Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Jones, Noble 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com December 3, 2007, 5:10 am

Author: Past & Present, 1907

Noble Jones, who makes his home in Mokena but operates on the board of trade 
in Chicago, has advanced from a comparatively humble position in the business 
world to one of considerable prominence, his name being well known in 
connection with the grain market of the metropolis. His business record is 
such as any man might be proud to possess, for it has been marked by steady 
advancement and has gained for him the respect of his contemporaries and the 
admiration of the general public. He seems to possess remarkable sagacity and 
keen discrimination in making his investments and as the years have passed by 
his success has increased. Mr. Jones is a native of Canada. He was born in 
Barnstone, November 16, 1834, his parents being Wesley and Abigail (Barnes) 
Jones. The Jones family is of Welsh descent and the more immediate progenitors 
of our subject were natives of New England. His grandfather, Wesley Jones, was 
born in Vermont, whence he removed to Connecticut, in which state his son 
Wesley, the father of our subject, was born in 1800. The same year the elder 
Jones removed to Canada, making a settlement in Barnstone township, County 
Standstead. He owned and operated a large farm, and the son was reared amid 
rural surroundings. He learned the trade of a blacksmith, following it in 
Canada until 1837, when he removed to Arcadia, Wayne county, New York, and in 
that town continued his occupation several years. In 1844 he came to Will 
county, Illinois, locating in Homer township, where he sojourned but a year 
ere removing to Orland township, Cook county. There he purchased and improved 
an eighty-acre farm, upon which he resided until his death in 1880, engaged in 
the peaceful vocation of a farmer. The mother of our subject was Abigail, 
daughter of William Barnes, and was born in Hillsboro, Massachusetts. Her 
father, who had previously kept a hotel in Boston, removed to Barnstone, 
Canada, during her early life and engaged in farming there. The homes of 
grandfather Jones and grandfather Barnes were but a mile apart, and when, in 
1882, our subject revisited his birthplace, he was able from the description 
given him to locate both places. Grandfather Barnes and his wife were brought 
to Illinois in 1854, and both died at the home of his father. Mrs. Wesley 
Jones was the mother of six children, he of whom we write being the youngest. 
Cyrus died in New York: Wesley is now living in Wetmore, Kansas; William is 
farming in Frankfort township, this county; Wright lives in Portland, Oregon; 
Abigail, Mrs. Cross, lives in Wetmore, Kansas. The mother passed away in 
Mokena in 1881, at the advanced age of eighty years. When a youth of about 
three years Noble Jones was taken by his parents from Canada to Arcadia, New 
York, and for several years thereafter he enjoyed the privilege of attending 
the common schools. He was a youth of ten at the time of the removal to 
Illinois but the trip is well remembered by him, including the ride on the 
canal to Buffalo and on a steamer to Chicago. The city which is now the scene 
of his labors presented an uninviting appearance when the family reached it, 
consisting as it did of a few unpretentious dwellings and. places of business, 
around which stretched the low ground, which well deserved the name of mud 
hole. From Chicago the family came to Will county with teams but after a year 
spent here Cook county became the home of the Jones family, after which Noble 
Jones was obliged to walk three miles to school. He was a student in one of 
the old-time school houses with its slab benches and puncheon floor and the 
school was conducted on the subscription plan. When still but a young lad Mr. 
Jones was trained to the work of the home farm and when thirteen years of age 
he began driving a breaking team, consisting of seven yoke of oxen. Three 
years later he found work as a teamster for the Rock Island Railroad Company, 
which was then putting its line in Mokena. He received a dollar and a quarter 
per day for himself and team, a day's work being twelve hours. In the spring 
of 1852, when eighteen years of age. Noble Jones and his brother Wright rigged 
up a mule team and started to California. Making their way to Council Bluffs, 
they joined eighteen others in a caravan which traveled along the north bank 
of the Platte river to Fort Laramie, thence along the North Platte, taking 
Sublets Cut-off, and thence through the South Pass to the Golden state. Three 
times the train was attacked by the Pawnees, who were very hostile at that 
time, and all considered it wonderful that they escaped being massacred. At 
Loupe Fork and the two following camping places only the bold front they 
presented to the savages prevented so dire a catastrophe. As their own animals 
were wild, and gunshots would have stampeded them, they did not dare to shoot, 
but depended upon their appearance of preparation and fearlessness, which 
fortunately proved sufficient to save their lives. The only weapon possessed 
by our subject during these trying scenes was a long range rifle. The train 
arrived in Sacramento seventy-three days after leaving Council Bluffs, and Mr. 
Jones found work upon a farm, beginning his labors at seventy-five dollars per 
