Martin Erwin Brooks Jones - Group Sheets

 

The first group sheet, a working copy, as I was figuring out MEB's descendants. 

Below are the pages I created in FTM.

Martin Erwin Brooks Jones History Sheet

 

The only candid photo I have of him. Taken by a family member and was found in my mother's (Carolita Jones Quillin) 

family photo album that she compiled in 1990.

Martin E.B. Jones

History Sheet 

Compiled by Nancy Quillin Long

Feb. 22, 2013

 

Sources:  Census Reports, interview with Martin Frank Jones, interview with Carolita Jones Quillin, letter from Dorothy Jones Autrey to Lucy Jones Day, letter from Robert “Bob” Jones to Lucy Jones Day

 

1845 --  Martin Erwin Brooks Jones was born on 21 Jan 1845 to Martin Jones and Keziah Busby in Shelby County, Alabama.  He was only 1 years old when his father died.  That meant that Martin Jones left Keziah with 2 small children so she returned home with her children, MEB and Charles, to live with her parents, Meredith (Marady) Hampton Busby and Mary Polly Brooks. 

 

Meredith Busby was listed as a preacher in the 1850 census when MEB was just 5 years old, so MEB found him to be a father figure and followed in his footsteps.   MEB became a Reverend also and farmed at certain intervals.  Martin Frank Jones (my uncle) remembers MEB as a very learned man.

 

1860 --  Keziah and her children, MEB and Charles, are found in the census living with her parents in Shelby County, Alabama.  Oddly, Charles is listed as insane.  I’m not sure what that means.  Later in some documents, Dorothy Autrey has him married to Mary Kelly.

 

In the letter written by Dorothy Autrey, it was stated that MEB was first married to M.C. Sadler and then divorced.  (I have not found any documentation of this.)

 

1867 --  MEB married Manerva Jane Seale on 3 Jan 1867 in Shelby County, Alabama.  Manerva is 5 years older than MEB.  They are found in the 1870 census with a 2 year old daughter, Mary K, and a 1 year old son, John Ervin.   Keziah is living with them as well as MEB’s older brother, Charles McLeod Jones.  Also in the household is a 14 year old nephew and Manerva’s 76 year old father Abraham Seale.   MEB was farming and the value of his real estate was 440, about double that of his neighbors.

 

1880 --  MEB and Manerva are still living in Columbiana, Shelby County, Alabama.  He is 35 years old and they now have 5 children.  Keziah is still living with them.  It appears that Manerva’s brother, Steven, lives next door with his wife and their 7 children.

 

1900 – MEB is 55 years old and living with Manerva (59 years old) in Tom Bean, Grayson County, Texas.   Their son, Burwell (18 years old) is still living with them.  MEB’s occupation is listed as minister.   He owns a home for which there is a mortgage.

 

MEB settled in Vernon for a short time, and Martin Frank told me that MEB knew my Papa McNair.  Papa was the District Missionary for Foard and Hardeman Counties.

 

1910 – MEB is 66 and living with Martin Harmon Jones and Mattie Bell in Foard County, Texas. His wife, Manerva, died in 1909.  Martin Harmon and Mattie Bell have 4 children: Albert (12), Joe C (8), Hugh (5), George (1).  MEB  is listed as a farmer on a general farm.

 

1920 – MEB is 75 and still living with Martin Harmon and Mattie Bell.  Children living with them are Joe C (17), Hugh (14), George (11), Lucy (1), Albert (21) and his wife Joicy (19).  Census says Martin Harmon is renting.   He is the employer; my guess is that he has a lease. 

 

Pappy (Joe Carroll Jones) put up Minerva and MEB’s tombstone.  Martin Frank remembers visiting MEB on the farm and a rooster flogged Martin Frank.  MEB knocked the rooster off…and that is the only memory that Martin has of MEB.   Martin Frank recalled that MEB and Minerva were missionaries to the Indians in Oklahoma (possibly to Indians in Alabama as well.)

