52 Ancestors - Week 5 - Roger Sherman Jones

Ida Ellen Andrews' Uncle Sherman Jones was born in August of 1852, the first son of Elias D. and Annis Cole Jones. He spent his early life with his family in St. Joseph County, Indiana. In the early 1870's the family moved to Merrick County, Nebraska.

Roger Sherman Jones
Central City, Nebraska

On the 7th of October, 1875, in Merrick County, Nebraska, Sherman was 23 years old and applied for a license to marry Stella Brinkerhoff, age 16. The license was not issued. As the bride was under age, perhaps her father, Daniel W. Brinkerhoff, would not consent to the marriage? Or did something else happen to prevent it? Sadly, it seems likely that she is the Stella Brinkerhoff who married I. N. Deitrick and died of consumption (tuberculosis) at age 22 in Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory in 1881. Her four month old son, Guy, died later the same year.

The 1880 census shows Roger S. Jones, single and a farmer, in Midland Precinct, Merrick County. He is the head of his household. His parents are living with him.

On the 14th of June, 1882, Roger S. Jones completed an affidavit for a homestead, sworn to before the Clerk of District Court of Merrick County. In his affidavit he testified that "I am an unmarried man, and a citizen of the United States, that I am residing on the within described land, that I make this application before the undersigned officer on account of distance from U.S. Land Office." The parcel of land he chose was the North West quarter of Section 24 in Township 14 North of Range 7 West.    He paid a filing fee of $18.00.

Homestead application files provide a wealth of information and insight into the lives of those who filed under the Homestead Act. Roger S. Jones "named witnesses to prove his continuous residence upon and cultivation of said land".

The Central City Nonpareil
30 April 1885

The witnesses included D. W. Brinkerhoff...the same Daniel W. Brinkerhoff, father of Stella, who Sherman Jones wanted to marry twelve years earlier? I would certainly like to know the story behind that relationship.

Two of the witnesses, A.O. King, farmer and butcher residing in Central City, Nebraska and Charles Reynolds, farmer, Merrick County, Nebraska gave written testimony in support of this homestead application. They testified that Roger S. Jones was unmarried and his parents lived with him, that he had lived continuously on the land 7 or 8 years, his dwelling was a 1 1/2 story frame house, "14 x 24 and 14 x 18", and other improvements included a frame stable 14 x 32, a granary 12 x 16, corn crib 24 x 32, corral, trees, and fences valued at $2000.

Roger gave testimony on his own behalf stating on the 16th of June, 1885, he was age 32 and single, his address was Central City Post Office, his house was built "last year", his homestead had 10 acres of trees and 60 acres were fenced. He also stated "my father and mother live with me". He was granted a patent for his land 20 January 1886 by President Grover Cleveland. An image of the patent can be viewed here in the General Land Office Records of the Bureau of Land Management. The full application file can be viewed with an Ancestry.com subscription.

Also, in 1885, the Nebraska census shows Roger S. Jones living with his brother's family in adjacent Boone County where they are both in the general merchandise business. At that time the same census shows his parents living with Ida Andrews, still in Merrick County (Midland Township). I have wondered why Ida Andrews was listed as niece in Elias Jones' household. Perhaps Roger/Sherman was in the midst of moving to Boone County during June of 1885, or maybe he was splitting his time between two households, but spending the majority of his time with his brother getting their general merchandise business going. Did the census taker list Ida as niece of the owner of the house (Roger) rather than granddaughter of Elias? Or maybe Roger was present with Elias, Annis and Ida to answer the census questions.

Elias died about 1888. According to Ida's obituary and biography, Ida and Annis moved in the spring of 1888 to Box Butte County, Nebraska, where B. F. Jones had a store. They lived in rooms above the store. Ida married in 1889 and eventually Annis moved back to Central City to live with son, Roger.

