Dr. William M Jones (1831- after 1895)

◄ Doctor William M Jones

The reverse side of this photo says it was taken June 5th, 1895, in Fairview, Ohio, as part of a group photo with his brothers. He'd have been 64 years old here.

This date conflicts with his reported death in 1892, but the specificity of the date on the photo causes me to think it's correct. The conflict in the dates has not yet been resolved. (Click photo to enlarge it.)

◄ 1860 Census for WIlliam M Jones
(Click to enlarge it.)

Elsewhere in this blog is information I’ve assembled about the earliest member of our Jones ancestral family I’ve been able to identify. He was Lewis Jones, who married Rebecca McPherson in 1817. Included in that story is a list of Lewis and Rebecca’s children, one of whom was William M Jones (1831- after 1895), who became my generation’s maternal GG grandfather.

In a report written about his family’s history, my generation’s uncle DeRand Jones said that William M Jones was a medical doctor. This has been confirmed in the 1860, 1870 and 1880 U.S. federal censuses. Interestingly, in a roster of deaths in Ohio he is also listed as the attending physician for his mother, Rebecca, at the time of her death.

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The Goodman and Frizzell Connection

The Goodman and Frizzell families lived in Kirkwood Township in Belmont County, Ohio, as did our Jones and McPherson families of that era. From DeRand's report about the family we learn the following.

“Nathan Frizzell is listed in the Ohio's Belmont County History as one of the early members of the Sewellsville Methodist Episcopal church that was organized in 1813-14. His daughters, Susanna, and her two sisters were raised in Sewellsville, Ohio. Susanna married John Fox on March 27, 1823. They had two children, Joanathan and Nancy Fox. [Susanna was subsequently widowed.]

Dr. John Goodman...son of William Goodman, came from Germany. He was an ‘animal doctor’ who occasionally treated people. He drove a herd of cattle over the mountains to southern Ohio and settled there.

On March 21, 1831 John Goodman married widow Susanna Frizzel Fox (1798 – 1871), daughter of Nathan Frizzel. Their children were:

■ Leander Goodman (1831 – 1914) a farmer, who married Malinda Evans Goodman;

■ Elizabeth Ann Goodman (1834 – 1908);

■ John Wesley Goodman (1839 – 1925) a farmer, who married Frances Dallas Goodman.”

[Editor's note: See the bottom of this page for info about the murder of a young girl by the name of  Louisa Fox. Although she was not a member of our ancestral family, she may well have been related to Susanna Frizzell Fox Goodman.]

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William’s Marriage and Family

On September 23, 1856, in Belmont County, Ohio, Dr. William M Jones married Elizabeth Ann Goodman, who was also known as Betsy Ann. She was born in Egypt, Ohio, and as noted above, her parents were John Goodman, born in 1809 and Susanna Frizzell Fox, born in 1798.

The 1860 federal census at the top of this page shows the members of William and Elizabeth’s household. However, baby Mollie, recorded as being three months old in this census, apparently died as a child, for the 1870 and later censuses - and DeRand’s archive - record William and Elizabeth’s children as follows:

■ Fleetwood Churchill Jones born: 21 June 1857;

■ Adda Estelle Jones born: 21 April 1860;

■ Rosa Leona Jones born: 27 November 1863;

■ William Henry Jones born: 3 November 1865.

Note that these children were born in the period leading up to, during, and immediately after the U.S. Civil War (April, 1861 – April, 1865), which must have been a chaotic time in the life of our ancestral family. This was also the time during which Abraham Lincoln was president of the United States – and was assassinated (April, 1865).

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What Became of William and Elizabeth’s Children?

Fleet, who was a little boy during the Civil War, became my generation’s maternal great grandfather. His story and photos are/will be found elsewhere in this blog, as are photos and stories about Adda, Rosa and their families.

William H became an attorney, and Fleet’s 1937 obituary says this William was the mayor of Bethesda, Ohio, at that time. DeRand’s archive says William H married Sarah Beecher, and I have an undocumented note in my records saying he died in 1943. I have not discovered any other information about William’s life or family.

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To get a bit of understanding about the period during which this family lived, consider the following:

■ Like Dr. William Jones, James Garfield was also born in Ohio in 1831. Garfield was the last of seven U.S. presidents born in a log cabin, and this link about Garfield’s life provides an interesting perspective on what life might have been for William Jones and our ancestral family during that era.

■ Also born in Ohio in that era was George Armstrong Custer. General Custer (1839 - 1876) had a stellar career in the U.S. Army, making a name for himself during the Civil War. After the war, he continued serving in the Army out west and made it his life's work. In 1876, at a place called The Little Bighorn, in a campaign that has become known as "Custer's Last Stand", he and his entire regiment were wiped out by what one of his men said was the, "most Indians I've ever seen in one place."

Although I have found no photos of Elizabeth Goodman Jones, the photo below of George Armstrong Custer and Elizabeth (Libbie) Bacon Custer in 1864 provides a glimpse of how a fashionable lady dressed in those days.
(Source)
 

More information about ladies' fashions in that era can be seen here.

Trivia: In a 1903 book titled, "History of Belmont County, Ohio" is a story under the heading of "The Only Execution in a Century", from which the following is excerpted:

"One of the most exciting incidents in the history of Kirkwood township was the murder of Louisa Fox, in 1869, by a notorious character named Thomas D. Carr, a coal miner in the employ of Alexander Hunter. Carr was a man of bad repute, who had become infatuated with the beauty of the girl - for she was but 14 years of age - and because she refused to marry him, he immediately took the innocent's life..."
(Source)

Although Louisa Fox was not part of our ancestral family, Kirkwood Township was small in both area and population in that era. Therefore it seems likely that Louisa was related to Susanna Frizzel Fox, who married Dr. John Goodman, who was part of our ancestral family.  

Please refer to the disclaimer on the index page of this blog for a statement regarding the accuracy of - and documentation for - the information presented in this blog.

Last revised 12/1/2010