Silas William Jones and Mary Josephine Cronkhite of Marion County, Iowa

PART SEVEN

CHAPTER 12

THE FAMILY of SILAS JONES and JOSEPHINE CRONKHITE

Tragedy

2 November 2016

When Silas William Jones was born on 17 February 1852, Knoxville Township, in Marion County, Iowa was still untamed land. His father, Isaac Jones, was 22 years old but would be turning 23 in two weeks. His mother, Mary Jane Booth, was 21 years old but would be turning 22 in about three weeks. He was the second of 13 children born to his parents. He never knew his grandfathers as they both died before he was born. He was 13 years old when his paternal grandmother Anna Maple Jones died and 35 years old when his maternal grandmother, Mary Ann Lane Booth died.

The first record of Silas Jones is from the 1856 State Census of Iowa where he is listed as “Cyrus” Jones within the household of his father Isaac. His baby brother Jasper had just died before the census was taken. Others in this household were an older brother and baby sister.
The next census in which Silas is located is in the 1860 United States Census taken a year before the Civil War began with Southern Insurrectionists. His home in 1860 was in Knoxville Township, Marion, Iowa, Post Office Knoxville. His was the 103rd family enumerated in the county. He is identified this time as “Silas Jones” age 8 which meant his birth year was 1852. His birthplace was given as Iowa. He is shown with his parents and siblings, Albert Jones age 9, M.A. [Mary Ann] Jones age 4, C.H. [Charles Henry] Jones age 2 and Z [Zachaeus] Jones age 1.
Not long after this federal census was taken Abraham Lincoln was elected president of a divided nation. Silas Jones’ childhood was marked by the Civil War which began when he was 9 years old and ended when he was 13 years old. His father did not enlist in the Union Army but several of his uncles on both sides of his family did. All of whom returned home from the war in 1865.
During the decade of the 1860’s, Silas worked on his father’s prosperous farm in Knoxville Township near White Breast Creek and also received some schooling past grammar school.
His parents, Isaac Jones and Mary Jane Booth were divided in their religious affiliation with the Jones side of the family being staunched Baptists and the Booths being Methodists. This divided household may have been one of the reasons Silas was affiliated with neither denomination and held no sectarian beliefs. Rather as an adult he became a member of the Masonic Lodge, a quasi-religious fraternal organization.

When Silas Jones was 18 years old, three of his Booth uncles turned Outlaw when uncles Ike and Joe Booth rescued their brother Charles Wesley from being hanged as a cattle thief in Monroe County. This must have shocked the respectable Jones family who were prominent people in the Knoxville Township. Ike Booth joined the United States Army and was stationed at Fort Dodge, Charley Booth assumed an alias James Allen and went into hiding, and Joe Booth went west and disappeared from family knowledge and probably continued as a fugitive from the law as he shot the sheriff who was lynching his brother Charley. The Booth’s troubles were kept a dark family secret.

The 1870 United States Census of Marion County, Iowa enumerated Silas Jones still in the home of his parents in Knoxville Township, Marion, Iowa, Post Office Knoxville. He was a 17 year old living with his middle aged parents and nine siblings ranging from 19 to 2 years old. After 1870 two more siblings were born to his parents when he was 19 years old and 22 years old. The census was taken on 16 June 1870 and showed that his father Isaac was a wealthy farmer owning $6000 worth of real estate and his home and farm equipment and livestock was worth $2800. Silas’ family was so well off that at the age of 17, he had no occupation but was simply listed as being at home. No doubt however, he labored on his father’s productive farm.
The agricultural census for 11 June 1860 showed that he had 50 acres in cultivation and 110 acres unimproved that was worth $3000 with farm implements worth an additional $100. His father had 7 horses, 3 milk cows, and 7 head of cattle as well as 12 hogs all worth $615. The census did not include barn yard fowl but all these farm animals would have needed daily feeding, watering, and the cows milking. His farm produced 130 bushels of wheat, 1500 bushels of corn, and 50 bushels of oats.

Silas was the first of Isaac Jones children to marry and leave home. He married 16 year old Mary Josephine Cronkhite on 28 February 1875 at her father’s farm house. She was called “Josie” and was the pretty daughter of a prosperous Dutch farmer named Abraham Cronkhite who lived a mile southeast of Isaac Jones. Josie Cronkhite may have left home at an early age to be away from a stepmother who had a house hold of young children of her own.

Josie Cronkhite was born in November 1858 in Knoxville Township to Abraham Cronkhite [Abram for short] and his 2nd wife Nancy White Burch. Josie’s father’s first wife and her half siblings died before 1857 when Abraham married Nancy Burch the daughter of a Baptist elder named Landon J Burch. He along with Silas Jones grandmother Anna Maple Jones had been a founding member of the Baptist Church of Knoxville in 1845. Certainly Silas Jones would have noticed the pretty Josie at Baptist Church functions and as they were of similar faiths both his and her parents would have not opposed their marriage.
Josie Cronkhite’s mother died at the young age of 26 leaving two infant daughters, Josie 3 years old, and Augusta “Gussie” Victoria Cronkhite age five days short of being 1 year old. Her father married as his third wife Phoebe [Phebe] Walters a 31 year old spinster on 17 May 1864. They were the parents of five children by the time Josie left home.

An 1875 plat map of Township 75 Range 20 of Marion County [Knoxville Township] showed that Silas Jones and his older brother Albert M Jones shared a 120 acre farm with each brother having 60 acres. Both farms adjoined their father Isaac’s 160 acre farm on the west. Silas Jones’ farm was in Section 22 and 40 acres and was located in the southwest quarter of the North East quarter with an addition 20 acres in southeast quarter of the North East quarter. His brother Albert’s 60 acre adjoined Silas’ farm to the south. The plat showed only one home of the two farms so the brothers may have shared a house as Silas was a newlywed and Albert was still single.

