California Biographies, San Joaquin Valley

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

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

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


 WILLIAM J. JONES. A pioneer of California, William J. Jones is located on his ranch on section g, 
township 21, range 26, in the vicinity of Poplar, and engaged in the cultivation and improvement of the 
land which has transformed the San Joaquin valley into one of the fine farming sections of the state. 
He was born in Roane county, Tenn., March 15, 1839, and  was left an orphan when about three years 
old. He was then taken into the home of an uncle, J. H. Hacker, and his education was obtained in the 
common schools in the vicinity of his uncle's farm. By means of ox-teams he and his uncle crossed the 
plains in 1853, the trip consuming six months. His younger brother, Joseph Jones, was left in 
Tennessee, where he now makes his home. Upon their arrival in California Mr. Hacker located near 
Modesto, Stanislaus county, and engaged in farming and stock-raising along the banks of the 
Stanislaus river. There Mr. Jones grew to manhood, receiving the practical training which enabled him 
to make a success of his independent efforts. He remained with his uncle for some years after 
attaining manhood, driving a team and engaging in general farming and stockraising. In 1879 he came 
to Tulare county and in the vicinity of Poplar bought two hundred and forty acres of railroad land, upon 
which he engaged in the raising of grain and alfalfa, besides engaging in stock-raising. He is now the 
owner of between five and six hundred acres of land, upon which he has made all the improvements, 
one hundred and sixty acres being located six miles south of his home property, and eighty acres four 
miles north. He has made a success of his work and is highly esteemed, both in a financial and social 
way. 

In Stanislaus county Mr. Jones was united in marriage with Lucy A. Bailey, a native of Carroll county, 
Ga., and they are the parents of three children, namely : Oscar, a farmer on Deer creek, Tulare county; 
Mary, the wife of Milton M. Dale, whose biography appears elsewhere in this volume ; and Sarah, the 
wife of Otto Beeler, located in the vicinity of Pixley. Politically Mr. Jones is a stanch adherent of the 
principles advocated in the platform of the Democratic party.