Joe Carroll Jones and Ava Always Took Care of Family

 My grandparents on my mother’s side were Joe Carroll Jones and
Ava Ella McNair. They had 5 children, including my mother, Carolita Jones Quillin. Mother was most interested in helping me gather family information. Her brother, Martin Franklin Jones, was also interested in helping me throughout the years. There will be several Jones Family posts of the information gathered from them.

Recollections of Martin Frank Jones interview 2013

Pap, Pappy = J.C. Jones

Mimi = Ava Ella McNair

Martin Harmon Jones never owned anything.  He grubbed out mesquite trees, chopped cotton, was a day labor for other farmers.  People thought a lot of him.  He was known as “Farmer Jones”.  Martin Harmon always lived on farms.  When Depression hit, he lived in a 2 room house that Mimi and Pappy had lived in. They moved to their house on the hill.  When that home burned, Mimi and Pap rented from Allen Schulty, then bought the Stovall’s house (the house by the school).  Pappy moved the little 2 room house onto their lot, very close, so that Mimi could care for them.  That is the house that Martin Harmon lived in when he died.  Pappy had purchased a home in Crowell that he was letting Martin Frank & Yvonne live in. When Pappy retired from farming, Martin and Yvonne bought a house by the school and Mimi and Pap moved to Crowell.  Pappy moved that little 2 room house to Crowell and place it on a lot just across a pasture for Mattie Bell to live in. Pap added a room to it. Pap also purchased the house right next door and Bill/Faye lived there until Bill got a job as a game warden in Canadian. When Bill/Faye moved, Pap sold Mattie’s house and moved her in next door. 

Lucy had tried to move Mattie Bell to Abilene but Daddy (Pappy) wouldn’t allow it. He finally gave in and Mattie was moved to a nursing home (Shady Oaks Lodge) in Abilene. Martin went to see her and remembers her saying how mean they were to her. My thoughts: Mimi had always catered to her, hand and foot.

Mimi sacrificed a lot for the family because Pap always was helping everyone.  She would often say, “Carroll, if you didn’t spend so much on other people, we could do pretty well.”

Even Lucy and Dono borrowed a car to take their honeymoon in.  It was a nice 1936 Ford.  But when they returned, they had torn a rod out of it and the engine had to be overhauled….  at Pap’s expense.

New house in Thalia across from the school after their home "on the hill" burned to the ground.

Fun Memories of J.C. Jones

 My grandparents on my mother’s side were Joe Carroll Jones and Ava Ella McNair. They had 5 children, including my mother, Carolita Jones Quillin. Mother was most interested in helping me gather family information. Her brother, Martin Frank Jones, was also interested in helping me throughout the years. There will be several Jones Family posts of the information gathered from them.

The following will be stories of Joe Carroll Jones. In 2013, I began communicating closely with my uncle, Martin Frank Jones (1926-2022). I did several phone interviews, as well as follow up visits. Martin Frank loved family history. He had a great sense of humor.

MARTIN FRANK JONES'S FUN MEMORIES OF JOE CARROLL JONES

Joe Carroll Jones a.k.a Pap, Pappy, Skinny, Daddy

I can still hear Martin Frank's chuckle as he told these stories.

“Daddy (Joe Carroll) often said he had more common blood with cousins than brothers” …. Because of all the double cousins."

'Martin remembered a time when he and Pap were on a road trip. They went through Benjamin, Texas, and stopped there for gas.  Daddy (Joe Carroll) visited with everyone.  He told the guy there at the station that he was Skinny Jones. (Pap was known as Skinny).  The guy asked him, “Do you have a boy named George drive one of your trucks?”  Pap knew just who he was talking about.  And the man went on… “You always pay up on your bill, but George hasn’t paid and he still owes me money.”   Pappy wrote a check to cover George’s bill.'

Pappy and Martin went to Snyder to get a pig.  They were driving a new Plymouth.  They put the pig in the trunk and before getting to Rule, a tire blew out.  Martin said, “If you stop, I’ll change the tire.”  And Pap said, “No, we’ll have to control that pig.”  So they drove on and at the next town, they pulled into a service station.  Pap asked the man if he could fix their tire and was told, “Hell, no, I can’t fix that tire.  There’s nothing left of it.  It’s ruint.”  They had not only ruined the tire, but the wheel as well.  They finally managed to get the spare out of the trunk and drove on to Crowell, where they pulled into the Plymouth dealer on the way in and ordered a new tire.

PAPPY AND HIS PIGS

Time Waits For No One

     “Time and Tide wait for no man”
― Geoffrey Chaucer

TIME WAITS FOR NO ONE

by The Rolling Stones

written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards 

1973

Yes, star crossed in pleasure the stream flows on by

Yes, as we're sated in leisure, we watch it fly

And time waits for no one, and it won't wait for me

And time waits for no one, and it won't wait for me

Time can tear down a building or destroy a woman's face

Hours are like diamonds, don't let them waste

Time waits for no one, no favours has he

Time waits for no one, and he won't wait for me

Men, they build towers to their passing yes, to their fame everlasting

Here he comes chopping and reaping, hear him laugh at their cheating

And time waits for no man, and it won't wait for me

Yes, time waits for no one, and it won't wait for thee

Drink in your summer, gather your corn

The dreams of the night time will vanish by dawn

And time waits for no one, and it won't wait for me

And time waits for no one, and it won't wait for me

No no no, not for me...