 

Martin Frank said there was another Martin Jones after the Martin Jones who married Keziah Busby.  That older Martin was born in the 1700’s.  (I have not found anything to document this.)  Neither of those Martin’s could read and write.  Martin Frank said that he has an old trunk somewhere with a slip of paper with a payment for Keziah.   On that slip of paper there is mention of Martin Jones (her husband) and his father, another Martin Jones.  There is some sort of signature on that paper relating those two Martin’s. 

 

 

A New Year -- 2025

What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

We have turned the page to a new year. I pray for the courage and stamina to face whatever lies before me. Things change so rapidly the older you get, but there is still beauty and happiness to be found. The words below are not mine. They are from a beautiful cowgirl, Cheyenne Greub, who I was fortunate to meet on our mountain property. Each fall the cattle are driven across our property getting them off of the mountain in preparation for the winter season. Cheyenne has an abiding faith in God. Ellie has been saved by the grace of God. They are connected with the natural world and understand the natural order of God's plan.

 

"The New Year will be here tomorrow morning, like a fresh blanket of snow on the ground awaiting the new tracks we will make in it.

Sometimes, our tracks will go through hard, deep drifts that take more effort to come through, whereas other tracks will be through mere skifts of snow, barely there or causing much concern or trouble.

Then, as the sun shines the snow will melt into mud and your tracks take care to avoid and find your way through until from it grows the green grass and flowers of Spring.

It is then that the snow and mud are a mere memory.

Every season brings a new adventure, opportunity, obstacles, lessons, growth and change ... and as you've come through the hard, deep drifts to the lush green grass tickling your toes and the warm summer sun on your face, you too will grow from all you have and will continue to experience and endure.

If you go in harmony with the seasons and appreciate all they teach you, it can be the best teacher, therapist and friend that the good Lord has gifted you.

Appreciate His gift, because not every day or season is guaranteed ❤

Happy New Year - blessings to everyone and may the next 365 days bring 365 opportunities, lessons and adventures!

Have Faith, Hope, appreciate good health and live life to the fullest!

Musing by Cheyenne Greub ❤

The Melting Pot Part 5

quizlet.com

 Also From a website called AMERICAN THINKER

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2007/09/the_judeochristian_values_of_a.html

The following are the Judeo-Christian Values embraced by the American Republic and People.

 
I (Ronald Cherry) am indebted to Dennis Prager who has listed Judeo-Christian Values and elaborated on this subject long before I took it up; and those who know his work will recognize many of his thoughts.
 
1.  Our sense of right and wrong and our sense of wisdom come from the use of reason and common sense, but also, and importantly, from the Bible which, by faith was considered by our Founding Fathers to be God's inspired text; and not just from the mind or heart of man.  This faith lead to the mottos: "In God We Trust" and "One Nation under God."  Our Founding Fathers were believers in the God of the Bible, even if some were not orthodox Christians, and they put that faith into the Declaration of Independence, into our laws, into our national monuments, and into our culture.  Faith is a part of American Culture, something Atheists, Secularists, Humanists and those of other religions should acknowledge and accept as historically accurate truth.  To remove the results of Biblical Faith from America is to undo what the Founding Fathers have wrought.
 
2.  Truth is Sacred; there can be no liberty or justice, and little happiness without it.  Jesus connected truth and liberty when he said "the truth shall make you free."  In the Book of Exodus of the Hebrew Bible God describes Himself:  "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth..."   In Deuteronomy God is described this way:  "He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice."  Listen to King David in Psalm 25:  "Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me your paths.  Lead me in Your truth...";  and in Psalm 51:  "Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom."
 
3.  Human life is the first gift of God, and it is of infinite value since man is made in the image of God.  Judeo-Christian Values have lead to a culture of life in America, not a culture of death.  Americans with Judeo-Christian Values will defend innocent God-given life.
 
4.  Our Liberty is a gift from God and stated so in the Declaration of Independence.  It is also stated in the New Testament Christian Bible:  "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty."  Americans with Judeo-Christian Values will defend their God-given Liberty from tyranny and terror.
 
