San
Joaquin County
Biographies
AMOS JONES
One of the most capable men in the
realty field of central California, Amos Jones was also fortunate in having a
wide experience as a civil engineer before entering this progressive business
in which he has made such an outstanding success. An Easterner by birth, he was born in Dover,
New Jersey, December 27, 1876 and when a child his parents located in Canon
City, Colorado. Here he was reared,
attending the public schools and graduating from the Canon City high school in
1895. Continuing his studies at the
State Agricultural College, he was graduated from there in 1898 as an
irrigation engineer, and then became associated with the Colorado Fuel &
Iron Company. Later he returned to his
alma mater as an instructor in civil engineering, and then entered the U. S. Reclamation
Survey, spending a year on the Truckee-Carson project in Nevada. On his return to Colorado he became deputy
engineer for the state of Colorado, holding this post for one year.
Coming to Stockton in 1904, Mr.
Jones embarked in the real estate business under the firm name of Jones & McElwee. Later he
entered into partnership with Howard Hammond and F. L. Williams, as Hammond,
Jones & Williams, and this firm handled many large land development
projects. In 1909 they sold the Weber
Tule Ranch to Baldwin & Howell of San Francisco, and in 1912 they formed a
corporation and planted a thousand acres of land near Ripon to peaches and
almonds, an ambitious undertaking which proved very successful. They put Yosemite Terrace on the market, a
tract of 175 acres and one of Stockton’s finest residence districts, and they
also developed Stockton Acres, and thus were the means of attracting many new
settlers to this locality. Their work
was always on a large scale and they disposed of more than a million dollars’
worth of property in the San Joaquin Valley to new residents, and thus had an
important part in building up the county in a conservative, lasting way.
In 1917 Mr. Jones formed a partnership
with James Y. Coates and they engaged in a general real estate business,
specializing in the handling of large tracts and subdivisions. They have operated in Stanislaus and San
Joaquin counties and have already successfully subdivided and disposed of the
Elliott ranch of 5,030 acres, and several others. In December, 1920 T. H. Carpenter bought into
the company. Since then the firm name
has been the Jones-Coates Company, with offices at 507 Yosemite Building. Acting in conjunction with J. Henry Smith of
Tracy, this company acquired the Pescardero Colony,
formerly known as the McLaughlin Tract of 14,000 acres near Tracy, lying
between Tracy and the San Joaquin River.
This company has already made provisions for irrigation and good roads
for the entire tract, and has subdivided it into twenty-acre farms which it is
selling without any cash down payments; interest at six per cent is payable
semi-annually in advance and no payment of principal is required for five
years, therefore principal payments may extend over a period of ten years in
equal annual installments, if desired, making a total of fifteen years’ time in
which to pay off the purchase price. It
is the cream of the state, both in fertility and location.
Mr. Jones’ marriage, which occurred
at Safford, Arizona, in 1902 united him with Miss
Della Gaume, a native of Ohio. Mr. Jones is a member of Stockton Lodge No.
218, B. P. O. E., and of Charter Oak Lodge No. 20, K. P., having passed through
all chairs of the latter and attended the Grand Lodge. While California owes a never-ending debt of
gratitude to the early settlers who braved the perils and hardships of its
pioneer days, the same need of credit is due to men who, like Amos Jones, have
given years of training and study to these great problems of development and
reclamation, and whose initiative and capability have made it possible for
hundreds of homes to be carved out of uncultivated tracts, thus adding millions
to the wealth of this district, and helping to make California the garden of the
world.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1339. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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