Biographical Sketch of Will R. Jones, Johnson County, Missouri, Warrensburg. >From "History of Johnson County, Missouri," by Ewing Cockrell, Historical Publishing Company, Topeka, Cleveland, 1918. ********************************************************************** Will R. Jones, a well known truck farmer and gardener of Warrensburg, Missouri, is a son of a highly respected pioneer family of Nodaway county, Missouri. He was born in Nodaway county in 1858, son of Alfred and Eliza (Heflin) Jones. Alfred Jones was one of the first settlers of Nodaway county, settling there in 1846, when the county was very sparsely settled. Mr. Jones donated two and a half acres of land, the site of the home where his son, Will R., was born, for a cemetery. At one time an old log school house, where the old fashioned "subscription school" was held stood on this tract of land. Alfred Jones always took an active interest in schools and churches and was a liberal supporter of all worthy enterprises. Both he and his wife are now deceased. They died in Nodaway county and were buried in the cemetery at White Cloud church. In the home school in Nodaway county, Will R. Jones received a good common school education. He remained with his parents until he was twenty-eight years of age and then began farming on a place he pur- chased in Nodaway county, where he remained until 1895. Mr. Jones sold his farm in that county and, in 1905, came to Johnson county. He bought the Stratton place, comprising 120 acres of land located three and a half miles east of Warrensburg and for seven years was there engaged in general farming and stock raising. For eighteen months, Mr. Jones was then employed on the state farm, after which he bought a small tract of land, embracing five acres within the corporation limits of Warrensburg and he has since been engaged in truck farming and gardening. The State Normal classes in agriculture are frequently brought to Mr. Jones' little farm to be shown a practical demonstration of intensified farming. In 1893, Will R. Jones was united in marriage with Sarah Parish and to this union have been born two children: Otta and Merle. By a former marriage, Will R. Jones and Lucy Bootwright were the par- ents of two children, who are now living: Mrs. Grace M. Rice, Barnard, Missouri; and Will R., Jr., a merchant of Atlanta, Georgia. The methods which Mr. Jones uses in farming and gardening are interesting as well as instructive. He plants everything by line and evenly spaced, having hand tools adjusted for cultivation. In planting potatoes, Mr. Jones puts in two rows of potatoes and then one row of melons and so contin- ues and when the potatoes are dug plants corn in their bed. With the lighter garden produce, he plants first the early variety and follows with a late variety and in this way usually raises two hundred dollars worth of melons on an acre of ground. Last year, of 1916, Mr. Jones raised on a two acre patch five hundred seven dollars worth of produce, including potatoes, melons, cabbage, sweet corn, and other vegtables, and besides supplied his own home with an abundance of fresh garden products. He did not hire to exceed five dollars worth of labor, but did all the work himself. This year, of 1917, the five acre tract will average a crop valued at more than two hundred dollars an acre. This busy gardener states that eggplant, sweet pepers, early tomatoes, the bush variety of summer squash are all very profitable. He raises an extremely early variety of tomatoes, a variety which comes a week before most early varieties. Mr. Jones grows onions from seed. One season, he produced an average of eight hundred forty bushels an acre. He has in his possession a photograph of this unusual harvest. One year in Nodaway county, a patch of onions yielded an average of one thousand bushels an acre. The plants were transplanted from a hot bed and the onions were the yellow prizetakers. Every bit of ground is utilized and Mr. Jones finds little time for either sleeping or "loaf- ing" when he is doing all the work on his little farm. He guarantees everything he sells to be exactly as represented and has not one dis- satisfied customer. If asked the secret of his marked success as a gardener and truck farmer, Will R. Jones will tell the questioneer, "The main thing is for the gardener to be in love with his work." ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. 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