Bell-Whitley-Pike County KyArchives Biographies.....Jones Aka Rhodes, George 1845 - 1931 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ky/kyfiles.html ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Rita Parker http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00021.html#0005073 August 16, 2009, 1:30 pm Source: Census, marriage, divorce, birth, death records, family lore Author: Rita M Parker George Jones aka George Rhodes in Kentucky, Virginia and Washington George Jone's Aliases Between 1880 and 1930 Hundreds of hours have been spent by various family researchers searching for records of a pre-1880 George Rhodes by the name George and/or David Rhodes and / or George Jones (in Bell and Pike Counties Kentucky; Buchanan, Dickinson and Smyth Counties, Virginia; McMinn, Meigs, and Campbell, Tennessee). Geoorge had left children scattered throughout South Eastern Kentucky and Western Virginia. Many of George's children were known as either Rhodes or Jones depending on where and when he left them. George Rhodes descendant, Ken Lintott, succently summarized how several Rhodes researchers discovered George Rhodes' true identity. In 2008 he wrote: " ...Apart from afew unconfirmed rumors by other cousins regarding George originally named "Jones" little is known about the man. Implying that George Rhodes was originally named Jones is the following: 1. According to George Rhodes' great-great granddaughter Ginny May Morris (desended from: Bertha, Harvey, Russ, George Rhodes), George had changed his name from Jones to Rhodes after killing a man when he was young. In an e-mail correspondence dated September 25, 2006 Ginny wrote: "The reson you or anyone else is having trouble finding back further than George on the rhodes side...well the story that hope, Gail, Sue & I have been told by our parents & grandpa was that George Rhodes was a JONES & that he killed a man & was on the run from the police so to keep from being caught he changed his name to Rhodes: some have it Rodes." 2. In an email from Mary Regan January 1, 2001 (desended from: Harry Ragan, Elizabeth Hackney, Emaline Rhodes, George Rhodes), Mary reported: " I think it was the widow of the heir to the Rhodes homested in [Buchanan Co.] Virginia that told me that their name was otiginally Jones. She said that old man George had a tiff with someone and moved to Tennessee and changed his name to Jones. He also took all his kids with him..." 3. In 1914 (George's daughter) Emmaline and Alexander's son Charles Robert HAckney died and in the death certificate Emmaline's maiden name is shown as Jones. 4. In the 1910 census of the Rock Lick area of Buchanan County Virginia George Rhode's son Wiley is shown with his wife and large family but his anem is given as Wylie Jones and not Rhodes as was the case in the 1880, 1900 and subsequent census' in 1920 and 1930 in the state of Washington. 5. Rita Parker, wife of Berry Parker (Edna, Harvey, Russell, George Jones), reports Faye Goodman, granddaughter of Sarah "Sallie" Jones by George's first wife, Elizabeth, preserve family lore by telling the tale of her Grandpa David or George Jones killing an in-law. Within that family it is rumored that David/George fledd Belll County after he and four more Jone's sought revenge against a man who married and abused a Jones woman. 6. In the 1910 census of the Rock Lick area of Buchanan County Virginia George Rhodes' son Lemmie Rhodes with his wife Virgie in the home of her parents Eliza and Elizabeth Fuller; but by 1920 Lemmie and his family have moved to Bell County where he is enumerated as "Lem Jones". ...The final clue to his identity was discovered by Diane Harmon-Pillat (sister of Rita Parker) in the 1880 census of Pineville, Bell County. Recall that George Rhodes (Rods) 30, wife Elizabeth 23/28 and children John 12. Russell 7, Wylie 3, and Emmaline 1, were enumerated in the Lick Creek area of Pike County, Kentucky census on June 11, 1880. But, on June 10, 1880 in the Pineville area of Bell County, the census shows the family of John Jones 30, wife Elizabeth 28, and children John 12, William R(ussell) 10, Wiley 7/8, Emmaline 4 and Sarah 2. George and his family were enumearated in two different counties at the same time but using different names!" According to daughter Emaline Jone's 1874 Bell Co birth record George and his first wife, Elizabeth Sarah Davis were born in Bell and WHitley Counties, respectively. Bell County is located in southeastern Kentucky, in the mountainous portion of the state. Its boundaries extend from the Knox County line on the west to the Harlan County line on