Butte County
Biographies
DAVID DANIEL JONES
DAVID
DANIEL JONES.--A comparatively young
man, who has the same strong inclinations to seek for the elusive gold as once
urged on the old Argonauts of ‘49, is David Daniel Jones, most of whose life
has been spent in Butte County, so that he is naturally very much interested
both in its history and its development. He was born near Pentz, on May 22,
1869, and his father was Thomas R. Jones, a farmer, who came to the United
States, in 1852, from Swansea, Wales, where he was born, and crossed the wide
prairies from St. Louis, at that time a great place for fitting out. (A more
complete mention of Thomas R. Jones is given in the sketch of Josiah L.)
David D. was educated in the Oregon City
schools, and later, or until he was twenty-one, assisted his father on the farm
and at stock-raising. He then followed mining in Butte County for fourteen
years, operating principally, and for his own account, in the Golden Summit
district, where he still owns, and operates at times, a placer-mine called the
Goodenough Mine. In addition he was employed at the Banner mine for two years,
and after that at Harrison Gulch in a quartz mine for a couple of years.
Mr. Jones next located at Stirling City,
and there, from the starting of improvements in that place, he helped put in a
water system . This was in 1903; the land was covered with brush and timber,
but hard, steady work wrought the miracle, and when the water-system had been
installed he was given charge as superintendent for the Diamond Match Company,
and continued actively in charge until 1916. After that he engaged in mining on
Oregon Gulch for William T. Baldwin, in whose service he remained for eighteen
months, when he again operated the Goodenough mine. Since 1916, Mr. Jones has
also been interested with his brother, J. Lew Jones, in cattle-raising, and
their combined enterprise has accomplished great results.
In 1892, Mr. Jones was married, at Concow,
to Miss Lucy Dell Scott, a native of Chico, and the daughter of Caleb Scott,
who was born in Illinois. On his marriage to Elmira Williams, also a native of
Illinois, they crossed the plains to California in early pioneer days, and here
he became a farmer, afterward specializing in horticulture at Paradise. Here,
too, he died survived by his wife who makes her home on the old place. Of their
ten children, Mrs. Jones is the sixth in the order of birth.
Mr. and Mrs. Jones themselves have two
children: Ralph is doing his patriotic duty in Company F of the First United
States Infantry; and Ruth E. is a graduate of Atkins Business College at
Sacramento, in which city she is now in the employ of the Standard Oil Company.
Hospitality has been a watchword at the Jones home, and beyond its domain Mr.
Jones and his estimable wife have participated in social life to the betterment
of the community. He was a member of Stirling City Lodge, Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, and his wife is a member of the Rebekahs.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Page 1207, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Golden Nugget Library's
Butte County Biographies