Rev. Milton Jones,
A Hero of Many Battles
Submitted by Barbara Knox barbara-knox@sbcglobal . net
On March 8, at his country home southeast of Henderson, Rev. Milton Jones celebrated his eighty-second birthday. He is now totally blind, but cheerful and full of patriotism and war. Uncle Milton was a youth twenty two years old in 1858, when he helped Sul Ross defeat the Comanche Indians on Plum Creek above where Vernon now stands, when Cynthia Ann Parker, mother of Chief Quanah Parker, was recaptured after a life spent among the Indians. For three years he belonged to the Frontier guards, and was in many a hot fight with Indians. Later he became a missionary and country school teacher, preaching in Abilene when it was a town of tents and in Anson where he delivered the first Baptist sermon. He taught school in Jonesboro, Coryell County, in early days, and helped Dr. Cranfill's father hold a meeting at Turnersville in those days. His first wife was an educated and cultured lady, who, with him, taught many schools in East and Central Texas. They had a bright lot of children. After his wife's death, [in 1895 near Brownsboro, Texas] he made his home in East Texas, and some sixteen years ago married Miss Tommie Burns, daughter of a Baptist preacher.
To them have been born six children, two sets of twins among them. Five are living and in school. Daughters of his first marriage: Mrs. Mamie Noble, now a widow living in Corsicana, was at his celebration. His other married daughter [Minnie] is the wife of Dr. J. P. Simonds of Northwestern University, Chicago. The Rockefeller Institute sent Dr. Simonds on a special mission to France last summer [to do a study on gas gangrene]. He is a brilliant young physician. An older son was for years in the United States Navy.
This old hero has lived a life of hardship and wrought nobly. He gets aid from the Old Ministers' Fund and is entitled to a pension as an Indian fighter. He also gets a small Confederate pension and owns his little farm.
His blindness makes his last days somewhat sad. It was my joy to add to his birthday celebration with a few good things to eat and to sit at the feast table. The old guard will soon be gone. "Miss Tommie" is a heroic and devoted wife to soften his trials. Blessings on this noble man of God, who has fought many hard battles with gun and in meetings and in school work.
[NOTE: Rev. Milton Jones, Jr., a son of Milton Henry Jones, Sr. and Keziah Culbertson Jones was born March 8, 1836 in Yazoo Co. Miss. He married Cornelia Patience Jones 27 Nov 1859. She was the only child of Wiley Jones and Sarah Jordan Jones [no relation known]. Their children: Wiley, Henry Payne, Charlie Rufus Standard, Milton, Mary Cornelia, Albert Price, Mattie Emily, Willie Key and Minnie Pearl Jones. Cornelia died near Brownsboro, Texas Sept. 25, 1895. Rev. Milton Jones, Jr. died Oct. 11, 1922, age 86, near Henderson and is buried there. Of the two daughters mentioned:
Mary Cornelia (known as "Miss Mamie" to everyone) married Joseph Valentine Noble in 1879 in Navarro County and both died in Corsicana, Tex. Minnie Jones married Dr. James Persons Simonds in 1909 in Navarro County. Dr. Simonds, a pathologist, was head of that department at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago for many years. He was widely known for his work in cancer research and received many honors. Mrs. Simonds died in Chicago in 1861 and Dr. Simonds in 1864. Both are buried in Corsicana, Texas. No issue.]