In the books' own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. The later printing (1910) is folded below the first. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
Born 1820
From Twentieth century history of Findlay and Hancock County and representative citizens (1910), History of Hancock County, Ohio : containing a history of the county, its townships, towns ... portraits of early settlers and prominent men, biographies, history of the Northwest Territory, history o (1886)
ELIJAH P. JONES, banker, Findlay. was born March 6, 1820, at Rochester, N. Y. The family came originally from England. His grandfather on the paternal side conducted a very large business in the tanning and manufacturing of leather in Connecticut. His father, Elijah Jones, was born in New Milford, Conn., but immigrated to central Pennsylvania, where he engaged in shipping lumber to Baltimore and other points; thence he went to Rochester, N. Y., where he engaged in general merchandising and in the manufacture of pearl ash for foreign shipment. Hannah (Pelton) Jones, subject's mother, though of Scotch ancestry, was a native of Connecticut. Three Pelton brothers immigrated to America — one settled in Boston, one in Connecticut and one in Long Island, N. Y. From the Connecticut branch the mother of Mr. Jones sprang. The Peltons were a family of considerable distinction in Connecticut. Ebenezer Pelton served in the commissary department of the Revolutionary Army. In 1826 the family of the subject of our sketch came to Ohio and settled in Willoughby, seventeen miles east of Cleveland, at which place Elijah P., Jr., remained until the age of fourteen years, when he spent four years on a farm. In the meantime he improved his mind by private study, and in the winter engaged in teaching. When eighteen he secured a situation in the Cleveland postoffice as clerk, and remained there three years. He afterward attended the academy at Norwalk, under the tuition of Dr. Thompson (who eventually became bishop). He spent one summer as general agent for the Sandusky & Mansfield (now Baltimore & Ohio Railroad). When twenty-three years old he went to Sandusky City and entered the service as general agent for the Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad (afterward the Cincinnati, Sandusky & Cleveland). In the fall of 1849, the branch fi-om Carey to Findlay having been completed, Mr. Jones leased it for two and a half years, the company furnishing the motive power and cars. When this contract expired he renewed the lease for five years. In 1852 he formed a copartnership with E. N. Cook and George H. Jones, of Salem, Oreg,, to carry on a general merchandise and trading business. This partnership continued five years, and was then dissolved, after which Mr. Jones spent five years in New York engaged in the money brokerage business between New York and the Pacific Coast. In the spring of 1863, upon the passage of the National Bank act, Mr. Jones applied in person for a national bank charter, the bank to be established at Findlay, Ohio; but he was informed by Secretary Chase that his was the first application, and that the Treasury Department was not prepared to receive and receipt for the bonds as the Bank Department of the Treasury was not fully organized. Thereupon, depositing his bonds in the Park Bank, New York, he proceeded to Findlay, and on his return to Washington, subsequently, he found a number of banks chartered before him and he had to take a lower number. The bank was immediately organized at Findlay and he became its president and principal stockholder. He still acts as president and is owner of more than two-thirds of its capital stock. He is conservative in his ideas of banking, as he believes the banker should hold himself aloof from speculation. Mr. Jones owns considerable real (estate both in Findlay and vicinity. He has always been a prominent citizen; is public spirited and has ever been in advance in forwarding measures that would benefit the town. Careful in his business afPairs he does not lack that boldness which frequently insures success. He married, January 9, 1862, Miss Mellie E. Johnston, of Piqua, Ohio, a graduate of the Ohio Wesley an Female College, and they have three child'en: Cornelia Frances, Mary Gertrude and George Pelton, and the daughters are graduates of Vassar College. In politics Mr. Jones is a Republican.
As printed in History of Hancock County, Ohio : containing a history of the county, its townships, towns ... portraits of early settlers and prominent men, biographies, history of the Northwest Territory, history o (1886). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
ELIJAH P. JONES, formerly president of the First National Bank at Findlay, O., of which he was one of the incorporators, for many years was prominently identified with Findlay enterprises, having settled in this town after years of business success in other places. He was born at Rochester, N. Y., in the year 1820, and died in his beautiful home at Findlay, July 19, 1894, being laid to rest in the peaceful quiet of Maple Grove Cemetery.
Mr. Jones came of New England ancestry and was of Revolutionary stock. His father, Elijah Jones, was a native of Connecticut, who removed to Pennsylvania for a time and was there interested in the lumber business. Later, however, the elder Jones located at Rochester, N. Y,, where he was engaged in mercantile and other lines of business activity. In 1820 — the year of the birth of our subject — he removed to Lake County, Ohio, and there in all probability his busy life closed.
Elijah P. Jones was evidently a youth of quick intelligence, for he was teaching a district school when only sixteen years of age. At the age of eighteen he accepted a position as clerk in the Cleveland post office, where he remained for three years, after which he attended Norwalk Academy, completing the course. For one year thereafter he served as agent of what was then the Sandusky and Mansfield Railroad (now a part of the Baltimore & Ohio system), and later he was agent for the Mad River & Lake Erie Line, now the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad. The discovery of gold in California at this time greatly stimulated railroad construction, and when the Carey & Findlay Railroad was completed, Mr. Jones leased the same for two and a half years, renewing the lease on its expiration, and operating the line for about eight years.
In 1852, with his brother, George Jones, and E. N. Cook, he went to Salem, Oregon — a move evincing characteristic business foresight — and for four years the partners did a large and prosperous business in general merchandising. In the end, however, the scheme failed, but from no want of judgment in its originators. The Indians suddenly became hostile in the west and the troops quickly gathered to subdue them, not being provided with stores, seized whatever necessary supplies they could lay hold of, this entailing a loss upon Mr. Jones and his firm of some $60,000.
Dissolving partnership in 1857, Mr. Jones returned east, and became first a broker and then a banker,, conducting business in New York City and later at Findlay, to which city he came in 1859, When the First National Bank of Findlay was organized, in 1863, he became its president and subsequently continued in that office until his death. He became a man of very large estate, acquiring property in various localities and ably managing his many affairs to the end of his active life. Of varied experience and possessing an enlightened mind, he was well qualified for the political arena, had his ambition led him in that direction. His vote was cast with the Republican party, after its formation. In religious faith he was a Presbyterian. His charities were many, and the results of his benevolence have done much to relieve human suffering in Findlay to which city he was very loyal after making it his home.
Mr. Jones was married January 15, 1861, to Miss Mellie E. Johnston, a daughter of John S., and a granddaughter of William Johnston, her family being an old and prominent one of Piqua, Ohio. She was graduated from the Wesleyan Seminary at Delaware, Ohio, in 1860. Three children were born of this marriage, namely: Cornelia Frances, Mary Gertrude, and George Pelton. Both daughters are now deceased, Cornelia Frances passing away in 1903 and Mary Gertrude in 1891. The latter was the wife of William T. Ward. Both were ladies of high social standing in Findlay and both were graduates of Vassar College. Mrs. Jones still occupies her beautiful home, which is situated at No. 313 So. Sandusky Street.
As printed in Twentieth century history of Findlay and Hancock County and representative citizens (1910). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
The printed record stops around 1910. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.