San Joaquin County Biographies This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm AMOS JONES. One of the most capable men in the realty field of Central California, Amos Jones was also fortunate in having a wide experience as a civil engineer before entering this progressive business in which he has made such an outstanding success. An Easterner by birth, he was born in Dover, N. J., December 27, 1876, and when a child his parents located in Canon City, Colo. Here he was reared, attending the public schools and graduating from the Canon City high school in 1895. Continuing his studies at the State Agricultural College, he was graduated from there in 1898 as an irrigation engineer, and then became associated with the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company. Later he returned to his alma mater as an instructor in civil engineering, and then entered the U. S. Reclamation Survey, spending a year on the Truckee-Carson project in Nevada. On his return to Colorado he became deputy engineer for the state of Colorado, holding this post for one year. Coming to Stockton in 1904, Mr. Jones embarked in the real estate business under the firm name of Jones & McElwee. Later he entered into partnership with Howard Hammond and F. L. Williams, as Hammond, Jones & Williams, and this firm handled many large land development projects. In 1909 they sold the Weber Tule Ranch to Baldwin & Howell of San Francisco, and in 1912 they formed a corporation and planted a thousand acres of land near Ripon to peaches and almonds, an ambitious undertaking which proved very successful. They put Yosemite Terrace on the market, a tract of 175 acres and one of Stockton's finest residence districts, and they also developed Stockton Acres, and thus were the means of attracting many new settlers to this locality. Their work was always on a large scale and they disposed of more than a million dollars' worth of property in the San Joaquin Valley to new residents, and thus had an important part in building up the county in a conservative, lasting way. In 1917 Mr. Jones formed a partnership with James Y. Coates and they engaged in a general real estate business, specializing in the handling of large tracts and subdivisions. They have operated in Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties and have already successfully subdivided and disposed of the Elliott ranch of 5,030 acres, and several others. In December, 1920, T. H. Carpenter bought into the company. Since then the firm name has been the Jones-Coates Company, with offices at 507 Yosemite Building. Acting in conjunction with J. Henry Smith of Tracy, this company acquired the Pescadero Colony, formerly known as the McLaughlin Tract of 14,000 acres near Tracy, lying between Tracy and the San Joaquin River. This company has already made provisions for irrigation and good roads for the entire tract, and has subdivided it into twenty-acre farms which it is selling without any cash down payments; interest at six per cent is payable semi-annually in advance and no payment of principal is required for five years, therefore principal payments may extend ever a period of ten years in equal annual installments, if desired, making a total of fifteen years' time in which to pay off the purchase price. It is the cream of the state, both in fertility and location. Mr. Jones' marriage, which occurred at Safford, Ariz., in 1902, united him with Miss Della Gaume, a native of Ohio. Mr. Jones is a member of Stockton Lodge No. 218, B. P. O. E., and of Charter Oak Lodge No. 20, K. P., having passed through all chairs of the latter and attended the Grand Lodge. While California owes a never-ending debt of gratitude to the early settlers who braved the perils and hardships of its pioneer days, the same meed of credit is due to men who, like Amos Jones, have given years of training and study to these great problems of development and reclamation, and whose initiative and capability have made it possible for hundreds of homes to be carved out of uncultivated tracts, thus adding millions to the wealth of this district, and helping to make California the garden of the world. History of San Joaquin County, California � Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1923 p 1339 Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.