Who was James Jones?
James Jones was a devoted father of ten, and a prosperous businessman who resided in Macomb County, Michigan , from 1834 until his death in 1895.
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He was
born at Baisenstock, England, in 1804, the son of John Jones.
His father and mother
both died at Swindon, England, when he was about two years
old. He, his brother Robert, and his sister Elizabeth were
left to the charitable care of relatives. He first remembered
living with a Mrs. Walker, his mother’s sister, in
Chiseldon, England. |
From his 14th to 18th year, he lived with an uncle at Marlboro, named Thomas Wheeler. His grandfather Wheeler died before he remembered. He went to London, worked in a bakery, and later went into the leather business.
He sailed for America in 1832 on a three-masted
English "packet" vessel. Aboard was the Funnell family
with their 19-year-old daughter Elizabeth, who was eventually to
become his wife.
James and Elizabeth were married in Rochester, New York, on October 13,
1832.
James returned to his business in England in 1833 to tie up loose ends,
returning in the fall of that year. The young Jones family emigrated
to the frontier territory of Michigan in 1834, buying land at one dollar
an acre, and clearing 80 acres in Ray Township, a few miles north of
Mt. Clemens.
James was favored with good crops, and later extended his boundaries by additional purchases. James bought property in other counties, aggregating 500 acres in all. He became a citizen and held the office of Justice of the Peace in Macomb County from 1862 until 1866 and again in 1870.
Over the years, James made five more trips to England. He saw great changes in travel, starting with the Clipper ship in 1845 that reduced the sailing time from the U.S. to England to 20 – 30 days each way, not exactly SST time, but much faster than James’ original voyage on the packet. Later on, the steam ship would shorten and improve the trip even more.