Recollections of Martin Harmon Jones' Children

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 by Martin Frank Jones 2013

These are memories of Martin Harmon and Mattie Bell's children

 William Albert Jones (1898-1956)

Joe Carroll Jones (1902-1972)

George Truett Jone (1908 -  )

Lucy Katherine Jones (1918 - 2003)

Martin Frank remembers sitting with Uncle Ab when he was real sick.  Albert was under an oxygen tent and the kids had to take turns sitting with him at night.  During one of the night stays, Albert asked Martin for a cigarette.  Martin gave him one and when Albert lit it, the whole cigarette went up in flames.

 Albert would always ask him what time it was.  Martin would tell him… “It’s 12:15.”  And Albert would say, “Damn Martin, that’s only 15 minutes later from what you said the last time.”  Evidently, that would go on all night.

 

George, Albert, and Hugh were all supported by Daddy (Joe Carroll).  All 3 drove trucks for Daddy.  Daddy owned the trucks and he then leased them to the State of Tx and did work for the State.  They worked on the highways, specifically Hwy 70 between Vernon and Lubbock.  George and Ab would tear up trucks.  Their trucks were always dinged up, overused and dirty.  They generally broke them down and those trucks always required a lot of repairs because they didn’t take care of them.   These trucks were capable of carrying a ton and a half (or about 3,000 pounds) of freight in their dump beds.  They would always overload them with over 4,000 pounds.  Hugh always took care of his truck.  His truck was always clean and well cared for.

George lived all over and ended up in Houston with an Auto Upholstery Shop

 

Albert had an icehouse in Crowell.  He lived under oxygen at home. When Albert died, Dr. Clark told Martin to go talk with the undertaker.  The undertaker told him that Ab’s lungs looks like the sole of a shoe.  Martin quit smoking after talking with the undertaker.  He had just bought a $1.00 carton of cigarettes and he worked at the Ford dealership there in Crowell.  When he went in to work, he asked his buddy if he wanted the cigarettes.  They guy said, “Sure”.  Martin handed them over and never smoked again.  It took him about 5 years to stop the urge, especially when someone else lit up.

George’s Kids:  Georgie Bell (oldest), Lonnie, Michael “Mike”

 

Hugh’s kids:  AC, Betty Joe, Eddie Hugh, Greta

 

Albert’s kids:  Jaunita (oldest & adopted), Sammye (still alive Fort Sill), Sue (died a long time ago), Billy Don (A farmer was putting in pastureland, getting rid of the mesquites.  There were stumps laying all around and he hired some kids to pick up the stumps.  Billy Don was riding in the back of the truck, fell out, and was killed.)

 

Lucy’s kids:  Donna oldest lived somewhere near Amarillo?; Cheryl and her husband took over the Dono’s butane business.

Left to right: Mattie Bell Bridges Jones, William Albert Jones, Lucy Katherine Jones Day, Joe Carroll Jones, Hugh Springfield Jones, George Truett Jones.

Growing Up in Small Town America Part 4

 

Picture taken in 1960

SUNDAYS

Sundays were set aside for family and church. No stores were open, only church doors. We attended the First Baptist Church of Vernon every Sunday, some Sunday nights and often on Wednesday nights. Daddy served as an usher for awhile, and I believe he was asked to be a Deacon, of which he declined.  I had clothes that were considered Sunday School clothes, usually complimented with patton leather shoes. Mother would put a roast in the oven before we left the house and complete the meal after church. Then we would all eat together in our comfy clothes. Sometimes we would make the trek to Crowell to eat our Sunday meal with Mimi and Pappy and other extended family. I'm certain that I was molded in my formative years by my participation with my church family.  We had a magnificent church with high vaulted ceilings, stained glass windows, aisles leading to the altar, a choir loft with the Baptismal above that.  There was a magical pipe organ accompanied by a piano. We had hymnals in the pocket on the pews in front of us. At about at age10, I dedicated my life to Christ and was baptized in the church, the same church that I would be married in 12 years later.  I remember how exciting it was when I was finally allowed to sit WAY up in the balcony with other kids.  I felt very independent and sometimes the pastor had to remind us to pay attention to the sermon :) Our Sundays usually ended in a Sunday afternoon drive, winding our way around all the rural roads surrounding Vernon. There was never a destination; we would just drive, usually ending at the newly opened and locally owned Dairy Queen. I often got a chili cheeseburger and a chocolate milkshake in the winter. I loved singing in the youth choir. I would attend practice twice a week, and when we performed, we donned the white choir robes with blue neck sashes. I also played hand bells and adored the sweet sounds that were created. Most always I attended Sunday School and Vacation Bible School in the summer.  

Looking back on it, I don't believe that I ever knew anyone who didn't know Jesus, until recently. We were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment and common sense, and we learned how to cope with death by knowing Jesus.

Bridges Bible - Mattie Bell Bridges & Martin Harmon 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 Franklin 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 are recollections of Martin Frank Jones 2013

There is a copy of all the genealogy work that Edith Bridges gave Martin Frank in a big Bible.  He does not know where that Big Bible is….

The following was a sheet of paper in his Bible.  It appears to be an obituary for Mattie Bell Bridges Jones.  Dated June 1, 1971 (I’m not sure who wrote it)
 
"Mrs. M.H. Jones (Mattie B.) was born May 5, 1878, at Delton, Georgia.  She passed from this life at the age of 93 at Abilene, Texas May 31, 1971.  She was married to Martin Harmon Jones on June 28, 1896, at Whitewright, Texas.  Mrs. Jones was preceded in death by her husband and two sons, Hugh S. Jones and Wm. Albert Jones.  She is survived by two sons, J. Carroll Jones of Crowell and George T. Jones of Houston, Tx.  Three sisters:  Mrs. Fay Lyles of Savoy Tx; Mrs Ida Campbell of Roby, Tx; and Mrs. Lucy Ford of Merkel, Tx; 17 Grands, 36 great grands and 4 great-great-grands.
 
"People who knew Mrs. Jones knew her as a woman with many friends who loved people and loved to help them.
 
"Mrs. Jones moved to Foard County and the Thalia community in 1906 with her family.  She moved to Crowell in 1959.  She resided at the Shady Oak’s Lodge at Abilene, Tx from 1969 until her death.
 
"Mrs. Jones was a longtime Christian.  She belonged to the First Baptist Church at Crowell at the time of her departure.  She was among the most faithful members for many years at the First Baptist at Thalia before moving to Crowell."

Joe Carroll Jones and his mother, Mattie Bell Bridges Jones. On a Sunday before church.

Crowell, Texas. c. 1964

My First Winter

 1957

To me this is a 'letter-perfect' picture, a child's playground. I'm only several months old so I'm positive that I was sleeping warmly inside, while Mother and Daddy took my siblings out to build a snowman. I'm sure my daddy was the photographer. He loved taking pictures. I adore the glow and gusto on my sister's face. She was simply adorable and so full of life. My brother was the typical boy. He was always the agitator and never let life grow boring. 

The winter scene is in Vernon, Texas, in our front yard of the home on Texas Street. Mother and Daddy were a young couple who finally could afford a new home. This picture is in front of the addition my parents added when the family began to grow. Everything depicts a life of love, joy and happiness: a new home, landscaping that hasn't grown over, the old model car on the street over, excited children playing in the snow, a bicycle and tricycle waiting to be ridden, a mother who still wears a dress in the snow. I had a wonderful life.

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...