IV Isaac T Jones and George Washington Jones

Isaac T Jones (1820 TN - >1860 ??) This man first appeared in the 1844 Marshall County Tax records and his close association with Thomas Jones has already been discussed above. But there is more. For example, the Marshall Guardian's Bond book Vol I, p 08, dated 3 March, 1851 records that he was bonded for $150 as the guardian of his infant son George Washington Jones¹. Thomas Jones was his surety which strengthens the probability that Thomas was also his father. The next year, 1852 this same case returned to guardian court and since the date was after Isaac Jones 1769MD/NC-1851KY death and his linkage to Thomas Jones means this Isaac Jones could only be Isaac T Jones.   

Thus it would be only logical that in the 1858 deed that clarified Isaac Jones’s estate settlement that GWJ’s next best friend would be his court appointed guardian, ITJ. But in that 1858 court document the hand writing is difficult to interpret. Mr. Jones’ first initial is either a “J” or an “I” and middle initial could be “J”, “S” or “T”. But given the facts we know about GWJ we can be certain that the man mentioned was ITJ

On 18 May, 1855 ITJ marries Nancy A Ross in Marshall County KY. It is important to note that two witnesses, Wm D Jones and J “?” Jones (likely an “L”) took part in this wedding. Furthermore, Wm D Jones is also surety for this marriage. The following year the 1856 Marshall County records list the birth of a child to ITJ and Nancy A Ross, the script was poor and the child’s initials are barely legible, (S L or F J Jones) and the child’s gender appears to be female.

Isaac T Jones and his wife Nancy A Ross were listed in the 1860 Marshall County census which helped to clarify several relationships. There were five people in the household including three children, all listed as boys. The oldest, G W Jones was an 11 year old male who was born in KY. This could only be George Washington Jones and his presence in the household is not only proof that ITJ is his father but proves conclusively which Isaac Jones married Nancy Ross. Their now four year old child is listed as a boy with only a single initial “J”. This person was listed as a female in the 14 June 1856 KY birth record. The youngest child, W. Jones was said to be a 2 year old male also born in KY and we know from his birth record (and the handwriting was very clear) that his name was William Jackson Jones and he was listed as a male in his 1 Feb 1859 birth record. His mother was listed as Nancy A Ross but his father’s middle initial was not clear on the birth record but appeared to be a “T” or “S”. Because of prior knowledge we know his father was ITJ.

George Washington Jones (1849 KY - >1860??) Seven years after Isaac Jones’ death the 1858 estate settlement suit/deed ITJ mentions GWJ as a legal heir of the deceased Isaac Jones through his deceased daughter Alvina Jones. Alvina’s son George W Whitlock appears to be the name source for GWJ. 

Who was GWJ’s mother At the time of this court proceeding, which would have been open to the public, all interested parties must have known GWJ’s mother. But since then her identity has been lost. No birth record for GWJ has been found. With knowledge that GWJ was Alvina’s heir, then his mother a third line descendant of Isaac Jones must also have been dead by the 1854 date of that deed. If we can presume this was the reason ITJ became GWJ’s guardian 3 March, 1851 then GWJ’s mother must have died before that date. In the 1858 deed, the handwriting made it difficult to ascertain that Isaac T Jones was the “the next friend” of GWJ but other facts make that perfectly clear.

This then means that ITJ fathered GWJ with one of Alvina’s daughters but no marriage or divorce records have been found. It is also worth mentioning that ITJ was not listed as a widow at the time of his 18 May, 1855 wedding to N A Ross. Alternatively he may have impregnating one of Alvina’s daughter out of wedlock or who was in fact married to someone else. We know from GWJ’s listing as an 11 year old in the 1860 census that he was probably born circa 1849 yet he has not been found in the 1850 census.

So the question becomes which of Alvina Jones Whitlock’s five known daughters; was the mother of GWJ?  

ü  E. Adaline Whitlock 1818 – >1880, her oldest daughter married P H Clark, a man ten years her junior and their lives have not been chronicled adequately thus making her a possible candidate to have born this child.

ü Sarah Ann Whitlock who married her cousin JLJ in 1840 and had the four children that are the center of much of this diatribe is also a possibility. 

ü  Elizabeth Whitlock 1825 – <1880 font="font">  was apparently single until she married W A Miller in 1853 and unfortunately died in Dec 1854 of complications of childbirth the previous month.

ü  Mary Frances Whitlock 1833 – 1854 was apparently single until she married W A Miller in 1853 and unfortunately died in Dec 1854 of complications of childbirth the previous month.

ü  Martha Ann Whitlock 1840 – >1850, the youngest daughter, was last found at the age of 10 living with her older sister E Adaline Whitlock and P H Clark in the 1850 Calloway County Census. ITJ did live in that household but this young girl would not have been in the reproductive years circa 1848/49 when GWJ was conceived.

From this it appears that Mary Francis would have been the only single daughter old enough to have married ITJ and born a child in 1849. But we have already stated that there is no surviving record of her marriage to ITJ. We also know Mary Francis didn’t die until 1854 and since ITJ became the guardian of GWJ in March of 1851 this suggests the child’s mother was already dead at that time. Alternatively, perhaps GWJ’s mother was alive but unable to care for the child due to an incapacitating illness or condition but no court records declaring the mother unfit have been found, thus this is a very weak theory.

The one daughter known to have been deceased by the year 1851 and who had also proven to be fertile was Sarah A Whitlock Jones. But we don’t know the exact date SAW died, only that it was some time before 5 June 1851 when her widowed husband remarried.

We know that ITJ became guardian of his son GWJ on 3 March of 1851. Given the known children that were born to SAW in 1848 (month unknown) and June of 1850 it would have been difficult for her to have squeezed in another child in 1849, legitimately or not. Thus it seems unlikely that either SAW or Mary Francis Whitlock were GWJ’s mother which makes it more likely that Alvina had another daughter whom we don’t know about who GWJ’s mother was and that she died, perhaps in childbirth before her name was revealed in the 1850 full name census.

The elusive Isaac T Jones becomes a mystery

Unfortunately the ITJ family has not been successfully traced after the 1860 Marshall tax rolls and census. Extensive searches using Isaac T Jones and or Nancy A Ross Jones in many combinations of initials, full and part names as well as those of William Jackson Jones and GWJ as well as limited searches for their “J” child born on 14 June, 1856, again using likely initials and both genders. Did Kentucky’s ITJ and family all perish in a house fire, die in an epidemic or change their names and vanish into thin air . . . the mystery continues.

1. ITJ’s Guardian Bond for George Washington Jones, dated 3 March, 1851