WILLIAM JONES and
ROSA BELLE (GREATHOUSE) JONES

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My mother, Grace (Jones) Ferguson Russell talked about her Uncle Will in two audio tapes she made about her life. The following are excerpts from the tapes which include Grace's memories of Uncle Will. It has been lightly edited for clarity.

 Who are the people mentioned?

• Grace and Gerald, children of Frank and Lizzie (Worth) Jones and niece and nephew of William Jones

• Rose (Greathouse) Jones, Uncle Will's wife and Earl Jones, their son

• Uncle Walter Worth was the brother of Lizzie (Worth) Jones

• George Ferguson was the first husband of Grace (Jones) Ferguson Russell

• Jennie (Jones) Jackson was sister to Will and Frank Jones and mother of Vesper Jackson

• Margaret (Jackson) Johnson was the daughter of Jennie (Jones) Jackson

• Hugh Russell was the second husband of Grace (Jones) Ferguson Russell

 ***

I think it was about 1929* [Comment: William was in Missouri at the time of the 1930 census] that my dad's brother Will came to live with us. He was from Missouri. I guess he had worked in the coal mines for years, but there wasn't much work there so he came up looking for work. His wife's name was Rose but they were separated, didn't live together. Both of them were very deaf. She was kind of tall. I can remember one time when she and their son Earl came, I think he was probably a teenager. Uncle Will and Aunt Rose wouldn't speak to each other. If they wanted to correspond or something, why he'd tell someone to tell Rose this and she'd say tell Will this.

Anyway Uncle Will always lived with us from the time I can remember. He was very likable; everyone in the whole community and around the country liked him and got along well. He had one problem and that was his drinking. He liked to drink when he was off work; he was good to work but every once in a while he'd have to take off. One thing my dad told him when he came was that he wouldn't put up with drinking. So whenever he had one of his drinking binges somebody would bring him home and he'd go upstairs to where his room was and he'd sleep it off and maybe he'd be up there a couple days or so.

He had his room in the upstairs which was unfinished except for the floor. Don't know how he kept from freezing. In winter he took a heated brick to bed to keep his feet warm. We used flat irons. They sat on the stove all day to be warm so that we could take them to bed.

Of course wood was used for heat in winter. That was a big deal. They would cut down trees then with a buzz saw. Then it had to be chopped into pieces the right length to go into the cook stove. And that was his job. I wish I had a picture of the pile of wood. He was really neat. I would say it would be 10 to 12 feet across, ricked up all the way around in a circle and then filled in the center. And he would always carry in the wood at night and that sort of thing.

He worked hard. I guess he worked for his board. Quite often he worked for neighbors during the day and came home at night.

I remember when we were in school, he'd hitch up the team and wagon and come after us at school if it was stormy, put in a bunch of hay and some quilts and was really a welcome sight. We'd say, oh, here comes Uncle Will. We won't have to walk home in the cold.

He never milked cows as he had a finger missing. Nor do I remember him riding a horse. In the winter he would trap beaver, mink, muskrat, and skunks. We always knew when he got a skunk! He liked to fish. It was quite a walk to the river but he did it. He'd go down to the river and catch a lot of fish. And every once in a while he'd catch a soft-back turtle. They were really good eating. He knew how to fix them. The last year at the ranch I would take him to the river then he would usually walk home. Uncle Walter always said if he fell in, he'd die happy.

He also chewed tobacco but he was very clean about it. He had a pail he called his spittoon he set by his chair and used that. He kept it clean and emptied it and took care of it in that way.

He was good to us. He loved children. He called Gerald and I "Jigs and Maggie" from the comic strip because we were always loading our little red wagon and moving from one play house to another like Jigs and Maggie. He couldn't write, had to use an X to sign his name. He couldn't hear the radio, but with his ear right up to it he enjoyed Lum & Abner and the news.

Christmas, that was the main holiday for us. Uncle Will almost always got us something if no more than candy or nuts. He would have mom or someone pick out something or he'd go to town. I still have a manicure set he gave me. He enjoyed Christmas. I always decorated mom's home for Christmas. So when I got married he worried that they wouldn't have decorations, but I assured him I would come and decorate.

Mom had her garden down on the south side of the ditch. Uncle Will always had a big watermelon patch and that was a big time in the fall, watermelon time. I remember one year he raised so many he hauled them up in the wagon.

When he was past 80 he developed cataracts. He didn't want to have surgery but we convinced him to do it and it was well worth it as he lived 10 years longer. After my dad passed away in 1951, he was devastated with mom moving to Sargent. He was in his 80s at that time. It was hard for him. He tried living with his daughter and with his sister. He couldn't seem to cope very well any place. I think he was living with Aunt Jennie when he asked if he could come live with us. This was after I was married to George (Ferguson). That would have been in about '52, probably. We were living on the home place (the place Grace was raised) at that time. George told him we'd talked it over and decided he could if he promised he wouldn't drink. He never drank again. We also told him he'd have to abide the 5 kids noise. Of course him being deaf, that wasn't so much of a problem, I'm sure. He walked with a cane sometimes, hooking a kids leg or neck in fun, usually. Anyway they respected him.