the east, from the Clay County line on the north and to the Tennessee-Virginia line on the south. It has an area of 384 square miles. Bell County, as such, was not established until after the Civil War when it was initially known as Josh Bell County. Before the War the area was comprised of Knox and Whitley Counties. Discovery of George and Elizabeth's December 1874 birth record of daughter Emmaline clears-up the issue of their place of birth. George reported being born in Bell County, and Elizabeth said she was born in Whitley County, Kentucky. Why the Cover-Up? George and his family colluded to keep his true identity a mystery. Census records, which recorded his migrations, provide a record of his ashtonishing success at keeping the authorities dumbfounded and at bay. Several Jones researchers have been unable to locate George and many of his brothers and sisters in the 1870 census. It is possible they were part of a migration of Jone's that left Whitley County for Missouri and Texas however, aMissouri and Texas searches of census records haven't found the families. It may be coincidential that George's first wife Elizabeth's brother-in-law Speedwell Powers was murdered September 4, 1878, two months after Sallie was born. Recall George's mother, Sarah, was born a Powers. Speedwell's widow, and George's sister-in-law, Sarah Davis eventually married George's brother Robert "Wylie" Jones. Faye Goodman (granddaughter of Sallie Jones, dau of George or David Jones/ Rhodes) reports that family lore states George and four other Jones men retaliated against an abusive in-law, killing the man in the process. . She also stated, however, that George was born and lived in Dickinson County, Virginia, a small, rugged, unpopulated county. (Recall that son Lemmie stated he was born there). As it turned out there is a possibility that George had something to do with the death of yet another Jones in-law. George's younger sister, Gemima, found herself pregnant at the age of 14. She and the father, Green Reynolds, married in 1868. By the summer of 1870 Green was living with his sister Nancy M Henderson and her husband James (Gemima and Lafayette were nowhere to be found in that census). According to a March 31, 2007 e-mail from Bill Reynolds (Green and Gemima Jones Renyolds descendant) to Ken Lintott: "Gemima was 14 years old when first son, Lafayette was born in 1868. After Lafayette was born, Green Reynolds married Gemima at the home of Gemima's mother, Sarah Jones. Gemima's husband, Green Reynolds, disappeared sometime after August, 1870. I was told that Green went up into the hills one day and never came back. (Story told by Fayette Reynolds, Lafayette's son). Further, Bill Reynolds states in an e-mail of April 2, 2007 "My ancestors still say that Green Reynolds disappeared and it is possible that he was murdered after leaving Gemima. I have always believe that he was forced to marry her because he got her pregnant and she had a baby (my great grandfather Lafayette) and that he wanted out so he up and left after 1870." According to Green's descendant Bill Reynolds. Green disappeared in August of 1870. I am not sure of that date, as I have not been able to confirm his disappearance through other sources. However, Gemima, according to Bill's assumption, was widowed for 4 years before marrying Levi "Lee" Davis- a very long time for a young woman with child to be single in those days. However, it may also be the reason siblings George, Gemima and Rylie can't be located in surrounding counties in the 1870 census. They may have all left to avoid an inevitable feud with the Reynolds and or Powers families. Surely the Jone's would have been pitted with the Davis' against the Reynolds and Powers families. If George had killed one or both of these men a bloodbath would surely have resulted between the families. In 1874 Gemima married Levi Davis- a maternal cousin. In 1878 Bell County's death reords show Speedwell Powers having been shot to death on September 4, 1878. Speed's father was Jerry Powers. The record notes Speed having been born in Whitley County Green Powers was George's brother-in- law by Speed's marriage to his sister-in-law: Sarah Davis. (After Speed's death Sarah married Robert "Wylie" Jones, George's brother). The Summer of 1880 The first known record of a George Rhodes was the 1880 Pike County Kentucky census, where he lived with wife Elizabeth, sons John, Russ, Wylie and daughter Emaline. Complicating or enlightening matters was the discovery by my sister: Diane Harmon Pillat of the Pikeville, Bell Co Kentucky 1880 census of a John Jones (30) with with wife Elizabeth (28), children John (12), William R (Russell? 