A recent experience was posted concerning a community service project on the Rock Creek Cemetery, near Needy Oregon. The project included doing some family history work for some selected families in the cemetery. I choose to develop a history of the Sconce family some of whom were buried there. In a recent conversation with my son, Randy, I related to him the experience I had in doing this work as he does not have access to the internet where the experience was published. Headstone for Nancy E. Jones (1846-1880)
He said that my experience was interesting and related to that he told me
about a private family cemetery plot in the area where he usually walks his dog. He lives on Central Road on the outskirts of Veneta, Oregon. The area is very rural with a few farm houses along the country roads. He remarked that I should come down sometime and take a look at this family cemetery which was about 10 feet square and maybe I could find out something about the people buried there. I took the invitation seriously.
Later, I made an appointment for an interview with a 91 year old lady from Albany, that descends from the Warren family in Brownsville. We decided to contact Randy after the meeting and to have dinner with him and then return home. During the dinner, Randy reminded me of the grave site and so we decided to go to the site after dinner as it was only a short distance to where he lives on Central Road. The graves were all contained in an area about 10 feet square with a rickety fence around it. Most of that area was covered with a concrete slab with a few headstones laid in the concrete. Only two were legible, but there were several that appeared to be small stones broken off above the slab. We suspected that they were markers for children. The names on the stones were for a Jones family. I had my camera and took pictures of the legible stones. The stone most legible was for: “Nancy E. , wife of Richard Jones, born Oct 12, 1846, died Oct 30 1880, aged 34 years , 18 days”
I inquired about a possible family connection with the land owner where these graves are located, but according to Randy, the land owner had no idea who these people were nor had he any connection with them. The area surrounding the grave site is covered with dense fir tree growth with only a few open areas. We returned home with a commitment to investigate the family that is buried there.
Within a few days after returning home, I began to look at the census records for Lane county beginning with the 1870 census. The 1870 census shows Richard and a wife by the name of Aley Ann, age 24 and with 3 children of ages 6, 4 and 1, all born in Oregon. This indicates that Richard came to Oregon after 1860 and perhaps before. However, the 1880 census records a Richard Jones with a wife Nancy E. and the same children as in 1870, but now there are two more children, ages 2 and one year, all born in Oregon. The census was for Spencer Creek Precinct in Lane County. The children of the family at that time consisted of three sons and two daughters. The first three children had the mother Aley Ann while the last two children had the mother Nancy E. Richard’s first wife, Aley Ann, probably died before 1875 and then he married Nancy about 1877. In 1880, the youngest daughter, Clara had just been born a few months before the census was taken and her mother died a few months later. Richard, age 47, was a cook, probably for an adjacent saw mill. The loss of his wife at that time left him with five children to care for. However, the oldest daughter, Mary was fifteen and probably able to fill in for her step mother. The oldest son, William, was 14 years old and he would have been helpful to his father in supporting the family. A follow up on the son, Arthur Jones, that had been born prior to the 1870 census, resulted in finding him in the 1900 census in the Elmira Precinct within a few miles of where the above mentioned cemetery is located. He had married about 1897 to Mary Etta. She was 19 years old while he was 30 years old in 1900. They had a daughter, Eva, that was a year old. By 1910, Arthur and his wife Etta were living in the Cheshire Precinct with their daughter Pearl Eva, age 11. In 1920, Arthur is 50 years old and they have another daughter, named Buela, age 7 and they owned their own home. All of these above mentioned census records were obtained through “Heritage Quest”. Since Heritage Quest does not have an indexed 1930 census, I went to Ancestry. Com to determine if Arthur was still living and had children at home.
The result was that Arthur Jones was still living at the same location as in 1920 with his wife Mary E. and his daughter Buelah, age 18. In addition to this information from Ancestry, there was information that a person had a private family tree which included the Jones pedigree. At that time, I communicated with the owner of the tree that I had found information about the death of Nancy E., the wife of Richard Jones. Hopefully, that will be of interest to their family along with a photo of the headstone of Nancy E. Gatchell ( the name given on the family tree which belongs to “Walker Family”).
RHB
Later, I made an appointment for an interview with a 91 year old lady from Albany, that descends from the Warren family in Brownsville. We decided to contact Randy after the meeting and to have dinner with him and then return home. During the dinner, Randy reminded me of the grave site and so we decided to go to the site after dinner as it was only a short distance to where he lives on Central Road. The graves were all contained in an area about 10 feet square with a rickety fence around it. Most of that area was covered with a concrete slab with a few headstones laid in the concrete. Only two were legible, but there were several that appeared to be small stones broken off above the slab. We suspected that they were markers for children. The names on the stones were for a Jones family. I had my camera and took pictures of the legible stones. The stone most legible was for: “Nancy E. , wife of Richard Jones, born Oct 12, 1846, died Oct 30 1880, aged 34 years , 18 days”
I inquired about a possible family connection with the land owner where these graves are located, but according to Randy, the land owner had no idea who these people were nor had he any connection with them. The area surrounding the grave site is covered with dense fir tree growth with only a few open areas. We returned home with a commitment to investigate the family that is buried there.
Within a few days after returning home, I began to look at the census records for Lane county beginning with the 1870 census. The 1870 census shows Richard and a wife by the name of Aley Ann, age 24 and with 3 children of ages 6, 4 and 1, all born in Oregon. This indicates that Richard came to Oregon after 1860 and perhaps before. However, the 1880 census records a Richard Jones with a wife Nancy E. and the same children as in 1870, but now there are two more children, ages 2 and one year, all born in Oregon. The census was for Spencer Creek Precinct in Lane County. The children of the family at that time consisted of three sons and two daughters. The first three children had the mother Aley Ann while the last two children had the mother Nancy E. Richard’s first wife, Aley Ann, probably died before 1875 and then he married Nancy about 1877. In 1880, the youngest daughter, Clara had just been born a few months before the census was taken and her mother died a few months later. Richard, age 47, was a cook, probably for an adjacent saw mill. The loss of his wife at that time left him with five children to care for. However, the oldest daughter, Mary was fifteen and probably able to fill in for her step mother. The oldest son, William, was 14 years old and he would have been helpful to his father in supporting the family. A follow up on the son, Arthur Jones, that had been born prior to the 1870 census, resulted in finding him in the 1900 census in the Elmira Precinct within a few miles of where the above mentioned cemetery is located. He had married about 1897 to Mary Etta. She was 19 years old while he was 30 years old in 1900. They had a daughter, Eva, that was a year old. By 1910, Arthur and his wife Etta were living in the Cheshire Precinct with their daughter Pearl Eva, age 11. In 1920, Arthur is 50 years old and they have another daughter, named Buela, age 7 and they owned their own home. All of these above mentioned census records were obtained through “Heritage Quest”. Since Heritage Quest does not have an indexed 1930 census, I went to Ancestry. Com to determine if Arthur was still living and had children at home.
The result was that Arthur Jones was still living at the same location as in 1920 with his wife Mary E. and his daughter Buelah, age 18. In addition to this information from Ancestry, there was information that a person had a private family tree which included the Jones pedigree. At that time, I communicated with the owner of the tree that I had found information about the death of Nancy E., the wife of Richard Jones. Hopefully, that will be of interest to their family along with a photo of the headstone of Nancy E. Gatchell ( the name given on the family tree which belongs to “Walker Family”).
RHB
