Histories

Robert Jones, a member of the well known firm of Jones & Company, the largest retail butcher firm in Checotah, Oklahoma, is also one of the most extensive stock dealers in his part of the state. Mr. Jones was born in Washington County, Arkansas, in 1855 and is a son of Daniel and Margaret (Jones) Jones. The parents were among the early settlers of the state, and the father was a soldier in the Union army during the Civil war. He was killed while doing scout duty near Fayetteville, Arkansas. He and his wife reared seven children, viz: Eliza, deceased, wife of John O’Brien; N. S., of Checotah; Albert, deceased, whose family lives in Checotah; Robert; James, of Checotah; Nannie, deceased, wife of James Gilbert; and John of Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The early days of Robert Jones were spent in his native state, where he lived until seventeen years of age. He attended school but a short time and is largely self-educated. In 1873 he went to Texas and located in Bell county when it was sparsely settled. After the first year he engaged as a cowboy, and spent several years in this occupation. When first arriving in Texas, however, he spent one year hunting buffalo in Jones, Haskell and Shackelford counties, then public domain. Shackelford county was then a border county and the men who were with Mr. Jones had five Tonkaway Indians, who were in the service of the U. S. as scouts, to show them where lay the danger line between the whites, Comanche and Kiowa Indians. In 1877 Mr. Jones hunted buffalo with others in Taylor county near Abilene and Colorado Springs, although at that time there were no settlements in those places. At that time it was a frequent occurrence to see wagon trains containing buffalo hides and meat, and Mr. Jones brought back to Belton, the county seat of Bell county, a load of buffalo hams and venison, perhaps the last load sold in that county.

Mr. Jones spent several years in Bell county engaged in farming, stock raising and dealing in stock, which he shipped to distant markets. The southern and eastern portions of Bell county were almost in a virginal state, and so few were the settlers that all kinds of game abounded with the exception of buffalo and continued for several years. Belton was only a small village; Salado, on Salado creek, was an older town, but not so large, and these two were the only trading points in the county. Schools were very few and the settlers had to bear the hardships and privations of pioneers. They generally had their corn ground at a water mill and Colonel Jones had a mill some few miles east of Salado, on Salado creek, to which the farmers frequently hauled their grain from thirty-five to fifty miles. Mr. Jones was one of the earliest young men to migrate to Texas after the war, and had some very exciting and trying experiences in the days of early settlement in that state. He became very successful as a farmer and stockman and in 1903 removed to Coryell county where he engaged in ranching and stock dealing until 1906 when he became a resident of Checotah, Oklahoma, where he has since been actively engaged in farming and stock raising. He is also manager of the most extensive butcher business in the city. He is also the most extensive dealer in cattle and hogs in his community. He cultivates about six hundred acres of land and owns other real estate. He is the architect of his own fortune, and has acquired his wealth through earnest endeavor and unremitting energy.

On November 11, 1875, Mr. Jones married Barbary E. Moore, daughter of Christopher and Martha (Rampey) Moore. Mr. Moore and his wife had ten children, as follows: Thomas J.; Barbary; Mary, wife of Henry Goodnight; Texana, wife of Tom Goodnight; Mattie, wife of Will Pertict; Rev. Letcher; Eva, wife of Andrew Grissom; N. G.; Henry and Munroe. Mr. Moore and his wife reside in Bell County, Texas. Mr. Jones and his wife became the parents of nine children, four of whom lived to maturity; Annie, wife of Mose Lewis of Hood County, Texas; Edgar, Minnie, deceased, wife of Frank Smith; and Ethel, wife of H. F. Allen, of Checotah; Edgar married Daisy Hendrickson, a daughter of T. D. and Roda (Bigham) Henderson, now of Coryell county, Texas.

Politically Mr. Jones is a Democrat of the old type. He is a member of Checotah Lodge No. 20, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Jones is very well known and highly respected.

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