Handbook of Texas Online: JONES, ENOCH

JONES, ENOCH (1802-1863). Enoch Jones, land speculator, son of Thomas Griffith and Susan (Jones) Jones, was born in 1802 in Wooster, Ohio. While a young man, he contracted to construct locks for the western division of the Pennsylvania Canal; in 1832, as an engineer with the same company, he constructed the dam at Johnstown, Pennsylvania. In Detroit he began a store and engaged in the manufacturing of lumber. He immigrated to Texas sometime before 1837 and in partnership with John William Smith acquired a vast amount of land, which he sold at a profit when he returned to Detroit. He subsequently moved to St. Louis, where he started an extensive wholesale business, while Smith continued to make large land purchases in Texas. Smith died in 1845, and Jones returned to Texas in February 1846, settled in San Antonio, and opened a large mercantile store. He also sold horses and property and was an incorporator and director of the San Antonio and Mexican Gulf Railway. After the Texas Revolution he had bought a large amount of scrip, which the United States redeemed in full when Texas became a state. Eventually he acquired almost 175,000 acres on the Medina River and built a large mansion, which Count Norbert von Ormay bought in 1885 (see VON ORMY, TEXAS). Jones married Sophronia Hoyt of Cleveland, Ohio, and they had a son. He subsequently married Olive Ann (Selkirk) Webb, a widow with two children, and they had two more children. His last wife was Charlotte Thompkins of Stillwater, New York; they had four children. Jones died on August 7, 1863, and was buried in City Cemetery No. 1 in San Antonio.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Frederick Charles Chabot, With the Makers of San Antonio (Yanaguana Society Publications 4, San Antonio, 1937). San Antonio Express, July 19, 1931. Telegraph and Texas Register, February 24, 1838. Texas State Gazette, September 28, 1850, March 1, 1851, October 23, 1852. Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin. S. W. Pease

The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.

Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "JONES, ENOCH," http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/JJ/fjo47.html

Handbook of Texas Online: JONES, ENOCH

Jones, Enoch Farmstead