A Few Memories of my Paternal Great Grandparents

My Paternal Great Grandfather was Leander Emory Jones, born near Alma, Wabaunsee County, Kansas on September 20, 1871.    He was the son of Francis Marion Jones and Roxanna Mary Mariah (Eaton) Jones.   His father was farming and teaching school.   Leander's family had lived for nearly two decades in Geneva Township, VanBuren County, Michigan

A Photograph of Leander Emory Jones, taken about 1890 at Parrott Studios in St. Marys, Kansas.

It is Roxanna Mary Mariah Eaton, who makes it possible for our blood relations to belong to the General Society of Mayflower Descendants.    She is the 6th great granddaughter of Francis and Sarah Eaton, who with other brave religious dissenters left Plymouth, England for the unknown in America.   Here's a little about Francis Eaton:

Biographical Information

Francis Eaton was baptized in 1596 in Bristol, Gloucester, England, the son of John and Dorothy (Smith) Eaton. Nearly all of Francis Eaton's siblings died in 1603/1604, apparently due to a sickness that had spread throughout the household. He and brother Samuel did survive; Francis would name his first son Samuel.
                                               
Francis took up the profession of a house carpenter. He married his first wife, Sarah, probably around 1619, and they had their first child Samuel about 1620. Francis, Sarah, and "sucking" child Samuel came on the Mayflower to Plymouth in 1620. Sarah died the first winter at Plymouth, and Francis then remarried to Dorothy, the maidservant of John Carver, sometime before 1623. John Carver had died in April 1621, and his wife Katherine died a few weeks later, so perhaps the marriage occurred not long thereafter. In the 1623 Division of Land at Plymouth, Francis Eaton received four shares: one for himself, one for his deceased first wife Sarah, one for Samuel, and one for his current wife Dorothy, all of whom came on the Mayflower.

Dorothy died sometime shortly thereafter: no children are known to have been born from their marriage. Francis then married, about 1626, to Christiana Penn, and they had three children together: Rachel, Benjamin, and a child that was called "an ideote" that was still living in 1651, but whose name has not survived.

Francis Eaton himself died in 1633, apparently suffering the same fate as his siblings in childhood, dying of a disease that spread through Plymouth that autumn. Francis Eaton's estate included one cow and a calf, two hogs, fifty bushels of corn, a black suit, a white hat and a black hat, boots, saws, hammers, an adze, square, augers, a chisel, boards, fishing lead, and some kitchen items.

If that doesn't provide enough distinction for the family, there is more!  Roxanna's grandfather, Silvanus Eaton, hero of the American Revolution.   Here is a little about Silvanus Eaton:

SILVANUS EATON

Silvanus Eaton and his wife Deborah Caswell were both descendants of Mayflower colonists.  Silvanus was the grandson of Great Grandson of Francis and Sarah Eaton Eaton. 

Silvanus Eaton enlisted from Middleborough as a private in Capt. Nathaniel Wood's Company, Col. Simeon Cary's Regiment at Roxbury, Massachusetts, on April 1, 1776. Nathaniel Wood was captain of the First Middleborough Company of Militia.

They moved from Middleborough to New Salem about 1780, where he bought a 50 acre farm for 113 pounds. This property was sold in 1796.

Silvanus was a farmer and preacher. He was raised and married in the First Congregational Church of Middleborough, Massachusetts, but later became a member of Rev. Isaac Backus's Titicut Separate Church, which eventually affiliated with the Baptist Church.

When Silvanus died, his estate was inventoried and included the following: Real Estate, 100 pounds; two oxen, one colt, one milk cow, two steers, three sheep, three pigs.

The following is a very interesting newspaper article reporting an interview with Orpha Eaton, the younger sister of Roxanna Eaton.   Orpha Jane's was married twice.  First to Mr. Reeves and second to Mr. Beebe.   She lived near Paw Paw in Van Buren County, Michigan where her father Eri and mother, Rachel (Davis) Eaton moved in the 1830s.

