Saguache County CO Archives Biographies.....Jones, Daniel Sherman January 11, 1859 - ?
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Judy Crook jlcrook@rof.net March 8, 2006, 3:35 pm

Author: Progressive Men of Western Colorado

     Born in the state of Maine, near the city of Eastport, on January 11, 1859,

and reared in that locality to the age of seventeen, then learning a useful

trade in Massachusetts, and afterward following a variety of occupations in

different parts of the West, the subject of this brief review has seen American

life under many stars and amid circumstances widely differing in character, all

of which, however, have served to strengthen the fiber and broaden the scope of

his mind and manhood, and prepare him for any emergency that might confront him.

 He is the son of Lewis and Mary (Sherman) Jones, natives and life-long

residents of Maine.  The father was a surveyor and carpenter, prosperous in his

work and useful to an unusual extent to his community and county.  He followed

with ardor the fortunes of the Republican party from the first campaign to his

death, yet while doing this, he never allowed his party spirit to overbear his

genuine interest in the improvement and general welfare of his local

surroundings.  He was born in 1814 and died in 1898.  The mother’s life began in

1818 and ended in her native state in 1901.  They were the parents of ten

children, of whom Eliza, Mary and Hannah are dead, and Mrs. Edgar Nash, Mira,

Mrs. Edith Wilson, Mrs. Frederick Thompson, Daniel S., Enmuel G. and Benjamin

are living.  Daniel was liberally educated in the common and high schools, and

at the state university at Dennysville and Orona in his native state.  When he

reached the age of seventeen years he left the parental roof and went to

Massachusetts, where he learned the jeweler’s trade and watch making.  In 1879,

when he was twenty, he came to Colorado to do surveying, which he had mastered

in theory and practice, and selected Leadville, which was then in the height of

its first booming activity, as the field of his operations.  But owing to the

fact that there were many surveyors at that point, and the competition rendered

the work unprofitable, he changed his mind and sought the benefit of an outdoor

life as a ranch hand on Bear creek.  In 1880 he moved to Fort Collins, where he

leased a ranch and bought some cattle, and there he carried on a ranching and

stock business until some time in 1881.  He then went back East and locating at

Fort Fairfield in Aroostook county, Maine, opened a jewelry store, remaining

there until 1885.  In the winters of 1882 and 1883 he also taught school in the

woods for the benefit of his health, which was uncertain.  After serving three

years as county surveyor of Aroostook county, he was chosen in 1884 by its

people as one of their representatives in the state legislature.  In 1885 he

moved to Kansas and devoted the summer to surveying and laying out townsites

there, then in the fall came again to Colorado, and locating in Rio Grande

county, homesteaded a ranch there on which he lived until 1889.  His life in

that county was one of loneliness and privation.  Montevista was the nearest

town, and the business of ranching and raising stock, in which he engaged, was

fraught with difficulties owning to the undeveloped condition of the county and

the scarcity of conveniences and even necessary appliances of the work.  But he

accepted the situation and conditions with cheerfulness and resolutely

determined to make the most of them.  The life gave him strength and suppleness

of body, and his close attention and skillful management of his business brought

him good returns.  In 1889 he sold his ranch in Rio Grande and bought a portion

of the one he now owns and occupies in Saguache county, the remainder of which

he has acquired by subsequent purchases.  This consists of one thousand seven

hundred and sixty acres, four hundred of which can now be cultivated.  The whole

tract is enclosed with good fences and the buildings are many and of good

quality and proportions.  Here he is extensively engaged in ranching and raising

cattle, and his business is steadily increasing in volume and profits, with a

sure promise of still greater results as time passes and a more plentiful supply

of water is secured.  But his time has not been given up wholly to his own

interests.  He is a citizen of strong patriotism, local and general, and has

taken an earnest and productive interest in the affairs of the county.  He

helped to build and managed the construction of the Alamosa Creek Canal Ditch,

which cost twenty-five thousand dollars, and from 1896 to 1899, inclusive,

served the county well and wisely as the superintendent of its public schools. 

He has also taken a leading part in the cause of high school education, serving

on the board which managed that branch of the cause, and mainly by his efforts

effecting the organization in 1899, becoming its first secretary and filling his

position for a number of years.  In June, 1903, he was appointed by the Governor

chief engineer of the Rio Grande irrigation division, a position for which he

has special fitness and in which he has rendered service of great magnitude and

value.  In political faith he is an unwavering Republican, and in the cause of

his party he is interested effectively every day in the year.  Fraternally he is

connected with the Masonic order and the Odd Fellows.  In June, 1883, he was

married to Miss Ella H. Bubar, a native of Aroostook, Maine.  They have six

children, Hope, Jay, Frank, Neal, Mary and Daniel.  In three states Mr. Jones

has tried his hand at different kinds of private enterprise and public work, and

in each he has an excellent record to his credit.  He is a cultivated man, and

has been wise to know and bold to perform whatever came before him at the call

of duty, and always working with might and main toward the desired end.  He has

many trials and disappointments, but his buoyancy and resistance have always

prevailed to preoccupy him with the call to a new interest, and the wounds he

suffered have cicatrized, and his fiber has become tougher for the hurt in every

case.  His is the sort of citizenship that has made our country great and

powerful, and laid its treasures at the feet of the world for service.  And he

has the good fortune to realize, even while living, that his work is appreciated

at some measure of its full value, and that he is correspondingly esteemed.  

Additional Comments:
From Progressive Men of Western Colorado.  Chicago:  A.W. Bowen & Co., 1905

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