Silas and Josie’s first child Fred Newton Jones was both Isaac Jones and Abraham Cronkhite’s first grandchild. Fred Jones was born 17 May 1877 at his father’s farm in Knoxville Township. The choice of the name is peculiar only in the fact that neither Silas nor Josie had relatives by those names and customarily first born sons are named after family members.
Silas Jones’ family was enumerated on 5 August 1880 as living in Knoxville Township but not by any relatives. His age is given as 28 years old and born in Iowa. His occupation was given as farmer. Silas’ wife is listed as Josie M. Jones age 20 when she was closer to being 22 years. The census would not have recorded the fact that she was 8 months pregnant with her second child who was born 25 September 1880 named Don Weaver Jones, another unusual choice. Their only child within the 1880 household was their eldest son named “Freddie” and who was 3 years old.

The agricultural Census of 1880 showed that Silas Jones had a farm worth $1,200. For the season 1879 to 1880, 24 acres of grassland provided 90 tons of hay, another 22 acres provided 265 bushels of wheat, 8 acres produced 200 bushels of oats and 47 acres produced 1,410 bushels of corn which produced $500 in income. Additionally he had 60 apple trees that produced $60 worth of fruit, and a half acre planted in potatoes. Livestock on his place in 1879 were 2 mules, 2 milk cows, 5 calves, a bull and two cattle. He also had 48 hogs and 50 barnyard chickens that produced 200 dozen eggs. The milk cows produced 500 pounds of butter. By 1880 he had purchased additional livestock that he now had 5 cows and 10 other cattle. He also had 19 sheep which produced 65 pounds of wool. He hired a man for two weeks in 1879 for $16 who probably helped harvested the crops.

A third son was born 29 June 1882 to Silas and Josie whom they named Abraham Augustus who was the first child named for a family member, Josie’s father. He was born in Knoxville. Township.

The 1885 State Census of Marion County showed that Silas still lived adjacent his father Isaac Jones. However, now Silas Jones residence is listed as being in the Northwest quarter of the Southwest quarter of Section 26 where he must have moved prior to this census. His father Isaac’s residence is now listed where his sons Albert and Silas had farmed in 1875. His father was living in the South half of the Northwest quarter of Section 22. Although living in different section they are enumerated next to each other in the 1885 census as household 237 and 238.
Isaac Jones is listed as 55 years old, his wife Mary Jane Booth Jones as 54 years old. Still at home were the following children, Charles H Jones age 27, George J Jones age 24, Martha J Jones age 22, Louisa E Jones age 20, Edward M Jones age 17, John Q Jones age 13 and Jessie R Jones age 10.

Silas W Jones is listed as 32 years old and his wife Josephine Cronkhite Jones as 26 years. Three children are listed in the household, 7 year old Fred Jones, 3 year old Down [Don] W Jones and 1 year old Abram A Jones. The ages of Don and Abram are wrong. Don should have been listed as 5 years old and Abram as 3 years old.

His father in law Abraham Cronkhite’s family is listed as household 226 and living in Northeast quarter of the Southeast quarter of Section 25 just to the east of Silas. Abram Cronkite was listed as 61 years old and his wife Phebe was ten years younger. Children still living at home were “Gusta” Cronkhite age 23, Azel Cronkhite age 18, Sephus [Josephus] E Cronkhite age 15, Syrus [Cyrus] E age 13, Bessie Cronkhite age 11 and Abraham Cronkhite 8 years old.

The 1890 census of the United States was destroyed in a fire but in 1892, seven years later at the age of 39 Silas Jones began to sell off his property in Section 26 in Township 76. On 16 January 1892 he made a land contract with G.W. Millison for the East half of the Southwest half. A week later on 23 January he sold to Millison his 124 acre farm for $3,300. The property description is “northwest quarter of the Southwest quarter and 30 rods east and west. He recorded the deed on 19 February 1892.

Also on the 23rd of January Silas filed a deed where he sold a parcel of land to his father for $1. “We S.W Jones and Mary J. Jones husband and wife” sold to his father Isaac. “A strip of ground two rods wide across the northside of the Northeast quarter of the Northwest quarter of Section 26 containing one acre.”

This was basically a land swap probably to give Isaac an easement after Silas Jones sold his land because also on the 23 January “We Isaac Jones and Mary J Jones husband and wife” sold to Silas for one dollar, “a strip of ground two rods wide across the south end of the Northeast quarter of the Southwest quarter of Section 26 recorded 25 January 1892
On the 13th of February 1892 Silas Jones recorded two parcels of lands on the southeast side of White Breast Creek across from property owned by his father Isaac on the other side of the creek. The first parcel was bought 13 February for 40 acres located in the southwest quarter of the Southeast quarter of Section 26. He purchased the farm from Mary E. Loynachan who was married to a Scotsman named Edward Loynachan for $400. He bought a connecting parcel from Rufus and Adeline Powers in a deed dated 12 November 1891 but not recorded until 13 February. It was only 15 acres but Silas paid $345 for it. The legal description was commencing “at the southwest corner of southeast quarter of southwest quarter running thence east to White Breast Creek then north following creek.”

