Jones Family Collection
Table of Contents
- Abstract
- Biographical Note
- Scope and Content
- Extent
- Access Restrictions
- Provenance
- Preferred Citation
- Processing Information
- Related Materials
- Arrangement
- Series Descriptions
- Collection Inventory
Samuel Minot Jones
Top corner: his wife Harriet and son Minot
Biographical Note
Samuel Minot Jones (1836-1912) was a Chicago lumber merchant, Civil War soldier, and philanthropist who founded the Jones Library in Amherst, Massachusetts. The Jones family included Thomas Jones (1787-1853), textile mill owner; his wife, Mary Hubbard Field French Jones (1804-1879); their son Samuel Minot Jones (1836-1912); their daughter Augusta Thayer Jones (1845-1884); Samuel’s wife Harriet Watson Stenger Jones (1873-1907); and Samuel and Harriet’s only son Minot Jones (1899-1918). Samuel’s father Thomas moved to Amherst with his wife Mary and their children after the 1837 failure of his mill in Enfield, Massachusetts. They built a new home on Amity Street and developed mills in North Amherst. This time the mills did not fail. The family prospered until the death of Thomas in 1853. Samuel worked at George Cutler’s dry goods store in Amherst to support himself and learn business. He soon decided to go west to earn his fortune, moving to Illinois and learning the lumber trade.
When the Civil War broke out, Jones enlisted in 1861 at age 25. After serving with distinction and taking part in two memorable battles, Pea Ridge in Arkansas and Stones River in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where he was wounded, Jones resigned and returned to his mother’s Amherst home to recuperate. Following his recovery, Jones returned to Chicago to partner with Charles Barton in the lumber business. During the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, Jones’s quick thinking to hire two fire engines from outside the city saved his lumberyard, one of the few to escape destruction. His fortune secure, Jones retired to Morristown, New Jersey, in 1894. In 1898 he married Harriet Stenger and the following year a son, Minot, was born. Harriet Jones never fully recovered from the birth of Minot and died in 1907. Samuel Jones died five years later leaving the bulk of his estate to his son Minot when the boy reached 21, the age of majority. Unfortunately, Minot contracted influenza in an army training camp and died in 1918 at age 19.
Related Materials
Three publications of the library are of interest: Charles S. Walker, Samuel Minot Jones, The Story of an Amherst Boy (Amherst: The Jones Library, Inc., 1922); Frank Prentice Rand, The Jones Library in Amherst, 1919-1969 (Amherst: The Jones Library, Inc., 1969); and Bruce Watson, Hearth and Soul: The Jones Library at One Hundred (Amherst: Off the Common Books, 2019).
Related manuscript collections include:
Burgess, John W. – Samuel Minot Jones materials
Field, Roswell M. – Letters
French, Mary Field – Letters
Walker, Charles S. – Samuel Minot Jones
Series Descriptions
Series 1: Samuel Minot Jones Papers, circa 1840-1965
This series contains documents, letters, photographs and memorabilia of or relating to Samuel Minot Jones, a lumber merchant from Amherst, Massachusetts. Samuel was related to the Jones and Minot families of Amherst and Newfane, Vermont. Materials marked “FA” are housed with the Fine Arts Collection.
