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Note: Alias:<ALIA> /Bessie/ Sarah Elizabeth (Bessie) Jones was born December 9, 1901, at Indian Mound, Louisiana. Bessie was the seventh and last born child (the baby of the family) born to Elizabeth Alice Brown and Thomas Wilson Jones, Sr. Her parents were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, where she was blessed as an infant. When Bessie was twelve years old, she was baptized into the Mormon Church on December 13, 1913, at a river in Darbun, Mississippi, and has remained active in the Church ever since. Bessie had five brothers and one sister, and so I'm told Bessie was gently spoiled by all of them, especially her parents. If they, as a family, suffered through hard times, I was never told of it. The Jones family dressed well, were deeply religious and well respected citizens of their community, who attended church regularly. Bessie's mother, Lizzie was very talented and would make clothes for her children on her sewing machine. Today, 1999, as I look through Bessie's old photographs, I observe well dressed young Jones children, who wore pretty jewelry. Bessie and her siblings grew up in the country in a healthy and happy environment. The seven children attended school learning how to read and write and getting their basic education. Both parents could read and write, but it is not known how educated or how many years any of them attended school. In those years, getting an education was second place to staying home and working the farm, but somehow they managed. During the month of February of 1915, that same year that Bessie was just 13 years old, her father, Thomas, who was a logger by trade, came down with a very bad case of pneumonia. He knew he was very sick and he knew in his heart that he didn't have very long to live so he told his wife, Lizzie, "If it wouldn't be for leaving the baby, I wouldn't mind dying." But, sadly, on that cold day of February 20, 1915, at the age of 58 years old, Thomas passed away.
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