John Benjamin Jones

John B Jones

by

Jack O Jones

son

John Benjamin Jones was born in Cherry Creek on Nov 16 1892 to John Morris Jones and Gwenford Williams. He died on Nov 10 1941 at the Oneida County Hospital at the age of 49. He was the third in a family of ten children, five boys and five girls.

I can remember my dad as being a fine man and father and husband. I can't recall his ever being any thing but loving and cosiderate for my mother. He was a hard worker and received very little for his efforts. There was eight of us children in his family and we were all wiell taken care of.

He was a farmer all of his life along with being a ranger rider for the cattle association for many years which was a contributing factor in his death. He was a brand inspector for many years.

He expected us to do our part in helpin on the farm with the work involved in getting the crops besides the daily chores of milking the cows, feeding the chickens and pigs and ect. After Woodrow got killed at the age of ten I guess I worked beside my dad a little closer being the next oldest son.

Dad and Mother purchased a house from Ed Vaughan out in the haylands south of Malad and moved it to Cherry Creek to be our home. I am not sure of the date but as our family grew larger dad hired ben Williams to build on two rooms which were used as a kitchen and bedroom. He owned about forty acres of ground in Cherry Creek which was dry land and was used for our keep and the necessities of life. He didn't own any equipment or horses. So any work that was done he had to borrow from his dad (my grandfather) who lived a mile away. This usually resulted in plan changing if grandfather was using the horses and machinery dad would have to wait several days sometimes to get his work done. This was the situation for many years. He finally bought the place next to our's from the Powell family after Charley Powell did. Charlie and dad had a lot of differences and fights over water and other things other the years. I can't remember them ever agreeing or getting along on anything. dad bought the property to try to provide better for his family.

Later in life he accepted the job of Range Rider for the cattlemans association to try to provide better things for his family. He rode a horse to the hills every day and put in long hard hours. I used to ride with him whenever there was an extra horse available and had the work on the farm done. he had to have several horses and would rotate them each day so the horses could rest.

I remember the 1st car he bought was a Model T Ford and we really thought we were living high. This was about 1927 I think. I remember we were going to town one day and by the old Cherry Creek school the door of the car came open and sister Fern fell out on the gravel road and scared us to death we just new she was dead but the Lord was with us because she was just cut and bruised up real bad.

The next car he bought was a new 1930 Chevrolet sedan. He would take us to town on Saturday night and we would coax him to go faster so he would stap it up to fifty miles an hour for about a mile and we really thought we were flying.

Riding the range for several years the cattlemans assoc. wanted dad to move up into the hills so he could watch the range a little closer. So he moved us into the hiss each summer to live. We lived in a sheep camp and tent. The only time we left there was when we went to town for groceries and when work had to be done on the farm like putting up hay or cutting the grain. We lived this way for several years during the summer months.

He would never stay away from home over night. he used to come home as late as twelve o'clock at night rather than stay with someone away from home.

I remember when he had his teeth pulled He had pyorea real bad. He chewed tobacco all the time and had to have his teeth out. he went to Malad to Dr Thomas Richards and Dr Richards would get hold on a tooth and would put his foot in Dad's chest to get leverage and when the tooth came Dr Richards would fall on his back on the floor. That was the way Dad explained it anyway. He said he would never go to another dentist. He went for months without any teeth because he wouldn't go back. Finally Dr Richard talked him into letting him come down home to take the impression for his new teeth. I can remember us kids all gathered around while Dr Richars was taking the impression and Dad not wanting him to do it. After he got his new teeth he had quite a time getting used to them because he would getting used to them because he would never go back and get them looked at again. We used to sit out by the house in the shad in the evenings when he had time and would talk and he would whittle on a stick of wood. Usually he would sit and scrape on his false teeth with a pocket knife because they hurt his mouth. He used to sith and brush his hair for long periods of time. He hated to see his hair getting thin and thought brushing would stop it from falling out. He never did go completely bald.

Dad didn't belong to the church and never went at all that I can remember. he used to tell me I ought to be in church on Sunday but never forced any of us to go. I remember him feeling bad and a little unhappy with me when I took my first job away from home but he didn't stop me from going.

He was never in a hospital or ever went to see a medical doctor as I can remember. I guess hard work kept him healthy. He wasn't a big man. about 5'9" tall and usually wighed about 180 to 200 lbs.

When his illness came upon him he went to the hospital in Malad and then was transferred to Ogden to the hospital. I lived in Ogden at the time they found out there that nothing could be done for him so he went back home and then to hospital in Malad again where he passed away a short time after.

John Benjamin and Veda Eggleston Jones