On 18 February 1892 a land deed was recorded in Marion County Court house in deed book 15 page 87 between a Dutch man named Tennes de Raad, his wife Mary Ida de Raad and Silas William Jones. The de Raad sold to Silas a farm of 84 and 45/100 acres in Dallas Township. The legal description was the west half of the Northwest quarter of Section 1 in Township 74, Range 21. The purchase price was $3,400 plus the assumption of a house mortgage on the farm of $1600 to P.H Bousquel dated 25 Feb 1890. This house would be where Silas Jones and Josie Cronkhite Jones died in a murder suicide.

The Panic of 1893 was a national economic crisis set off by the collapse of two of the country's largest employers, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and the National Cordage Company. Following the failure of these two companies, a panic erupted on the stock market. Hundreds of businesses had overextended themselves, borrowing money to expand their operations. When the financial crisis struck, banks and other investment firms began calling in loans, causing hundreds of business bankruptcies across the United States. Banks, railroads, and steel mills especially fell into bankruptcy. Over fifteen thousand businesses closed during the Panic of 1893. Unemployment rates soared to twenty to twenty-five percent in the United States during the Panic of 1893. Homelessness skyrocketed, as workers were laid off and could not pay their rent or mortgages. The unemployed also had difficulty buying food due to the lack of income. Although thousands of businesses were ruined and more than four million were left unemployed, President Grover Cleveland did little. He believed, like most people of both major parties, that the business cycle was a natural occurrence and should not be tampered with by politicians.

The national financial Panic of 1893 had a devastating effect on the farmers and businessmen of Marion County as well. It ruined Silas’ father Isaac Jones and his uncle John M. Jones. From probate records it is revealed that Silas Jones and his wife were deeply in debt to creditors by 1894. The drought of 1894 severely affected his farm in Dallas Township where he had livestock to water and feed. These included four mares, four colts, 21 head of cattle, 4 milk cows, 1 heifer and 3 heifer calves, and 25 hogs. A tax record showed he paid a 50 cent tax on a dog also. To keep his farm operational he had taken out hundreds of dollars from the Knoxville National Bank on credit which was coming due in 1895. One such note dated 7 June 1894 was for $338.

Receipts show that Silas had outstanding bills staring in 1892 from his wife buying items for her family mostly on credit. A bill dated from September 1892 showed that an outstanding bill for 75 cents for a doll and November 18 for school supplies such as 10 cents for a slate,5 cents for slate pencils, 10 cents for a copy book, 20 cents for a “speller” and 5 cents for a bottle of ink.” Josie Jones was buying on credit boots for her children, coats, and even $1.25 for a hat for herself. A grocery bill for $109.15 was submitted as a claim against the estate for food bought on credit since 1 March 1894 through September 1894. Most of the items were staples such as sacks of flour and sugar but some items could be seen as luxuries such as peaches in March for 45 cents and cakes at 10 cent. The family must have liked peaches as more were bought in May for 50 cents. Peaches were probably canned. Other items were lemons for 10 cents, crackers at 10 cent and butter at 60 cents. The last item seems to be an extravagance as with Milk cows on the farm all the butter they would need was available with churning. Other sundry items from the store were matches at 20 cents, a broom at 25 cents, lye at 50 cents [to make soap] a coat at $1.50 and overalls at 85 cents. This was probably for a child.
Sometime in 1894 Josie Jones took out a life insurance policy from the Des Moines Life Insurance Association on herself for $2000 payable to her children Fred, Don, Augustus, and Ruth.

As indebted as the family was in 1894 the family was better off than most living in a two story farm house and they even managed to employee a “hired girl” to do housework and probably help Josie in the kitchen. Josie Jones even owned a foot pedal sewing machine and Silas had a “spring” wagon. The spring wagon was sometimes equipped with a canopy and was used much as the pickup truck or delivery van is used in modern times.
However the summer of 1894 was rough. The Knoxville newspaper reported on 1 August 1894 that because the long drought caused an absence of grain and vegetables that year “the county fair was canceled”. By 6 September 1894 Silas Jones came to the hard realization that he was insolvent and facing bankruptcy. Hard times had hit home and with his father and uncle in the middle of a financial crisis of their own, he had no one to turn to for help. To make matters worse on 26 September it was reported that “a severe hail storm flattened corn crops, destroyed apple crops, broke windows on north side of buildings.” It was called the “Worse hail storm ever known.” Silas was only able to save 20 bushels of apples and 25 bushels of corn both worth less than $25. His oat crop evidently was the only one he managed to save at 175 bushels worth under $45. He was a ruined man.

On 15 October 1894 Josie Jones went to Knoxville and bought a revolver and cartridges for $5 and three days later she bought some chloroform from a pharmacist in for 25 cents. On Friday the next day Josie Jones convinced Silas to take the children to spend the weekend with their relatives 12 miles away. October 19th would be the last time the Jones children ever saw their parents alive. Josie Jones also let her hired girl have the weekend off saying that she wouldn’t need her with the children gone. The girl left the farm to spend time with friends in the community of Dallas about a mile south of the farm.

Upon returning to the farm from leaving their children with grandparents, Silas and Josie went upstairs to their bedroom tired from the long trip back and forth. After Silas fell asleep, Josie went and retrieved the chloroform and put it up to her husband’s face until he was unconscious. She then took the revolver and shot her husband while he was lying in bed. After knowing he was dead, she folded his arms over his chest and laid down beside his body all night until the dawn. As the rooster began to crow, she got up, poured kerosene oil around the bedroom and lit it on fire. She then laid back down next to her husband and shot herself in the head with the revolver.

