Person:Lorenzo Jones (1)

L. D. Jones, Postmaster, general merchant and farmer, of Centre Ridge, is a native of Marshall County, Ala., and was born July 8, 1842. He is the seventh of a family of eight sons and one daughter born to Zachariah H. and Lydia (Anderson) Jones. The former born in Chesterfield District, S. C., December, 1809, and Mrs. Jones born in Cherokee County, Ala. They were married in Marshall County, Ala., where they made their home till 1847, when they removed to Bradley County, Ark, where Mrs. Jones died the following year (1848.) Mr. Jones was married three times, and spent the rest of his life in Bradley County, dying in 1864; a farmer by occupation. He was a soldier in the Seminole War, and a member of the Missionary Baptist Church. The mother of L. W. was a member of the Christian Church from her girlhood. The grandfather. Abraham Jones, was born in Chesterfield District, S. C., and died in Marshall County, Ala., in 1845. He was a farmer, and was of Welsh descent. Mrs. Jones died there also. The subject of our sketch was reared on a farm in Bradley County, with but very little schooling. On November 22, 1863, he enlisted in Company K, of the Third Arkansas Cavalry of the Federal army, and operated in different parts of Arkansas till the close of the war, taking part in many severe skirmishes, and was discharged at Lewisburg, May 22, 1865, as First Sergeant. He made his home in Bradley County till 1869, when he went to Van Buren County, and in 1870 was married in Conway County to Miss Susan Ethridge, a native of Bradley County, and a daughter of Isaac G. and Elizabeth Ethridge, who were married in Bradley County, where they both died members of the Missionary Baptist Church. Mr. Jones is the father of ten children, three sons and five daughters living. When he first married, Mr. Jones homesteaded a place four miles from where Center Ridge is, on which he lived till 1879, when he settled at the present site of Centre Ridge, and the next year, 1880, opened a store at that place, being the first merchant in the town; there he has continued ever since in connection with his other duties. He owns a farm of seventy-three acres. Was once Justice of the Peace, by appointment, a short time. In 1865 he was made a Mason at Lewisburg, but now holds his membership in the Centre Ridge Lodge. He is also a member of Napier Post, of the Grand Army of the Republic. In religion he and his wife are Advents. Mr. Jones' paternal great grandfather, Jones, was a boy during the Revolutionary War, and his parental name was Faxton, but during that time he was stolen from his home by a Tory whose name was Jones, and who gave the boy his family name which he ever after retained.

The postoffice at Centre Ridge was established about 1872, and Joseph E. Holbrook was its first Postmaster, and he kept the office at his residence five miles north of the present village. It was discontinued after two years, and re-established in 1879 on the present site of Centre Ridge, with Dr. R. H. Johnson Postmaster, who served till May, 1880. He was followed by L. D. Jones till 1885; G.W. Combs till 1887; R. M. Newberry for a time, when L. D. Jones, the present incumbent, was again appointed.

both  from Goodspeed's "Historical Reminisences of Conway County"

JONES, L.D. Pvt - Enl in the 24th AR Infantry CSA, on 16 Jun 1862 at Warren, AR. Present 31 Dec 1862... from Edward Gerdes Civil War website

22 Nov 1863 - Enlisted in 3rd AR Cav. Co. K, in Pine Bluff, AR. Discharged from Union Army at Lewisburg, AR - 22 May 1865

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Goodspeed History of Conway County, Arkansas.
2. ↑ 1900 Federal Census - Conway Co., AR.
3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 Conway County Historical Society. Conway County, Our Land, Our Home, Our People. (Historical Publications of Arkansas, 1401 W. 66th ST., Little Rock, AR 72201).
4. ↑ Desmond Walls Allen. AR Confederate Service Records.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} Desmond Walls Allen. Third Arkansas Cavalry by Desmond Walls Allen. (Pub. by Arkansas Research, P.O. Box 303, Conway, AR 72032).