of James B. Coleman. Seems
that he died on April 1, 1918 in
San Antonio, Texas. He and Piety moved to San
Antonio in 1918 and had only lived there five weeks when
he died..
His body was brought to Fort Worth
and is buried in the Mt. Olivette Cemetery. Piety died September
17, 1921 in Fort Worth
and is assumed to be buried beside her husband. Their grave sites have not been verified. (Some one living in or near Fort
Worth should check this out). . I have just recently
located five of
William H. Coleman, Sr.’s grand children in Texas
and California.. I have never been able to find marriage
records on any of their daughters. (Sure wish I could have known Irene Lacy
prior to the year 2000. Bet she
could have filled me in!!).
Next was Needham
born in 1844.
He married Aramintha Parker and became a Primative Baptist minister. He was still living in Robertson County,
Tennessee after 1880 in the home of his
father-in-law Samuel Parker but I haven’t been able to find anything about him
since then. In 1880 he had three children. In 1880 census his youngest child was his only son named
Samuel B. Jones. The 1900 census
shows Samuel single and living as a “boarder” in Guthrie,
Ky.
I can’t find him in 1910 but in 1920 he is a “Hardware Merchant” in Christian
County, Ky. Needham was named after
his great uncle Needham Farrier, his mother’s
uncle. (Note: Margaret Bunting
Jones’s grand father Bunting married a Farrier. In
1804 Needham Farrier’s father owned and operated a
Ferry at Port Royal on the Red River.
This takes you back several more generations.)
Next was Susan born in 1846. She
married M.W. Bryan who was 14 years older than her. They stayed in Montgomery
County, but their son Lovett Bryan
moved to Graves County, Ky.
in 1901. Lovett married Lula Jones who was my grand
dad’s sister. Lovett seemed to be
a very capable leader type person.
In Montgomery County
he was foreman of a railroad crew.
After moving to Graves County
he was manager of a large tobacca warehouse. About 1910 he moved to Paducah,
Ky. and was superintendant
of the street car rails. His first
wife died in 1919 giving him four children (His great grand son Jeffery Eugenides won the Pulitzer prize in 2003 for his fiction
book Middlesex).. In 1924 Lovett
married again
and had two daughters by the second wife. One of them is my dear friend June
Williams (Mrs. Solon Williams) and lives in Paducah.
Next Joseph stayed in Montgomery
County and was a Primitive Baptist
Minister. He and his wife had at least two
children. He and wife are buried in the Cave
Springs Church
cemetery between Guthrie and Russleville, Logan County,
Ky.
Their son George disappeared from home at an early age and was never
heard from again. Another son
Robert married Bess Kaufman and moved to Michigan.
One of Robert’s daughters a
precious friend of mine passed away in 2004.
She was Katherine Moseley.
She was the oldest of her many siblings and outlived all of them. One of
“Kat’s” sons Robert lives in Michigan
and is a well known and respected educator.
Robert’s daughter Kim Pellegrini lives in Milan,
Michigan. Kat’s other son Dick is a retired football coach of several
College and professional teams.
Dick lives in Fort Myers, Florida.
The last child born to William M.
and Margaret was
John born in 1856. He was
unmarried and living with his mother when the 1880 census was taken. When all the children
were sending letters back to chancery court in 1889. John sent his from Mayfield,
Ky.
I have not tried to find anything else about him, but will make it a
project in the near future.
Since my computer printer is
“broke” I will have to type the William M. Jones will.
September Term 1867
Montgomery
County, Tennessee
I, William M. Jones being in good
health and sound mid do make and ordain this my last Will and Testament:
First I give and bequeath to my
wife Margaret Jones all of my Real and Personal Estate, to have and to hold
until her death, to support and educate her children; and at her death all both
Real and Personal to be sold and the proceeds thereof to be divided Equally
between all of my children, namely: my daughter Eliza Jane Keeton, my son David
R. Jones’s heir name not known, Martha Ann Halsell,
my son James D. Jones, Rossanah Knight, Piety
Coleman, Susan Bryan, William B. Jones, Lentulas A.
Jones, Needham B. Jones, Joseph B. Jones, John D. Jones.
I keep a record of all I have let
my children have and that I may hereafter let them have, and the amount I let
each one have is to be deducted from his part of my Estate.
October 10th 1866
I appoint J.C. Bryan my Executor
Test:
Ed Bryan
J.M. Bryan
/s/ William M. Jones