“On Saturday morning about 8 oclock the residence of Silas Jones near Dallas, Iowa was discovered to be on fire. The alarm was given and soon people on horse and on foot and by team were upon the ground but too late to save only what was below stairs. Just at this stage of the fire it was discovered that Mr. and Mrs Jones were in their second story bedroom both dead upon the bed.” They were “in the flames, in the southeast room of the second story of the burning building, both-dead upon the bed, and lying side by side.” [Albia The Friday Union 27 October 1894]

“When the neighbors arrived on the scene of the fire the flames could not be subdued by the meager means at command and in a short time the roof and upper floor gave way, when the body of Mr. Jones was seen to fall apparently stiff with his arms folded on his breast, and shortly after the body of his wife was seen to fall. Both were apparently lifeless. [Chariton Herald 25 October 1894]

“It now seems beyond doubt that the burning of the house and the deaths of Jones and his wife were not accidental, as was at first supposed, but that arson and murder were committed. The condition of Jones' body indicated that his death had probably taken place about midnight, while, the fresh blood would run rapidly from the torn flesh of his wife; an indication that her death had occurred at or near the time of the fire, Saturday Morning. [Murder and Arson Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette Iowa 22 October 1894]

The citizens of Marion and surrounding counties were stunned by the murder suicide of members of a prominent old time family. The Knoxville Journal printed the general sentiments to the tragedy. “How, why, or from what cause only humanity can guess. The" All Seeing Eye" only can tell the true story. There are many theories advanced, but none will probably solve the mystery.”

“Nothing will probably be known of the awful tragedy but the generally accepted theory in this community is that Mrs. Jones' mind was unbalanced and that in the night she killed her husband and later set the house on fire. The fact that she purchased a revolver on Monday; that she had been practicing with it; that she had bought a second box of cartridges, and that the children and hired girl were all out of the way goes to support this theory. Mrs. Jones had her life Insured for $2,000 a short time ago.”

“In the kitchen cupboard (below stairs) were found a life policy in favor of Mrs. Jones for $2000, and one in favor of Mr. Jones for $1000; and also a policy on the building for $700, besides other valuable papers.”

“It has been reported since the fire that her mind has been unbalanced for some time over religious matters and that she recently purchased a revolver and also chloroform but as to how either came to their death we cannot say no one was there till the house was on fire and their four children and hired girl were all absent, the children having been sent to visit their grandparents a short distance away; the hired girl was sent away, it is reported that the doors were all fastened except one screen door and It was hooked on the inside, which indicates murder and suicide. [Chariton Herald 25 October 1894]

“The deceased were both good and respected citizens, and their loss in this community will be keenly felt. They leave a family of four children-three boys and one girl. To these the sympathy of the people is freely extended. At the time (if and during the fire the four children were visiting with relatives north of Knoxville, and the hired girl was absent (that evening and morning.) with young folks, still mysterious! The funeral corteges-(there were two) left for the Garrison cemetery, north of Knoxville, on Sunday 21 inst. between 10 and 11 o'clock a.m.”
Some of the newspapers were quick to capitalize on the sensation news but before facts became clear and printed scenarios that were entirely fanciful. The Weekly Osceola Sentinel printed on 25 October 1894, “The residence of Silas Jones a well known farmer residing on a large farm ten miles southwest of Knoxville was completely destroyed by fire at an early hour Saturday morning. Mrs. Jones aged forty-five and two children aged ten and twelve years respectively, a boy and a girl burned to death. Mr. Jones was in Knoxville on business that required him to remain away from home over night. It is supposed that one of the children, Mrs. Jones being ill in bed, attempted to start a fire with kerosene oil, and that in the explosion that followed the house caught fire, and the children in trying to get their helpless mother out of the awful danger, were caught and perished in the flames.” When the true facts were known, a retraction was never made.

The funerals of Silas Jones and his wife Josie were held Sunday 21 October 1894 the day after their deaths. “The funerals yesterday were separate. Jones was an unbeliever, and his funeral was conducted by the Masonic order, his family refusing to have religious services. After his burial the funeral of his wife was held by the pastor of the M. E. [Methodist Episcopal] church in this city. [Murder and Arson Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette Iowa 22 October 1894] Although the couple had separate funerals they were buried side by side.

The bill for the two funerals was applied against the estate. The undertaker W.L. Froggett “undertaking a specialty” sent a bill for two caskets $50, two robes $50, two hearse trips $12 for a total cost of $70. The two hearse trips confirmed that the funerals were separate.
The couple did not remain in their graves long as that on Tuesday 23 October 1894 “by request of friends” Judge Wilkinson, “made an order that the bodies be exhumed for examinations by experts.” The suspicious deaths were never examined by a coroner before they were buried. The bodies were taken to the home of Silas’ brother George Jehu Jones to be examined. A bill of $17.50 was submitted to the estate by the coroner. Part of a bill submitted on 19 November 1894 by George J Jones was $25 “for trouble and expense at coroner’s inquiry and keeping bodies in my house and services and meals furnished on sale day.” This bill included the exhuming and reinterring of the bodies and furnishing food on the day of the auction of the property of his dead brother.

On 22 October 1894 Isaac Jones appeared in probate court to ask that his son George Jehu Jones become the sole administrator of the estate of Silas W. Jones. Isaac stated that his deceased son’s personal property was “valued at $1,500 and left no wife or children of sufficient age to administer his estate”. The “petitioner is father of Silas W Jones.”

“Now on this date comes Isaac Jones with his petition properly verified that on or about the 20 day of October 1894, one Silas W. Jones died intestate in Marion County, asking that George J Jones be appointed administrator of said estate.” A bond of $3,000 was put up by Isaac Jones, with he and his son Zaccheus acting as securitors for the amount.

