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.