Alameda County
Biographies
SAMUEL JONES
While great wealth has not come to Mr. Jones in his California home, yet he has attained an honorable independence and a degree of success that would have been impossible in the midst of circumstances existing in his native land of Wales. When he settled in Alameda county he had no capital save such as was represented by a determined spirit, robust health and willing hands. Lacking the money necessary for the purchase of a ranch, he was obliged to operate rented land for a long period. Each year his savings were hoarded and finally he had accumulated a sufficient amount to enable him to purchase the ranch upon which he now makes his home, about six miles east of Haywards (sic).
The boyhood years of Mr. Jones were passed on a farm in Wales, where he was born September 24, 1846. The family were poor and he was therefore taught habits of economy and self-reliance, which proved of inestimable value to him in later years. When sixteen years or age, in 1862, he left his home and friends and came to the United States, settling near Rome, N.Y., where he secured employment on a farm. On account of his youth he was paid very small wages, and when he left in the fall of 1865 he had only barely enough to pay his expenses to California, which trip he made by way of Panama. Immediately after his arrival on the coast he came to Alameda county and secured work on Dougherty's ranch by the month. As evidence of his faithful service it may be mentioned that he remained in the same place until 1880, and then left in order to take charge of a rented estate. The ranch to which he then moved is the one he now owns and comprises three hundred and twenty acres of hill land, of which seventy-two acres are under cultivation, and the balance mostly in pasture. As the years passed by he became more and more attached to the place, and finally, in 1904, acquired the property by purchase.
The marriage of Mr. Jones took place in 1880, and united him with Miss Elizabeth Thomas, a native of Ohio. By this union he has one son, William. In addition to his work as a rancher, for ten years he ran a threshing machine in the season, receiving excellent wages at this occupation. Since becoming a citizen of our country and attaining his majority he has been a believer in Republican principles and always votes with the party. He is not identified with any of the fraternal orders. While he has never become associated with any denomination, he is a believer in religion and contributes to church work as his means permit. All that he has represents his unaided earnings. In getting a start in the world he had no one to assist him, but was forced to battle his way alone from boyhood, deprived of the beneficent influence of a home and an education. Discouragements were never allowed to daunt him. He has been a firm believer in the prosperity and development of Alameda county and with the interest of a loyal citizen has watched its advancement and growth until it has reached its present high standard of civilization.
Transcribed
5-6-15 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 564-565. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2015 Marilyn R. Pankey.
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