Amos Jones
By Mabel Jones Gabbott
Birth: 19 Dec
1837 Ruabon, Dnbghs, N. Wales
Death: 23 March 1913 Malad City, Idaho
Married: Leah Parry 10 March 1862 Salt Lake
City, Utah
Amos Jones came to America with
his father Richard Jones and mother Eliza Edwards on the S. Curling. They were
on the same ship as the Parrys. They left on April 19th, 1856, arriving in America on 23 May 1856. His
father Richard was a Mormon at that time but Eliza, his mother, was not.
They stopped at Williamsburg, Iowa for
quite awhile, later coming on to Utah. They lived in mining camps. Richard
Jones was one of the first men to put a blast furnace and smelter in Utah and
in Nevada. He and his son Amos Jones were sent back toChicago also to
make a smelter. Finally Richard Jones moved North of Salt Lake City to a
stretch of land called the Point near Samaria, Idaho. Here he took a
farm and lived. They had ten children. Amos Jones, my grandfather, was the
oldest.
Amos Jones first visited Salt Lake (or Utah)
when he was helping build the first telegraph line into Salt Lake Valley.
He came from Iowa. Later his parents came and he made his home in Utah.
Leah Parry and Amos
Jones met each other about a year after they had been in Utah. They met in
the 15th Ward where they were both in the choir.
They courted for four or five months. They were married in the Salt Lake
Endowment House on March 10, 1862. The temple was still being built. Amos
Jones learned to be a stonemason and worked with his father-in-law Thomas Parry
building many of the fine buildings in Salt Lake.
While Amos and Leah were living in Salt
Lake City, Brigham Young called for volunteer soldiers to protect settlers on
the Southern border of Utah settlements from the Black Hawk Indians.
Brigham Young was at that time Governor of the State of Utah. Amos left a
house partially built and went to help. He was gone for three or four months.
During this time Leah had a hard time to provide for her children. She was
helped some by her father Thomas R. Parry. When Amos returned he was presented
with a bill of $30.00 tithing. He was very angry for during those months he had
received no pay. The next winter was a hard one for the family. There was
little work to be done. Amos went to Tooele where he did what odd jobs he
could, such as digging ditches and repairing fences. Leah and family lived as
best they could. They had raised a garden during the summer. Amos at one time
was paid for his work with molasses. This molasses they then had to sell or
trade for the necessities they needed. Many times they used molasses for sugar
and bacon grease for butter. This incident caused Amos Jones to break away from
the Mormon Church. Amos once said that of the worst experiences of his life was
seeing his best pal shot down by his side by these Black hawk Indians in these
skirmishes. Though he left the church he was always respected by the early
settlers of Salt Lake Valley.
In 1877 Amos and Leah
Jones moved to the Malad Valley, to the Point where his father was.
He felt that the farm was best for his sons.
While they were living there, one night Anna
Louise, oldest daughter of Amos and Leah, was going down to her grandfather’s
home when she heard Indians yelling and whooping. She was terribly frightened.
She stood perfectly still and listened. Soon she heard other Indians on the
other side of the ditch answering them. She feared a war attack or such. She
turned and ran home and told her family. They waited but nothing happened. In
the morning they learned that it was a signal to say an old Indian had died at
Washakie (Indian reservation close by to the Point).
About this time Leah’s health failed so they
moved back to Salt Lake City to live. Leah could not be contented, so
they moved back to the farm in Idaho.
Leah Parry and Amos
Jones had fourteen children: Anna Louise, who married Joseph Davis; Edward R.
who never married; Amos who married Maggie Evans; Thomas who died and was
buried in Salt Lake City at the age of 2 ½ years; Isaac who married Ethel
Evans; Elizabeth who died at the age of 14 years and was also buried in Salt
Lake City; Sarah Emma who married Charles Frederickson; Margaret who lived only
one day; Mary who married William Evans; Leah who married Willford C.
Hill; Bernard who married Mary L. Jones; Rose who married Charles Lowry. All of
the children, except Bernard (my father) were born in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Dad was born at the Point. Grandmother also had two dead born children at the
Point. Today in March, 1937, as I write this, nine of the children are over
fifty years of age and enjoy life greatly.
In Malad City,
where they finally moved, Amos and his sons became well known for their mason
work.
