Jones Family Homestead in Western Kansas

Date: 1887 [unknown]
Location: Goodland, Sherman, Kansas, United States
Surname/tag: Jones, Homestead, Pioneers

By: John C. Jones, Oldest Son

William Henry Jones called Henry Jones by all his close associates, was born near Indianapolis, Indiana, on March 28, 1851. He was the oldest son of James (John) Wesley Jones, an Ohioan and Nancy Fidler Jones, a blue-blooded Kentuckian. Early in 1862 the family moved to Hopkins, Nodaway County, Missouri, where my father grew to manhood. It was there that James (John) W. Jones was taken into the service by the Union Army, leaving Father--then eleven years old--and his mother to run the farm and do most of the work. At this time they had amassed quite a group of hogs, young cattle, and the necessary work horses to operate their farm, but this fact was unfortunate for them on account of their location in Northwestern Missouri. They were so near the dividing line between the northern and southern armies, that scouting parties from both sides would come in search for food and help themselves to some of their fat hogs or cattle. By the time that the war was over they had nothing left, and to make matters still worse, James (John) Jones returned from the service a badly broken down man in health and lived but a few years afterward.

Grandfather Jones had a little water-propelled grist mill near his farm on the One Hundred and Two River, about two and a half miles southwest of Hopkins, and Father operated this after the war until he was seriously hurt when he was caught and pulled into the rollers. One arm was almost amputated, and part of his breast was crushed. A few months later the grist mill was destroyed by a cyclone that devasted much of the country (I believe it was in 1873), and the mill was never rebuilt.

On December 26, 1875, William Henry Jones and Eliza Ellen Washburn, who was born in Nodaway County on February 22, 1855, were united in marriage at Hopkins. Late in the fall of 1879 our family moved by covered wagon to Osborne County, Kansas. We located there on some school land near Delhi Post office, where we resided for about four years. These years were very poor crop years, and if it hadn't been for the mercy rendered us by a couple of Mother's bachelor brothers who were operating a large fruit and farming unit in Saline County, Nebraska, I do not know what might have become of us. They took us in and gave us shelter and work for one year there, and then did the same for two more years in Thayer County, Nebraska.

In August 1886 my father heard of the homesteadable land in Western Kansas and came out here, and on September 4th of that year he filed on the northwest of Section 24-9-42 in Sherman County. He went back to Thayer County, Nebraska, and made preparations to move to Kansas by covered wagon with six head of cattle and six head of horses and mules. He landed on the claim on March 3, 1887, just two days before the claim would have been contestable.

In making this trip from Nebraska, we were coming along near Almena, Kansas, when we struck a long, steep, and highly graded road. When we had neared the top of the hill, we hit a very icy place in the road, and the mules, not being shod, couldn't keep their footing. They fell down on the ice and were dragged back down the hill by the heavily loaded wagon. Father, feeling that the wagon was almost sure to run off the high and narrow grade and upset, tore the wagon cover and threw the little girls (Amy was two and a half and Dollie was six months old) out on the high side of the road. He told Mother to jump, he did likewise, and sure enough, the wagon did upset, throwing most of the load out and breaking some utensils, the wagon reach, and the harness. Something quite heavy struck Mother on the shoulder and caused her much suffering for a year or more. We boys were ahead of the wagon driving the stock and knew nothing of the accident until some of the good citizens, located near where the wreck had occurred, overtook us. They placed the stock in a barnyard fence and took us back to the wreck, and along with many other good helpers, they took us into their homes and cared for us. They helped repair the wagon and harness, did whatever else they could, and by ten o'clock the next day we were ready and took off on our westward journey. However, all in all, it was a little more than Father could take, and when we were just ready to leave those good people who had done so much for us, they had quite a time restoring him to his near normal self. I have often heard my parents mention afterward that the action tendered us that time was so great that there were no words that could express their sincerest appreciation.

When we arrived on the claim on March 3rd there was not a furrow of sod broken or laid to improve the claim, and Father only had $32.50 to his name, However he build a one-room sod house as quickly as he could, went to Fort Wallace to get the lumber to cover it, and made the doors and windows. There was no plaster on the walls and no floor until late that fall. Then Father, after breaking out about eight acres of sold for planting something that Spring, had to get out to hunt work. So Mother and I got busy with a hand chug planter and planted the eight acres to corn and raised enough corn and fodder that summer to feed all our stock the winter of 1887 to 1888. Father got in on the construction of the B&M Railway road bed near Norcatur, Kansas, and worked until late that fall. The next spring and summer he got similar work, partly on the B&M and partly on the Rock Island Railway, and a year or two later he bought a tree claim adjoining our homestead. This was the full possession of land acquired here in this new country by my parents, and it is where they spent the rest of their lives. Later the three oldest of us boys also acquired homesteads there.

William Henry Jones died on August 27, 1930 and Mrs. Eliza Ellen Jones died on March 31, 1922.

Excerpt from:

The Prairie Pioneers of Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado written by my gr grand uncle John C. and Winoma Jones - Goodland Kansas

Johnson Publishing Company - Boulder Colorado Copyright 1956.

William Henry Jones (1851-1930)

John Charles Jones (1876-1963)

Benton Weaver Jones (1881-1960)

James Wesley Jones (1879-1950)