Fountain County IN Archives Biographies.....Jones, Caleb V. 1812 - 
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Author: H. W. Beckwith (1881)

   Dr. Caleb V. Jones was born near Peekskill, on the Hudson river, in the State
of New York, March 22, 1812. During his early boyhood his parents removed to
what were then the frontier settlements of central New York, and located in the
town of Spencer, in Tioga county. Here he spent his youth and early manhood,
surrounded by the hardships and vicissitudes of a life of toil in a new country.
His opportunities for education were extremely limited, but by his application
in securing the benefits so meagerly offered he attracted the attention of his
schoolmaster, and through his kindly counseling he received the first
impressions which excited within him the desire for a higher position in life
than that of a wood-chopper. Selecting the profession of medicine, he placed
himself under the tutelage of a competent practitioner, and, after several years
of private study, paying his way by manual labor, he succeeded in taking a
course of lectures in the then prominent medical school of Herkimer county; and,
after a thorough examination in all the branches of the profession, he received
a license under the laws of the State of New York to practice medicine and
surgery. This was early in the year 1834, and on April 13 of the same year he
was married to Phebe Watson, a farmer's daughter, of Spencer, who has been his
constant and faithful companion until the present time. After a few years'
practice of moderate success among the hills of the Susquehanna country, he
decided to cast his lot with the tide that was flowing westward, and, leaving
the home of his kindred, he came to Indiana. Locating first in Plymouth,
Marshall county, he struggled with the marsh malaria, in his person and among
his patrons, until after two years he selected Covington as a new location,
attracted by the glowing accounts of the Wabash valley and the glittering
prospects held out by the opening of the Wabash and Erie canal. Arriving here in
the autumn of 1840, he at once took a leading position in his profession, and
for forty years has been prominently identified with the interests of the town
and of Fountain county. As a physician Dr. Jones has always commanded the
respect and esteem of his professional compeers, and his practice has been very
extensive. His reputation as a surgeon has been especially prominent, and his
services have been required over a large territory. On the call for volunteers
to serve in the war with Mexico, he enlisted in the 1st reg. Ind. Vols., and was
commissioned immediately as regimental surgeon by President Polk. After one
year's service on the Rio Grande he returned home on leave of absence, and
finding his business and family demanding his attention, he threw up his
commission and entered again into civil practice. In the spring of 1862, during
the war of the rebellion, he was appointed a special surgeon to relieve the
extra demand for medical assistance following the battle of Pittsburg Landing.
Being assigned to the 40th reg., he remained about a month, when he returned
home, carrying with him the good will and gratitude of the officers and men of
the regiment. The following winter, upon the urgent request of many of the
members of the 63d reg., which had been largely recruited from Fountain county,
he accepted a commission as surgeon of that regiment, and served with them until
the spring of 1865. At the organization of the Fountain County Medical Society,
in 1867, he was unanimously chosen as the first president; and in 1876, the old
society having been merged into a district organization, it became necessary to
reorganize the county society to comply with the regulations adopted by the
State Medical Society, and he was again chosen as president. Dr. Jones is a
member of the American Medical Association, the Tri-State Medical Society,
composed of physicians from Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky, also of the Indiana
State Medical Society. These facts, better than any encomium, will serve to
indicate his professional standing. In public life he has been active, ardent in
the advancement of his ideas, and uncompromising in the maintenance of his
principles. Entering political life as a democrat, he was elected to the Indiana
state senate in 1843, and served until the outbreak of the Mexican war. In 1848
he acted with the freesoil party, being unable to reconcile his decided
anti-slavery ideas with the support of the democratic party in that campaign. In
1854 he severed his connection with the democratic party entirely, and entered
heartily into the agitation which resulted in the formation of the republican
party. Purchasing a printing office, he assumed editorial charge of a political
newspaper, and for two years he combined the use of the probe and lancet with
the pen. In 1856 he was the candidate for elector, on the Fremont presidential
ticket. In 1860 he was elected treasurer of Fountain county. Leaving the duties
of this office principally in the hands of his son, he became earnestly engaged
in the exciting events which followed the breaking out of the rebellion. Being
on friendly and confidential relations with Gov. Morton, he was frequently
