Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Jones, Morris H. 1894 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com August 23, 2010, 4:37 pm Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 508 - 509 Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company MORRIS H. JONES. The Jones Lumber Co. has played an active part in the industry of Portland. Morris H. Jones, who is now president of the company, is of the fourth generation of his family to be identified with this mill. The Jones family in this country is an old one, having been established at Ogdensburg, New York, during the War of 1812. In 1830 members of the family moved to Carthage, New York, and in 1845 to Buffalo, that state. From there Mr. Jones's great-grandfather, Justus Jones, and his son, John Halsey Jones, went to Keokuk, Iowa, where they lived about three years. In 1852 they started westward with ox teams and covered wagons, and crossed the Missouri river near where the city of Omaha, Nebraska, now stands. They proceeded up the Platte river, over the mountains and thence down the Snake river to The Dalles, and from there down the Columbia river, arriving at Portland on November 27, 1852. In their party were Justus Jones and his wife, Lois, and their sons, John Halsey, who was at that time twenty years of age; King, who died on the way, and another son, Elihu K., five years old at that time. There were also Henry Hastings, with his wife and four small children, Oren Webb, with his wife and one child, Alvin Fulton, Ila Bennet, who was scout and guide, and a number of others. After arriving in Portland, the party spent their first night in wet blankets at what is now the foot of Alder street. In 1853 the Jones family went to Clatskanie, where they remained two years, and in 1855 located at Cedar Mills, where, in 1859, they built the first mill in that locality, the old dam of which is still in evidence. They bought a squatter's right to land there and built a cedar-shake house, in which the family lived for twelve or fifteen years. In 1861 John Halsey Jones went back east, going by boat to the Isthmus, thence by boat to New York, and married. He and his bride, Jane Catherine, came to their new home in the west. To them were born four children, as follows: Elizabeth L., who is the wife of William E. Towne and lives in Holyoke, Massachusetts; Lavina D., who was the wife of William Grindstaff, and died February 29, 1928; Bettie L., the wife of George D. Schalk, of Portland; and Herman Halsey, who died November 8, 1923. Herman Halsey Jones received his education in the public schools of Portland and in 1891 became actively identified with the Jones Lumber Company, of which he became president, which position he held to the time of his death. In 1893 he married Miss Minnie C. Morris, who was born in Youngstown, Ohio, and is a daughter of David A. and Rebecca Morris, who came to Portland in the '80s and here established their permanent home. Her mother died in 1921 and her father, who came from England to this country in 1868, is still residing in this city, being now eighty-three years of age. Morris Halsey Jones, the only child of Herman H. and Minnie C. Jones, was born in Portland in 1894, and received his educational training in the public schools, Portland Academy and one year in Belmont Military Academy, in California. In 1914, when twenty years of age, he entered the office of the Jones Lumber Co., to the interests of which he has devoted his attention continuously since, and on the death of his father he became the executive head of the business. The Jones Lumber Co. was incorporated in 1899 and its present officers are as follows: Morris H. Jones, president; B. L. (Mrs. George D.) Schalk, first vice president; E. L. (Mrs. William E.) Towne, second vice president; Mrs. Minnie C. Jones, treasurer; H. E. Jenkins, secretary; and H. H. Jenkins, assistant secretary. The company is located on twenty acres of ground between Macadam road and the Willamette river in South Portland and here has an up-to- date and modern plant, which has a productive capacity of two hundred and fifty thousand feet of lumber a day. The firm buys its logs and sells both retail and wholesale, about one-third of the production being exported, one- third going to domestic wholesale dealers and one-third being retailed. The business has had a steady increase through the years, as may be seen by the following figures: In 1880, the average cut was twenty thousand feet per day of ten hours; 1900, forty thousand feet for each ten-hour shift; 1920, sixty thousand feet in eight hours; and now a quarter million feet a day, comprising two eight-hour shifts. The company maintains its office and a small retail yard at 291 Fourth street. Mr. Jones married Miss Clara Hirschberger and to them were born two children, Elizabeth Jane and John Halsey. On June 18, 1927, Mr. Jones married Miss Margaret Mary Hawkins, who was born in Portland and is a daughter of William J. and Agnes M. Hawkins, the former of whom died in 1923. Mr. Jones is a member of the Masonic order, has received the degrees of the York Rite bodies, is a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, and also belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Multnomah Amateur Athletic Club. 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