5.  Human creativity is also a gift from God and is not to be unjustly suppressed by totalitarian, tyrannical or excessively taxing government.  The work ethic is an important part of Judeo-Christian Values since honorable work is a reflection of God-given human creativity.  Human reason is also a part of God-given human creativity, and it has led to scientific knowledge and technological progress.  Reason and science are important aspects of Judeo-Christian Values.  Human creativity is central to the pursuit of happiness, but does not guarantee it; totalitarian systems such as Communism or Islamic Sharia Law guarantee utopian happiness, but don't deliver it.
 
6.  "Establish justice."  This is commanded repeatedly in the Hebrew Bible.  This is how it has been done in America:  Honor Life, Liberty and Creativity.  Liberty in practical terms means: Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, no established or state-supported religion, right to bear arms and act in self-defense, uninterrupted elections and the division of powers into its three branches.  Where our culture is now headed in the wrong direction, in my opinion, is to provide special rights for certain groups of people.  Our Founding Fathers acknowledged these basic rights for all people, and our Civil War enforced it for the American slaves when they were denied their God-given Liberty.
 
7.  "Hate Evil".  This is commanded three times in the Hebrew Bible; this is from the book of Proverbs: "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil."  Hear the Prophet Isaiah: "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness...."  Americans with Judeo-Christian Values, as opposed to Europeans, still believe in the death penalty for pre-meditated murder, and America is still the nemesis of terrorists and tyrants - see the seal of the state of Virginia.
 
8.  "Love your neighbor" - commanded in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles.  "Love your enemy" - commanded in the New Testament Christian Bible.  Generations of Americans, starting with our Founding Fathers, have had to square the values of "Hate Evil" with "Love your enemy."  This has been done by hating the evil within the enemies of God-given Life and Liberty, but not hating the evil-doer him/herself.
 
9.  In the Judeo-Christian Value System there is a natural and common-sense balance between compassion and courageous confrontation of evil.  This can be seen metaphorically as a natural balance between femininity and masculinity; both good and necessary.  The secular culture of Europe and of many in the United States today have unwisely suppressed the masculinity of Judeo-Christian American Culture, and this has put our society out of balance.
 
10. From Many, One:  e pluribus unum.  Ethnicity and race don't matter, but values do matter.  We Americans should consider ourselves blessed to live under God-given Liberty in the same melting pot; and we are privileged to pursue happiness through creative work and play, unencumbered by excessive government.  Those things that divide us, such as race or ethnicity, can be viewed metaphorically as our various styles; and are not very important.  Those things of lesser importance should melt into what is very important and which should unite us: our value of Life, Liberty and Creativity - those rights defined by the Declaration of Independence, and rightly identified as the gifts of God.
 
11. The natural resources of the Earth, including the animals, along with the rest of creation should be honored and well cared for, but also used and enjoyed; and never worshiped.

Melting Pot Part 4

 OUR FOUNDING FATHERS

history.com

Same article continued with Quotes from our Founding Fathers

 From a website called AMERICAN THINKER

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2007/09/the_judeochristian_values_of_a.html

Some of the words of our Founding Fathers will illustrate American Judeo-Christian Values and our separation of church and state, but not the separation of God from state, and provide grounding for our understanding of social justice.
 
Thomas Jefferson wrote:
"all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ...." 
 
Jefferson also wrote:
"God who gave us life gave us liberty.  Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?"  He also wrote:  "Almighty God hath created the mind free.  ... All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens...are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion..."
 
He also wrote:
"I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
 
Our Founding Fathers wrote the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
 
President George Washington said this when proclaiming our National Thanksgiving Holiday:
"It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God ...."
 