The next day on 23 October 1894, Josie’s sister, Augusta Victoria Cronkhite Nace went before the probate court to secure a lawyer named John B Elliott as guardian of her nephews and niece. She stated that the estate of Silas was valued at about $4500. “Comes now Gustee Nace with a petition that J.B. Elliott be appointed guardian of Fred Jones, Don Jones, Augustus Jones, and Ruth Jones, minor heirs of Silas W Jones and Mary J Jones, deceased.” A bond of $9000 was secured by Elliott, J.H. Auld, and S.L. Collins. The petition was granted and Elliott became the legal guardian of the four children although they were parceled out to various relatives according to the 1895 Iowa census.

Fred Newton Jones was 17 years old in 1895 according to the state census and was living with his paternal grandfather, Isaac Jones. His brother Don Weaver Jones, age 14, lived with his aunt Augusta Nace and her husband Thomas Nace in Dallas Township. The couple never had children of their own. She was a school teacher and Thomas Nace became the vice president of a bank in Knoxville. Both of the younger children Abraham Augustus Jones and his sister Ruth Jones went to live with their maternal grandfather Abraham Cronkhite and his wife Phebe in Knoxville Township. Abraham was 71 years old in 1995 while Augustus Jones was 10 and his sister was six years old. Augustus Jones who later went by “Jack” after he reached the age of majority in 1906. Ruth Jones went and lived with her Aunt Augusta Neve after Abraham Cronkhite died.

The probate court appointed E.E. Baldwin, J.W. Herriman and Silas’s younger brother Edward Morgan on 25 October 1894 to appraise the estate of Silas Jones. They turned in their appraisal on 31 October estimating the personal property of Jones at $1,783.15.
Within the inventory were the following items of interest: Sewing Machine $2, 9 chairs $10, 5 year old Gray Mare $50, 6 year old Gray Mare $50, 5 year old black mare $60, 6 year old black mare $60, 3 year old Bay colt $25, 1 year old black colt $25, two 1 year old yearlings $15, twenty-one 2 year old steer $630, four “milch” cows $68, 1 heifer $15, 3 heifer calves $6, 17 shoals [uncastrated pigs] $29.75, seven fat hogs $77, 1 male hog $8, 1 spring wagon $37.50, 1 wagon $25, 3 wagons $15, 1 bob sled $8, 2 stirring plows $16, 1 corn planter $18, 900 shocks of corn $350, 20 bushels of apples $10, 175 bushels of oats $43.75, 25 bushels of corn $13.75.

With the sale of the real estate, money owed to the estate, and money from the sale of his personal property Silas Jones was worth $4424.68 however it was not enough to cover his debts equaling $5,679.45. When the estate was settled many of his creditors had to accept partial payment of the debt owed them. One of the biggest creditors was P.H. Bousquet who still held a note for $1600 on the home that was burned up. He received $1531.17 from the estate.
George J Jones after settling all the financial matters of his brother’s estate, the children Fred, Don, Augustus, and Rose were destitute orphans. The probate of Silas W. Jones was settled 30 January 1896.

The $2000 life insurance that Josie Jones had taken out payable to her four children was disputed by the Des Moines Insurance Company and refused to payout as that she had committed suicide. However the children’s guardian took the company to court and the insurance offered $1,125 as a settlement if accepted as payment in full. The relatives of the children told Elliott to accept the settlement which was paid out 1 May 1895. It is doubtful the children received any of this money which if divided equally would have amounted to $280 for each.

The tragic death of Silas Jones and his wife Josie had a profound effect on their children especially their sons. This in turn affected Silas’ grandchildren none of whom were raised in Iowa nor knew much of their Jones’ family history. Silas and Josie Cronkhite Jones however were the grandparents of 11 grandchildren

Fred Jones was 17 years old, Don Jones was 14 years old, Augustus was 12 years old, and Ruth was 5 years old when they were orphaned. Although they had a large extended family of aunts and uncles the event seems to have so traumatized the children that as soon as they were able they all left Marion County. Their parents’ debts ate up any inheritance and the farm was sold. The boys all became manual laborers, the younger ones working in the coal industry of Monroe County.

By World War I Fred Jones had a failed marriage and his wife remarried. However that marriage failed and for a time he lived with his ex-wife in Sioux City before he moved to Oregon. It appears that he abandoned his family due to alcoholism and for a time became tramp surviving in hobo camps. There is no record of him between 1921 1942 when he was living in Oregon. He was eventually institutionalized for mental illness in the 1950’s and died in Oregon. He had four children by his Swedish wife, however only one Donald Augustus Jones left posterity with little knowledge of their Jones’ family history.

Don Jones married in Iowa but left the state for Colorado where he was a coal stoker for a power company. This heavy labor and coal dust cut his life short. He and his wife had a troubled marriage and separated but were still married at the time of their deaths. They only had one son who never married. Don Jones died in Denver, Colorado.

Augustus Jones actually changed his name to Jack Jones and worked as a coal loader from the mines in Monroe County. He moved to West Virginia during the Great Depression and worked for a Coal Mine company in Raleigh County where he cohabited with a married woman when he was 53 years old. He had four children; three of them were triplets all who died in infancy. He died in Eccles, West Virginia

Ruth Jones who was only 5 years old when she lost her parents was raised by her mother’s sister who was a school teacher and married to a bank vice president in Knoxville. She was the only one that received an education and became a stenographer. She moved to Ames, Iowa where she met and married a man who was an assistant professor at Iowa State University. She was the mother of two children but only one left posterity.