month and receiving one hundred and twenty-five dollars before he abandoned 
them. His only experience in mining was during three days, when he was 
visiting in the mountains. After remaining on the slope two years Mr. Jones 
returned by way of the Nicaraugua route, the steamer "Sierra Nevada" carrying 
him from San Francisco to the isthmus, and the "Star of the West" being his 
home during the Atlantic voyage. The last named vessel was the first boat 
fired at Charleston during the late war. Mr. Jones was working on a farm six 
miles from Sacramento when that city was burned and also when it was "drowned" 
by the overflow of the Sacramento river. Mr. Jones completed his journey from 
New York to Mokena by rail, the road to the hitter place having been finished 
in his absence. For a short time he carried on his father's place, then bought 
eighty acres of raw land in Frankfort township, upon which he broke ground, 
made various improvements and settled down to farming. He devoted himself to 
that vocation two years, meeting with an ordinary degree of success, and he 
then built a steam mill in Mokena, and for two years engaged in flour and saw 
milling as a member of the firm of Cross & Jones. This venture did not prove 
successful, but on the contrary swallowed up all the previous earnings of Mr. 
Jones, and he therefore abandoned it for another field of labor. In 1858 Mr. 
C. Rowley engaged our subject to go with him to Pike's Peak, Colorado, to 
start and carry on a sawmill, agreeing to pay him fifty dollars per month for 
his services. When the two arrived at Atchison, Kansas, Mr. Rowley concluded 
to start the business on the Missouri river at that point instead of going to 
the destination which they had had in view. Mr. Jones therefore became 
superintendent of the sawmill at Atchison, having charge of the sawing and 
rafting of logs and every other detail of the business. He was joined by his 
wife and child, and continued to reside in the Garden state until 1863, when 
he returned to Illinois. For twelve months he carried on his fathers farm and 
then, taking up his abode in Mokena, he began buying grain and shipping it to 
Chicago. During the next two years he was fairly successful, and he then 
opened an establishment for the sale of agricultural implements. The new 
venture of Mr. Jones proved to be one in which his good judgment and business 
tact found room, and during the next twelve vears he made money. He closed out 
his large trade at the right time, in 1878, and, going to Chicago, engaged in 
the commission business and secured a membership on the board of trade. So 
successful have been his operations that his name has become well known to all 
who are interested in the working of the board. His son and son-in-law are 
with him as assistants, and six other men are employed by him in his office. 
He has an attractive and commodious home in Mokena, which in its furnishings 
indicates the cultured taste of the inmates and presents many evidences of 
wealth and refinement. On the 25th of July, 1855, Mr. Jones was united in 
marriage to Miss Clarissa B. Farley, who was born in Solon, New York, January 
13, 1833. Her father, Benjamin Farley, was an early settler of Lockport, 
Illinois, where he followed the carpenter's trade. Mrs. Jones was early left 
an orphan and provided for her own support by teaching. She was educated in 
Indiana and in that state began her married life as a resident of the town of 
West Creek. Forty-eight years she traveled life's journey with Mr. Jones and 
was then called to her final rest on the anniversary of her wedding, July 25, 
1903. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, took great interest 
in its work and was a most estimable lady, her efforts proving an element in 
the growth and advancement of the organization with which she was connected. 
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Jones were born six children. Edward S., who is in the 
commission grain business in Chicago with his father, married Carrie Knapp, a 
daughter of Christian Knapp, of Mokena, and unto them were born five children; 
Walter Y., Edward S., Edna B., Hazel and Carrie. Emma is the wife of Walter 
Metcalf, a resident of Normal Park, Cook county, and they have two children, 
Edward Noble and Jerome. Belle is the wife of Jerome P. Stevens, a retired 
money loaner of Mokena, and they have two children, Mary and Arthur. Bertha is 
the wife of Fred W. Phelps, of the Joliet Stove Works, and they have one son, 
Norman. Charles H., the first born of the family, died in 1877 at the age of 
twenty years. The other member of the family is also deceased. Mr. Jones was 
president of the board of trustees at Mokena for three years and then resigned 
the office. In 1856 he cast a presidential ballot for John C. Fremont and 
since that date has been an active supporter of the republican party. He 
possesses agreeable manners, a jovial and friendly nature and is one of those 
fortunate men who when business hours are over can thoroughly enjoy the 
comforts and luxuries by which they are surrounded and the many pleasures 
which their abundant means can procure. 

Additional Comments:
Past and Present of Will County, Illinois, by W. W. Stevens, President of the 
Will County Pioneers Association. Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1907.

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