Evan H. Jones
A scion of sturdy Welsh lineage and a representative of a well known pioneer family of the district of the Buckeye State to which this history is devoted, Mr. Jones has been long and prominently identified with business activities in the City of Ironton, Lawrence County, where he is now engaged in the automobile sale and livery business. He was the pioneer operator of one of the important stage lines in this section and few men in the Hanging Rock Iron Region have a wider circle of acquaintances than he, this implying virtually his possession of an equal number of staunch friends. In his present enterprise, which is one of the most substantial and important in this section of the state, Mr. Jones has fully upheld the prestige and popularity which he enjoyed in the earlier period of his business career, and it is most consonant that in this publication be entered a brief tribute to the man, the citizen, the friend whom everyone in his range of influence as accorded the fullest measure of confidence and good will.
Mr. Jones was born near Centerville, Gallia County, Ohio, on the fifteenth of June, 1848, and is a son of Evan and Anna (Davis) Jones, both natives of Wales, where the former was born in the year 1829. Their acquaintanceship was formed on the sailing vessel which afforded them transportation across the Atlantic to the United States, and their marriage was solemnized within a short time after their arrival in the land of their adoption. Mrs. Jones passed to the life eternal in 1854, and later Mr. Jones wedded Miss Frances Ray, who survived him by about four years, as she passed away in 1908 and he died in 1904. Of the three children of the first marriage the first born was Ebenezer, who died young; Mary is the wife of Edward Stratton, of Winchester, Kentucky; and Evan H., of this review is the youngest of the three, he having been about seven years old at the time of his mother's death. The five children of the second marriage are here named in order of their birth: James, Prank, Alice, Minerva, and Charles.
Evan H. Jones attended school about one year in his native county and the family then removed to Floyd County, Kentucky, where he was enabled to continue his studies in the common schools for a period of about three years, his father having there been engaged in the work of his trade, that of brick and stone mason, to winch he gave his attention during the major part of his active career, his residence having been maintained in Ironton for a number of years prior to his demise. From Kentucky Evan H. Jones came to Ironton, where for three years he was employed as a teamster in the service of Benjamin Savage, a well known pioneer of Lawrence county. For the ensuing ten years he was here engaged in the coal business and then, in 1871, he established the first stage or hack line between Ironton, Portsmouth and Ashland. Kentucky. He began operation with one horse and a light vehicle and by the time four years had elapsed he had in requisition fifty horses, with other facilities in proportion, he opened the main road connecting the three cities mentioned and in his travels over his route he became well known to citizens throughout the entire section traversed. He sold the stage line in 1875 and in the meantime he became also the owner and operator of the first moving vans in Ironton. He sold the stage line to Nicholas McMahon and thereafter continued to conduct his van business until 1884. when he sold the same to Polly Brothers. From 1885 until 1914 he was actively and successfully engaged in the livery business, with a large and well equipped establishment and a trade of very appreciable and profitable order. His services were specially in requisition in connection witli funerals, and his equipments for this line of service was recognized as the best in this section of the state. In 1914 he sold his livery business and is now engaged in the auto sale and livery business on South Third Street. In all the relations of life Mr. Jones has been found charitable, considerate and sympathetic, ever ready to lend aid to those in affliction or distress, and in view of this it can not be considered strange that he has a host of friends in the community which has long represented his home. He is loyal and public-spirited as a citizen, is independent in politics and his religious faith is in harmony with the Christian Science tenets, both he and his wife attending and supporting the fronton Church of this denomination. Mr. Jones resides in a pleasant home on South Fourth Street, being the owner of this property, and his residence is known for its gracious hospitality, with a ready welcome to all friends of himself and his family.
On the 3d of July, 1867, at lronton, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Jones to Miss Lucinda Wilber, daughter of the late Henry Wilber, of Zanesville, this state. Concerning the children of this felicitous union, the basis of an ideal home life, the following brief record is available: Charles, who is engaged in the undertaking business in Ironton, wedded Miss Matilda Eherts; they have no children. Harry, who wedded Miss Clara Morgan has no children, he being engaged as a mail carrier in the City of Cincinnati. Frank died in childhood. Rose is the wife of Oscar Chatfield. of Pikesville, Kentucky, and they have two children. Wilber, who is associated with his father in the auto business, has been twice married and has one child, Ralph. He first wedded Miss Mary Pyles and after her death he married Miss Anna Price, who likewise is deceased. Emma is the wife of Walter Rumble, of Huntington, West Virginia. Walter, employed as a salesman in the City of Cincinnati, married Miss Nora Siiurz and they have one child.
From "A Standing History of the Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio" by Eugene B. Willard, Daniel W. Williams, George O. Newman and Charles B. Taylor. Published by Lewis Publishing Company, 1916