Oral History of Jo Jones Thomas April 28,2004
Kara
Tell me about you.
Jo
I was born in Oak Hill on February 14, 1914. I was raised by my grandfather,
Joseph J. Jones. I never lived with my parents but I remember after my father went to the
first World War I went back to my father Joseph Jones, and then when my father came
home from overseas they went to Columbus. My grandmother said since I had a brother
that was a few months younger than me and my mother had bad eye problems maybe she
should keep little Jo. So I remained all through school with my grandparents so truthfully
I don’t remember ever living with Mother and Father.
Kara
What was your grandmother’s name?
Jo
Winifred Williams. Winifred Williams’ father was Morgan Williams. He was a
builder. He built a church in Vermont, Wales before he came to this country, and he built
Horeb (?) Church. And then he…
Kara
Horeb Church here in…?
Jo
Right out of Oak Hill. He then built the ( ? ) buildings of Jefferson Furnace. He
took stock rather than his own payments ( the minute they hired, of course they had to
pay). He also did all the carpentry work for the Oak Hill Fire Brick, which he took stock
in it, also. He later built a new home in Cozy Glen right outside of Oak Hill where my
grandmother was born. The so-called Cozy Glen. He then moved to Jackson where his
older son, William Edmond Williams, was an outstanding doctor. In fact, the Elks Home
in Jackson is his old home. He also had two sons who were lawyers in Toledo. They
founded the Williams, Everson, Morgan Law Firm which is still in existence, took care of
most of the gas company stuff in Toledo. Another daughter married Admirable (Goon
Murphin) who was active during the first World War and then after retirement was
called back, he had to come in for the December 7th Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor.
The other daughter married Armstrong. He was a lawyer in Jackson. Morgan Williams
was married three times. He married the first girl, a Jones, Tanygroes family and the
second wife was a woman by the name of Evans whose one daughter was Lillian
Frankie’s grandmother. Another daughter, Elizabeth, married Tom Herbert, who was the
grandmother of Thomas Herbert, who later became governor of Ohio. The other daughter
married a Samuel. Three girls, none of them married. Anne, of course, was a head
secretary of the Huntington National Bank in Columbus. Shane was a missionary,
presently administered missionary, in Korea. Now, that kind of takes care of my
grandmother Williams…
Kara
Okay.
Jo
…family, as far as I know. My grandmother (?) Williams married a third time, he
married a Reverend Thomas’s mother. Reverend Thomas was quite active out in the West
continents, so forth. She had several children. All in all he raised fifteen children. So…
Kara
Now, your great grandfather…
Jo
That’s my great grandfather, Morgan Williams.
Kara
He came from Wales?
Jo
He came from ( ?) Farm, which is right outside of Vermont.
Kara Okay. Do you know anything about the family that are back there or about what
he did back there or about what his family did?
Jo
His family had a…they tanned hides and so forth. Plus regular farming.
Kara
Now, how do you know this?
Jo
In 1985, when I went back, (?) Jones and I found, we were hunting for the
Tanygroes of the Jones family, which means a house with a (?). We found the area but in doing
so they told us go up and see a David Jones of (?) whose dad had been the local historian.
Going up there I met David Jones. Now, he gave information to you, this John Jones Tyn Rhos.
I’ll get to that part of the family later. Also, William Williams, Doctor William Williams. And David is
a bachelor. He still lives on the old homestead and raises a few cattle, quite a few sheep.
Kara
What relation is he to you?
Jo
David’s great, great grandmother was a sister to Morgan Williams. Morgan Williams had
another sister who came to Oak Hill with her husband who was a doctor, or Reverend John
Evans, whose a pastor of the C.M. Church there in Oak Hill for quite some time.
Kara
And what was the sister’s name?
Jo
( ?
Kara
Okay.
). I want to say Anne, but I could be wrong.
