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Note: Buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, Fergus Falls, MN, 4-16-52, Otter Tail County Historical Society cemetery records
Fergus Falls Daily Journal, Wed. April 16, 1952. Mrs. J.H:. Jones, Early Pioneer, Called to Rest. Located Near Old Ottertail City When a Girl, Husband Was Well Known Game Warden. Later Resided in Fergus Falls for Years--Summer Home at Otter Tail Lake.
Mrs. James H. Jones, pioneer of the pioneers, died in this city at 3:30 Tuesday afternoon from pneumonia and old age. She had been at the Wright Hospital for some time before Christmas but was able to return home at that time. She returned to the hospital on January 9, and remained there up to the time of her death, being given every care. Notwithstanding her advance age--she would have been 89 on May 30--she remained conscious to the last.
Mrs. Jones was born Jennie Hemstreet at Parmelia, N.Y., May 30, 1863 and came with her parents to the neighborhood of old Ottertail village when a child. Mr. and Mrs. Hemstreet took a homestead two miles south of that village when oxen were the principal means of travel, and Ottertail became their trading point. She was twice married, her first husband being George Grinnell and she often recalled interesting incidents of pioneer times.
Oxen were not always the slow, plodding creatures they are usually painted, and she told of one occasion when their ox team staged a lively runaway. She and her husband were both in danger of being thrown out and killed, as the oxen could not be controlled by reins as horses are, but he took his life in his hands and walked out onto the wagon tongue between the runaway animals. The only way to stop a runaway ox was by striking it over the head, and this he did, which may have saved both their lives.
Following her first husband's death, she was married to James H. Jones, who was for years one of Otter Tail county's most widely known and popular game wardens. Mr. Jones died Feb. 16, 1930 and she is survived by three sons and one daughter. The sons are Steve O. Jones of this city, Walter E. Jones, for years a well known mail carrier and now residing in California and James T. Jones of this city. Her daughter is Mrs. Lawrence Marlenee of Scoby, Mont. She also had one son, Jay Grinnell, now deceased, by her first marriage. She also leaves 11 grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren. She was the last surviving member of a family of four.
For a number of years, Mrs. Jones spent her summers at the Jones Camp on the north shore of Otter Tail Lake, and her winters in Fergus Falls. The family has several cottages on the lake shore.
Mrs. Jones was a fine woman and her death marks the passing of another of Otter Tail county's early and respected pioneers.
The funeral will occur Friday afternoon at 3 o'clock at the Federal church, Rev. Mr. VanDyken officiating, and burial will be in Oak Grove cemetery.
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