called upon for special services, notably the appointment as special surgeon,
before mentioned, and the subsequent appointment as commissioner of the first
draft from Fountain county. Having been defeated with the party for reelection
as treasurer, he went into the army as surgeon of the 63d reg., leaving six
months of his unexpired term to be filled by his son. In 1864, while with his
regiment in Georgia, he was the third time nominated by his party for treasurer;
but the democratic party having obtained the ascendency in the county, the
election was not actively contested. Soon after entering the army a vacancy
occurred in the command of the regiment, and quite an energetic movement sprang
up among the men and some line officers to have the surgeon appointed colonel.
The movement did not succeed, and the result was the production of a bitter
hostility against the doctor by some of the field officers whose promotion would
have been interfered with. One of these, afterward succeeding to the command,
pursued the doctor with petty annoyances until he succeeded in preferring
charges for disrespectful language, and after a long, dilatory trial the
court-martial agreed upon a decision dismissing Dr. Jones from the service, at
the same time uniting upon a recommendation to the president to have their
verdict set aside. During the progress of these proceedings the regiment had
passed through East Tennessee, formed a part of Sherman's army in the advance
upon Atlanta, and after the capture of that point had returned by way of
northern Alabama to Nashville, pursued by the rebel army under Hood. After being
actively engaged in the operations which ended in the destruction of Hood's
army, the regiment was transferred, with the 23d Army Corps, to North Carolina.
In all his service Dr. Jones was constantly in the field and with his regiment,
looking after the welfare of the men; and when, soon after their arrival in
North Carolina, the order for his dismissal reached him, the regiment gave a
demonstration of their regard for him which amounted to an ovation, and, as an
evidence of their confidence in him, over $10,000 of the soldiers' money was
intrusted with him for distribution among their families on his return home, and
not a single man asked for a receipt or any written obligation to secure himself
in case the money might be lost or miscarried. Arriving at Washington, he was so
fortunate as to meet Gov. Morton, and with so powerful a friend it required but
a few hours to obtain an interview with the president, and he had the
satisfaction of seeing the work of his persecutors fall to pieces before the
quiet but powerful edict of Abraham Lincoln, by whose order all his disabilities
were removed. He reached home in time to rejoice with his friends and neighbors
over the downfall of Richmond, which glad intelligence was so soon followed by
the painful news of the assassination of the president, who had so lately
befriended him. Since the war the doctor has been continuously engaged in the
practice of his profession, still keeping an eye on politics, and every
important campaign has found him vigorously engaged in the work of advancing the
interests of the republican party. Dr. Jones comes of Methodist stock, his
maternal grandfather, John Sproson, having been a class-leader in the old John
street church in the city of New York. He united with the church while a young
man, and has retained a membership ever since. Most of the time since his
residence in Covington he has been a member of the official board of the church.
His house has always been the home of the itinerant, and most of the older
members of the Northwest Indiana conference Lave shared his hospitality. Five
sons out of a family of eleven children are all who have lived beyond the age of
infancy. Dr. George S. Jones, the oldest, is living and practicing medicine in
Covington, having graduated in the classical course of Indiana Asbury
University, at Greencastle, in the class of 1862, and in medicine at the
University of Michigan in 1867. Charles D. Jones is a resident of La Fayette,
Indiana. He is a classical graduate from Asbury University of the class of 1871,
studied law, and has served one term as prosecuting attorney for the circuit
comprised in Tippecanoe county. Robert B. Jones resides in West Lebanon, Warren
county, and is the present prosecutor for the circuit composed of Fountain,
Warren and Vermilion counties. Dr. C. V. Jones Jr. graduated in the scientific
course at Asbury University in 1877, and in medicine at the Indiana College of
Physicians and Surgeons in 1879. He is engaged in the practice of his profession
at Spokan Falls, Washington Territory. Norman L. Jones, the youngest, is a
student of medicine in Rush Medical College, Chicago.

Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORY OF FOUNTAIN COUNTY,

TOGETHER WITH
HISTORIC NOTES ON THE WABASH VALLEY,

GLEANED FROM EARLY AUTHORS, OLD MAPS AND MANUSCRIPTS
PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE, AND OTHER AUTHENTIC, THOUGH, FOR THE MOST
PART, OUT-OF-THE-WAY SOURCES.

BY H. W. BECKWITH,
OF THE DANVILLE BAR; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETIES OF
WISCONSIN AND CHICAGO.

WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

CHICAGO: H. H. HILL AND N. IDDINGS, PUBLISHERS.
1881.


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