San Joaquin County Biographies This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm JOHN WHEELER JONES. Among the foremost pioneers of the farming sections of San Joaquin County we mention John Wheeler Jones, one of the progressive grain and stock raisers whose name is indelibly stamped in the minds of the descendants of those who laid firm the foundation of this glorious commonwealth. A native of North Carolina, he was born in Guilford County, March 10, 1821, and was descended from ancestors whose blood is of English, Irish, Welsh and Scotch mixture, making up that hardy type that is continually pressing towards the frontier. His parents were Electus and Mary (Lambeth) Jones, the father having served in the Navy during the War of 1812, and who had died before John W. started for California. His mother lived to reach the fine old age of ninety-one and passed away at the home of her son in California on February 20, 1885, leaving three sons and two daughters, all now passed to the Great Beyond. John W. Jones was reared on a farm in South Carolina, later going to Georgia, where he became an overseer on a large plantation but threw up his job rather than whip a female slave. He next moved into Tennessee, where his first marriage was celebrated on December 2, 1842, which united him with Miss Mary Ann Allen. Six children were born to them, two dying in early childhood in Missouri, whither they had moved soon after their marriage. That state continued to be their home until 1852, when Mr. Jones, accompanied by his wife and four children and his mother, joined an emigrant train bound for California and after about six months' travel they arrived at the end of their journey, but with saddened hearts, for the good wife died of the dreaded cholera and was buried on the plains. Soon after his arrival here Mr. Jones began teaming to the mines from Stockton and met with the usual success which followed that business. In 1855 he located a homestead on part of a quarter section of land and bought out squatters who had the rest, and this parcel of land was always known as the "old homestead" and is situated where the town of Escalon now stands. Very soon after he had located on his ranch and while teaming, Mr. Jones made his home a place where the freighter and traveler could find a good meal, the fresh meat being antelope and killed by Mr. Jones, who was a fine shot, nearby in the sagebrush. On one parcel of land he later owned had been located the Blue Tent Tavern, so-called on account of the tent cloth being that color. This was known far and wide as a stopping place of all passers�by and was located on the French Camp Road one mile east of his home place. He added to his holdings as he prospered in later years and was rated one of the largest landholders in this part of the state, owning 8,000 acres in Dent Township, surrounding the old home place, with one mile frontage on the Stanislaus River; in 1866 he bought about 25,000 acres in Stanislaus County; and he also had 2,500 acres of grazing land on the West Side in San Joaquin County. Showing his foresight he bought 8,000 acres in Tulare County, paying $100,000 for it, which included the crop of grain and this he harvested and sold for $80,000 in 1879. He was the first man to set out a vineyard in this section of the county and he also had an orchard of several varieties of fruits and nuts, showing that almost everything would grow if given half a chance. It was he who broke the first furrow in the land and he sowed the grain by hand and covered it by dragging brush over the ground, there being no harrows here then. He harvested a crop that ran thirty sacks to the acre and sold it for five cents a pound. When he was working away on his place trying to get in his crop people passing were often heard to make disparaging remarks about the futility of such labor, but Mr. Jones persevered and reaped his harvest. In 1857, Mr. Jones made a trip back East and bought a band of cattle and drove them back to California to raise the standard of the California stock. On his return trip he fell in with a party that included John W. Dunlap and his family, who were on their way to California. In this party was a young lady who bore the name of Catherine Martin Dunlap, born December 25, 1832, in Springfield, Ill., and their wedding occurred in California on September 7, 1857. Settling on the old home place, in 1861, Mr. Jones erected a commodious two-story brick house containing eleven rooms, the bricks having been made nearby. This colonial style house was the scene of many a social gathering and is still standing on its original site. It was donated to the Woman's Improvement Club of Escalon by Miss Alice D. Jones and was used for the sessions of the first high school of the town until a suitable school building could be built. Of the second marriage of John W. Jones there were eight children born, all now deceased except one, Miss Alice D. Jones, of Stockton. In order of birth they are: Caleb Franklin; Lucinda Caroline married Joseph Dolan and lived near Montpelier, Stanislaus County; William Joshua lived four miles east of the old home place; Emeline N. married Romaine Moll and lived on the Blue Tent Place; David Lincoln settled on the Stanislaus; Miss Alice Deborah, of Stockton; James Wesley, who had the home place; and Albert Wheeler, who died aged seven years. In 1870 Mr. Jones distributed some 15,000 acres of land equally among the three living children by his first marriage. They were Levi J., who had married and lived in Stanislaus County; Mrs. E. A. (Hall) Humphrey, who also lived in that county until her marriage with Mr. Humphrey, when she located in Sacramento; and Mrs. Willis Bledsoe, who lived in Modesto. The son Electus, who was brought from Missouri, died aged fifteen years. In 1878 Mr. Jones built a small schoolhouse on his ranch and hired a private teacher for his children, although others were permitted to attend and their parents paid their share of the teacher's expenses. Mrs. Catherine Jones died in Dent township in 1880, and Mr. Jones survived until September, 1893. He made one trip East after the death of his second wife but soon returned to his home. Mr. Jones was a hard worker, honest in all his dealings, ready and ever willing to lend his aid to those in distress and was one of the stanch upbuilders of the county. He met with many reverses and discouragements in his early life here and at one time offered to let a navigation company have his ranch and possessions for a ticket East, but they would not accept and he had to hang on till with the passing of years he became one of the wealthy men of the county. He was a Republican in his political affiliations and during the Civil War found conditions about him full of sectional hatreds, when a man's life counted for but little. The large property he accumulated was divided among the heirs and 1,000 acres of the home place were sold by his son, James Jones, part of which is now the Escalon townsite. Miss Alice D. Jones has platted ten acres as the Pioneer Addition to Escalon and the streets are named after her brothers and sisters; she has also subdivided 1,200 acres into five-acre tracts and upwards to eighty acres and is bringing into the district south of Escalon a very desirable class of ranchers. She is doing her part as the daughter of the pioneer to continue to build up from the firm foundation laid by her worthy father. History of San Joaquin County, California � Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1923 p 392 Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.