Part of a SCAM-Alpine, Brewster County, Texas

I have no idea why MEB Jones would have purchased property for a place that would have been called Progress City. The location was near Alpine, Texas...way out west. Did he have dreams of building there? I know that in his notes, he was researching the proper grasses that would grow in that environment. This venture was to scam people of their money. It was taken to court. Unfortunately, MEB was part of this scam.

Below are postcards from the past...of what Alpine, Texas, looked like in 1920. 

Alpine Street Scene 1920s

https://www.txgenweb.org/postcards/Towns/Alpine/AlpineTxStreetScene.jpg

Looking west from Alpine.

https://historicalpine.org/historic-photos-of-alpine/

https://www.txgenweb.org/postcards/Towns/Alpine/AlpineWestView.jpg

MEB Paid Taxes in Brewster County, TX

Brewster County Taxes for Proper City  

Lot 7 Block 123

Property assesed at $10 

9 Mar 1911

County Taxes for 1910 

Alpine Independent School District

Progress City

3 March 1911

MEB Jones Swindled in 1909

                                 M.E.B. Jones Is Swindled Dec. 1909

Compiled by Nancy Quillin Long

Feb 2016

Paper work was located in an old trunk that belonged to M.E.B. Jones.

These papers were giving to Nancy Quillin Long by Martin Frank Jones. M.E.B. was Martin Frank Jones's great-grandfather.   M.E.B. Jones is my g-great grandfather.

Found among the papers was an old abstract of title to lots in Progress City, being part of THE WM. POOLE SURVEY of 1280 acres in Brewster Co., Texas.  Also found among these papers were two receipts of tax payments to Brewster County in 1911.

It didn't take long with a Google search to find that Progress City was a nonexistent town in Brewster County, Texas.  M.E.B. had been scammed, along with others.

M.E.B. Jones was forever taking notes in small memo books.  An interesting find among the pages that I have, M.E.B. wrote down the words,  "Alfilerea, Ariz., good for grazing."  When I googled Alfilerea, my best guess would be that he misspelled Alfilaria defined as a weed grown for forage in the dry regions of the southwestern U.S. —called also pin grass. This makes sense because he was planning and hoping to use this desolate land in far west Texas.

 

Brewster County, Texas - Wikipedia

Texas History, Genealogy, Old Photos, Postcards, Maps, and Information.

Progress City, Texas     Brewster County

Here is the article found at: http://www.historictexas.net/brewster-county/progress-city-texas

Progress City, a nonexistent town in Brewster County, was invented by swindlers to dupe residents of other parts of Texas into buying town lots. On February 8, 1910, the Brewster County grand jury, with Joseph D. Jackson as foreman, called the plot to the attention of Judge W. C. Douglas of the Brewster County District Court in Alpine. The grand jury reported "with deep regret" the presence of an outfit called Progress City Town Site Company, "which seems to be an organization having for its purpose the swindling of unsuspecting citizens of the State by a sale of so-called town lots in an imaginary town in our county." The putative site of Progress City was on "San Diego" (Santiago) Mountain, forty miles southeast of Alpine. It would have been, according to the grand jury, "accessible only by horseback and then along a difficult and little used trail," and was "totally uninhabited and uninhabitable, and wholly unfit for the situs of a town. In fact, the land is susceptible of no use whatever except that of grazing livestock."

The Progress City Town Site Company consisted of John L. Mauk as president and Lee R. Davis of Waco, who had acquired the title to the land from the original grantee, William Poole, as owner and secretary, respectively. By the time of the grand jury report, the three had already sold more than 1,000 lots, usually for $1.50 apiece. Though the price was of little concern to an individual buyer, the grand jury pointed out, in the aggregate it could add up to a substantial amount; "but even this is small in comparison with the great injury that will result to this section of Texas from the perpetration of such swindles upon the people when those who have been duped discover the fraud." The report admitted that prosecution of Mauk and Davis was probably pointless, because each swindle constituted a separate offense and because the perpetrators almost certainly acted through agents to avoid legal entanglements. The grand jury did, however, recommend making clear to the public the innocence of the people of Brewster County in the matter and sending a copy of its report to each district court in McLennan County, in which Waco is located.

https://historicalpine.org/historic-photos-of-alpine/

https://www.txgenweb.org/postcards/Towns/Alpine/AlpineTxStreetScene.jpg

Abstract of Title - Scam in Brewster Co TX

 This paperwork was found in MEB's old dusty trunk. 