A plat map of Township 14 N Range 7 W, Archer, Merrick County, Published in 1899 shows the land Roger S. Jones homesteaded was then owned by R. F. Jones.

In 1900 Sherman Jones is living in Central City and working as a carpenter. Annis is living with him.

The last record I have of Roger Sherman Jones is when he provided information for his mother's death certificate in May, 1906. What happened to him after that? Did he join his brother or stay in Nebraska? He has no descendants so no one to look for him.

One day soon I plan to make a stop in Central City to look for land and probate records for Elias and Roger. Did Elias buy land when he first moved to Merrick County? Is he buried next to his wife in the Prairie Creek Baptist Cemetery? Are their graves marked? Does a will or probate file exist that names Ida and her relationship to the family? So many questions. Maybe I can also find an obituary for Elias. I can hardly wait to get there!

Ida Ellen Andrews Rickell - Part II: Ida's Death Certificate - Will it Reveal Her Parents?

A 1983 copy of Ida's death certificate gives more clues about her life. Her husband, Isaac provided her personal information.

Mrs. Ida E. Rickell, Certificate of Death

He reported that she was born in Indiana, the 20th of Sept., 1865, that her mother's maiden name was M. Jones and her father was J. Andrews. Interesting. Did Isaac not know their full given names? Could he have been guessing about the initials?

Isaac gave Ida this photo album for her birthday before they were married. The album contains several photographs of the Jones family which helped me begin to piece the family together.

"Uncle Frank Jones, My Mothers Uncle" and "Aunt Mary Jones, My Mothers Aunt"
The handwriting is that of Ida's daughter, Bertha

"These two are Brother and Sister"
"Uncle Sherman Jones" and "Grandma R's aunt"

"Charlie Jones, My Mother's Cousin"
and
"Edith Jones, My Mother's Cousin, was holding her Daddys watch."

 And loose in the back of the album I found this memorial card.

Hmmm. Who is D. J. Lehr? A name I hadn't heard before. Or had I? I kept looking. He must be an important person to Ida and Isaac. And, then I noticed this.

Witnesses to Isaac and Ida's Marriage

On 2 Aug 1884, B.F. Jones, a merchant in Central City, Nebr. signed a "Homestead Proof - Testimony of Witness"  for the homestead application of David J. Lehr. Lehr was applying for an additional homestead of 80 acres, adjacent to his original 80 acre homestead where he had lived for 11 years. The digitized document can be viewed here at Ancestry.com with a paid subscription.

And, among the treasure trove of items Ida and Bertha left behind is this 1903 letter Isaac wrote to his "wife and daughter" in care of R. S. Jones, Central City, Nebraska.

Apparently Ida and Bertha were visiting in Central City and would "start" for home in a few days. Isaac mentions "Grandma" and "Sherm".

In 1900, Sherman Jones, a single man born in Aug 1852, was working as a carpenter and living in Central City, Merrick Co., Nebraska. His widowed mother, Annis Jones, born in New York in Feb. 1821, was living with him. Annis was the mother of six children and only two were still living. You can view this census record at Family Search here. It seems the R.S. Jones on the above letter must have been R. Sherman Jones and the Grandma in the letter was likely Annis Jones, Ida's grandmother!

It took me another three years, but in 2015, I found an index of early Merrick County obituaries on a genealogy website. It included a 1906 obituary for an Annis Jones. I was hopeful the obituary would list Ida as Annis' granddaughter. A library assistant at the Central City Public Library was able to locate the obituary.

No mention of Ida. As often is the case with a new discovery, it answers a few questions and raises a few others. It clears up the names of her sons, Benjamin Franklin Jones and Roger Sherman Jones. It seems they commonly used their initials or middle names rather than their first names. Their father was Elias D. Jones. The obituary states Annis had seven children. (The 1900 census showed six.) Elias had died about eighteen years earlier. Annis other children were not named. If Annis was Ida's grandmother, one of the unnamed daughters was Ida's mother.

What next?