In November (1952) that we took a trip to Alliance for Vesper's birthday. Uncle Will and mom went with us. On our way home we had a car accident. It was kind of late at night and this drunk driver was coming down the road and hit us. So we were hospitalized in Alliance a couple of days. Finally had to come home on the train because our car was a total wreck. George had some broken ribs and I had some cracked ribs. Our son Frank had a cut on his head. I guess he still has the scar and Uncle Will had quite a gash on his head.

Then it was the next spring in April that George's accident happened. We didn't have our deal settled up yet from the accident so this really hurried it up quick and that way I had money to make a down payment on a house in Sargent. We moved before school started that fall. After George's accident, Uncle Will was devastated again but I assured him he could move with us to Sargent. Mom came and stayed with us to help with the children so we had quite a house full. Uncle Will and Grandma and all the kids. This was in 1953.

When Hugh and I told him we were getting married, that was another blow. We were making arrangements for him to go to a home here in Sargent who cared for the elderly, as there wasn't a rest home at that time, but the last of January he suffered a stroke and passed away in a few days, so he didn't have to go where he didn't want to. He passed away on February 3, 1957.

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Other memories of Uncle Will.

Marlan Ferguson, son of Grace (Jones) Ferguson Russell, remembers Uncle Will living with them in Sargent in the 1950s. When the kids would play under the table, Uncle Will would hook them with his cane and pull them out, all in fun. Marlan attributes his love of orange slice candy to Uncle Will. 

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This is an abbreviated story of Will and Rose and their children...

William Jones was born 20 January 1867 in Missouri[1]. His obituary and tombstone give the year as 1865, however, if he was born in 1865 he most likely would have been born in Pennsylvania while his father, John Jones, was serving in the Civil War. His parents were John and Alvina (Williams Davis) Jones.

In the 1870 census, William J. was 3 years old and living with his parents John and Alvina in Bevier township, LaPlata post office, Macon county, Missouri. Also in the household were his sister Jane, and Caroline Davis, whom I believe is Alvina's sister[2].

In the 1880 census, William was not counted with his parents in Bevier. He is found with his grandparents, Daniel and Jane Davis and their daughter, also named Jane, in Bee Branch Township, Chariton county, Missouri. William was 13, his relationship to the head of household was grandson, and he was a laborer[3].

Edd Jones, born to Rosa before her marriage to William, was born 4 March 1891 and died 28 October 1961 in Columbia, Boone county, Missouri[4]. His wife was Julia Haney and they had at least one daughter, Helma. I believe  Jennie's daughter Margaret (Jackson) Johnson and possibly my mother, Grace, were in contact with Helma throughout the years[5].

In 1893, William married Rosa Bell Greathouse in Bevier, Macon county, Missouri[6]. They were the parents of nine children, four of whom died before the age of four. All were born in Macon county, Missouri.

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[1] "Last Rites Held For William Jones," William C. Jones, undated clipping, ca. 1957, from unidentified newspaper; privately held by Mary Russell Hollowell [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] Grand Island, Nebraska, 2017. Newspaper is probably the Sargent Leader.  His birth place was likely Chariton (township, Macon County, Missouri, or Chariton county, next to Macon County, instead of Sheridan, Missouri.)

[2] 1870 U.S. census, Macon County, Missouri, population schedule, LaPlata Post Office, p. 11, dwelling 95, family 95, John Jones family; image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 April 2000); citing NARA microfilm publication M593, roll 790.

[3] 1880 U.S. census, Chariton County, Missouri, population schedule, Bee Branch Township, enumeration district 164,  p. 15, dwelling 138, family 141, Daniel Davis family; image, Ancestry (http://www.Ancestry.com : accessed 1 April 2010); citing NARA publication T9, Roll 680.

[4] Missouri Bureau of Vital Statistics, death certificate, file S1-035879, Edd Jones, 28 Oct 1961, Boone County; "Missouri Death Certificates, 1910 - 1966," digital image, Missouri Digital Heritage, (https://s1.sos.mo.gov/Records/Archives/ArchivesMvc/DeathCertificates : accessed 26 October 2017).

[5] Memories of Margaret (Jackson) Johnson and Grace (Jones) Ferguson Russell. Grace took notes of conversations she and Margaret had about Will's children.

[6] Macon County, Missouri, Missouri, Marriage Records, 1805-2002, William Jones-Rosa Greathouse, 1893, page 148; image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 October 2017), citing Missouri Marriage Records, Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, Missouri.