JONES FAMILY LEGACY BOOKS  

An email sent to family members 11/22/18 (distribution list is at bottom). [Links to pages copied from books are added to this email.]

From: Bill Jones

To Jones kin (no matter current surnames):

You may have received email or other information from my brother Bob that he is looking for a home or homes for material he and I have that were once owned by or related to earlier Joneses. I believe I have fewer objects than he has but we both would be glad to know if any of the clan, especially younger members, would want to become keepers of any of it. It’s  hard for us to just throw these things away. Bob has also found initial interest in a museum in Bicknell, Indiana, where we all emanated from via our ancestors, so if none of the clan wants any of the items, perhaps the museum will.

Today I am at last sorting through a box of books that long ago I was told belonged to my (our) grandfather, William Riley Jones and apparently some of his children. Dr. Jones was a medical doctor in Bicknell, Indiana, where I assume all of his 7 children were born (Lena, Zada, Ralph, Roy, Lloyd, Verne, Merlin); Dr. Jones died in 1905. At that time my father, Harold Verne Jones (“Verne”) was 3 years old. Later when very old my father told my brother and me how he still remembered how his father’s body was on display for a short time in the family living room, which I believe was the custom back then. I am also named William Riley Jones (“Bill”), with a 1936 birthdate. The name Riley shows up in some other family members, such as Casey (Winfield Riley Jones, I think) and my grandson Riley Plant.

There is a genealogical entry reached via Google, attributed to Winfield Jones, Jr. (Casey,  I assume):
Dr. William Riley Jones
Birthdate:               March 24, 1865 (40)
Birthplace:             Gibson County, Indiana, United States
Death:    November 04, 1905 (40)
Bicknell, Knox County, Indiana, United States    
          
I remember books similar to the ones I am sorting today (perhaps the very ones I am now sorting) were on a shelf in the boyhood home I shared with my brother Robert Verne Jones (“Bob”) in Watsonville, California. It seems to me the books I now have are only part of the ones that were at our boyhood home. I know some years ago I was thinking there might be some repository for some of these books and believe I tried to find such institutions but do not recall whether I succeeded or even whether some Jones family members might have taken some.

I am also embarrassed to report that I do not recall how I became caretaker of these books, but sense that late in his life my father charged me with that task. Where the books were when they were transferred to me I do not recall, ‘though it was very likely a home of my father later in his life in Watsonville, nor do I recall how they got (presumably) from California to Colorado, where I now live. I do know the books have been on a shelf in my basement a long time, and may have been on some other shelf in an earlier home of mine in Colorado. As already noted I think it likely there may be more books somewhere that were once part of my (our) grandfather’s collection. At any rate these books have traveled at least from Indiana to California to Colorado. One wonders how they got from Bicknell, Indiana, to Watsonville, California (via Prescott, AZ and Fresno/Sonora/Modesto, CA? along with some other Jones possessions).

I have gone through the books and copied inscriptions, scribbles, drawings that are mainly in the frontispiece or tail pages. Not all books have such notations. Some show signatures or initials or printings of the name William Riley Jones in fancy script, some of which seem to have been made with a quill pen because they show script lines of varying width (not surprising, for I recall metal “quill” pens and inkwells on school desks when I was a boy). Some books have a sticker on the inside that indicate a book came from Jones’ library. Could this have been a lending library? Most bear publication dates around 1880-1890. I have also scanned pertinent parts of the books where additions may have been made by William Riley Jones and also included some title and copyright pages and occasionally an illustration. I am quite familiar with books from the period of these from my (our) grandfather and have always been impressed with the engraved illustrations; in most cases those in these books are similarly well done.

Although the books are all about the same vintage, some of the books have pages that are brittle while others are still firm. This may be due to the paper they were printed on or how they have been stored over the century plus of their span. Some have covers that are loose but repaired with filament tape; others are intact. Almost all have some imperfections, marks, blotches, etc.

“The First Battle a story of the campaign of 1896” and published in 1896 had 2 locks of fine, amber-colored human (I suppose) hair with the longest strands about 6 inches, but with no indication of whose it was. I left it where it was.

Another book had a “The Lincoln Legion” membership card from the “Abstinence department of the anti-saloon league” signed by Verne Jones apparently March 10, 1912, in a boyish script stuck between two pages of a medical book. “A System of Practical Therapeutics—Vol. II”, 1892. Although in a book owned by Verne’s father, the card must  have been placed in the book after his father had died in 1905, because of Verne’s dated signature and in case that has bene misinterpreted, for the copyright notice on the card is 1909. One wonders if the card rested in that book ever since first placed until I came across it today. At any rate it also shows how the medical books of William Riley Jones were kept in the family even after the physician’s death in 1905. Attachments to this email show the card and its place in the book where I found it today. I made this note:

11/22/2018
Membership card to “The Lincoln Legion” signed by Verne Jones 3-1012
Found today by W R Jones, son of Verne, between pages 834 and 835 of “A System of Practical Therapeutics, Vol II ”, 1892.
This volume bears the signature on a frontispiece page of W.R. Jones, who was the grandfather of the finder W R Jones and the father of Verne.
Verne’s legal name is Harold Verne Jones; This signature of his indicates he was already going by Verne as a child, for the handwriting is that of a young person and  the date may be March 10 1912. His father W R Jones was a medical doctor who died in 1905. Verne was born in 1902.

A SYSTEM OF PRACTICAL THERAPEUTICS-Volume II,   edited by Hobart Amery Hare, Lea Brothers & Co.: Philadelphia; 1892.
1st frontispiece page: “W.R. Jones” in handwritten script at page top.
this is the book in which was Verne Jones’ “The Lincoln Legion” membership card, between pages 834 and 835. Verne’s signature on the card is in boyish script and is dated 3-1012, apparently March 10, 1912. The card has a copyright date of 1909 so Verne signed this card after his father died in 1905 and so the card was inserted into the book after his father’s last use of the book.
Search of book titles reveals later editions, nothing available on this 1892 edition.
[click for selected pages--11]

A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON MATERIA MEDICA AND THERAPEUTICS, by Roberts Bartholow, D. Appleton and Company: New York; 1890
page opposite inside cover, in script: “Wm R. Jones, Bicknell, Ind. Oct 15, 1890
on page opposite inside back cover in script at left top: “W.R. Jones”
the book describes uses of many substances of minerals and plants that could be used in treating maladies. More recent editions are available but I have not found any earlier copies for sale.
[click for selected pages--12]

Please forward this email

This email is going to those underlined below, with the request that each forward it to your kids and kids' kids and others as shown or as you wish.

Bob Jones
Richard Jones: Please also advise Ken
Anne Dewveall
Robin Varnum: Rosemary and your sisters and any of them whom you might think interested
Casey Jones
Peter Langford
Debra Plant
Meredith Holsworth
Riley Plant
Russell Jones
Katy Jones

Thanks for reading,

Bill Jones
637 Blue Ridge Rd.
Silverthorne, CO 80498
970/468-7673
billj@summitco.us

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This "Jones Family Legacy Books" page last modified11/22/18: \summitco.us\sumconts.htm. Copyright  ©  2018  Elizabeth A. Kerr & William R Jones.