Sutter-Yuba County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm



DAVID N. JONES
 
            Fortunate both in the exceptionally choice acres of his Waldo 
district ranch, and also in an invaluable experience enabling him to get the 
best results in the quantity and the quality of his farm products, David N. 
Jones, the well-known citizen of Yuba County, has been able to contribute 
something definite  and worth while to the advancement of California 
agriculture.  He was born in Yuba County, seven miles to the southwest of 
Smartsville, on the old Jones ranch, on July 14, 1873, the son of David N. and 
Elizabeth (Young) Jones.  His father, a native of Brandon, Vt., came out to 
California in the early fifties and mined at Buena Vista, near Grass Valley, 
where he did not make good; and then he shifted to Randolph Flat, and was 
successful.  Later, he worked at logging in Nevada County; and about 1856 he 
came into Yuba County, and with his brother-in-law, John Young, operated the 
place now known as the Jones ranch.  Elizabeth Young was born in Burlington, 
Ill., and came to California in the late fifties; and here in the Golden State 
they were married.  Mr. and Mrs. Jones lived on the Jones ranch for a number of 
years, and Mr. Jones also bought the large stock ranch and summer resort known 
as Bucks Ranch, in Plumas County, and on the latter ranch, after having spent 
their declining years, Mr. Jones died, in 1906, esteemed by all who knew him, 
having been preceded to the grave by his devoted wife.  Mr. Jones had acquired 
2200 acres in Yuba and Nevada Counties, and 1700 acres in Plumas County.  There 
were six children in the Jones family:  Lillie E., who became Mrs. Welch of 
Waldo; Eva C., who married W. J. Sanford, and died on July 1, 1915; Ida E., Mrs. 
Carter; and Minnie B., who became Mrs. Caine and resides at 316 C Street, 
Marysville; David N. and Willard L.
            David attended the Lone Tree school, and then he became associated 
with his father, remaining on the home ranch as assistant until 1906, and then 
taking charge of the estate until 1909, when the parental property was divided.  
David Jones has 560 acres on the Spenceville-Wheatland stage route, called the 
Round Tent Ranch; and that became a stage-stand, and also a stopping off place 
for teamsters, who hauled freight from Sacramento to Virginia City, Nev.  He is 
a Republican, and he has been a clerk of the board of trustees of the Waldo 
school district; in fact, he is the one that started the Waldo school, named 
after Waldo R. Johnson.
            At Oroville, on April 7, 1900, Mr. Jones was married to Miss Elbie 
Louise Rutherford, a native of Wyandotte, Butte County, and the daughter of 
James and Geraldine (Enslow) Rutherford, early pioneers, who came to California 
in 1852.  He was a stock-raiser and a farmer, and Elbie Louise was reared and 
educated in Butte County, and enjoyed life in a home erected far back in 1856, 
and still standing today, in excellent condition.  James Rutherford was a native 
of Arkansas, and Geraldine Enslow was a native of Ohio.  They had seven 
children:  Charles T., Elmore H., Florence M., Mills M., Ruby E., Harriet J., 
and Elbie L. Rutherford.  Mrs. Rutherford died at the age of sixty-three; while 
Mr. Rutherford lived to be seventy-eight.  Four children blessed this union of 
Mr. and Mrs. Jones.  David R. is the eldest of the family; and then come Willard 
E., Gerald Allen, and finally Geraldine Elizabeth.  Mr. Jones belongs to the 
Masonic Lodge of Smartsville; and he and his wife are members of the Eastern 
Star of Wheatland.
 
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p. 1171-1172