The following article from the South Haven newspaper was kindly shared by Ms. Jeanne Lee Burton and her brother, Clayton Canning. They are the descendants of Clarissa Eaton Eastman, who was Mrs. Orpha Jane Reeves/Beebe's sister. Although there is no date on the article, from the information in the article, it would appear that it was written in February of 1932. (June 13, 2001)

THREE GENERATIONS AND MRS. BEEBE STILL TREASURES HER GRANDFATHER'S OFT-TOLD TALES OF GENERAL WASHINGTON.

Bloody torn feet--the cold winter of Valley Forge--the kindly countenance of a great general--not merely historical incidents for Mrs. Orpha Jane Eaton Reeves Beebe, who is celebrating her ninetieth observance of George Washington's birthday today. Her grandfather, Jacob Davis, was a soldier in George Washington's army for seven years. To her mother and to her mother's children has come the story, George Washington was a good man, my girl--a man of prayer. Mrs. Beebe is the mother of Mrs. Henry Zeedyk, 625 Phillips Street. She is the oldest living pioneer of Geneva Township (Van Buren County, Michigan) and the last of the Eaton family which arrived in Michigan in February, 1843, from Oneida County, New York.

With her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Eri (Rachel Davis) Eaton, the one year old Orpha Jane followed the road of the pioneer through out the wilderness of Michigan. The oxen-drawn covered wagon stopped in Lenawee County near Adrian. Here the father worked for two years clearing twenty acres of land to pay for eight acres of virgin forest in Van Buren County. In 1845, the oxen were again hitched to the wagon and the Eaton family blazed its way northwest to Van Buren County in 1845.

The little oxen parade stopped near the Hiram Chapel farm on the present township division line between Columbia and Geneva Townships. Mrs. Eaton and the children were allowed to occupy single shanty on the Chapel place while a log cabin was being erected for them. There were ten Eaton children: Clarrisa, Catherine, Carolyn Sophia, Roxanna, Orpha Jane, Rachel Margaret, William Charles, George Washington and Chancy. William alone stayed in New York. Several of the older girls were married when the cavalcade came west. Four sisters were older than Mrs. Beebe and one was younger. The four brothers were also older. Mrs. Beebe is now the only living member of the family which came to the Michigan woods in 1843.

Breedsville, scarcely Breedsville then, was the nearest point of contact with neighbors. There James Gray had constructed a rough store building. Breedsville was called "The Burg."

Near neighbors of the Eaton Family were the Nathan Tubbs and it was for the young daughter of the Tubbs family, Sarah Geneva Tubbs, that Geneva Center and Geneva Township were named. It was also at the Tubbs' large log cabin that the first political gathering in this section of the country took place--when the pioneers gathered to define the township lines and make Geneva township a reality. And it was at this first meeting that George Washington Eaton was named the first constable of Geneva Township. George Washington Eaton, brother of Mrs. Beebe, died at the age of 19 from a five day illness thought to have been typhoid fever. He was named after the great general and the father of America whose memory having been left incarnate in her own memory by their father, Mrs. Eaton had made a living reality in her little son.

"My father was the second man to pioneer in Geneva Township and the first many to stay there. Clark Pierce, the first man, settled in the southwest corner of the township but he didn't stay long," Mrs. Beebe takes pride in stating.

Bitter cold winters and long hot summers were the lot of the pioneer--wolf calls at night and the wilderness of the dense woods with its many traps for the unwary traveler. Many are the talks that this descendant of early America tells. There was the maple sugar made by the Indians and purified by deer blood; deer hair pillows and mattresses. Made from the hair of the animals as they were stripped by the Indians; church in the Tubb's cabin where Rev. Mr. Robinson, representing the Methodist denomination preached, "first to the older people and then to us little children," as Mrs. Beebe points out.

"He was the first minister I ever saw and even now as I lay waiting for sleep I re-live catechism class on the Tubbs' front bench," she smiled, this old lady whose grandfather fought with George Washington.

The little group of houses which grew up in the locality of Geneva Center was a friendly community. Each house was some eighty rods from its neighbor.

