A Needle In a Needle Stack
The search for David E. Jones (1830-1902)
Depending on your sources and time frame, the surname “Jones” is about the 5th most common surname in the United States. The same can be said for “David” when you look at first names for males.1
Our work is cut out for us today, since we are looking for the origins of David E. (possibly “Eligh”) Jones, who was born about December 1830 in Pennsylvania and died in Harrison County, Iowa, on 8 August 1902.
How Do We Know What We Know?
We’re beginning our search with the facts we know about David based on research I did on his daughter, Alice Frances (Jones) McCullough - my wife’s 3rd-great-grandmother. There are a lot of records from 1870 forward that give us clues that we can use to narrow our search results down as we dig backward. This is how we know his approximate birthdate and that he was born in Pennsylvania. His obituary puts his family’s arrival in Iowa about 1867 (which is supported by the birth place/date information for his children) and the marriage records for his children recorded his wife’s maiden name as “Brookhouser,” which is useful information.
I talked about a few additional finds in April:
Two key pieces of evidence are Census records that appear to show our David Jones living in Meadville, Crawford County, PA (1850) and in French Creek, Mercer County, PA (1860). The 1860 shows David already married to Susanna, and Alice is listed as “Frances” on the following page. I don’t have a marriage record for the couple, but Susanna Brookhouser appears within her parents’ household in 1850 in Hayfield, Crawford County, PA.
At the end of that piece, I put out my usual plea for anyone else researching this family to say hello, and recently heard from Jodie, who is descended from Alice’s brother, Will.
Jodie has found a lot of information.
New Leads and Old Reports
“A Family Reunion” 1904 newspaper clipping from Missouri Valley Times - lists several of Susanna’s Brookhouser siblings, putting two of them in Meadville and Sagertown, PA.
Our county and its people: a historical and memorial record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania - names a William Jones, resident of Hayfield Township, but doesn’t provide a biography.
Crawford County Genealogical Society: Jones Family Record
This last document appears to have been originally published by the Crawford County Genealogical Society in 2005 and it looks like a hard copy is housed in the Oswego Public Library in Illinois.2
There are three sections shown for the “Jones Family” listed in the record, and Jodie’s document appears to have the first two. The first section is a transcript of three pages from a family bible provided by a descendant named Helen Osterberg, Erie, Pa, listing birthdates of William’s family, and his son Robert’s. The second is “THE DESCENDANTS OF WILLIAM & MARGARET (FITZ RANDOLPH) JONES OF WOODCOCK TOWNSHIP” by William B. Moore. It provides a well-sourced descendant report for William Jones, who appears to be the same man named in “Our county and its people…”
William Jones had a son, Robert, born June 23, 1789. According to Mr. Moore, Robert’s eighth child was “David E. Jones, b. Dec. 19, 1830.” This fits with the transcript of birth dates. Mr. Moore’s genealogy cites only one piece of evidence for David E. Jones: his 1880 Census record in St. John, Harrison County, Iowa.
This is a good lead, but Mr. Moore also lists the children of Robert’s younger brother, John Mounts Jones, which includes a son—“David Jones, b. ca. 1830, crossing the plains in 1862, never heard from again”—which could also describe our David Jones.
The Way Ahead
I’m pretty sure that I agree with Jodie and Mr. Moore. David E. Jones is probably the son of Robert and Letitia (Roberts) Jones. The best strategy I can think of is to create profiles in my Ancestry tree for both Robert Jones and John Mounts Jones, using the leads and source information provided by Mr. Moore, and then work my way “down” to see if I can find more direct evidence connecting our David to either of them.
Along the way, I have a ton of Brookhouser leads to explore, and friends and neighbors (FAN) to look for who might provide more clues.
The goal is to push my Wavetop for the Jones family back at least one or two generations.
Let the hunt begin!
Social Security Administration, “Top Names Over the Last 100 Years”
Fox Valley (Illinois) Genealogical Society: https://ilfvgs.org/online-indexes/mikes-index/volume-items/?source=CW&volume=28,2