Newspaper Accounts

Knoxville Journal 25 Sept 1930 Important Events from Thirty Years ago [1894]

• 24 October On Saturday morning about 8 oclock the residence of Silas Jones near Dallas, Iowa was discovered to be on fire. The alarm was given and soon people on horse and on foot and by team were upon the ground but too late to save only what wa below stairs. Just at this stage of the fire it was discovered that Mr. and Mrs Jones were in their second story bedroom both dead upon the bed. How, why, or from what cause only humanity can guess. There are many theories advanced but none will probably solve the mystery

Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette Iowa 22 October 1894 Murder and Arson • Knoxville Oct. 22—The funerals of Silas Jones and wife were held yesterday. It now seems beyond doubt that the burning of the house and the deaths of Jones and his wife were not accidental, as was at first supposed, but that arson and murder were committed. The condition of Jones' body indicated that his death had probably taken place about midnight, while, the fresh blood would run rapidly from the torn flesh of his wife; an indication that her death had occurred at or near the time of the fire, Saturday Morning. Nothing will probably be known of the awful tragedy but the generally accepted theory in this community is that Mrs. Jones' mind was unbalanced and that in the night she killed her husband and later set the house on fire. The fact that she purchased a revolver on Monday; that she had been practicing with it; that she had bought a second box of cartridges, and that the children and hired girl were all out of the way goes to support this theory. Mrs. Jones had her life Insured for $2,000 a short time ago. The funerals yesterday were separate. Jones was an unbeliever, and his funeral was conducted by the Masonic order, his family refusing to have religious services. After his burial the funeral of his wife was held by the pastor of the M. E. [Methodist Episcopal] church in this city.

Chariton Herald 25 October 1894 Thursday

Again our sister neighborhood over the line in Marion county has been visited by fire, the first at the home of Silas Jones, who lived one mile north-east of Dallas. The fire is a profound mystery, occurring about 8 o'clock Saturday morning, burning the bodies of both Mr. and Mrs. Jones. When the neighbors arrived on the scene of the fire the flames could not be subdued by the meager means at command and in a short time the roof and upper floor gave way, when the body of Mr. Jones was seen to fall apparently stiff with his arms folded on his breast, and shortly after the body of his wife was seen to fall. Both were apparently lifeless. It has been reported since the fire that her mind has been unbalanced for some time over religious matters and that she recently purchased a revolver and also chloroform but as to how either came to their death we cannot say no one was there till the house was on fire and their four children and hired girl were all absent, the children having been sent to visit their grandparents a short distance away; the hired girl was sent away, it is reported that the doors were all fastened except one screen door and It was hooked on the inside, which indicates murder and suicide.
Albia The Friday Union

Knoxville Journal. • Dreadful Tragedy Near Dallas. On Saturday morning, the 20 inst. at about 8 o'clock a.m., the residence of Silas Jones near Dallas, Ia., was discovered to be on fire. The alarm was given, and soon people on horse, and foot, and by team were upon the ground at the scene of the fire, but too late to save only what was below stairs. These were saved and as the sequel will show, were very fortunate especially to the survivors. Just at this stage of the fire it was discovered that Mr. and Mrs. Jones were in the flames, in the southeast room of the second story of the burning building, both-dead upon the bed, and lying side by side. How! Why! or from what cause! humanity alone can guess. The" All Seeing Eye" only can tell the true story. There are many theories advanced, but none will probably solve the mystery. In the kitchen cupboard (below stairs) were found a life policy in favor of Mrs. Jones for $2000, and one in favor of Mr. Jones for $1000; and also a policy on the building for $700, besides other valuable papers. The deceased were both good and respected citizens, and their loss in this community will be keenly felt. They leave a family of four children-three boys and one girl. To these The sympathy of the people Is freely extended. At the time (if and during the fire the four children were visiting with relatives north of Knoxville, and the hired girl was absent (that evening and morning.) with young folks, still mysterious! The funeral corteges-(there were two) left for the Garrison cemetery, north of Knoxville, on Sunday 21 inst. between 10 and 11 o'clock a.m.

Silas William Jones
Born 17 February 1852 Knoxville Township, Marion County, Iowa,
Died 20 October 1894 Dallas Township, Marion County, Iowa age 42 years old
Burial Greenwood Cemetery[Garrison] Sec 31 Twp 76 Rng 19 - Knoxville Twp
Married 28 February 1875 Knoxville Township, Marion County, Iowa age 23,

Mary Josephine "Josie" Cronkhite age 16 years when married
Born November 1858 Knoxville Township, Marion County, Iowa
Died 20 October 1894 Dallas Township, Marion County, Iowa age 37
Burial Greenwood Cemetery [Garrison] Sec 31 Twp 76 Rng 19 - Knoxville Twp,

Children
1. Fred Newton Jones
Born 16 May 1877 Knoxville Township, Marion County, Iowa,
Died 8 August 1955 Salem, Marion County, Oregon, age 78 years old
Married before 6 June 1900. No marriage record has been located in Iowa. May have married in Minnesota being 22 or 23 years old at time of his marriage
Wife Emma Selena Samuelson age 20 when married
Born 29 July 1879 Torp, Västernorrland, Sweden
Died 17 April 1962 Long Beach, Los Angeles, California, age 82 years old

2. Don Weaver Jones

Born 25 September 1880 Knoxville Township, Marion, Iowa,

Death 1927 Wheat Ridge, Jefferson, Colorado age 47 years old

Burial Crown Hill Cemetery, Wheat Ridge, Jefferson County, Colorado, Plot: Block 18

Married 13 October 1905 Knoxville Township, Marion County, Iowa age 25 years old

Wife Cordelia Grace Bendow married age 27 years old

Born about 1878 Knoxville, Marion County, Iowa

Died 1923 Wheat Ridge Township, Jefferson County, Colorado

Don Jones and his wife Grace had but one child named for Don’s father Silas although spelled “Sylus”. He was born 27 October 1906 in Marion County, Iowa and died 26 September 1998 in Littleton, Arapahoe County, Colorado at the age of 92. He was buried in Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens in Littleton.

