New for 2009
Gayle Matson helps us with Elizabeth Jones
Daughter of Mathew and Lucinda Jones
Mathew Wilson Jones (correct spelling of Matthew or Mathew in question)
Born: 17 January 1813 at or about Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky (family record)
Died: 16 March 1891, buried in the La Crosse, Rush County, Kansas Cemetery (family record)
Married:
1st to Lucinda Moore, 3 March 1836 at McDonough County, Illinois (county record).
2nd to Sarah Brous 14 May 1854 at Marion County, Iowa (county record).
Parents: Lewis W. Jones (14 April 1784 to 28 September 1839) and Francis “Fannie” Bobbitt (6 November 1787 to 24 April 1826).
Lucinda Moore
Born 1819/1820 (from 1850 census)
Died about 1850
Parents: unknown
Sarah Brous
Born: 10 October 1822 at Philadelphia, Pa (family record).
Died: 17 January 1897, and buried at LaCrosse, Rush County, Kansas Cemetery
Married:
1st: Jacob Worley at Highland County, Ohio on 28 July 1842.
2nd Matthew Wilson Jones at Marion County, Iowa on 14 May 1854.
Parents: Peter Brous (1790 – 1860) and Rebecca Slouch (1790 – 1876)
2nd Edition, Morphew-Murphy Story – J.R.Murphy, 4/2001; revised 14 February 2009
*See photo of Rev. Mathew W. Jones – photo7.TIF
*See photo of Sarah Brous Jones – photo8.TIF
Known locations for Mathew Wilson Jones:
1. Christian County, Kentucky
2. McDonough County, Illinois 1836 and Illinois 1838.
3. Iowa 1839/40
4. Missouri 1840/41
5. Iowa and 1844+
6. Madison County, Iowa 1847 – 1851 (formerly Polk County until 1850)
7. Marion County, Iowa 1854
8. Taylor County, Iowa 1860
9. Clarke County, Iowa 1870
10. Hargrave, Rush County, Kansas 1879
Mathew W. Jones appears to be an itinerant Baptist minister and farmer, possibly living first in central–western Illinois, then various locations over south central Iowa, before settling down in Kansas. After his 3 March 1836 marriage to Lucinda Moore in McDonough County, Illinois, the couple briefly lived in territorial Iowa in 1839 or 1840, before moving to Missouri, as noted in the birth state of their daughter Emeline, born 1840 or 1841.
By 1844, they return to Iowa. Their first record is in Madison County, Iowa (established 1850 – formerly Polk County), which had its beginnings in the summer of 1846 when the Sac and Faux Indians were moved from the Three Rivers country. By late 1846, this future county had only 300+ settlers. In August 1847 or 1848, a group of settlers met in the home of John Butler and formed the Middle River (Primitive) Baptist Church. Charter members included Mathew and Lucinda Jones. Possibly Mathew was a minister there, but a fire in 1897 destroyed the church records and no further information exists. Sarah Brous married Jacob Worley in Highland County, Ohio in 1842 and had three children. When Jacob died, she joined her parents Peter and Rebecca Brous in Marion County, Iowa, about 1850. Shortly thereafter, Sarah met Mathew Jones and married him in 1854 Marion County.
James W. Murphy wrote (1954): My grandfather, Matthew Wilson Jones, was born in Kentucky and moved to Iowa, then from there to Kansas in 1879, taking a government claim near the little town of Hargrave located on the Missouri Pacific Railroad about a half mile north of his farm. He was a Baptist preacher known as the Calvinist group or “hardshell Baptists” by some. This name came from his belief in the predestination and origination of God who is recorded in the Bible as having foreknown and ordained who would be lost and who would be saved. In his later years he did not have good health and suffered much but was always a loyal follower of his Lord. He passed away March 16, 1891 and was buried in the La Crosse cemetery.
As I remember him, he was a tall slim man with keen eyes and a rather solemn countenance. I think this was due to his failing health. He was very kind and I enjoyed knowing him quite well as we lived with him and Grandmother for about two months in the spring of 1887 when we moved to our own farm home just south of West Point Post Office about two miles south of his farm.
