Butte County
Biographies
JOSIAH LEWELLYN JONES
JOSIAH LEWELLYN JONES.—A native son bearing the honored name and cherishing
the ideals of one of the most noted California pioneers of the early fifties,
is Josiah Lewellyn Jones, the well-known stockman,
once among the progressive miners in the Golden State. He was born in Cherokee,
Butte County, on June 23, 1865, and is the son of Thomas R. Jones, a native of
Swansea, the famous bathing resort of Wales, near some of the greatest sources
of copper and iron in the United Kingdom. The father was a farmer, but left his
native land for the United States as early as 1852. Pushing out from St. Louis
with an ox team, he crossed the great, pathless plains as far as Buck’s Ranch,
Butte County, Cal., where he left the train and “hiked” to Cherokee. At that
point he followed mining awhile, but soon started raising cattle, in which
enterprise he met with more success. He homesteaded a ranch in Beatson Hollow; and as he succeeded, he purchased land
adjoining, becoming owner, in time, of one thousand seven hundred ten acres.
After a while, however, he sold his fine holding and, with an enviable record
for activity and accomplishment, retired to spend the remaining years with his
son, J. L. Jones; and at the latter’s residence he died, on September
9, 1911, in the eighty-third year of his age, esteemed and beloved by those who
knew him.
The mother was Jane Williams before her
marriage, and she also came from Wales. When she left home for the New World,
she traveled with her sister, Mrs. Reese Benjamin; and having reached New York
came west by way of the Panama Isthmus, in 1854. After she had settled in Butte
County, she was married to Mr. Jones; and on December 5, 1904, she died in the
same county, the mother of six children–five boys, and a girl who died at the
tender age of five months. Frederick Thomas Jones is a rancher near Prineville,
Ore.; Richard H. was a stockman near Cherokee, and died in February, 1918;
E. H. is a cattleman near Cherokee; J. Lewellyn
is the subject of this very interesting sketch; and David Daniel is engaged in
mining and stock-raising, and makes his headquarters in the Cherokee district.
Lew Jones, as he is familiarly called, was
educated in the public schools of Cherokee and Oregon City, and from a lad
assisted his father in the raising of cattle, riding the range and becoming
very proficient in the care of stock. He then engaged in mining, searching for
the golden treasure in Plumas, Shasta, Siskiyou, Mariposa and Sierra Counties,
continuing in that venturesome field, so trying to the courage of men, for from
eight to ten years.
About 1906, Mr. Jones quit mining to
engage in the more remunerative business of stock-raising, and bought his
present place so advantageously located on the old Cherokee Blue Lead. There he
owns six hundred forty acres, which he devotes to cattle. He keeps a couple of
hundred head of high-grade Shorthorns; and the care he gives to his stock,
insuring the finest quality, has made his brand, T.J. (used by his father) of
enviable record. Mr. Jones did not neglect to build a comfortable residence, and to make all desirable improvements; and as
the ranch includes good springs, it is an ideal place for cattle-raising. Mr.
Jones also owns three hundred acres at Balsam Hill, which he holds as the
nucleus of a summer range. He is a member of the California Cattle Growers’
Protective Association.
Blessed with a genial, winning personality
and fond of social intercourse, Mr. Jones belongs to Cherokee Lodge, No. 92,
I. O. O. F., where he is a Past Grand; and also a member of the
Cherokee Rebekah Lodge No. 18.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
06 July 2009.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1206-1207, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's
Butte County Biographies