Biography of John Wesley Jones, pages 590/591. History of DeKalb 
County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen Company, Inc., Indianapolis, 1914.



It is with no small degree of satisfaction that the biographer essays 
to set before the reader salient points and facts in the life history 
of the estimable gentleman now deceased whose name initiates this 
paragraph, for his life was one singularly full of good deeds and his 
influence was ever wholesome and amelioration, so that today he is 
remembered as a man who was held in the highest respect and admiration 
of his many friends and acquaintance.  John Wesley Jones was born in 
Ashland county, Ohio, on August 22, 1842, the son of Isaac Jones and 
wife, of whose six children he was the youngest. Isaac Jones’ family 
came  to DeKalb county, Indiana, in the early days, where, at Auburn, 
Mr. Jones later ran a tin shop, though he subsequently moved to a farm 
two and one-half miles south of Auburn. Early in the Civil war John W. 
Jones enlisted as a member of Company A, One Hundredth Regiment Indiana 
Volunteer Infantry, with which he served about nine months, being than 
discharged because of physical disability. He recruited his health and 
on March 19, 1864, he again enlisted in the First Indiana Battery of 
Heavy Artillery, with which he remained in the service until the end of 
the war. On April 19, 1864, soon after his enlistment, he was married 
to Sarah A. Plum, who was born in Stark county, Ohio, the daughter of 
Jeremiah and Jane (Scott) Plum. At the age of five years she came to 
DeKalb county with her parents who located about one mile east of 
Waterloo. Jeremiah Plum became the sheriff of DeKalb county a few years 
after the close of the Civil war, holding that office for four years. 
And his son, Philip, was sheriff of the county in later years. Here 
Jeremiah Plum followed farming during nearly all of his active life and 
also gave some attention to auctioneering, in which he was very 
successful. He was a member of the United Brethren church, as was his 
wife, and they are both now decease, their deaths occurring on their 
farm east of Waterloo. After John W. Jones received his final discharge 
from the military service at the close of the Civil war he engaged in 
farming a year on his father’s farm and then was similarly engaged two 
years on the farm of his father-in-law while the latter was serving as 
sheriff of the county. During the remainder of this life Mr. Jones was 
employed by the Lake Shore Railway Company in various capacities, the 
last nine years of his life being in the freight service of that 
company at Waterloo. He was industrious and energetic, and was numbered 
among the valued employees of that company, enjoying a well deserved 
popularity among his fellows. To Mr. and Mrs. Jones were born nine 
children, of whom two died in infancy, seven being raised to maturity. 
Frank Leonard, who lives a mile east of Waterloo, married Mary Mergy, 
and they have two daughters; Otie is the wife of Byron Leas, who lives 
west of Waterloo, and who is mentioned specifically elsewhere in this 
work;  Josephine is the wife of F. W. Miles, of Hammond, Indiana, and 
they have a son; Norah is the wife of James Rainier, of Auburn, and 

they have two children, a boy and a girl; Mary became the wife of 
Thomas Ferguson, who lives two and one-half miles south of Auburn; 
Edison, who lives in Waterloo, married Lena Durst; Daisy Fern is the 
wife of Chester C. Bowman, John Wesley Jones died on October 6, 1895, 
and his death  was considered a distinct loss to the community, for he 
had been a man who, though not very prominent in public life of the 
community, had never the less been an earnest and constant supporter of 
everything which promised to advance the best interests of the 
locality, and he was numbered among the sterling and consistent 
citizens of Waterloo. Religiously he was a member of the United 
Brethren church, of which Mrs. Jones in now an earnest member, and 
fraternally he belonged to the Knight of the Maccabees and the Grand 
Army of the Republic. A kind and loving father, a faithful husband, a 
public-spirited citizen. Mr. Jones had for many years quietly but 
consistently fulfilled his duties as a citizen in his community and he 
exerted an influence which has been for the moral and social upbuilding 
of the people.

Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@ctlnet.com