Grandmother Jones maiden name was Sarah Brous. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and came later to Iowa with her father’s family when she lost her first husband. She was later married to Grandfather Jones and they moved to Kansas in 1879 as previously mentioned. Grandmother passed away January 7, 1897 while living at our house. She always liked to live with us in the winter time for she said ‘Riley keeps such good fires in the winter.’ The summer months she divided with Aunt Rena and Aunt Tillie who will be mentioned later in this story. Grandmother was 74 years, 3 months and 8 days old at the time of her death. She is buried beside Grandfather in La Crosse Cemetery.”
“Grandmother was a fine Christian woman and exercised great influence on all with whom she came in contact. I shall never forget her timely advice to me many times and her soothing ways to heal the little hurts of childhood. She always could say the right thing at the right time and turn off many little occurrences that might otherwise have caused hurt feelings. She had an early stroke of some kind for it left the fingers of her left hand turned down at the second joints so they became stiff and not much use. She always had this hand covered with a knit woolen mitten which she kept darned always unless she took time to make a new one. She would sit and sew quilt blocks by the hour and would at times lift her glasses to her forehead and lie back in the rocker and have a short nap. She read her New Testament daily and I now have it as she left it when she passed away. The date of the purchase is still in it.”
“Grandmother was a first cousin of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s mother. The details of this connection you will find in the letter Aunt Emma wrote me last summer (1953). It makes interesting reading and Aunt Emma was quite proud of the relationship. The Brous families and the Delanos were close friends as you will learn from the account. You will find photos of all these mentioned in this account of the Jones families, in the family album with names added. I should mention that I was named for Grandfather Jones, the Wilson part of the name. For some reason he did not recall his first name was James Wilson Jones and the folks changed it to Matthew Wilson Jones later, which is what he used as I knew him. This seems quite a coincidence does it not?”
LETTER OF EMMA JONES WRIGHT, 1963
The 1955 letter is missing, but I do have Emma Jones Wright’s March 28, 1963 letter to me (JRM) stating “my dear Nephew: I am very pleased to have your letter and wish I could write better, but am nearly blind and can not do very well. I do not know much about my father’s people just exactly where he was born, only in Kentucky near Hopkinsville. He had three brothers and three sisters. Two of them, Elizabeth and Francis married brothers named Pyle, one of whom was I think the Grandmother of the late Ernie Pyle, the war correspondent, but I do not know for I had no way of (checking). The sister married a man by the name Guthird. I used to correspond with one of her sons, named Louis. I do not know whether he had children or not but if you could contact some of Louis’s children, you could learn all about the Jones family. I do not know the given names of any of the wives by marriage. I do not think any of them were emigrants. I have wondered about the relationship of ours to Delinos. I do not know whether President Roosevelt’s great grandmother was my grandmother Brous’s sister or grandfather Brous’s sister. I meant to ask Jones, Roosevelts about it but waited too long. If you can locate the Pyle family, it would be interesting.”
I knew your great-great grandfather – Jim – Morphew. Did any one ever tell you your name is not Murphy? Great grandfather, Jim, is my oldest and favorite nephew but I felt mad with him because he did not reclaim his rightful name. Hope you can read this. Please write again. Aunt Emma. (born 18 February 1863)
FAMILY STORIES BY J.W. MURPHY
THE OLD BAY MARE, FLORA. “Grandfather Matthew Jones was a great lover of good horses. He was like many other Kentuckians in this respect. He brought to Kansas his favorite team, one of which I recall as Flora.”
She was a fine animal, gentle and easy to handle. Grandfather would not harm her for any money. He used to hitch her up to his double shovel and do some work in the field plowing the small corn early in the summer time. When Flora began to lather a little under the harness, he would unhitch her and gently lead her to the feed lot and draw some water from the well, then turn her loose until noon. He had a small corn crib near the gate and this was opened by lifting a latch on the door. We would then get some corn and feed Flora. In time she learned to open the door by pushing up the latch with her nose. I saw her do this many times, but she never over ate! She lived to a ripe old age and never lost her hold on the affections of the family.”
