Person:Edward Jones (91)

E. B. Jones enjoys distinctive preferment among the citizens of Lynden township, where he now lives in honorable retirement after a long and useful life, which has been crowned with success, and as a neighbor and citizen he is highly esteemed by all who know him. He long ago earned the honor and respect of his fellowmen, having fought his way upward to an enviable position, and in every relation of life his voice and his influence have been on the side of right as he has seen and understood the right. Mr. Jones was born in New York city on the 29th of October, 1843, and is a son of William and Ann Cecelia (Davis) Jones, both of whom were natives of Wales, though their marriage occurred in the United States. The father was a sailor by vocation, having risen from cabin boy to the position of captain.

E. B. Jones attended the public schools of New York city until he was ten years of age, when he went to work as errand boy in a Broadway hat store, where he remained until he was seventeen years old. The Civil war then being in progress, he desired to enlist, but he lacked the required age and was sent to an aunt in Connecticut to keep him from further attempts to enter the army. However, in the course of time he succeeded in enlisting as a private in the Twentieth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, with which he served two years and ten months, one year of which time was spent in Virginia and the remainder of the time in the Western army. He was with General Sherman in the historic march from Atlanta to the sea and took part in the battles of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville. After receiving an honorable discharge at the conclusion of the war, Mr. Jones returned to New York and again entered a hat store. Soon afterward the family moved to Jersey City, New Jersey, and our subject obtained employment in Hoboken, that state, where he remained for two years. He also was engaged in the express business between New York city and Hudson City. He then went to Illinois and located on a farm belonging to a cousin, about one hundred miles south of Chicago, where he cultivated the soil for about three years. He next went to Onarga, Illinois, where he learned the tinner's trade, and afterward engaged in that business. After his marriage, in 1873, he sold out there and went to Delrey, Iroquois county, and bought a hardware store, which he operated for several years, after which he bought a hardware store at Thawville, Illinois, where he remained for twenty-eight years, at the end of which time he sold the business to his sons. In 1908 he came to Lynden township, Whatcom county, and has since lived with his daughters, Mrs. Lillian Sprague and Mrs. Sarah Bruns.

In 1873 Mr. Jones was married to Miss Emma T. Hall, of Onarga, Illinois, and they became the parents of four children: William, of Thawville, Illinois, is married and has three children. Lillian, who is the widow of Arthur Sprague, lives in Lynden, in which place she located in 1905, and she is the mother of two children. Sarah is the wife of E. I. Bruns, of Lynden, and they have three children. Mrs. Bruns formerly taught school here for a number of years. E. B., of Chicago, is married and has one child. During his active years Mr. Jones took a prominent part in local public affairs in the communities where he lived, having served as a town trustee in Onarga, Illinois, for six years as a member of the board of trustees of Thawville, and for four years trustee of Ridgeland township, Iroquois county. He was long a member of the Illinois National Guard, having gone in as a lieutenant, and in 1880 was commissioned captain of the Ninth Battalion, which position he held until he left that state. At one time he was a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, having joined in 1868, but ceased to be an active member when he moved to unsettled parts of the country. During the '80s he went to Colorado to investigate some gold mining property owned by Onarga people and was in that state six months. He has always kept in close touch with the great issues of the day, on which he has held decided opinions, and his influence has always been on the right side of every moral issue. He is a man of generous and kindly impulses, friendly in his social relations and enjoys the respect and confidence of all who know him.

Mrs. Jones was a daughter of T. B. and Maria (Panzhorn) Hall, natives respectively of Hartford, Connecticut, and Worthington, Ohio. The father was born August 2, 1817, and died February 28, 1893, while the mother was born October 4, 1819, and died December 14, 1872. Her maternal grandparents were natives respectively of England and Wales.
(History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 348-349.)

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} The Lynden Tribune
   7 Oct 1926.

   Funeral services were held at Knapp's Parlors Saturday afternoon at 2 o'clock for the late E. B. Jones who passed away at his home Thursday. Rev. T. M. Marshall officiated. Edward Benjamin Jones was born in New York City Oct. 29, 1843, and departed this life at his home in Lynden, Thursday, Sept. 30, 1926 at the age of 82 years, 11 months and 1 day. He was a son of William and Ann Davis Jones, both of whom were natives of Wales. He attended public school in New York, leaving however, at the age of ten years to become the support of his mother.
   
   When seventeen years of age he attempted to enlist in the army, the Civil War being in progress. He was rejected for a time on account of his age, but finally was enlisted as a private in the 20th Regiment Company A Connecticut Volunteers with which he served two years and ten months. He was with Sherman in the march from Atlanta to the Sea, and took part in battle of Gettysburg, Chancellorsville and the balance of the 14 major engagements of his company.
   
   After receiving an honorable discharge at the end of the war, he returned to New York for a time, but in 1871 decided to go West, and located at Onarga, Ill. where on Oct. 2, 1873, he was joined in wedlock to Miss Emma T. Hall, daughter of Bishop and Maria Pangborn Hall of Onarga Township. To this union were born four children, William Hall Jones, of Thawville, Ill., Lillian M. Sprague of Lynden, and Edward B. Jones, Jr., of Chicago, Ill. In 1883 Mr. Jones moved to Thawville, where he engaged in the hardware business for many years. In 1908 he moved to Lynden where he and Mrs. Jones have lived a quiet, retired life. Mr. Jones was a man highly respected by all who knew him for his high ideals and fair dealings with his fellow men, and was always ready to lend his voice in any way which might help others. Three years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Jones celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. Mr. Jones took an active part in all the affairs of the G. A. R. and was ever ready to lend his voice in defense of his country. His life in the community was above reproach.