Herbert A. Jones, one of the most prosperous and
enterprising business citizens of Staunton, Macoupin County, conducts a well
established general store and receives the patronage of many well-to-do
residents of the city and vicinity. He was born in Iowa near Keokuk, October
15, 1840, and is a son of Henry and Lizzie (Brown) Jones.
Henry
Jones, who was one of a family of four children and the only one that came
to America, was a native of Scotland, coming to America when 20 years of
age. He located in the New England States, where he lived alone for five
years, engaged in the pursuits of general farming. Later he removed to Iowa
and again engaged in farming with very successful results. Mr. Jones was a
man of refined habits and of a mild temperament. He was a member of the Whig
party. He was married to Lizzie Brown, a native of Rhode Island, and they
were the parents of four children, namely: Henry, who followed the
occupation of a farmer and died at Keokuk, Iowa; John, who assisted his
brother Henry in his farming operations and also died at Keokuk, Iowa;
Herbert A., our subject; and Lucy, who died at Keokuk, Iowa. Mr. Jones'
death occurred in 1856, at the age of 59 years.
Herbert A. Jones was
reared on a farm near Keokuk, Iowa, and when 17 years of age went to St.
Louis, Missouri, where he remained until 1861, when he came to Illinois.
Although he received but a common school education, he gained his present
position in business circles through his energy, toil and perseverance.
While residing in St. Louis he clerked in the dry goods store of Henry
Ferguson and there gained considerable knowledge of the methods of that
branch of business. In 1862 he located at Litchfield, Illinois, where he
entered the employ of a dry goods firm of that place, and continued there
until 1880. In that year he removed to Staunton, Illinois, where the
following spring he opened a dry goods store with John H. Gabay under the
firm style of Gabay & Jones. After establishing a good trade in the dry
goods line, they put in a stock of various kinds of merchandise and opened a
general store, continuing their business until 1884, when they dissolved
partnership. Mr. Jones then associated himself with Fred Newman and J. C.
Panhorst under the firm name of Jones, Newman & Company, and the business
was conducted by these three gentlemen for two years. The business then came
under the control of Mr. Jones, who has since conducted it very
successfully. Mr. Jones is prominently identified with many business
concerns of his city, among the most prominent being the Staunton Loan &
Building Association and the Staunton Home & Building Association, of which
associations he is a director, and is a prominent member of the Merchants'
Business Association.
Mr. Jones was married in 1867 to Matilda
Brooks, who was born in Illinois in August, 1854. They are the parents of
two children — Maude, who resides with her parents, and Ellie, who is the
wife of Robert L. Forest, of Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Jones is a Democrat, and
a master mason of Staunton Lodge, No. 177, A. F. & A. M., and a charter
member of the Knights and Ladies of Honor.
Extracted 2018 May 08 by Norma Hass from Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Macoupin County, Illinois, published in 1904, pages 464-465.
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