THE IOWA BOYS CLAIM. “Among the early memories of the old family neighborhood, I recall the story of the Iowa Boys who had a section of land near Grandfather Jones’s place. These four boys from Iowa took claims about the same time and built a sod house on them so placed that each one could live on his own land. The house was built to cover a corner of each piece of the land. Of these boys, I know the names of three. Uncle Enoch Cotton and his brother George, Uncle John Hollingsworth and the fourth one I do not recall. The interesting part of this story is that the two young fellows, Enoch and John married sisters in the Jones Family. The first married Aunt Maggie and the latter married Aunt Tillie. They didn’t live on the farms long enough to prove (possession) on them, but the place where the sod house was, I have often seen is now just a mound of soft earth, the result of the house falling down earlier.”
NUMBER TEN SCHOOL. “One spring when our school closed early, I went to school with Aunt Emma who was then teaching at District Number Ten, about five miles from our home. Dad took us to the school on Sundays and came after us on Friday. We lived in an old sod house near the schoolhouse. It had a stove in it and Aunt Emma would fix up a basket of groceries with Mother’s help and we would batch the week following. For fuel, we had a big lot of dry sunflowers growing nearby and we took some coal for extra heat and to fill in for any emergency. I took a sack and brought in a load of cow chips to help with fires. The two months so spent were pleasant in many ways. We used to get invitations to stay overnight in homes with some of the parents of children attending the school. These times brought added pleasure to both of us. There were always a few children in the homes we visited and I acquired some very good friends that way, many of them lasted until we moved away. I helped Aunt Emma make the fires in the schoolhouse and at the sod house, thus helping to earn my way.”
Children of Mathew Wilson Jones and Lucinda Moore
(I). William H. Jones, born 1837/38 in Illinois
(II). Elizabeth F. Jones*
Born November 1839 in Iowa
Died 22 October 1882 Melrose, Jackson Township, Monroe County, Iowa and buried with wife and son John M. Head in the Milledgeville Cemetery, Independence Township, Appanoose County, Iowa, near a Peppers burial plot.
Married 1st to _ Stokes between 1860 and 1867
Married 2nd on 22 November 1868 in Osceola, Clarke County, Iowa to Benjamin R. Head.
Benjamin R. Head
Born 17 February 1830 Ashe County, North Carolina
Died 6 October 1881 Melrose, Jackson Township, Monroe County, Iowa.
Parents: Joseph Hard and Mary Polly Dial.
Married 1st to either Mary or Elizabeth Peppers __ in North Carolina and had a possible daughter named Mary Head, born ~1851/52 North Carolina
Married 2nd Delilah Coffman (~1835/73 Indiana) on 10 October 1857 Appanoose County, Iowa (county record). Delilah's parents were Abraham and Nancy Coffman.
Married 3rd Elizabeth F. Jones (Stokes).
* My thanks go to Gayle Matson for sharing her information on Benjamin Head and Elizabeth Jones, emails of 8 & 10 February 2009.
An 1908 letter from Mrs. Philena Sellers described Benjamin Head as a "noted musician," and held a singing classes in her house about 1863 or 1864. She also described Elizabeth as "a very fair-skinned woman, with blue eyes and pale hair." Both Benjamin and his wife were good neighbors and sympathetic to problems of neighbors.*
Census records show the following locations:
1850 - Ashe County, North Carolina: Benjamin Head employed in the family of Henry Rigsby
1850 - Madison County, Iowa: Elizabeth Jones living with her parents Mathew and Lucinda Jones
1860 - Independence Township, Appanoose County, Iowa: Benjamin Head with wife Delilah, one son Solomon Head - age 1 (Iowa) and a female Mary Head, age 8 (North Carolina), who may be from an earlier marriage.
1860 - Mason Township, Taylor County, Iowa: Elizabeth living with her parents Mathew and Sarah Jones
1870 – Jackson Township, Monroe County, Iowa: Benjamin with wife Elizabeth and five children: (Soloman? Head -11, Sarah Head – 10, Emma Head 8? Alice Head 5, and Isabel Head 7/12.