John Adams wrote this:
"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.  Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net.  Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
 
Later, Abraham Lincoln wrote these words about the Bible:
"In regard to this great book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to men.  All the good Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book.  But for it we could not know right from wrong."
Lincoln also spoke these words at the Gettysburg Address:
"...that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
 

The Melting Pot Part 3

 The following article was published in 2007 by a doctor who defined the Values of America. It is a longer read, but it reveals the basic principles of American ROOTS and ultimately MY ROOTS. It is worthwhile to understand the privileges of life, liberty and freedom that we live under today. It's who we are!

https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/01/american-thinker-disables-its-comment-section/

From a website called AMERICAN THINKER

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2007/09/the_judeochristian_values_of_a.html
 

September 15, 2007

The Judeo-Christian Values of America

By Ronald R Cherry

Ronald R Cherry is a medical doctor

 
Judeo-Christian Values have a foundational role in America, beginning with the Declaration of Independence:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness..."
Since the pursuit of happiness, as Sigmund Freud surmised, is tied to human love and to creative work and play, the principles of American Judeo-Christian Values can rightly be summarized as the honoring of God-given Life, Liberty and Creativity. This seed of American Social Justice was then fleshed out in the U.S. Constitution through reason and common sense, unencumbered by the dysfunctional religious and secular traditions and laws of Old Europe.
 
Our Founding Fathers separated church from state, but they wisely did not separate God from state; they acknowledged God as the source of our rights, and, in fact, they were careful to place Biblical morality directly into our founding documents and laws, and into our values and culture precisely to help prevent a future of totalitarian or tyrannical rule in America.  The combination of keeping Judeo-Christian religious morality in the state, as opposed to the church it's self; and, additionally, setting up our laws based on reason and common sense has contributed to the American Character, and to what is known as "American Exceptionalism."
 
Our Founding Fathers were religious in a new way, the Judeo-Christian way, and they were the liberals of their day by deducing that our political and human rights come from a power higher than human government; but they were conservative to Biblical morality.  There was and still is a connection between God and Liberty; He is the author of it.  It is ironic that American Conservatives are now the champion of this our most liberal founding principle; and also an irony that most American Conservatives are wholly unaware of their connection with the liberal founding ideas of this great republic.  It is also an irony that many American Liberals have turned a blind eye to the required connection between God and Liberty.  As Thomas Jefferson and John Adams noted, as you will see below, Liberty cannot survive among men without its Divine connection.
 
In Judeo-Christian America one finds the idea of equality before God and the law, but not government forced economic equality.   Modern European culture has stressed the value of economic equality rather than Liberty, and their governments unjustly enforce the principle.  This has led to the failed European inventions of Socialism and Communism.  Socialists in America have been lured into this failed European idea of social justice.  Socialism is a failure in that it unjustly suppresses human creativity by excessively taxing away its rewards, and by foolishly giving economic reward to many who, even though mentally and physically able, fail to honor their Divine privilege and duty to work creatively.
 
Thus, Socialism is a dual insult to God-given creativity.  Communism was much worse in that it also dishonored the sacredness of human life and liberty.  Communism was the inevitable result of separating not just church from state, but God from state.  Communism dishonored God's gifts of Life, Liberty and Creativity.  European cultures have historical ties to authoritarian and totalitarian systems dating back to the Roman Empire.  Even European Christianity was, for a time, contaminated by its links to authoritarian rule.
 
American Judeo-Christian Culture, on the other hand, has been linked to honoring Life, Liberty and Creativity from the outset; deriving its wisdom from the lights of reason, common sense, and both the Hebrew Bible and New Testament Christian Bible.  Thomas Jefferson and the great majority of our Founding Fathers explicitly put God into the national life of the United States, by putting the Creator into the Declaration of Independence.  It is important that American Liberty has something to do with God; that is something for students to know and discuss, even if they are not particularly religious.  This does not represent some form of tyranny of the religious majority or an injustice; it was in fact the wisdom of our Founding Fathers to stand in opposition to tyranny and injustice by acknowledging the source of our rights -- those rights originating from God rather than from King George III, or for that matter from the Soviet or Chinese Politburo, or a courthouse, or a legislature.
 
