J. C. Jones

J. C. Jones, my great great grandfather, was born Dec. 25, 1828. His family came to this country from Wales. He came to the state of Ohio sometime in the mid 1800's and settled in Henry County in Colton, Ohio. Just prior to that he came from the Pennsylvania area. He was a member of the G.A.R. in the Ohio Infantry. He thought the prospects of running a business in a small town would be excellent so he started a general store, which he operated for several years. From the time of his arrival to this small village until the present time, through his daughter, Elmah, at least one of his descendants has remained in Colton. He died June 29, 1903, and his wife, Jane, born May 25, 1834, died March 26, 1901.

He didn't have any sons to carry on his name but he had two daughters, Mary E. (Minnie), 1859-1919, and Elmah, 1855-1914.

Elmah, my great grandmother, married Justus Luce and to this union six children were born: Joab M. (Joe), Jeanette (Nettie), Adalyn (Ada), Mildred (Eva), Elmah J. (Jane), and John. She had two more sons by a later marriage to Frank Nees, Frankie who died in infancy and Cecil. Cecil served in World War I.

John's wife, Mae residing in Toledo, Ohio, is the only surviving member of Elmah's family. The rest of her children and their spouses are deceased. John and Mae had one daughter, Lucille, who lives in Toledo. Ada married Thomas Higgins and had three children, Albert, Genevieve, and Harold. Albert lives at Point Place in the Toledo area. Eva married Charles Mercer. Jane married Henry Emahiser and they had two children, Hattie and Paul, both deceased. Cecil and his wife, Nonnie, had one child, Cindy.

Joe Luce 1876-1943, Elmah's oldest son, married Nellie Thompson, then proceeded to follow in his grandfather's footsteps and operated a general store in Colton, (the store which is best known to me as A. M. Barlow General Store). It was the same store his grandfather operated after his original one was destroyed by fire. Joe raised his family here, a son Max, and two daughters, Juanita and Thelma. Later Joe and his family moved to Toledo where he still operated a general store. His wife died in 1951. His children are now residing in the Toledo area. Max served in World War II.

Nettie, my grandmother, was born Dec. 8, 1871. She married John Klaiss. They had one daughter, Pansy, born Aug. 28, 1891. By a later marriage Nettie and her sister, Jane, married brothers, sons of Peter Emahiser from the Colton area. Nettie and Zene were married approximately in 1897. They had two children, a daughter, Corina, born Oct. 6, 1901, who died at 9 months, and a son, Kenneth born June 24, 1905. Kenneth operated a garage in Colton as a young man and later in Toledo for 26 years, retiring due to illness in 1963. Kenneth and his wife, the former Margaret Engler, are now residing in Toledo, Ohio.

Nettie and Zene's first home was in Colton but they later moved on a farm about 3 miles south of Colton. My mother, Pansy, still attended Colton School walking to and from every day. She often told me of taking a short cut through the fields when the snow was deep. After Zene retired from farming in 1938, they moved back to Colton and remained here until their death. Nettie died in 1949 and Zene, born 1872, died in 1954.

In 1911 Pansy married Clement Nutt, son of William Nutt from Fulton County. He was a carpenter by trade and also worked for the Liberty Center, Ohio, telephone company. Theybuilt a home about 4 miles north of Colton in Fulton County. They had one child, a daughter Paula Jane, born June 28, 1923, but not long after her birth tragedy struck and he passed away in 1924.

Approximately 2 years later my mother and I moved back to Colton. When I say moved, I mean moved, house and all. I remember many old timers telling what a slow process it was, the house having to remain in some farmer's field overnight, maybe longer if the weather was bad. My mother, Pansy, lived the remainder of her life here and died Nov. 27, 1972.

I attended the same Colton School my mother and grandmother did. When I was in the 7th grade, the school was finally closed with all of the children being sent to Liberty Center to school. I graduated from that school in 1941 and on Sept. 13 of the same year married Perry Murphy, the son of Arthur Murphy and have remained in Colton ever since.

The house we live in is the same one my grandparents lived in when they retired from the farm. Later my uncle, Kenneth (Buss), lived there for a short time during the 1950's and here his wife, Margaret, operated a beauty parlor. Our household also consists of Perry's nephew, Albert J. Van Heck, who has made his home with us for several years. The house next door to ours, still standing but considerably changed, is where J. C. Jones first lived when he came to Colton, Ohio.

Submitted by Paula Murphy