JONES, Luther A.
Luther A. JONES, deceased, was a native of
New Hampshire, born at Hillsboro, November 15,
1811. He grew to manhood in his native state and received a
limited education in its select schools. In 1836 he was united
in marriage with Druzilla CALEF, and, with his young bride, came
at once to Illinois, locating eventually on a farm in
Cass county. He remained there, however, hut a short time, and
then removed to Iowa, where he followed
farming a few years, and then again returned to Cass county,
where he resumed his farming operations. Later he removed to
Beardstown, on the Illinois river, where he ran a steam ferry for a number of
years and where his wife died in 1869, leaving four children,
Sarah E., now wife of Frank W. TRACY, president of the First
National Bank of Springfield, Illinois; Ann Eliza, wife of Louis
WEAVER, now of Virginia; Emma F., a teacher in the Springfield
high school, and Louis Arthur, a farmer of Bluff Spring,
Illinois.
After the death of his first wife, Mr.
JONES left Beardstown and removed to Henry, where he spent the
remainder of his life. In November, 1872, he married Mrs.
Eleanor W. WHITE, widow of John Bradshaw WHITE, of Henry. Mr.
WHITE was born in Washington, Vermont,
February 14, 1814, and December 30, 1841, there married Miss
Eleanor W. CALEF, who was a cousin of Mrs. Druzilla JONES, their
fathers being brothers. They came to
Illinois
shortly after their marriage and located on a farm in Whitefield
township, seven miles from Henry. They started from their
Vermont
home in sleighs, but on arriving at
Rochester,
New York, exchanged their runners
for wheels and continued on their journey. Mr. WHITE had made a
visit to this locality some five years previously and had
selected the land which he afterward purchased. He secured what
he thought was government land, but it was found that there was
a flaw in the title, and others made claim to the same tract.
The case was placed in the hands of attorneys and stubbornly
fought by claimants and contestants, but not settled until after
the death of Mr. WHITE, when it was decided in favor of a
claimant, the widow and her children thus losing all that had
been invested and the result of years of toil. Realizing the
uncertainty of his title, however, Mr. WHITE purchased another
farm, on which the family moved. This farm, consisting of one
hundred and sixty acres, he commenced to improve, but in 1852 he
rented the place and moved to Henry, where he engaged in the
lumber trade, which business he continued until his death,
October 30, 1852. To Mr. and Mrs. WHITE were born three
children: Ellen Maria, now the wife of Ransom E GREGORY,
residing at Pierce, South Dakota; John Burritt, who graduated at
Knox College in 1867, and died February 11, 1868, at the age of
twenty-one years, and Asa Orville, a farmer residing near
Milford, Iroquois county, Illinois.
After the death of her husband, Mrs. WHITE
returned to the farm, and with the assistance of her children
continued to operate it until her marriage with Mr. JONES, when
they located in Henry. She has since disposed of it and is now
living in a pleasant home in the village, where she enjoys the
respect and loving good will of the entire community. She is a
consistent and devoted member of the New Jerusalem or
Swedenborgian church at Henry, and well-grounded in the faith.
Mr. JONES died January 25, 1893, in his eighty-second year. He
was a man well liked in the community in which he resided and
his death was mourned by a large circle of friends throughout
Marshall and adjoining counties and also in his old home in Cass
county.
Extracted March 2011 by Norma Hass from
The Biographical Record of Bureau, Marshall and Putnam Counties, Illinois,
1896.
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