Jacob and Anne Jones
Information comes from the 1899
Illustrated History of Idaho, page 619
Jacob Jones, a pioneer property owner, merchant, farmer, blacksmith and hotel keeper at Montpelier Idaho and one of the most prominent citizens of the town, was born in Breconshire, South Wales, May 14, 1825. His parents were descended from old Welsh families and his father was a Methodist and his mother was a Presbyterian.
Of their ten children he was the youngest. He was educated and entered upon the active struggle of life in his native land and there married Miss Anne Collier on the Saturday before Christmas 1852. As early as 1846 he had been converted to the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and he had done much missionary work on its behalf, as a result of which many hundreds have embraced the faith. His wife had also been for some years a convert.
In the spring of 1853 only a few months after their marriage, they set out for the United States on board the sailing ship International, from Liverpool. There were six hundred passengers and the voyage consumed eight weeks. At the end of which time they gladly disembarked at New Orleans, Louisiana. Mr. Jones and his brother Henry went to Fillmore, Missouri, where the brothers engaged for a time in contracting and building. From there Mr. Jones went with his family to Nebraska City, Nebraska, where they lived eight years.
In the spring of 1863 they removed to Salt Lake City, where Mr. Jones opened a blacksmith shop, having mastered the trade in Wales and being thoroughly familiar with the work in all its details. At that time the war had brought iron up to a high price and Salt Lake City was isolated from the older civilization of the country to a greater extent than it is now and blacksmith's iron cost Mr. Jones twenty-five cents a pound. To pay these prices he was obliged to charge good prices for his work and he made money.
In 1864 President Brigham Young of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints called for volunteers to go to live in Bear Lake valley, now in Bear Lake county, Idaho with a view of settling the country and spreading the gospel. As a volunteer, Mr. Jones came to the valley thirty-five years ago in 1864, when there was not a house in the valley, from river head to river mouth.
During the next year (1865) he brought out his family. During the first summer they lived in the willows and slept in their wagon and in the fall, in preparation for the rigors of winter, they erected a small log cabin. Every season for six years all that they attempted to raise was destroyed by crickets, grasshoppers or early frosts. These troubles and the unfriendly attitude of the Indians rendered the prospect for the devoted settlers very dark indeed. They were ordered away by the Shoshone Indians and when they did not go Chief Washakee went to Salt Lake city and conferred with President Young about the matter. Brigham Young believed it was cheaper to feed Indians than to fight them, and had confidence in their friendship if it could be gained. he feasted Washakee and impressed him so favorable in every way that the settlers were permitted to remain without molestation.
The pioneers adopted a friendly and conciliatory policy in dealing with the Indians and rarely had serious trouble with them. Once Pocatello, the Bannock chief, came to the settlement with his braves and treated the whites with much insolence. Some of the Indians demanded beef and flour, which were scarce articles there at the time and some of them amused themselves and their companions by standing on the settlers beds and otherwise rendering themselves offensive and ridiculous. Two men were dispatched secretly to Cache valley for help and the next day there were fifty minutemen in hand and Pocatello and his followers withdrew with as good grace as possible and never troubled the settlers afterward.
There was no mill anywhere near and grain was ground in coffee mills and the pioneers had no base of supplies nearer than Cache valley. But strange as it may appear at first thought, Mr. Jones was actually prospering in a financial way. he had established a blacksmith shop and was getting as much as six dollars for shoeing a span of horses and was being paid for other work at proportionate prices.
When he had saved up some capital he built a big frame house and occupied it as a residence and hotel. he planted trees about it and made it as comfortable and inviting as possible and here Mrs. Jones set a good table and gave every one a hearty welcome and a cheery good bye, as a result of which he and Mrs. Jones prospered beyond their most sanguine calculations. The house was kept open as a hotel until 1897 and since then Mr. Jones has entertained only favored old customers and personal friends.
He and Edward Burgoyne acquired the land on which the new town of Montpelier has grown up. They have built many houses and sold many lots and are still the largest owners of property there. In this way and other purchases he became the owner of much valuable farm land and upon the marriage of one of his sons it is his rule to give him a good farm. He abandoned blacksmithing after having carried on the business with success about fifteen years and in 1897, when he ceased keeping hotel, he retired from active life.
Mr. and Mrs. Jones have had twelve children, of whom nine are living.
Children of Jacob Jones and Anne Elizabeth Collier
1. Nessi A Jones 1857 in Nebraska City; m-C Webster
2. William Walter Jones b-10 Sep 1859 in Nebraska City; d-1 May 1869; br-Montpelier Cemetery
3. Lillian E Jones b-1861 in Nebraska City; m-John Stevens
4. Thomas William Jones b-26 Mar 1863 in Nebraska City; d-22 Aug 1902; br-Montpelier Cemetery
5. Anna Levina Jones b-9 June 1865 in Bloomington; d-7 Mar 1892; br-Montpelier Cemetery
6. Franklin Jones b-28 Apr 1867 in Bloomington; d-16 Mar 1959 in Montpelier; br-Montpelier
Cemetery
7. Jacob A Jones b-17 June 1868 in Montpelier; d-12 Nov 1924; br-Montpelier
Cemetery
8. Nellie S Jones b-25 Mar 1870 in Montpelier; d-29 Jan 1910 in Montpelier; br-Montpelier
Cemetery; m-Thomas Louis Glen
9. Florence May Jones b-1872 in Montpelier; d-16 June 1941 in Salt Lake City; br-Kemmerer
Wyo; m-Clem Oakley 15 July 1895 in Montpelier
10. John Henry Jones b-6 June 1874 in Montpelier; d-4 Sep 1945 in Gridley Calif.
m-Ida Alberta
11. Daisy Jones b-31 Dec 1876 in Montpelier; d-12 Sep 1959 in Salt Lake; br-Montpelier
Cemetery; m-Joseph Nelson
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