10), Wylie (6), Emaline (4) and Sarah (Sallie? 2). John lived next to Rylie Jones (his brother) and Speed Jones (son of Wylie Jones, Charles Jones- a cousin?) and their families in District 6, on Yellow Creek. All were farming. It may have happened that George's Jones neighbors in Bell County, told the census taker that the empty house next door was home to John, not George Jones. On the following day George and family (less Sallie) were found in the Blueberry district of Pike County (near the Hatfields and McCoys)- however, George gave that census taker the name of Rhodes (Rodes). I don't know why he chose the name Rhodes as an alias, but I did find a marriage record of a JW Powers who married an Emmaline Roades in August 1879 in Cambell County. Powers was his mother's maiden name. Could JW have been a cousin? I do not know why George left Bell for Pike County. Cousin Speed's father, Wylie, grew up in neighboring Floyd County. Searches for other Jones' families in Pike County in 1880 don't appear related to our Jones family. George's brother Rylie Jones was married to a Hatfield. Perhaps Rylie spent some time in Pike County prior to his marriage to that namesake. It is possible Rylie had advised George where to flee while the feds were enumerating that summer. 1884 to 1889 George's Marriage to Elizabeth Epling Polley A Hackney researcher notified Ken Lintott that they discovered George married Elizabeth Epling Polley on July 31, 1884. In the 1880 Pike County census Elizabeth is enumerated as a widowed woman living on land she owned. (She and George happened to live near the infamous Hatfield and Mc Coy families). Elizabeth married John Polley in 1862 and bore him at least 3 children before he died during the civil war. Before meeting George Elizabeth had had several children with married men. The fathers of her 4 illigitimate children were Moses Coleman and Joseph Looney. Elizabeth was several years older than George. According to Faye Goodman when her mother Elizabeth died her grandmother came to take care of George's children. I can't find any records of her death or burial; however Elizabeth must have died after the 1880 census and before George's marriage to Mrs Polley in 1884. By 1888 George, along with RT Hackney's (daughter Emmaline's future father-in- laws) assistance George began a Divorce proceeding against Elizabeth in Buchanan Co. George charged Elizabeth with adultery and abandonment and RT Hackney was happy to furnish testimony toward those ends On June 19, 1888 RT Hackney testified in a sworn statement: "Q: Do you know of Elizabeth Rhodes having committed adultery within the last five years and since her marriage to George Rhodes if so state what circumstances...Ans: I of my own personal knowledge know of her having been within the last five years, and since her marriage with George Rhodes, in bed with a man who was not her husband and who was not related to her. This was in her own house at Pike County and about 10 o'clock at night. She was under the cover with the man- I went to this place with this man that night, who told me on the way that he was going there to 'git him a little that night'. This is the same man I saw in bed with her under the cover." Elizabeth was also reportedly guilty of have an "illicit and improper conversation with a man during her marriage..." Further testimony indicated Elizabeth had, between 1886 and 1888 refused to live with George in Buchanan Co Virginia, and had indeed moved out of his house in 1886. According to Hackney's testimony she was using the name Coleman. George was granted the divorce in the summer of 1888, even though Elizabeth appeared unaware of the divorce proceeding and therefore could not respond to the charges levied against her. 1889 to 1910 George's Marriage to Mary Jane Hackney While browsing through Buchanan County Virginia marriage records I discovered George Rhodes married Mary Jane Hackney in Buchanan County, Virginia in March 1889. Mary Jane had married her cousin, Shade Hackney in Buchannan County Virginia when she was about 15 years old. In January 1888 Mary Jane filed a Petition for Divorce. In order for her to divorce Shade she had to establish grounds for divorce. . According to their Buchanan Co divorce records Shade was known to womanize during their marriage. On Feb 27, 1888 Vandalia Hackney gave sworn testimony to D. McClanahan JP. He asked her: " Q: Do you know of Shade Hackney Committing adultery within the last five years? Ans: I have seen him in bed under the cover with 