Treasure Chest Thursday - Marble Top Table

Photograph 1

This little table, used in this photograph as a game table, is one of the family treasures.  From a brief search, it appears to be a Victorian occasional table.  One site described Victorian furniture as, 

Late 19th century. 
Woods used: Mahogany, walnut, rosewood.
Description: heavy, massive, substantial; dark finish; clumsy design; ornate carvings and decorations; marble tops used.
Description found at TLC.howstuffworks.com  

Photograph 2

This really is a beautiful piece of furniture.  For me though, even though it's a valuable antique, I think the best part is that it has been passed down through the family.  It was either purchased by Dudley and Caroline Jones, or by their son Arthur Clifton and Georgia Jones, and it was used in that same house on Scott Street by Arthur & Nell Jones, until it was moved in the 1970's to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where it was used by their daughter and her family.  Just this year it was moved to Dallas, where it has begun its service to the next generation. 


Photograph 1 - Arthur Jackson Jones & his brother, Dudley Emerson Jones sitting at Victorian side table [probably in the Scott Street House, Little Rock, Arkansas].  Dudley Emerson Jones, 1829 - 1913, Manuscript Collection MC 1305, Series 4, Folder 10. Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville.
Photograph 2. Christmas at the Deller home in Tulsa, Oklahoma; the third great granddaughter of Dudley Emerson Jones sitting in front of Victorian Side Table.  Personal photo by Carolyn Jones Deller. Christmas, 1990

(Not Really) Wordless Wednesday - Edward Curtis Jones

 ©2007 A.B. Deller, digital copy of portrait, original held by D. & M. Deller

Edward Curtis Jones, 1889 - 1960, c. 1890

Curtis, as he was known to his family, was the oldest son of Arthur Clifton Jones and Georgia A. Jackson; and later brother to Dudley Emerson and Arthur Jackson Jones.  He was born 25 August 1889 in Sedalia, Missouri, moved with his family to Little Rock, and graduated from the Little Rock High School in 1908.  Though we don't have his college records, we know he went to some institute of higher education; in every census after 1910 his occupation is listed as  Engineer.

He registered for the World War I draft, and fought in Europe, along with both of his brothers.  Family members recall seeing a picture of all three brothers together on top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, but it has been lost.

He returned to Little Rock, and to his wife, Jessie M. Colclasure in 1917.  The couple lived with his parents until after 1920, and their only child, Edward Curtis Jones, Jr., was born in 1921 in Arkansas, probably in the family home.  By 1930 the little family had moved to Memphis, Tennessee.  The next public record we hold is a newspaper clipping from 11 March 1945 that pictures a line of grieved parents, including Curtis and Jessie, as the "Army Recognized Their Sons' Valor in Europe's Sky,"  E. Curtis Jones Jr. had been killed in action over Hungary in World War II. 

His wife, Jessie, died in January 1957 of pneumonia and stomach cancer, after a fierce battle, and is buried at Memorial Park in Memphis.  We believe Curtis died on 7 March 1960 in Memphis Tennessee. He was survived by his brothers and their spouses, and one niece and her family.

Wordless Wednesday - Dudley Emerson Jones 1892-1971

©2007 A.B. Deller, digital copy of portrait, original held by D. & M. Deller

Dudley Emerson Jones 1892 - 1971; 

son of Arthur Clifton Jones

Little Rock, Arkansas, c. 1893

Wordless Wednesday - Dudley E. Jones Company

©2007 A.B. Deller, digital copy, original held by D. C. Deller

Dudley E. Jones Company
L-R: Unknown, Arthur Clifton Jones, Unknown, Dudley E. Jones

Little Rock, Arkansas; c. 1895

Tombstone Tuesday - Arthur Clifton Jones & Georgia Ann Jackson

Arthur Clifton Jones was the first son, and second child, of Dudley Emerson Jones and Caroline Peck. Born September 18, 1860 in Keokuk, Iowa. After the Civil War, Dudley moved his family, including Arthur, to Little Rock, Arkansas. We don't have many details of his life, but an a short biography that Aubrey F. Williams wrote in 1980 for the Masons lodge hall, included the following:

"He was raised to Master Mason in Western Star Lodge on March 5, 1890, and served as Worshipful Master in 1895and 1897. In 1900 he was High Priest of Union Chapter No. 2, R.A.M. He also was member of Knights of Pythias.

"The family lived at 814 Scott St., the house just south of First Presbyterian Church at 8th and Scott. His father owned Dudley E. Jones Co., a well known machinery and hardware business, where Arthur was employed s secretary and treasurer until the company went out of business in 1912. He died August 28, 1923.

"The obituary contains an interesting paragraph about Jones' life, as follows:

'In his youth and early manhood Mr. Jones took a lively interest in the activities of the time, and was a member of the Quapaw Guards, a drill team of the '80's, and he won a gold medal for being the best drilled man in the company. He also was a member of the first Boathouse Association here. Mr. Jones when a boy was the owner of a fine pony which took many prizes at the old state fairs held here.'"

Georgia Ann Jackson was born October 18, 1856 in Boone County, Missouri, the eldest child, and only daughter of William P. Jackson and Susan B. Johnson. The U.S. Federal Census lists Georgia's father as alternately a brick mason or a stonemason, and by 1880 he was listed as unemployed while his sons (who lived in his household) worked in the brick industry. On June 1st, 1875, Georgia graduated from high school, and nearly 12 years later married Arthur Clifton Jones, April 13, 1887. In the 1880 census she was listed "at home" - but family members remember her as a school teacher.

Arthur and Georgia's life together is a bit of a mystery. We have no photos of them together, and the only photo we have of Georgia herself is a portrait that we found buried among old family items labeled "Mrs. A.C. Jones". This seems odd to me, since there were quite a few pictures of her three sons, Edward Curtis, Dudley Emerson and Arthur Jackson Jones.

We know that they lived in Little Rock for the majority of their married life. Initially they must have lived in Sedalia, since both of the older boys were born there, in 1889 and 1892, but we have no records or information about that time (another instance of my 1890 U.S. Federal Census blues).

After his father's business closed, Arthur continued to work as a bookkeeper with another business, while his sons enlisted and were deployed to Europe in World War II. We have a book of letters written from Europe from the boys to their parents. One day soon I'll get those scanned in and write another entry on them.

After Arthur passed away, Georgia continued living at the Scott Street House, joined by her youngest son Arthur Jackson Jones and his new wife, Nell Marie Ingram. She welcomed Arthur and Nell's only child, her second grandchild, Carolyn Jones, just two months after Arthur Clifton passed away.

At Christmas 1928 she went to visit her oldest son, Edward Curtis Jones, his wife, Jessie M. Colcasure and her oldest grandson, Curtis Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee. On December 29th, After less than a weeks visit, she died from pneumonia and influenza, and was buried in Oakland Cemetery, Little Rock, Arkansas, next to her husband.

Wordless Wednesday - Cycling Club

Now those were bicycles!

L-R: Philip Bernays, Arthur Clifton Jones, others unknown. ca. 1890, Little Rock, Arkansas.
For history of this bicycle, see Peddling History.
 Original photograph held in the University of Arkansas Special Collections, Dudley Emerson Jones, 1829-1913, Manuscript Collection MC 1305, Fayetteville, AR. Digital image held by A. B. Deller, c2015