Jo
So I correspond with David, I went back in ’85 and spent about four or five days with him,
meeting several members of the Williams family. He had married Evanses and Davises. I won’t
go into the different…But anyway, I hear from David two or three times a year, especially on my
birthday on Valentine’s Day. He has a brother lives in Mazula, Montana who is a doctor of nuclear
physics. He worked with the government during the, right after the war on a lot of nuclear stuff,
and then he’s at, now I think he’s retired as a professor at the University of Mazula, Montana,
whatever it is. I never met the man, I talked to him on the phone several times. So, as David
says, now Tome, he will never come back to the farm here, he’s going to stay in the states. He
may have, in the mean time, come over, I don’t know. So that’s the Williams side of my family.
Kara
Okay
Jo
Now, you want to go into my grandfather Jones. ( ? ) J. Jones is one of several brothers.
His father was John H. Jones who founded, one of the founders of Bethel Church outside of Oak
Hill. He’s in several of the books (?), you’ll see his picture. Uh, he had another brother, Doctor
E.J. Jones in Oak Hill, who was the doctor of an Eileen Barn and Ebon Jones at the bank in Oak
Hill, and Ed Jones who was a farmer and coal man. They’re all in Oak Hill. In the meantime, he
bought stock in Jefferson Furnace and it was quite profitable, during the Civil War especially. He
gave his sons his stock in that in Oak Hill. In the meantime, he purchased one and a half acres,
640 plus half acres in Venedocia, Ohio. So he had is oldest son David, and John and his
daughter Elizabeth. He gave that property to them and they still have it up in Venedocia, on
Jones Road. My grandfather took about a four weeks course in Jackson when he was sixteen
years old, to teach school. His brother, in the meantime, Ed, was in Ohio University before he
went to medical school. My grandfather was going to teach school in Jefferson. A week before
he started teaching, great grandfather Davis (I’ll get into his (?) ), he was manager at that time of
Jefferson Furnace. He got my grandfather to come over and work in the office. My grandfather
always said it was a good idea, because if I had to teach school, I’d have to teach Winnie, my
wife, which I wasn’t even aware of, at that time. So he stayed at Jefferson Furnace, and ended
up, he was a secretary when the first company ceased operation. When they did that he…in the
meantime, he had been an elder, also, of the Horeb Church, he was a young man, and his
brother Ebon had, too. When he came to Oak Hill he became elder in the C.M Church in Oak Hill.
He was the leading elder when he died there. Had been for years. He left when a new company
formed, and he was secretary, treasurer and manager for the first year. His brother Ebon was the
president of this new company. But Ebon almost had a nervous breakdown, so my grandfather
went back to Jefferson s president and general manager and he stayed there until they closed the
thing of operation of 1919, or 1917, I’m not sure. A lot of the iron was still there and he sold it to
Sam Pastor at low prices and Sam wasn’t supposed to take a piece of iron out of the furnace, but
he blew it up and took it, and that’s why the part of the furnace was destroyed. In the meantime,
around 1900, a nephew, Ebon’s son, got a company for him to form the Diamond Brick
Company in Oak Hill. And before the plant even opened, they expended all the money. So the (
? ) got together and told, if Jo Jones would take over management and put more money in it,
they’d refinance the company. So he ran both operations until 1917, when they closed Jefferson
out. He remained as president until 1937. I came home from Ohio University on my second trip
there. I won’t go into that. My grandmother became ill and I had dropped out. And he informed
me, well, in the meantime, I had met Boston Jones, his nephew, and Clint Jones and Ed Kerns
and a bunch of the, and they told me my da-cu wouldn’t sign the papers for turning the Jefferson
property over to the state to build a lake there. So I went back home to see dad-cu and, oh I
couldn’t say that, that’s what I call him.
Kara
No, you day Dad-Cu, that’s great!
Jo
Da-Cu?
Kara
Uh huh.
