JOHN G. JONES—BIOGRAPHY
By Adelaide Jones Meldrum
My father John G.
Jones was born 27 November 1830 in the beautiful city of Llanelly, Breconshire, South Wales. His parents, David
and Ann Lawrence Jones, were sturdy, hard-working people who always took time
to love and instruct their children. John was much the same as other little
boys of the neighborhood, always imitating his elders, stories of which he
often told us children.
Father was fortunate
in having both parents to raise him to the age of seventeen at which time (June
1848) his father emigrated to America.
Two encouraging letters reached the family after the father’s arrival in the United
States. The last stated that he had almost enough money to send for the family
and hoped by the next letter to be able to send for them. That letter never came.
Shortly after the family learned that he had lost his life in a Pennsylvania coal
mine. About this time father went to work in the coal mines in Wales and
while there he became acquainted with Henry John who taught him the gospel.
June 9, 1849, he was baptized and became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints. The following July he was ordained a deacon; in 1850 he
was ordained a teacher; May 3, 1851, he was ordained a priest; these offices he
filled to the best of his ability.
The protection of the
Lord always seemed to be watching over him, for on one occasion while working
in a mine a heavy weight of coal fell upon him, but he was able to withdraw
himself from under this weight without injury. Again at a later date a ton
weight of stone broke loose directly over his head, but in some miraculous
manner the stone turned edgewise, just missing him. In the year when work was
slack in the coal mines he worked in the iron mines, and on one occasion the
roofing timbers gave way and the mine caved in on him, pinning him fast. The
weight was estimated to be from ten to fifteen tons, and it required forty-five
minutes for his companions to dig him out. He was badly bruised and was advised
by the doctor that it would be a long time before he could leave his bed. That same evening, however, the elders administered to him on three
different occasions; in the last instance he was commanded to arise and walk
which he did without the slightest pain, nor did the pain ever return from this
particular accident. A crowd had gathered outside and jeered that
if John G. Jones would walk that night they would believe the Latter-day Saints
had supreme power, but when they saw him walk they were unwilling to concede as
much.
During the year 1871 while father was teaching
the boys to cut hay with a scythe one of them accidentally swung the scythe
before father was a safe distance with the result that his leg was struck just
above the knee, entirely severing the muscles and arteries. There being no
medical help near and as practically all the blood had left his body, his faith
in the Lord, which he had learned as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, manifested itself, and he placed his hands over the wound
and in the name of Jesus Christ and by virtue of the Holy Priesthood which he
held commanded the flow of blood to stop, which it did immediately. The wound
healed up, never again bleeding, and no impairment of his ability to walk took
place, although one doctor said he would never walk again.
Each of these incidents strengthened his faith
and taught him that the power of the Lord could and would be made manifest to
those who sincerely desired it. Every time that he was given such support he
always remembered to thank his Heavenly Father for it and through this fact he
was able to ask the Lord for and received assistance on numerous occasions.
February 9, 1852, he was married to Mary John,
daughter of Henry and Margaret Harris John. As Henry John’s wife had recently
died father and mother made their home with him until he and his son Daniel
came to America in March 1853.
On April 28, 1853, father’s first child, Adelaide,
was born, and in March 1854 the family of three started on their journey to the United
States of America. Owing to the ship on which they were to sail being taken by
the English government to carry troops to Russia they were forced to
remain eleven days at Liverpool. They landed at New Orleans, Louisiana,
May 29, 1854. The company numbered 400 people under the direction of President
William Taylor.
On April 20, 1856,
father was ordained an elder in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. In the spring of 1857 the family moved to Coalchestser, Illinois.
While there father was called by President Orson Eldredge to
organize a branch of the Church there and to preside over it. This same year he
was ready to emigrate to Salt Lake City but
was advised not to come as the Johnston Army was invading Utah.
June 1859 found them
on the old trail of the Latter-day Saints going from Coalchester to Florence, Illinois [sic],
where they joined a company under the leadership of Edward Stephenson. They
crossed the plains with ox teams reaching Salt Lake City on September
16, 1859. The many incidents that happened to the Saints in general on the
plains were their fate.
While father was in Salt Lake City President
Brigham Young employed him to assist in construction of the east wall of the Temple block.
He later moved with his family to Provo. Here he assisted in building the
woolen mills, co-op store, Tabernacle,Brigham Young Academy and
many other prominent structures. He also helped to make the roads into Provo Canyon.
In 1875 he was called
to preside over the first district of Seventies and was set apart by Karl G. Maeser. In May 1878 he left for a mission to his native
land. During the last year of his labors in Wales he was President of
the Welsh Conference, and on returning home in 1880 he was in charge of a company
of Saints who emigrated to Utah. On
August 24, 1883, he was called to preside over the 45th quorum of Seventies.
The greatest trial of
his life came on September 27, 1886, when his dear wife and companion was called by death to the great beyond, leaving eight
children to his care.
In 1902 he was ordained a high priest by
President David John of the Utah Stake, and the same year was ordained a
patriarch by President Joseph F. Smith. He gave hundreds of blessings in
addition to those he gave to his children and grandchildren. He devoted all of
the latter part of his life to service in the Church, including considerable
temple work for his dead ancestors.
He was the father of twelve children, eight
sons and four daughters, and he lived to see thirty-two grandchildren and ten
great grandchildren. At 9:30 a.m., March 14, 1914, he passed to the great
beyond having spent eight-four happy and useful years among his fellowmen and
leaving behind six children.