Bridges Reunion in Merkel, Texas 1945

BRIDGES FAMILY HOSTS REUNION

Merkel, Texas 

News article in The Abilene Reporter-News

Friday Morning, October 19, 1945, p.11

 The Article reads: 

MERKEL Oct 18 -- Mrs. Lucy Ford hosted a reunion of the sons and daughters of the late Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Bridges, the first time members of the family had been together in more than 15 years. Eight of the 9 sons and daughters present were H.S. Bridges of Rotan, Mrs. J. A. Collum of Lamesa, Mrs. Daisy Dwiggins of Merkel, Mrs. M. H. Jones of Thalia, Mrs. O. S. Campbell of Roby, J.H. Bridges of Lamesa, Mrs. Faye Lyles of Savoy and the hostess. 

2023 Comes To A Close

 

Martin Harmon & Mattie Bell Jones 50th Wedding Anniversary

 

They were married 28 June 1896 at the Bridges' home in Orangeville, Fannin County, Texas.This was just across the county line from Whitewright, Grayson County, Texas. This news article was most likely from the Vernon Daily Record. I found this in my mother's (Carolita Quillin) family heritage album. 

History of Martin Harmon Jones

Remembrances of Martin Harmon Jones by his grandchildren  

 Martin Harmon Jones

Background History

 Interview with Carolita Quillin Jones

March 1, 2003

Recorded by Nancy Quillin Long

Martin Harmon (Granddaddy Jones) was one of Carolita’s favorite people.  The Joneses were the salt of the earth but were considered “hayseed” country people. 

 

Carolita remembers Martin Harmon being a well-framed, handsome man of medium height.  He was thin, but not poorly.  He was a very quiet, unassuming, gentle man.  He was very kind and soft-spoken.   He was a spiritual man and didn’t make much adieu about it.  He was honest, upstanding and hardworking.  Martin Harmon always wore suspenders and long sleeve shirts with kaki pants. He had false teeth but never wore them; he even ate without them.  He whittled and made the children whistles out of hollow willow stalks.

 

Carolita’s first recollection of Martin Harmon was as a janitor at the Thalia schools.  Carolita would help him sometimes with his chores there.  She remembers him sprinkling the floor with “O’Cedar” and sweeping and cleaning the floors.  He would also attend the boilers and did most anything that needed to be done at the school.  Martin Harmon was responsible to ring the school bell in the morning for the start of the day, at noon, and again for school to let out. 

 

Carolita was told that he was a day laborer, mostly clearing land or tending to other people’s land.  He was basically a sharecropper.  Martin Harmon never owned any land himself. During the Depression, the Jones family would have practically starved if it had not been for Joe Carroll Jones.

 

Granddaddy Jones did night watch at the cotton gin.  His assignment was to make sure that a fire was not ignited.  When the cotton bales came off the press, they would be so hot they could easily ignite.

 

Martin Harmon fell into bad health with heart problems, yet he never complained.  Carolita remembers him being short winded and that his nose would bleed profusely. 

After he fell into ill health, Pap (Jo Carroll Jones, his son) moved Martin Harmon and Mattie Bell’s 2-room house onto his property in Thalia.  They placed the home at the back of the property.  Carolita remembers him sitting in his chair at the back of the house.  He would always lean the chair against the wall.

 

Martin Harmon loved to help with the animals.  He would milk the cow, keep some of the milk for himself and bring the rest to Ava.  He tended the chickens for Ava, and he cared for their horse.

 

They dug a cellar in the dirt, and Martin Harmon was the storm watcher.  They would gather everyone in the cellar and Martin Harmon would stand outside and watch the storm.  Carolita remembered getting to go out and watch with him.  She felt that she learned a lot about the weather from him. 

 

Inside the dirt cellar, Martin Harmon dug a hole to keep his cash.  No one, save Eddie Hugh knew where the money was hidden.  Martin Harmon was saving this cash (not much more than $100) to pay an old grocery bill.  When he died, Eddie Hugh told the family about the money, and they all wanted to split the cash among themselves.  They eventually did split the money and it also split the family.  Jo Carroll was left to pay the grocery bill.  All the Jones family would have starved if it had not been for Joe Carroll who always had work and a little money and didn’t mind caring for his family.

 

Granddaddy (Martin Harmon) was crazy about Carolita’s son, Bryan, and Truman, her husband, loved to hang out with him.  Martin Harmon loved fishing and would fish with a cane pole.  Truman and Martin Harmon were great fishing buddies. 

 

His death certificate says that Martin Harmon died quickly of a heart attack.

 

 Martin Harmon Jones is remembered by his grandson.
February 12, 2013         Interview with my uncle, Martin Frank Jones
I went to visit with Martin.  The following is from that visit.  See also the printed copy of Martin Frank’s blog.  Several years ago, Martin Frank wrote his memories down and now is placing them a little at a time on his blog. 
 
Martin Harmon Jones never owned anything.  He grubbed out mesquite trees, chopped cotton, and was a day laborer for other farmers.   People thought a lot of him.  He was known as “Farmer Jones”.  He always lived on farms.  When the Depression hit, he lived in a 2 room house that Mimi and Pappy had lived in.  They moved to their house on the hill.   When that home burned, Mimi and Pap rented from Allen Schulty, and then bought the Stovall’s house (the house by the school).  When Martin Harmon developed bad heart problems, Pappy moved the little 2 room house onto their lot, very close, so that Mimi could care for them.  That is the house that Martin Harmon lived in when he died.  Pappy had purchased a home in Crowell that he was letting Martin/Vonne live in, and when he retired from farming, Martin and Vonne bought a house by the school and Mimi and Pap moved to Crowell.  Pappy moved that little 2 room house to Crowell and place it on a lot just across a pasture for Mattie Bell to live in.  Pap added a room to it.  Pap also purchased the house right next door and Bill/Faye lived there until Bill got a job as a game warden in Canadian.  When Bill/Faye moved, Pap sold Mattie’s house and moved her in next door.