The 1910 United States census showed that Don W. Jones was living in Knoxville working as a laborer doing odd jobs. He and his wife and four year old son were living in a boarding house or hotel at 2222 1st Street with 11 other families.

Sometime before 1917 Don W. Jones moved his family to Jefferson County, Colorado where he had to sign up for the World War I draft registry. On 12 September 1918 he gave his address as Edgewater, Jefferson County, Colorado. He worked for the Denver Gas and Electric Company where he worked as a coal gas stoker. This was heavy physical manual laborer shoveling coal all day into furnaces. He gave his wife Cornelia Grace Jones as his nearest relative. Physically he was described as medium height and medium build with brown eyes and black hair.

The Polk Directory of Denver for 1918 shows that Don W. Jones moved to the city to be closer to his work with the Denver Gas and Electric Company. He was listed as a stoker as an occupation and had rented a house at 479 Knox Court. He may have separated from his wife as she is not listed as at this address which the Polk Directory general did. The 1919 directory showed that Don Jones had moved to a place at 2585 Sheridan Boulevard still without Grace listed at this address. He may have had to move because a new home was built on this lot in 1923. He still was employed as a stoker for the Denver Gas and Electric Company.

This family has not been located in the 1920 census of Colorado but they are listed in the Denver directory in 1920 as living in separate households. Don W is still at 2585 Sheridan however “Mrs. C Grace Jones” is renting a home at 469 Court. This 440 square foot house sits on a 6,250 square foot lot and had 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom. The property was built in 1916. The Jones family occupied this home for eight years.

The Knox Court house was about 3 miles from the Sheridan residence north of Sloan Lake. Sloan Lake is located on the western edge of Denver's city limits, adjacent to the suburbs of Lakewood, Edgewater and Wheat Ridge

By 1921 Don and Grace must have reconciled as they are living at the same address at 469 Court as they would until her death in 1923. The 1923 Denver directory listed as Don and Grace as living at 469 Knox Street and he was still working for the Denver Gas and Electric as a stoker. The directory came out before Grace died and she was buried in the Crown Hill cemetery with a marker that says mother. In 1924 Don W. Jones was a widower at the age of 44 years with a 18 year old son. He quit the Denver Gas and Electric and changed to the Public Service Company as a stoker. He worked for this company until his death in 1927. His health must have been declining as that in 1925 he was simply listed as an employee. He was buried next to Grace Jones with the inscription “father.” The Polk directory has his son Silas F Jones in 1927 as a clerk for the RJ Chappel Company.

Sylas F Jones was 17 years old when his mother died and 21 years old when his father died. With his parents gone and having no relatives in Colorado Sylus probably grew up without any knowledge of his Iowa relatives. The 1928 Polk Directory still had him living at his parents’ home on Knox Street but by 1929 he is gone probably to the community of Vasquez in Jefferson County.

The 1930 census shows that “Sylas” F. Jones age 23 is a boarder in the home of Harry R. [Ray] Permar and his wife Agnes who resided on West 44th Avenue. Permar was born in 1886 and died 1951. He was a structural iron worker and he must have gotten Silas F Jones work as an ironworker. This was probably too strenuous for Silas as that he was only five feet four inches and weighed about 100 lbs.

The Permars must have grown fond of their boarder for by the 1940 census Permar listed Silas’ relationship to him as his “son”. The Permars and Jones were still living in Vasquez and while Harry Ray was a foreman in the “steel Industry”, 33 years old Silas occupation was a farmer and gardener. He said he worked a 40 hour week and worked 52 weeks in 1939 making an income of $300.

The census showed that Silas had graduated from high school. America went to war in 1941 and on 26 March 1943 Silas F Jones enlisted in the army at Camp Dodge Herrold as a private. The enlistment camp was located in Polk County, Iowa not far from his place of birth. His skills were listed as being a skilled mechanic and repairman for motor vehicles. He was listed as single without dependants and his height was 5’4” and he weighed 99 pounds.

After the war Silas returned to Colorado. He never married or had children and thus with him the line of Don Weaver Jones came to an end.

3. Abraham Augustus “Jack” Jones

Born 29 June 1882 Knoxville Township, Marion County, Iowa

Died 17 January 1944 Eccles, Raleigh County, West Virginia,

Married circa 1935 West Virginia about 53 years old

Mrs. Essa McMillan Wesley age circa 34 years old

Born 18 November 1901 Slab Fork, Raleigh County, West Virginia

Died 31 August 1996 Arnett, Raleigh County, West Virginia

There are few records regarding the third son of Silas Jones who went by the name “Jack Jones” for the latter half of his life especially after he moved to West Virginia. As that he was unmarried until he was in his fifties, he is difficult to locate in census records. His name on his death certificate is Jack Jones although his father and mother are listed as Silas and Josephine Jones.