Jo
Anyway, I explained that Boston and Clint and (?) Kerns and Swinky (?) and all had
wanted me to talk it over with you about signing these papers. Well, two years before they had all
gone to the state and they were turned down. He said “Bachgen, I’ll tell you, I don’t want my
nephews to be made fools of again.” He said, “they were made fools of once.” I said “Da-cu, it’s
going to go through.” I said I called a friend of mine who was a (?), Ohio State, (?) over Ohio U. I
knew him and he was working with the governor of Ohio. I called him and he told it was going
through. He said, “Just hand me the papers” and signed the papers. That was the last official act
that he really had much to do with Jefferson Furnace. Later on, Kerns and Slinky got him in with
the Hitchcock people and he sold Diamond Brick Company stock and so forth, and he got out of
the brick business all at the same time. He had intended to work two years as a teacher possibly
three, then go on to Ohio University and (?) medical degree the same as my Uncle da-cu J. (?). In
the meantime, he met Winifred Williams and they got married, but that was the one reason he
wanted me to go to Ohio University. I wanted to go to Miami. My grandmother said she wanted
me to go to Ohio State. So, like a bull head, I decided I wasn’t going back to any place, I was
going back to high school to take short hand and typing. A week after that, Jane Lloyd and Dan
Jones got a hold of me, so I went down to the brick yard to pick my grandfather up, take him back
for lunch. “Da-cu, I think I’m going to go to school.” “Where might you be going, grandson?” Or
Bachgen, he called me. I said, “Well it’s rather obvious, I’ve got to go to Ohio University.”
“That’s fine. We’ll stop at the Oak Hill Savings Bank. We’ll get you some money.” So I thought he
was going to get me money out of his account, but I had a small savings account of about a
thousand dollars, which was quite a bit of money at that time. Most had been given to me by him
anyway, and my grandmother. He said “we’ll draw out $250,” which I did. I said “you put it in the
bank when you get to Athens. Ask Mr. Davis which is the best bank.” Well, I asked Davis at the
bank, it was Stanton Davis. He mentioned the Athens National Bank. So I got to Athens and who
do I know was Leona Hughes. Might not recognize her but Leona was the one who had given
$980, 000 to Ohio University for scholarships Oak Hill High. Have you ever heard of that?
Kara
No
Jo
You’d better get onto that. She now has eight students going. She is six years older. Her
younger brother Bob and I graduated from high school together, we started school and also her
cousin, David Hughes, as an undertaker in Athens. Ended up his dad was an undertaker in Oak
Hill. She was the secretary of President Bryan of Ohio University. I went immediately to see
Leona. She used to carry Bob and I around as little kids. She got me into Ohio University ( ? )
ever even started (?). So I owe her a lot. And her brother just passed away three years ago of
Alzheimer’s so she’s left alone. She now lives in Sarasota. You might get in touch with her, she
might put some money in. She’s all Welsh. She now is 96 year old.
Kara
Leona Hughes Hughes?
Jo
Leona Hughes Hughes. Now Ms. ( ? ), her father had been the dentist at Oak Hill, and I
think when he died he was the oldest practicing dentist in Ohio. Doctor Jack Hughes.
Kara
I’m interested in….you’ve been telling me about your grandfather, right?
Jo
That’s grandfather Joseph Jones
Kara
Okay. Tell me about his father and when they came over.
Jo
My grandfather Jones, I’ve got the history but I don’t have the date in my mind, I’ll give
you a copy of that if you want, he first came over, (his name was John H. Jones), he first came
over I think around 1830 and he had $50. He stopped in Pittsburg and worked in the mines for a
year and a half and he broke his leg. After getting out of the so-called hospital he had around
$50. So he took a boat, worked in building a boat and came down to Gallipolis Ohio. He walked
from Gallipolis to Oak Hill because he knew some Evanses and Jon Evans’ wife and family were
all from right around Vermont and some other people. He worked for several years in the mines
down in the Scioto County and everything and he bought a farm. He named it Tanyagroes. Later
on that was where Diamond Brick company was built. He had also bought property in
Benedosha., I think I mentioned that. He had stock in both Oak Hill and Firebrick and also
Jefferson Furnace, plus some others.
Kara
When did he come over?
Jo
He went back to Wales after three years, I think. He built a small house on the farm and
he stayed there for two years, married, Dr. Jon Edwards, who was a very famous minister, I
understand, and he’s buried at ( Blum Tennual) . The tomb is about four foot high. One half is in
English, one half is in Welsh. He’s a distant relative, I guess, or some relation to ( ? ). He came
back to Oak Hill and started farming. I’m not able to…before the Civil War, I know. It had to be in
the forties, because he was a stockholder of Jefferson Furnace which in 1850 or something was
founded. I’ll send you a copy of Jefferson.