1880 – Melrose Township, Monroe County, Iowa: Benjamin and Elizabeth with 6 children: Soloman Head 21, Sarah A Head 19, Emma F,. Head 17, Alice? Head – 15, Rosetta I. Head – 10, John M. Head 6.
1881 and 1882 - Both Benjamin and Elizabeth are dead, leaving children.
Children of Elizabeth Jones (Stokes) and Benjamin R. Head are*:
(1) Rosetta I. Head (~1870 Iowa)
(2) John M. Head (~1874 to 29 February 1896 Iowa): Gayle Matson does not believe John married. In 1885 Iowa Census at age 11, he is living in a household of three with Nancy and James Coffman in Monroe County, Iowa. The Coffmans were believed related to Delilah Coffman.
(3) Charles Wilson Head (8 September 1880 Melrose, Jackson Township, Monroe County, Iowa and died 17 April 1936 Spreckles, Monterey County, California. Charles married Mary Lula Galliher (20 May 1887 Holdingford, Mn to 1965 California).
(III). John W. "Kansas John" Jones, born 21 May 1844 in Iowa and died about 1895. John Jones went to Texas and became a cotton farmer, near Dallas or Fort Worth. His picture was the J.W. Murphy family album. He is on the 1870 U.S. Census for Clarke County, Iowa as: John Jones, age 26, born in Iowa. John married Susan Francis Henderson (born 29 March 1855). Children:
(1) Edna Jones
(2) James Elmer Jones
(3) Herman Jones
(4) Harvie Wilson Jones (10 July 1897 – 29 January 1970)
(5) Bessie Jones.
Names of “Kansas John”, wife, and children names are from a web site.
(IV). Emeline Jones, born 1840/41 in Missouri. Emeline married John F. Shearer and lived near Winterset, Iowa. John and Emeline Shearer are on the 1870 and 1880 (Franklin Township) U.S. Census for Clarke County, Iowa. In 1880 they are adjacent to William Morphew. Children of John F. Shearer and Emeline Jones are:
(1) Daniel Shearer
(2) Gilbert M. Shearer (1864/65)
(3) Cynthia Shearer (1862/63)
(4) Joseph Shearer (1855/56)
(5) Mary F. Shearer (1866/68) (6)
(6) John D. Shearer (1868/69).
“Cynthia married Charley Maxwell and had two daughters and one son, Herbert. Herbert became a Doctor and served in World War I with Dr. Marion Russell whom I knew in Great Bend. They were in the same medical unit.” (From J.W.Murphy).
(V). Mary A. Jones, born 1845/46 in Iowa
(VI). Isabelle Jones, 1848/49 in Iowa.
Children of Jacob Worley and Sarah Brous
(I). John Wesley Worley, born 1843/44 Ohio and died about 1932. From J.W.Murphy: “John I came to know quite well. He used to come out to Kansas to see his mother and sisters and was at our house many times. I always called him Uncle John and he was in disposition much like his mother whom I knew so well. He passed away in Des Moines about 1932.”
(II). Rebecca Ann Worley, born 1842/43 Ohio
(III). Mary Jane Worley, born 1845/46 Ohio. All three of the Worley-Brous children do not show on the 1860 or 1870 censuses of Mathew Jones. Possibly they moved out before 1860.
Children of Mathew Wilson Jones and Sarah Brous
(I). Emma Jones was born 18 February 1863 and was still living in 1963. Emma married George N. Wright in Seattle, Washington. Children: (1) Alma Wright (24 April 1896) and married Arthur Baum on 1 March 1921 and lived in Danville, California; (2) Marjorie Wright (July 1, 1901) who married A.J. Pitku on 26 June 1922 and have one daughter.