2 or 3 different women." Mary Jane was granted her divorce March 6, 1888. Mary Jane had made such a convincing argument against Shade that the Decree "restrained and prohibited (Shade) from marrying again." On July 21, 1891 Shade petitioned the court to allow him to marry. That petition stated "Your petitioner for a long time living (sic) a moral life. He has broken himself of and entirely abandoned his wild ways. That his 'wild oats' are all sown and that he has intensely reformed and is leading an industrious life: being a young able bodied stout healthy man in his 28th year." Much had changed in the George Rhodes household after he divorced Elizabeth Polley. The family appears to have left Pike County and had been living in Buchanan Co Virginia for some time. Mary Jane's children Henry and Lilly came to live with the family making at least 6 children in the household. (By 1889 George's oldest son John would'ave been about 22 years old. This writer believes John returned to Bell County perhaps after his mother's death.) 3 of the 4 remaining children of George and Elizabeth definately left their fathers house over 11 months. Wiley married Vinnie McClannahan Dec 24, 1889 near Grundy at his father-in-laws home. Emmaline married Alexander Hackney at RT Hackney's home near Grundy in January 1890 and Russell married Nickie Matley February 1,1890 at George Rhodes home in Buchanan. That was four Rhodes marriages between March 1889 and February 1890. Sallie recollected her father (perhaps prompted by her stepmother) sent her to live with a man, Jim Hurley, so she could care for his children. It is believed that she had two children by Hurley as her two children went by that name. It can be deduced that Sallie may have left after her siblings as early as 1890 when she would have been about 12 years old. Of course, shemay have stayed in the house to help care for Mary's children: Henry and Lillie. Sallie definately left George's family by 1892 / 1893 since she had two Hurley children by 1895. It is possible Hurley moved Sallie down to Smyth County, Virginia where she met and married Jim Osbourne in 1895 at the age of 15 to 17. On her Marriage Bond Sallie stated she and her father were born in Dickinson County Virginia. She did not give her mother's name. Around 1892 Lemmie Rhodes was born to George and Mary while they lived in Big Rock, Virginia (according to Lemmie's Social Security application). Around 1894 daughter Fannie was born, followed by Thomas in 1896. By the 1900 census, George (age 41), Mary and children lived in a rented house and was farming around Rock Lick , Buchanan County Virginia. George lived near his son Russ (age 28) Russ' wife, Nickey (age 31) and grandchildren Bertha May (born 1895), and Bessie (born 1898). In this census George stated he only worked 6 months in the previous year. George and family are also reported in the 1900 Pike County Blackberry district census. Between the 1900 census and 1904 George and family moved back to Bell County where his youngest, Matt Jones, was born in 1904. A Hackney researcher informed Ken Lintott that the story among Buchanan Co Hackneys is that Mary Jane and George left Buchanan County for Jellico, Tennessee where their child, Matt Jones was born. In 1909 Lemmie married Virgie Fuller in Buchanan Co Virginia. The 1910 census lists Mary Jane and her children from her previous marriage to Shadrick Hackney along with George's children Thomas, Fannie and Mat. George had disappeared. Either he left his family before 1910 or was hiding from the census taker. In the 1910 census Mary J Jones gives her marital status as "widowed". She lived with her children on Wheeler Creek Road in Knox County. Her grown male children were working in coal mines. Never the less, the 1900 census is the last time he is found with Mary Jane. George is no where to be found in the 1910 census. However he is found in 1920 and 1930 living with son Wylie Rhodes when that family moved to Washington State. Family stories state they moved to Lewis Co. Washington to find work in the booming timber industry. According to Virginia Rhodes, granddaughter of Wylie Jones Rhodes, George was reportedly a very lazy man. For about 20 years he lived in Wylie's attic, fearful and refusing to come down the stairs. He died and is buried on Wylie's homeplace. Wylie's youngest son Charles' family still live there. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ky/bell/photos/bios/jonesaka500gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ky/bell/bios/jonesaka500gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/kyfiles/