Kara
Please do.
Jo
I’ll also send you a copy of Horeb Church, if you want.
Kara
Yes.
Jo
I have copies, I think I can still find them. And I may be able to locate the meetings and
so forth of Jefferson Furnace, the second company. I think I know where they are. I don’t have
them.
Kara
That would be amazing.
Jo
I also had a print that (Dollar?) Jones sent me, of (Braumthama), the farm. It’s now on the
historical thing, he can’t do anything…go up to his…when I was there in ’85 they were just putting
a new slate roof. He’s very Welshy, he got wonderful command of the English language and
writes a beautiful letter.
Kara
We’ve talked so far about your mother’s family, is that right?
Jo
Right.
Kara
What about your father’s family?
Jo
Alright, my father’s family. My grandmother was Anne Davis, oldest daughter of John. D.
Davis, who was the manager of the old furnace at Gallia before he went to Jefferson as general
manager and later on he…His farm is still in the hands of the family. In fact, the new Oak Hill high
school, which has just been built in the last year, is on part of his old property, which the property
has come down to Willard Davis. John Davis had, I think, six daughters and one son, Tom. Tom,
later, was manager at the Oak Hill Fire Brick. Anyway…
Kara
Do you happen to remember the names of the girls? Do you know the names of the girls?
Jo
Well, I just buried the last granddaughter of hers two years ago. Her name was Mary Etta
Jones. I (?) her in 1980. she was a widow, been widowed since 1947. She was only married a
year and a half. She married my father’s sister’s husband, after my sister ( ? ), she had passed
away. They never had any children, so I buried her one month shy of 103 years old. She’s buried
in Hamilton, Ohio. Her father, Mr. Lewis, who was vice president of the company in Hamilton that
made all the safes. I can’t think of the name of it. Hoosier Safe Company. The last two years I
had to put her in a nursing home because she had a stroke. Rosemary, my wife, she was a nice
lady and I was a nice lady’s buddy. She couldn’t get things together. She died a horrible death. I
did all I could for her. So that’s the reason I didn’t go to Florida in 1985. We had to stay there and
somebody had to look after her, I guess, and I was the only one. So…
Kara
This is one of the sisters, so we’ve got Tom, and then, what did you say her name was?
Jo
Anne. Anne was Anne and then there was Winnie, Winnie Jones is ( ? ) is Ms. Bangers
now. Margaret in Dan Ward, Ohio. She had buried a Hughes who was head of the bank and
made an awfully lot of money in the wholesale grocery business there. Sarah was Mary Etta’s
mother, she lived in Hamilton, of course, after marriage. In fact, her wedding dress is now in the
Oak Hill museum, so Mary Etta gave that to me to give to the museum. And we had another
Jane, who was never married. She built the house now that Bill Lloyd lives in. She thought it was
too big, so she built the house right next to it for herself. She’s buried in the Congregational
Cemetery. Now, the Davis side of the family were Congregationalists. They were from
Cardiganshire, outside Aeberaeron, and I’ve forgotten the year that they came to this country,
but he brought his father along, John (Lot ?) Davis. John Lot’s wife, Anne, passed away in
Pittsburg and is buried under an unmarked grave, she didn’t get to Tyn Rhos. She was the sister
of John Jones Tyn Rhos.
Kara
Okay, there’s the connection.
Jo
So that’s my relation there. Anyway, like I said, my grandmother Anne was the oldest one
of this family. Tom inherited the farm and she, of course, got some money, I guess, and a house
that they’d built for Morris (?) Davis, provisionally, and he moved up in the other farm areas.
Kara
And who was Morris Davis?
