From Proud Heritage, Vol. 1 by DCPA, not currently in print
Martha Emaline was born in Dallas County, Texas, September 11, 1859. She was the seventh child of William Maxwell and Elizabeth Ann Moore Kemp. Her parents and the four oldest children came to Texas and Dallas County about 1853 from Illinois and settled near the location of Buckner Orphans Home. Martha Emaline married John Daniel Jones November 5, 1876. He was the youngest son of John Henry and Fereby McCullough Jones. His family came to Texas from Montgomery County, Kentucky, in December 1855. John Daniel was born July 15, 1856 in Hill County, Texas. They moved to Dallas County in 1857 or 1858 and purchased a farm in the C. A. Lovejoy and W. Jones Surveys on White Rock Creek near what is now White Rock Lake.
To this union seven children were born: 1) Mary Margaret Jones born 1878, died 1951; married Norbon H. Haynes 1895. Children: 2 daughters and 1 son. 2) James Thomas Jones born 1881, died 1907; married Bert Leonard 1901. Children: 2 daughters. 3) Fereby Elizabeth Jones born 1883, died 1979; married Thomas R. McSween 1906. Children: 1 daughter and 1 son. 4) John William Jones born 1885, died 1946; married Esther Beckner 1908. Child: 1 son. 5) Enoch Marvin Jones born 1892, died 1964; married Blanch Wilson 1911. Children: 2 sons. 6) Ray Roy Jones born 1899, died 1980; married Myra Ellen Horner 1920. Children: 2 sons and 2 daughters. 7) Susie Fay Jones born 1901, died 1978; married C. Fred Rollins 1922. Children: 2 sons.
John Daniel was a cotton farmer and one of the duties of his daughter, Fereby, was to weigh the sacks of cotton as the pickers brought them to the wagon and to keep the books. He must have been a very restless man as the family moved many times. The seven children were born in four different counties. When Fereby was in her late teens, they lived near Buckner Orphans Home. Her father bought a piano and she took music lessons at the home. When she married she was given the piano as her dowry.
John Daniel was more than six feet tall and Martha Emaline was only about four feet, ten inches – or less. She had thick auburn hair that reached her knees, and she did it up in a large knot on the back of her head and over the top a little – which gave her more height. When she died at age 87, she could still read the newspaper without her glasses, but her eyes were very sensitive to light. She was seldom seen outside without her bonnet. Among the family pictures are some made of the “Jones Clan” at an outing near Richardson about 1906 and 1907. They rode the interurban out from downtown • Dallas for a picnic and picture-taking. All the faces in the pictures are not clear enough to be identified, but one stands out – the little lady in the big bonnet.
Martha Emaline’s brothers, sisters and her mother were all in Comanche County so the Jones family finally settled there in 1916. Their two youngest sons served in the Army in Europe in World War I. Later, they were to have seven grandsons in the Army and Navy in World War II. John Daniel died in 1935, and for the next twelve years Martha Emaline lived among her children. Martha Emaline lived many different places during her married life, but was born in Dallas County, married here and died here on New Year’s Day 1947, while making her home with her daughter, Fereby. There are three granddaughters, three great granddaughters and two great-great grandchildren in Dallas; a great grandson, a great granddaughter and four great-great grandchildren in Mesquite, Texas. The others are scattered over Texas and the other states.
My grandmother had a wonderful memory and always kept up with her family. She was a great talker, too – if this writer had only listened.
Sources:
1) Family Bible of Martha Emaline and John Daniel Jones.
2) Dallas County Record – grantors/grantees.
3) Dallas Library – Texas Collection – Tax Rolls for Dallas, Hamilton Counties.
4) Dallas Library – Genealogy Section – Census records for Dallas, Hamilton, Comanche, Kaufman and Johnston Counties, Texas; Book Dallas County Marriages.
5) Family pictures of the Jones Family – Mrs. Fereby E. McSween’s records.
6) Personal knowledge of the writer.
By Jimmie D. McSween, granddaughter, Dallas