He was birth name was Abraham Augustus, named after his maternal grandfather who took him and his sister in after they were orphaned in 1894. He was under the guardianship of J.B Elliott until he was 21 years old. As that his parents died insolvent and it is unknown if any of the money from his mother’s life insurance ever came to him. His grandfather Abraham Cronkhite died in 1907 when Jack was 25 years old and he was out on his own. He is not located in the 1905 or 1915 censuses for Iowa and is not found in records until the World War I draft registry of 1918 when he was 36 years old. He gave his name as Abraham Augustus Jones born 29 June 1882. He was single and gave his address as RFD2 Melrose, Monroe, Iowa where he was employed as a miner for Con Coal Company located at Mine #18 Baxter, Monroe, Iowa. He was described as “tall” medium build with brown eyes and brown hair. He listed his sister Mrs. Ruth “Lovells” of Ames, Iowa as his nearest living relative.
He is not located in the 1920 census and nothing is known of him until 1930 when the Great Depression sent him to West Virginia to find work in the coal industry of Appalachia. He is located as a 47 year old boarder in the household of a 55 year old widow named Ella Wagner in Oak Hill City, Fayette County, West Virginia. He is still single and his occupation was given as a coal loader in the coal mines.

By 1935 he had relocated 20 miles to the south where he began working for the Crabapple Mining Company out of Eccles in Raleigh County, West Virginia. There he met and moved in with a 34 year old woman named Essa [Essie] McMillian.

At the age of 16 years Essie was married to a twice widowed 43 year old man named Bob Lee Wesley. He had had ten children at the time they were married. She had left him by 1930 when she is listed as boarding with her brother in law Martin Larrity. However she is still listed as married. Her husband Bob Lee Wesley died in 1940 and there’s no record of a divorce. A marriage record for Jack and Essie has not been located and they most likely had a common law marriage.

Jack and Essie Jones had a son born 20 August 1936 at Glen Daniel, Raleigh County, West Virginia, USA. They later had triplet sons born 13 May 1939 in Beckley Hospital but all of the babies died in Infancy. Franklin Delano Jones died 20 August 1939 of Gastroenteritis or “infectious diarrhea”. Seven days later his son Rush Dew Jones died of same diseases and the last baby Homer Adam Jones died 2 September 1939 of “Maravus Diarrhea” another term for Gastroenteritis. This disease is general caused by poor sanitary conditions in a home. As that this family was extremely poor and living on a coal miner’s wages they probably were unaware of the connection between sanitation and their babies’ deaths.

The family’s grief made the events in Europe with England declaring war on Germany pale in comparision. Jack Jones continued to make a living as a coal miner while living in Eccles with his common law wife and his two children one of which was adopted and was the niece of his wife.

The family cannot be located in the 1940 census of Raleigh County but was living at Eccles when America entered the war against the Axis powers. On 27 April 1942 Jack Jones was registered for the draft of men born between 1877 and 1897. He was described as 5’ 10 inches tall, 160 pounds, hazel eyes, gray hair and ruddy complexion. His residence was Eccles, West Virginia and worked for the Crab Apple Improvement Company which was a coal mining company.

“Jack” Abraham Augustus Jones died 17 January 1944 at the age of 59 of a brain tumor in the Beckley Hospital. His residence was the coal mining community of Eccles in Raleigh County. He was buried in Mt. Tabor Cemetery in the community of Mount Tabor, Raleigh County West Virginia. He was survived by his wife Essie McMillan Jones and a son and an adopted daughter. His widow Essie survived him by 52 years and died at the age of 94 on 31 August 1994. She never remarried and is buried also in the Mt. Tabor Cemetery. Jack’s only surviving son Jack Arthur Jones married Martha Jean Davis and died at the age of 75 in Annette, West Virginia on 4 May 2011.

4. Ruth Jones

Born 19 December 1888 Knoxville Township, Marion County, Iowa

Death 9 January 1985 Detroit, Wayne, Michigan,

Married 26 July 1916 Knoxville, Marion County, Iowa age 26 years old

Richard Augustus Leavell son of Samuel Cornelius Leavell and Marie L. Bauer

Born 30 August 1889 Edmunds, South Dakota

Death 11 October 1957 Detroit, Wayne, Michigan

Ruth Jones was raised mainly by her aunt Augusta Nace. The 1910 census showed that she was 21 years old and living with her grandmother Mary Jones and employed as as a stenographer. Five years later she was living in Ames, Iowa in 1915 working as a stenographer at a salary of $675. The 1915 Census said she was a Methodist. There she met Richard Leavell who was born in South Dakota. His father attended DePauw College in Indiana, in 1880 and became a Methodist Clergyman. When Richard was 13 years old his mother Marie Bauer Leavell died in 1902. His father had him attend the University of Chicago where he was when his father died when he 20 Years old. He was now an orphan and attending school. The 1910 showed that he was living in Chicago but by 1915 he had accepted an assistant professor position at Iowa State University where he made a salary of $1200 in 1914. He was not affiliated with any church according to the census. He must have just been recently hired as that in 1914 he only made $400.

Ruth and Richard did not live in the same part of town nor attended church together so it is not known how they met but they were married 26 July 1916 in Knoxville, Marion County. He gave his occupation as a Mechanical engineer which was the occupation of his maternal grandfather Augustus Bauer a German emigrant. Witnesses to the marriage were Ruth’s Aunt and Uncle Thomas Nace and Augusta Cronkhite Nace. They were married by a Methodist Clergyman CH Cessna. After the wedding they returned to Ames which was their residence. They had a daughter, Mary Elizabeth, in 1918. By 1920 they were in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin where they had a son, Richard, in 1921. By 1930 they were living in Detroit, Michigan where Richard became a an advertisement man employed as a copy writer. Richard and Ruth were very successful and loved comfortably in Detroit until their deaths. Ruth was 96 years old when she died.