A Dusty Old Trunk

 I did not see the trunk. Martin Frank Jones's children cleared his belongings when he moved to assisted living. They gave me the remnants of items left from the old trunk. These pictures are taken from the website listed below.

            

When Grandpa Dies, His Grandson Finds A Forgotten Family Heirloom Hidden In The Garage

A Dusty Old Trunk

Belonged to MEB Jones 

Many of us have found ourselves in the position of clearing out the old family homestead where we discovered a dusty old trunk buried deep in the recesses of the home.  If only the trunk could speak, we could learn so much history of its being. We eagerly open it to find the treasures within and then the guessing game begins as we search for clues to family history.  Most of the time these trunks have fallen into the hands of the nearest relatives and continue to be passed down to someone who “cares” for it. Along the way, things are discarded or given away. Such is the case of MEB’s old dusty trunk.

I had been told for years by my uncle Martin Frank Jones that he had in his possession an old trunk belonging to MEB Jones. Martin Frank had received it from Martin Harmon Jones, probably found in JC Jones’ (son of Martin Harmon) belongings when JC passed away.
 
Martin Frank had always told me that he had this trunk but it was buried deep in the back of his shed. He said that it held old papers, including a few very old slips of paper belonging to Martin Jones (b 1816) and Keziah which would date back to 1842. These slips of paper would be the reason that Martin Frank believed there was even another Martin Jones beyond our Martin Jones 1816. (However, I don’t find any clues from those papers that suggest this.) When Martin Frank was eventually placed in assisted living, his children cleared his home and cleaned out that old shed in his backyard. They were quick to turn over the remaining items to me. 
 
I have no idea what the actual trunk looked like (they did not take a picture), but I can only imagine that it would be a flat top trunk because during the Victorian age somewhere around 1870, people began to travel by carriage, wagon, ships or trains. The most common of those trunks during that age would be the flat top trunk. MEB and Minerva used this trunk to move their family westward from Alabama to Texas in 1884. 
 
Things deteriorate over the years, much of which is discarded, but I received what survived in this old trunk. It is a very few items that I feel honored to have in my possession. In the next few posts in this blog, I will share these items with you.

Gone to TEXAS

 When M.E.B. and Minerva moved to Texas from Shelby County Alabama, it was documented in the Shelby Chronicle. 

7 Feb 1884

Minerva Jane Seale Jones and MEB Jones gravesite

 

Manerva Jane Seales

 

Manerva Jane Seales was born on 06 Mar 1840 in Shelby County, Alabama, USA as the eleventh child of Abraham Seales and Clarissa. She had ten siblings, namely: Stephen Harmon, John Robert, Nancy Pinckney, Joshua, Martha, Amelia, Green Berry, Louisa, David, and Mahala. She died on 03 Jun 1909 in Crowell, Foard, Texas, USA. When she was 25, She married Martin Ervin Brooks Jones on 03 Jan 1866 in Shelby, Alabama.

 Manerva Jane Seales lived in Shelby, Alabama, United States in 1860. She lived in Beat 12, Shelby, Alabama, United States in 1870. She lived in Columbiana, Shelby, Alabama, United States in 1880. She lived in Tom Bean Town, Grayson, Texas in 1900.

 Martin Erwin Brooks Jones and Manerva Jane Seales had the following children:

 

1.    John Ervin Jones was born on 01 May 1869 in Shelby County, Alabama, USA. He died on 21 Dec 1871 in Shelby County, Alabama, USA.

2.    Martin Harmon Jones was born on 12 Apr 1874 in Shelby County, Alabama, USA. He died on 05 Jan 1950 in Crowell, Foard, Texas, USA.

3.    Mahala Elizabeth Jones was born on 28 Nov 1876 in Shelby County, Alabama, USA. She died on 12 Aug 1966 in Wilbarger, Texas. She married Joseph T. Skipworth in 1896.

4.    Mary Keziah Jones was born on 30 Mar 1868 in Shelby County, Alabama, USA. She died on 14 Dec 1885 in Shelby County, Alabama, USA.

5.    Nancy Jane Jones was born on 20 Feb 1879 in Shelby County, Alabama, USA. She died on 10 Oct 1966 in Taylor, Texas. She married Hugh Springfield Bridges in 1896.

6.    Martha Catherine Jones was born on 07 Jul 1872 in Alabama. She died on 09 Mar 1961 in Vernon, Wilbarger, Texas, USA. She married James Crawford in 1891.

7.    Burwell Walter Jones was born on 01 Jul 1881 in Shelby County, Alabama, USA. He died on 22 Apr 1952 in Marietta, Love, Oklahoma, USA.