Mrs. Beebe recalls her first visit to what is now South Haven. The pioneers referred to the lovely spot along the shore line of Lake Michigan where Black River emptied its waters as "Dow to the Mouth." Pioneers came to South Haven to fish and from the fish shanties that dotted the shore here and there grew our city of 5,000. A corduroy road was made out of the logs to cover a great portion of the distance between the Geneva settlement and South Haven. The distance was eight miles--cut through heavy forests. Eri Eaton crossed from the shore to the point of the lighthouse where the harbor was filled with quicksand. Stretched out on the sand he would find sturgeon and would bring those what were not decomposed home to his family.

Mrs. Beebe grew up in Geneva Township. At the age of twenty-one she married John F. Reeve of Long Island, New York. His family was relatively "new" in this district, having come to these parts during the Civil War. All four of Mrs. Beebe's brothers were drafted into the Civil War.

John Reeve died in 1874 and his widow remarried in 1878 to William Beebe.

Ninety years have passed since the Eaton family came to Michigan. The Eaton cabin is now gone. In its place a more modern residence has been erected and the farm is occupied by Frank Canning, a great grandson of Eri Eaton. The farm is situated on a cross-road off the Bangor Road. On this farm remains the first frame barn built in Geneva Township.

Mrs. Beebe, who has been visiting with her daughter, Mrs. Zeedyk, over the winter months, has a home in Lacota. She apparently is in good health though she has been suffering from a cold. She will be ninety-one years old May 20, and is the only living member of the Eaton Family today.

She has tree daughters, Mrs. Zeedyk who is 68-years-old, Mrs. Nettie Hoag of Lacota, 62-years-old, and Mrs. Susie Switzer of Battle Creek, 60-years-old.

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And so you have it---the Jones Family has about as much blue blood as is possible for one family to have:  first the Mayflower ancestors in the Eaton and Caswell Families and then the Revolutionary War ancestors in both the Eaton and Davis Families.

I'm sorry to say I do not have any photographs of any of these distinguished ancestors.   However I do have photographs of Francis Marion Jones and his wife Roxanna Mary Mariah (Eaton) Jones.   




  This Photograph of Francis Marion Jones was taken in 1905 for the Wabaunsee County History publication edited by Matt Thompson.   He and his wife, Roxanna M. M. (Eaton) Jones were living on a small farm south of Willard, Kansas.

Francis was born on March 16, 1828 near Cincinnati in Clark County, Ohio.   He moved to Michigan in the early 1850s.   He would have been about 72 when this picture was taken.   He died on the farm south of Willard, Kansas on May 5, 1904 and is buried in the Green Cemetery southeast of Willard, Kansas.
This is the only picture of him the author has.







This is a photograph of Roxanna Mary Mariah (Eaton) Jones at about 1880.   She was born to Eri and Rachel (Davis) Eaton on May 26, 1837 and died on March 24, 1925 at Maple Hill, Wabaunsee County, Kansas.   She was living with her son and daughter-in-law Leander E. and Susanna J. (Reinhardt) Jones.










This is a photograph of Roxanna Mary Mariah (Eaton) Jones and her sister, Rachel A. Margaret "Maggie" (Eaton) Hilliard taken about 1920 at the Hilliard home in Van Buren County, Michigan.  Both of these sisters died in 1925.


Francis M. and Roxanna M. M. (Eaton) Jones were the parents of 10 children.   Nine of their sons and daughters lived to adulthood.



My paternal grandmother, Mabel Rachel (Jones) Clark, was born in 1893 and she knew her Grandmother Roxanna Jones very well.  She loved to tell the story about how she and Francis M. Jones were married.

"Grandfather Jones (Francis) was Roxanna's school teacher.   She was born in 1837 and they were married in 1854 when Francis was 34 and Roxanna was 17.    Grandma Jones told me that he followed the tradition of the time.   He came riding one horse and leading another.   He went into the Eaton home and asked Eri and Rachel for permission to marry Roxanna.   Permission was granted and Grandfather Jones just put Grandma on the "lead horse" and took her to the Justice of the Peace in Geneva Township, Van Buren County, Michigan where they were married.   Grandpa Jones had a log cabin and they went home after they were married and lived together 51 years.   Grandma told me that there was no such thing as dating and that she had never had a date with Francis before they were married."

I think I'll quit there and tell more later.    Happy Trails!