Jo
Morris at Oak Hill. He went to school at Wooster, and then came back to Oak Hill and
was manager of Oak Hill Fire Brick. His son, Myron Davis, closed the Oak Hill Fire Brick plant in
1961. Myron has since passed away. I made a mistake. One thing my grandfather always said,
“Never do business with relatives and don’t lend them money.” Well, Myron got a hold of me in
Pittsburg about a year before they closed, two years before they closed the plant, to come and
take over the sales. It was a dying thing, and I made a mistake in coming back to Oak Hill. But
that’s another story. In lending money, I lent money to relatives and I never got….so that’s
another story. So I didn’t follow my grandfather’s advice. But anyway, now Anne Davis, we’ll get
back to her. She, they were a very large family, as I say. One of Aunt Winnie Davis’ sons, no,
daughters, married John Davis Twin. He was part of the Twin Brother’s Oak Hill Grocery Store for
years. Their oldest son, Jack, became vice president of Kroger’s. About eight years ago he
retired, for two years ago Alzheimer’s got Jack. He graduated from Ohio University a year ahead
of Rosemary in 1939.
Kara
Now what relation was Jack to you?
Jo
Our grandmothers were sisters. Second, you know. ( Lou, Loy ?) Simms, she was
another daughter of Aunt Winnie Jones. She married Less Simms in Oak Hill. In Oak Hill right
now I only have a brother, Ray, the youngest of our family, and my sister, Margery., in Oak Hill.
On the other part, Willard (?) Davis is a distant cousin. He’s the one that sold the property for the
new school. So, John Lot had another son, Lot Davis, who was a state senator and Civil War
Captain. He also was interested in several iron furnaces in Jackson.
Kara
Now, what relation was Lot?
Jo
He was my great grandfather’s brother.
Kara
Great grandfather’s brother.
Jo
So John Lot was their father.
Kara
So, John Lot…tell me John Lot’s sons. He had a Lot?
Jo
One son was Lot and the other one was John. They were the only ones he had. Now, he
lived in Jackson. He was quite a ruling elder of the Welsh Presbyterian Church for years. He had
quite an impact, even in the (?), and everything around Jackson. I’ve forgotten what year…He
has one son who lives in Chattanooga, and there are quite a few other Davis (?) . I’ve never met
any of them. I understand a couple of them went back to Oak Hill to meet to see Ms. Banger at
the museum. I’d like to get in touch with them someday but probably won’t. Now, let’s see, to
come to the Thomas side of the family. My father was Howe J. Thomas. Grandfather! He had a
brother, John J. and he had another brother, David J. They’re all buried in the Congregational
Cemetery in Oak Hill, side by side, identical stones. One of the sisters…hold on, I’m getting
ahead of myself. Anyway, he was quite an industrial man. He found the Oak Hill Fire Brick…
Kara
What was his name again?
Jo
John J. Davis.
Kara
John J. Davis.
Jo
Now, if you’ll notice, all the Joneses, Joseph J., Ebon J., the J meant they was the son of
John Jones. Tanygroes. Howell J., David J., John J., they were all sons of John N. Thomas and
his wife, two of the oldest ones buried in the Congregational Cemetery at Oak Hill. In fact, her
name was Anne (Shadrick ?), and her brother and father and mother are also buried in the
Congregational Cemetery. They had a farm, adjoining farms in Wales. I always thought that John
N. Thomas was the oldest one over here, but about ten years ago Edward Morgan and I got
together and went out to Gomer, Ohio. There’s a John N. Davis up there, senior! There were six
sons. They all came at the only, my family were the only ones that came to Oak Hill except
Edward Morgan’s mother. Or, sister, who married a Jones. She came to Oak Hill, she was the
only one of the Thomas’ s besides my grand…
Kara
I need you to talk me through this again. I’m confused. Start in Wales, who came over.
Start right from the beginning and come back to you.
Jo
Alright, on the Thomas side, Howell J. Thomas is my grandfather. And Anne Davis is my
grandmother. I never met either one of them, they were passed away before I died. I told you
about Anne. On the Thomas side is a little confusing. Howell came over, one of the youngest
sons of John N. Thomas. The oldest Boy was John J. Thomas. The oldest brother. He also had a
sister who was a grandmother of Edwin Jones