Series 2: Jones Family Papers, circa 1766-1953
This series contains documents, letters, photographs and memorabilia of or relating to the Jones family of Amherst, Massachusetts. Also included are letters to the Joneses and documents, memorabilia and information on the Jones and Minot families, primarily related to Samuel Minot Jones. Materials marked “FA” are housed with the Fine Arts Collection.Detailed Inventory
Series 1: Samuel Minot Jones Papers, circa 1850-1965
Box | Folder | Title/Description | Date |
---|---|---|---|
1 |
1 | Amherst Academy |
1850-1851 |
1 | 2 | Autographs |
undated |
1 | 3 | Biography of John Burgess |
undated |
1 | 4 | Business |
undated |
1 |
5 | Correspondence about |
1925, 1933, 1953 |
1 |
6 | Estate Settlement |
1921 January 21 |
1 | 7 | Genealogy |
1933 January 3, undated |
1 |
8 | Letter to |
undated |
1 |
9 | Letters |
1862-1911 |
1 |
10 |
Morristown Trust |
1912-1913, 1927, 1943 |
1 |
11 |
Photographs |
circa 1905, undated |
1 |
12 | Will |
1917, 1965 |
1 |
13 |
Walker, Charles - Correspondence about Samuel Minot Jones |
1920-1922, undated |
1 |
14 |
Walker, Charles - Notes for Samuel Minot Jones biography |
circa 1920 |
1 |
15 |
Walker, Charles - Reproductions of images in his book |
undated |
FA | artifact |
Cane |
undated |
FA |
artifact |
Civil War sword |
circa 1861 |
4 |
artifact |
Cuff links |
undated |
FA |
artifact |
Walking stick |
undated |
2 |
artifact |
Writing case and fountain pen |
undated |
Series 2: Jones Family Papers, circa 1766-1964
Box | Folder | Title/Description | Date |
---|---|---|---|
4 |
artifact | French, Roswell - Cup |
1901 November 21 |
4 | artifact | French, Theodore Francis - Cup |
undated |
4 | artifact | Jones, Augusta - Cup |
undated |
1 | 16 | Jones, Harriet Stenger - Letters |
1902-1907, undated |
1 | 17 | Jones, Mary Hubbard French Field - Letter to |
1838 February 9 |
4 | artifact | Jones, Mary Hubbard French Field - Daguerreotype believed to be Mary |
undated |
4 |
artifact | Jones, Mary Hubbard French Field - Serving spoon |
undated |
Map Drawer | Jones, Minot - Certificate |
1921 January 21 |
|
Oversize Box |
Jones, Minot - Diploma |
undated | |
1 |
18 | Jones, Minot - Education |
1925-1928 |
1 | 19 | Jones, Minot - Letters |
1910-1918 |
1 | 20 | Jones, Minot - Miscellaneous |
undated |
1 | 21 | Jones, Minot - Photograph (framed) |
1913 June 22 |
2 | 1 | Jones Minot - Photographs (framed) |
1913, circa 1918 |
2 | 2 | Jones, Minot - Photographs |
1911-1916, undated |
3 | book | Jones, Minot - Bible and bookmark |
undated |
3 | book | Jones, Minot - Bible (small) |
undated |
4 |
books | Jones, Minot - Schoolbooks (3) |
1906 |
4 | artifact | Jones, Minot - Ring |
undated |
4 |
artifact | Jones, Minot - Tank Corps pin |
undated |
FA | artifact | Jones, Minot - Stuffed duck shot by Minot |
undated |
2 |
3 | Jones, Thomas - Association letters |
1825-1868 |
2 | 4 | Jones, Thomas - Deeds |
1839-1844 |
2 |
5 | Jones, Thomas - House |
1931, 1956-1964, undated |
2 | 6 | Jones, Thomas - Indenture |
1847 May 24 |
2 |
7 | Jones, Thomas - Letters |
1844-1846 |
2 | 8 | Jones, Thomas - Miscellaneous |
undated |
2 | 9 | Jones, Thomas - Photographs |
1912, 1923, 1951, undated |
2 | 10 | Jones Family - Genealogy |
undated |
2 | 11 | Jones Family - Memorabilia inventory |
undated |
2 | 12 | Jones Family - Photograph album of East Hempstead, Long Island |
1896, undated |
2 |
13 | Jones Family - Photographs |
undated |
2 | 14 | Jones Family - Photographs of Amherst |
undated |
2 | 15 | Jones Family - Photographs of Amity Street house |
undated |
2 | 16 | Jones Family - Photographs of Enfield house |
undated |
3 | book | Jones Family - Bible |
1766 |
2 | 17 | Minot Family - Coat of Arms |
undated |
2 | 18 | Minot Family - Houses |
undated |
4 | artifact | Scannell, Katherine - Cup presented by Mrs. Thomas Jones |
circa 1880 |
4 | book | Fay School booklet |
1924-1925 |
4 | artifact | Mourning pin |
1840 |
4 |
artifact | Mourning locket |
undated |