America is a melting pot of diverse people including Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Atheists; and from the Judeo-Christian perspective, all are made in God's image.  We have in America a multiethnic society, and that is good.  What would be unhealthy for America would be for it to become Balkanized, something likely to happen with the atrophy of Judeo-Christian American Culture and Values.  Worse yet would be for America to adopt the toxic values which exist in some parts of the world and which are endemic in some foreign cultures.  The values of Fascism, Nazism, Communism or Totalitarian Islamic Sharia Law for example must never metastasize into our American Culture, rooted in Judeo-Christian values.  These values have been with us from the beginning, and they have made us strong and successful.  These Judeo- Christian Values should be kept central to the American Spirit and Culture even as we have become more multi-ethnic.
 

The Melting Pot Part 2

 MY STARTING POINT

THE MELTING POT

By Nancy Quillin Long

Written August 2024

 

America, the melting pot, is the place where people yearn to live in freedom, but many throughout the ages have paid greatly for those freedoms. It should not be taken for granted. It was earned.
 
We live in a time of turmoil, but it only takes a moment to crack open a book of old to realize that there has always been turmoil.  As immigrants pour across our border, I cannot “undo” what is in my blood and has been passed down, generation after generation for over 250 years, to the point where I am now; my thoughts, my culture, my beliefs.  Reaching out to others and understanding their journey is a place of compromise and understanding that no one is better than the other.
 
I learned this best years ago as a young teacher in 1978. It was a quick study to know that as I stood in front of my classroom, the most important thing for me was to look out over the classroom and NOT see race, color, or creed. Though I am Caucasian, the majority of my students were black and Hispanic. My purpose was to educate each human in a place without prejudice or bias. EDUCATE! Not teach them what to think, but how to think. Teach them to read, write, spell, communicate effectively, learn about cultures, history, math…to teach them the basics, not to teach them rewritten history or new math…but the BASICS. With that said, we cannot push aside our American culture, at the expense of a great many to placate a few. It is what it is. (see post on Judea Christian values)
 
 There is a reason why people flock here to the melting pot which is the greatest place on the face of earth to live. We must not lose sight of the basic truths of WHY that is so.
 
I make no apologies for where I stand on my principles because we, as a nation cannot erase the history that is written in books. As a genealogist, I know that my ancestors were the people who carved out this nation. I have yet to find a branch of the tree that are recent immigrants. With that said, I will go to my grave standing on the principles set forth by my forefathers who fought and died for those values. It is a culture and no amount of trying to erase that from the history books can change the facts. Is it a culture that is better than another? No, not really…but why is it something that is so desired across the globe? We must be careful as we move forward that we protect those values. A nation without borders is not a nation.
 
So, let’s go back to the beginning of our nation. There were all kinds of explorers that reached the new world. These explorers discovered a place rich in minerals with abundant resources and untouched wilderness. They encountered the indigenous people. Battles were fought just as they have been throughout the ages. There was a hammering out of who claimed what territory, even among the explorers. History reflects that the New World was anglicized. They began carving out the wilderness and making progress. Was it pretty? No! The indigenous people fought for their land, rightfully so. Did those “newcomers” suffer hardships, most definitely. Long story short. Over the course of time, there were many cultures that came to live a better, more prosperous life. It was a rich diversity of communities that were melted together. Was any one of those cultures better than the other? No. They were all striving to live, eventually, under the laws that created the best nation on earth. For that, I am grateful to know and understand my culture. Were there wrongs committed along the way? Yes! Of course, there were. It was difficult to carve out this New World, and our culture is rich with contributions and stories of each culture. I spent 6 weeks each year studying folklore, which was rich from stories of those cultures and what they contributed to the melting pot. It reveals such diversity of how our American culture came together. 
I stand with my jaw dropped, then, trying to understand why I have been made to feel so guilty by what I see as rewritten history at times. This IS a melting pot. We adapt, change, grow…we’ve grown over the years, knowing that we must fight against prejudice, but we can’t change what is history. Each of those changes has caused us to grow together.
 
I got over that long ago, as that young teacher standing in front of a classroom. I can’t change the “wrongs” that were done to others, but I can grow and understand their challenges. Yet I will never abandon my core values, my Judea Christian values…as that IS the concept of such a beautiful nation that others across the globe desire.  Let us NOT bend and break that culture and continue to attack the basic principles which formed who we are as a nation.