Will County IL Archives Biographies.....JONES, JOHN ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Paula Winke-Martisek wranglerjack@comcast.net September 18, 2007, 8:42 pm Author: GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD JOHN M. JONES, general manager of the Great Western works of the American Tin Plate Company, was born in Averavon, South Wales, December 4, 1868. His father, David Jones, a native of St. Clairs, Wales, was taken in infancy to Cwm Avon, where he was reared and educated. He was only nine years of age when he started to work at the tin plate business. At the same time he continued his studies unassisted, acquiring through his own efforts a broad general knowledge. Taking up the tin plate business as a boy, he learned it thoroughly in all its details. He steadily worked his way up until he was manager of more than forty-five hundred men, having the supervision of two of the largest mills there. He did much for the support and benefit of the Episcopal Church in his town and served it as a warden. While often urged to accept offices, his work demanded his entire attention, and he steadily refused all offers of political preferment. In Cwm Avon he married Sarah Davis, who was then only sixteen years of age. Nine children were born to their union. The eldest, his father's namesake, was manager of a tin plate mill in Wales, but is now in America. The oldest daughter, Maggie Jones-Morewood, deceased, was one of the most noted soprano soloists in the United Kingdom and often sang with such prima donnas as Patti; she was given three medals (of bronze, silver and gold respectively) by the Royal Academy of London. The second daughter, Sarah, who is the wife of I. L. Jones, manager of Welden & Co., Pittsburg, Pa., also possesses a beautiful voice, but sings only for charity; she has a medal presented to her by the Musical College of London. The other members of the family are John M.; Thomas, who is engaged in the tin plate business in Pittsburg; Gwennie Violet; and Eben, also a tin plate manufacturer. At twelve years of age the subject of this sketch went to Swansea and attended Arnold College, from which he graduated before he was fourteen. Entering the mills, he learned the business in all its details, starting in the humblest position and following all departments of the work until he had gained a comprehensive knowledge of the same. He had the benefit of the experience and knowledge of his elder brother and his father, and he became a practical and skilled workman. After the death of his father in 1891, he went to Penclawdd. Just prior to the twenty-third anniversary of his birth he was appointed superintendent of the Grower Iron and Tin Plate Company, in which capacity he remained nineteen months. He was then promoted and sent by the company to their Manon Tin and Sheet works at Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England, as a manager of the same. He continued the position until he came to the United States in 1895. He went to Pittsburg expecting to take a position as manager of a large plant, but the position had been filled. He then went to Middletown, Ind., to take charge of the cold roll department of the Irondale Steel and Iron Company. Four months later he was made night superintendent and after another four months was tendered the position of manager. His promotion was due solely to his knowledge of the business and his faithfulness to the trust reposed in him, for he was a stranger and had no friends to assist him in getting a start. In July, 1897, Mr. Jones came to Joliet as superintendent of the Great Western Tin Plate Company, having practically all the responsibilities of manager. Upon the consolidation of the company with the American Tin Plate Company, he was made general manager in name, as he had previously been in fact. He is also the district manager, subject only to the general officers in Pittsburg. The mill in Joliet employs three hundred hands and its output is large. That his management is entirely satisfactory is evidenced by the fact that the owners of the plant never come to Joliet, but rely entirely upon him for every detail and the entire management. He is a stockholder in the mill, as well as its manager. Fraternally Mr. Jones is connected with Middletown Lodge No. 271, A. F. & A. M. Though not active in politics, he is a stanch Republican. In religion he is of the Episcopal faith. He married in Swansea, South Wales, in August, 1894, to Decima Margaretta Griffith, daughter of a physician of that place. He is very fond of athletics and sports. At one time he was an enthusiastic bicyclist, with a fine record for speed, having won thirty-eight medals in England, Ireland, Scotland and France. In 1887 he won a record for the fastest time that had up to that year been made in a twenty-five mile race. He also won twenty first prizes in swimming contests and several prizes in tennis. He was a member of the Swansea Athletic Club and the Swansea Amateur Cyclists' Club, in which he served both as captain and secretary. Many of his leisure hours were passed in yachting or bicycling, while he also was fond of playing tennis and cricket, but since coming to this country he has been less active in sports, though his fondness for them has not been diminished in the least. 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