Thomas S. Jones
Thomas S. Jones, general farmer, of Scioto Township, owns a highly cultivated farm of fifty acres and is one of the representative citizens of this section. He was born in Concord Township, Delaware County, Ohio. October 30, 1875, and is a son of Perry J. and Ellen Jane (Murfield) Jones.
Perry J. Jones, father of Thomas S., was also a native of Scioto Township, where he died September 13. 1900, aged fifty-one years. He continued to farm the old homestead until 1880. when he moved to the farm now owned by his son, Thomas S. He was a Democrat, but took no very active part in politics. He married a daughter of George Murfield, who was a substantial farmer of Concord Township. Of their eight children, seven reached maturity, namely: Thomas S.; Harrison W., residing at Ostrander; Susan, who married William Holly, of Liberty Township; William, residing in Scioto Township; Ernest, residing at Ostrander; Lena, who married Eram Hall, of Liberty Township; and Myrtle M., who married Henry Stawser, of Concord Township. Some years after the death of her first husband. Mrs. Jones married Thomas Harris and they reside in Paulding County, Ohio. She is a member of the United Brethren Church. The Jones family is of Welsh extraction and the grandfather of Thomas S. Jones came to Delaware County from Pennsylvania. In his early years he followed shoemaking, but he was a man of such excellent business qualifications that he soon enlarged his interests and in the course of time became one of the most extensive buyers of stock in this section. He married Laand Stottlemyer, and he died at Bellpoint about 1884.
Thomas S. Jones was educated in the schools at Bellpoint and White Sulphur, and remained on the home farm until his marriage. He then engaged in farming in Crawford County, and so continued until 1905, when he purchased the home farm and has continued its cultivation ever since. He raises all the leading cereals but makes corn his main crop, and he keeps about forty head of hogs, twenty of sheep and five of cattle, doing a safe and satisfactory business. On October 4, 1900, Mr. Jones was married to Lottie Hazlett, who was reared in Crawford County, and who is a daughter of Mason Hazlett, of Scioto Township. They have had four children, the survivors bearing the names respectively of Ardice Marie, and Mary Florence. The two deceased were Bertha Elizabeth and Ruth Arline. Mr. and Mrs. Jones are members of the United Brethren Church at Ostrander, and the former is a stanch Republican in politics.
From 20th Century History of Delaware County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, Edited and compiled by James R. Lytle, Delaware, Ohio, Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908