From J.W. Murphy: Alma’s husband is Arthur Baum who was until recently associate editor of the Saturday Evening Post. He is now a free lance writer who contributes special articles to the Post. Alma also writes for some journals and magazines. Marjorie lives in Oakland, California (1954) with her husband who is a building contractor. They have one daughter who Aunt Emma said was engaged to a medical student at Southern California University. Aunt Emma went to Seattle years ago and taught school there until she was married. Her husband went to the Klondike goldfield and from there on I have no information except that he came home broken in health and did not live long. Aunt Emma had a hard time to keep the girls in
school and bring them to womanhood.”
(II). Amy Vashi Jones, born 16 April 1856 and died 28 September 1946 at Augusta, Kansas. Amy married Riley Hanson Murphy on 1 September 1872 near Woodburn, Iowa. Children: James Wilson Murphy (26 June 1876 to 1968) and Riley Harold Murphy (15 September 1898 to ?). See next generation for Riley Murphy’s write up.
(III). Matilda "Tillie" Jones, born 26 December 1860 and died 6 February 1909. Tillie married to John Hollingsworth who died March 1935. Children are: (1) Ethel Hollingsworth who married Bruce Gamble in 1910), (2) George Hollingsworth, (3) Myrtle Hollingsworth who married Oscar Warren Anderson in Fairbanks, Alaska in 1917, and (4) Walter Hollingsworth who married Nell Dixon on May 1921 in Reno, Nevada.
From J.W. Murphy: The Hollingsworth “formerly lived in Ellis County, Kansas about 12 miles south of Ellis. They moved to Washington State near Cedro in the fall of 1895. Uncle John was a Quaker and used to say grace in silence. When he was through, we began to eat our meals. He was a quiet sort of fellow who did not talk much unless it was about the family or relatives and then he could be fluent. He ran away from his home in Philadelphia when a youngster of about 15 years or so as I recall his story. He never went back to see his folks until after the death of his mother. I do not know why he chose to leave but he went west to grow up with the country and married Aunt Tillie. John Hollingsworth’s parents were closely related financially with the Longstreth family and together they owned a large part of the stock of the Baldwin Locomotive Mfg. Co. in Philadelphia. I think his mother was a Longstreth. This company was one of the early manufacturing companies to make locomotives. They still make them. Uncle John’s family history takes three volumes to tell the story of the various members. It dates back to 1600 and the folks who came over to the William Penn Colony early in American History. I think Myrtle Hollingsworth Anderson has the complete story. She mentioned it to me recently.”
“The Longstreth family used to send out a big box of clothing to Uncle Hollingsworth each fall. One time Aunt Tillie asked us to come out to her home in Ellis County and she gave me a fine coat and vest from the latest shipment. All the clothes were tailor made and the cloth was very fine, the best of materials. Some dress goods for Aunt Tillie and the girls would always be included.”
“The children of John and Tillie were fine youngsters and we loved them much. I always liked to visit them and have them come to see us. George was crippled in his early childhood and had to wear a brace on his back for several years. Whatever the reason was for it, the folks did not know, but the specialists told them he could never be strong again and perhaps not outgrow it, and so he lived to the age of about 21, meantime being a brilliant student at Washington University. When he died the President of the University came to his funeral and gave a splendid eulogy on George who was a poet of no mean ability and a good English student. He and I used to correspond until just before his death when he was almost helpless.”
(IV). Sarah M. "Maggie" Jones was born 2 October 1864 and died about 1928. Sarah married Enoch Cotton who died about 1936. Children: (1) Fred Cotton, died as a small child, (2) infant died a few days old, and (3) Ralph Cotton.
From J.W. Murphy: “Aunt Maggie married Enoch Cotton and lived in Kansas the rest of her life. Both Aunt Maggie and Uncle Enoch are buried in Osage City, Kansas. If I am not mistaken, Aunt Maggie left about 1928 and the Uncle about 1936. But the dates are only a guess. Uncle Enoch was a photographer in La Crosse for many years, later becoming a teacher in several places in the central part of the state. His last years were spent as a banker in Miller, Kansas, where he and Ralph operated the Miller State Bank. He was engaged in the feed business in Waverly, Kansas. There I roomed with the family when I taught in the Waverly Schools in 1904 and 1905. Uncle Enoch was very generous and gracious to me for when I wrote to him at the end of my junior year at Kansas University that I would have to stop and teach a year before completing my course, he offered to lean me the money to finish out. I might never have gone back to college without his help. I repaid him the $300 soon after I was married and teaching.”
