Jones family

Biography

The Jones and Conger families were among the pioneers of California and Nevada; Thomas Conger became state senator in California; Conger's son-in-law, John P. Jones became senator in Nevada and founder of Santa Monica, California; Jones' son, Roy Jones, helped organize the Ramina corporation, one of the most extensive developers of northern and southern California.

John Percival Jones was born in Herefordshire, England, January 27, 1829; immigrated to the U.S. as a child, settling in Ohio; came west to California, 1850; engaged in mining, 1850-60; married Cornelia (Conger) Greathouse, daughter of Judge Thomas Conger of Sacramento, 1861; member of the California state senate, 1863-67; moved to Gold Hill, Nevada, 1868, and served as superintendent and part owner of the Crown Point mine; elected Republican U.S. senator for Nevada, 1873-1903; retired to Santa Monica, California; died November 27, 1912.

Biographical Narrative

The papers of the several families contained herein, together form an exemplary narrative history of the way in which the Westward Movement scattered the American seed across the continent and then, finally, gathered it together again in new arrangements of families. The several Jones brothers started for the California gold fields via the sea route about a year before Thomas Conger, his wife and her brothers started overland from Michigan. The men and women of these families were among the pioneers of the mining centers of the still rough-hewn territories of California and Nevada. They made their fortunes and reputations from ore and litigation, elements out of which came the politics of those newly created states. After the close of the Civil War, these and other men, like General James A. Williamson of Iowa, expanded their interests and their families throughout the West and Southwest. Mining remained one of the elements attended to by their children, but new opportunities crowded that occupation-opportunities in the form of agriculture and stock raising, made possible by the irrigation of arid lands, and real estate in booming Soothern California.

The individual members of these families earned their own fame and fortune, and by their efforts sank the tap roots upon which their children have been building to this day. Thomas Conger became a state senator in California. His son-in-law, John Percival Jones, became United States Senator from Nevada, champion of Free Silver, and in his later years, founder of Santa Monica, California. Jones's son, Roy, helped organize the Ramina corporation which was one of the most extensive developers of the varied agriculture of the irrigated valleys of northern and southern California. The families of the sons and daughters of John P. Jones are scattered far and wide throughout the state and nation, and the endless process of American life continues.

The correspondence and papers of the collection are, obviously, only a small portion of the effects of these families. Children saved the diaries of their parents, wives handed down the letters written by their husbands at the beginning of their lives together, sons retained letters from political and business associates. From these gleanings, Roy Jones and his daughter, Dorothy Jones Cook presented a portion to the Henry E. Huntington Library in San Marino, California. Through the efforts of Lindley Bynum, an equal portion was presented to the University of California Library in 1949, in the name of Pauline Williamson Jones, wife and mother of the donors.

A chart showing the relationships of those persons whose letters and papers are to be found in the collection is included in the paper copy of the finding aid, available in the Department of Special Collections for in-house consultation.

_Elmo R. Richardson.

From the guide to the Jones Family papers, 1847-1946, (University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections.)