OCR Text |
Show Business Pioneer, Church Leader, One of Utah's Best Known ien Called by Death I Samuel Stephens Jones, pioneer business man, citizen I and Latter-day Saints church leader, died at his residence, ' 280 South First East street, Provo, Thursday afternoon at . 4:40 o'clock. When the report of Mr. Jones' death swept over the city, 1 the many friends of the aged pioneer and of his descendants united in paying tribute to his memory, in extolling the life- , career of one of Utah's last remaining pioneers. Mr. Jones, had he lived until the 9th of next February, would have reached the eighty-seventh milestone of life, a life fertile in achievements in many varied walks of life, in business, in literature, in religion. For 67 years Mr. Jones had been a citizen of Provo, and had served his fellow-citizens as mayor, and councilman. Because of Mr. Jones' death the reading of his notable poem, "The Life of the Mister," scheduled for Sunday evening even-ing at the Utah stake tabernacle, has been postponed. Mr. Jones was born in London-England, London-England, February 9, 1S37, the son of Samuel and Sarah Bradshaw Jones. As a boy he was employed as a clerk in a tea and coffee merchants mer-chants store iu London where hehe-came hehe-came acquainted with business principles. During that time he also became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints and left his native land for America at the age of 19 years. Ho left Liverpool in May 1S5G on the sailing ship "Horizon" the Saints being in charge of Elders Edward Ed-ward and Daniel Tyler. The ship was six weeks crossing the Atlantic and it was not until in September that the trek across the plains was begun. He was a member of the ill-fated Captain Martin hand-cart company in which 200 out of a total of 5S6 lost their lives and were buried on the plains- the company having been caught in the early ""V- Jj' winds of the August 18G(3. Later he entered the merchandising merchandis-ing business which he continued for many years. lie was one of the first to heed the advise of Brigham Young at the October conference at Salt Lake City 1SG0 for the Saints to organize co-oprative merchantile establishments. He took the initiative initia-tive in that movement in Provo and sueeeded in getting David John, Abraham O. Smoot and others to become interested in the first cooperative co-operative store in the territory of Utah. For ten years he was superintendent super-intendent of the "West Co-op" and also did considerable missionary work throughout the territory to get other similar institutions started. Ten years later he entered the merchantile business for himself again and continued until 1890 when he permanently retired from business. busi-ness. During his merchantile career, car-eer, Mr. Jones also was a contractor on a large scale, especially in tiJ1-1-, , her, railroad ties, etc. T'ouilt my " j t a inr-i rT-YTjcna v--ace, ''.r.t for tickets and snows aim W.rtv.., i mountains. " ' . . I "After we left Laramie it was one long funeral march until we reached !alt Lake City and we never would have got there had not President Ungham Young exerted himself iu sending out teams to our aid," wrote Mr. Jones later in his diarv. Mr. Jones arrived in Provo in December 185U nnd had made this his home ever since that time. On his twentieth birthday he was married mar-ried to Lydia Elizabeth Hooker who had come with him from London. Lon-don. At first he assisted in fencing fields and pastures then unoccupied in digging ditches and in planting orchards. In the early days lie was major and adjutant in one of the regiments of the Utnh militia. During the Black Hawk war he assisted Colonel L. John Kuttall in outfitting and forwarding volunteers to the scene of operations against the Indians Subsequently he went to the front as ' one of about GO mounted men I mustered into service at Pavson in racier rum-laeni.-. Packard, the newly obvflirossei Pujj-lie Spring'ille KjOrt that l , I. uUvuoriiies by th I), nnnouncou ,JJf"1"" . open up canyons nnd to establiJ. mills at various places With Thomas It. Cutler of Ldii' be contracted win, the Denver ali Km Grande Western railroad h-make h-make the big cut at the Point of tho Mountain through which that rail, road enters the Salt Lake valley from the south. He also established the , first charcoal kilns in Spanish' Fork canyon which gave enmlov-fames' enmlov-fames' 'hat 0me t0 h"Udredsof; Iii i 1S90 he also became interested' n the mining business and with' others opened up the Sioux and the' Utah Consolidated Mining proper-' ties in the Tintic district For a number of years he was vice presi dent of the former company and president of the latter. Mr. Jones always took an active interest in religious affairs. With the assistance of Lucy smith , be became instrumenlnl In organiiinr he first Sunday school in Provo and latf '".connection with David John ! .. ;.i i-axiuan assisted in organizing Sunday schools throughout through-out Utah stake which at that time embraced the entire Ulah countv At one time lie was a momlor of tile : high council of Utah stake. In 1872 he went on a mission to England when he became president of the Sheffield conference and c" r of the "Millenial Star." irP returned re-turned in 1873 on the steamship Vliseons,,,' d will, n,lvi 0'. Calder had charge of the 97(1 Saints who emigrated to Utah at that time Mr Jones had also a keen interest ' civic affairs, having S(.r,(( anra0,d'erm",rr' C0"WM",a Always 'of a literary turn of mind Mr. Jones 'wrote many excellent poems many of which have been published from time to time in the church periodicals. Among the best poems written by Mr. Jes are Adown the Provo Kiver." desorin-five desorin-five of that beautiful stream in I s nieanderlngs from its source among the mountain snrim-s to i. ii Joscs its identity i Utah lake; The Homes of the Old Years, or a Midday Dream." in which is illustrated illus-trated the range of his Imagination "'"l P'er to conceive the results of the many little incidents of life toward the formation of a grand career ca-reer and the final summing un of the earth ; "The Life of the Master " from his birth until his neenslon The latter poem Is considered by ! ninny the best of Mr. Jones' literary efforts. It has been read by Prof Lars E. Eggertscn of this city nbout 12 times In various places in Utah and Arizona. Other persons have also rend the poem publlcnlly In this state, Wyoming and Idaho. It was iTt'h K"n,,1"v,h-V p"- Kggertserr in Tooele and should have been read in the Utah make talH-rnncIe next Sunday. Mr. Jones hod taken an exceptional deligbt in assisting to nrroim-e fr the reading of the 'Iioem at this time. -' Me is survived by bis wives, Mrs Tu ,a Ipson Jones nnd Mrs. Anna Johnson Jones nnd the following sons and daughters- Mrs w o A Smoot, Jr, Salt Lake ;i(v;' Mrs' f.eorge All:!.,. Mill'ord; Albert S Jones. It Eugene Jones. Samuel J ",'nes M 'e""n Jm,eS' n Jones, Mrs. Tennie Thomas, and frank Doming, all of Provo; Mrs. Roy Pbans. Dululh. Minn:; Mrs. Robert Slick, Fresno, Cal, anU Ralph Jones. Salt Lake Citv. He I also survived by his brother. p:-arch p:-arch Albert Jones of this city am' grandchildren, 18 great gran'' dren and one great-rent grar |