(V). Lurania Jones was born 8 March 1859 and married to John Kirkpatrick 17 April 1879. Children are: (1) Olive Kirkpatrick, (2) Ernest Kirkpatrick, (3) Bertha Kirkpatrick (Married Jesse Burdick), (4) Elsie Kirkpatrick, (5) Florence Kirkpatrick (married Henry Scholke), (6) Loren Kirkpatrick, (7) Velma Kirkpatrick (married William Wells).
From J.W. Murphy (1964): “The third daughter was Aunt Lurania whom we called Aunt Rena or Rainey. She was next to Maggie as I recall the ages. Ernest is a register of deeds in Great Bend. Bertha and Mrs. Jesse Burdick live in Salt Lake City, Utah. Velma lives on a farm near Great Bend. Florence lives in Pratt, Kansas.”
(VI). Amaziah Jones, born 19 June 1857 and died 2 May 1878 and is buried at Ottawa Cemetery, Jackson, Clarke County, Iowa. “Amaziah drowned while swimming in a small stream near his home at about the age of 20. Grandfather never got over the loss of his only son by this marriage.” (from J.W. Murphy)
CENSUS AND OTHER RECORDS FOR MATHEW WILSON JONES
1836: “Mathew W. Jones” married Lucinda Moore, 6 March 1836 at McDonough County, Illinois (county record).
1850 U.S. Census of Madison County, Iowa, District 18, pg 150: Matthew Jones:
Jones, Matthew, 37, farmer, born Kentucky
Lucinda, 30, born ?
William H. 12, Illinois (hard to read if “H”)
Elizabeth, 10, Iowa
Emeline, 9, Missouri
John W. 6, Iowa
Mary A. 4, Iowa
Babel C ??? 1, Iowa (Should be Isabelle – hard to read)
1850 U.S. Census of Marion County, Iowa
Brouse, Peter, age 66, farmer, $2070- real estate value, born Pennsylvania
Rebecca, age 61, Pa.
Worley, Sarah, 38, Pa. (should be age 27)
Brouse, Eli, 32 farmer, Pa
Brouse, Rebecca, 17, Ohio
Worley, Rebecca A. 7, Ohio
Worley, John Wesley, 6 Ohio (“John” very hard to read)
Worley, Mary Jane 4, Ohio
1851 tax record of Madison County, Iowa: M.W. Jones
1854, May 14: Marriage of M.W. Jones to Sarah Worley at Marion County, Iowa
1860 U.S. Census of Taylor County, Mason Township, Iowa: Mathew Jones
Jones, Mathew W. 47 farmer, born Ky, real estate value 640, personal property $200
Sarah 37, Pennsylvania
Elizabeth 20, Iowa
Emeline 18, Missouri
Jno W. 16, Iowa
Mary 14, Iowa
Isabelle, 11, Iowa
Amy 4, Iowa
Amaziah 2, Iowa
Lurania 1, Iowa
1870 U.S. Census for Clarke County, Iowa:
John Jones, age 26, born in Iowa
Mathew Jones, age 57, farmer born in Kentucky
Sarah, age 47, born Pa.
Amy, 14, born Iowa
Amaziah, 13, born Iowa
Mary, 14, born Iowa
Lurania, 11, born Iowa
Matilda, 9, born Iowa
Emily, 7, born Iowa
Sarah M., 6, born Iowa
Emma, 4, born Iowa
1880 U.S. Census of Brookdale Township, Rush County, Kansas
Jones, Mathew W. 67, farmer, born Kentucky, father born Virginia, mother S. C.
Sarah, wife, 57, born Pa., parents born Pa.
Matilda, 19 (s), born Iowa
Emma A. 17 (s), born Iowa
Sarah M. 15, (s), born Iowa.
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