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From: "Sherry Balow" <>
Subject: ELIZABETH HILL, Part 4
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 15:59:32 -0800


Chas. Wells was a close business associate of Lewis Jones back in Western
Virginia Territory and had purchased 700 acres of land along the Osage
River in Missouri around 1842. Chas Wells was the owner of a fleet of
boats on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. His boat captains purchased food
from the Jones smoke and storehouse at the Thomas Jones Farm on the Ohio
River near Sisterville, Western Virginia Territory. After Thomas Jones
death, Lewis Jones operated the smoke and storehouse. Following financial
losses caused by the 1857 panic Lewis Jones moved to Missouri and found
that Chas Wells was leasing his Missouri land. I have not determined what
Lewis Jones part in the Wells land development was. If he had the usual
lease arrangement as described to my husband by Colonel William Wells he
would have had a three year lease which required Lewis Jones to clear the
land and fence the cleared land. During the first 3-year lease he would
have received all the income from the timber he could cut and sell. During
the second 3-year lease he would be required to divide the income and give
one-half to Chas Wells as the owners share. Since this was the period of
the railroad expansion most of this cut timber was made into railroad ties.
Logs were also rafted down the river as far as New Orleans. (note: this
association might provide clues to who the family of second husband of
STACY WEST was. After Jackson Hill died she was remarried, in Missouri, to
William Martin, said to have been a riverboat captain or worker. They
had at least 2 children. -- SB)
Regardless of how the two met we find the marriage certificate of Lewis
Jones and Elizabeth Hampton on file in the Miller County Courthouse at
Tuscumbia, Missouri. The record is as follows:

I hereby certify that I, Levi W. Albertson, a Justice of the Peace within
and for the County of Miller in the State of Missouri, did solemnize the
rites of Matrimony between Lewis Jones and Elizabeth Hampton of the said
County of Miller on the 17th day of April A.D, 1859, Levi W. Albertson
J.P. Filed 27th of May 1859. E. B. Farley, Clerk By W. M. Lampkin, D.C.

The family of Lewis Jones and Elizabeth Hill Hampton Jones remained on the
Wells Farm for the next six years at least; both working hard to earn
toward a home of their own. Soon after Elizabeth married Lewis her older
step-daughters married and left home. On August 20, 1859 Margaret Jones 19
years of age married James Roark. On October 7, 1860 Lucy Ann Jones age 16
years married William Burrell.
Grandma Jones, Betsy, had found security at last. Her new husband was
educated, had business experience, was known for his benevolence toward his
neighbors and his home was run in a systematic and well organized fashion.
Lewis was older than her own father but he was looked up to and admired
by her brothers. Her brother, John A. Hill, named his second son Lewis
Jones Hill in honor of Lewis Jones. Grant Jones, my father, recalls that
the men folks, relatives and friends, would be sitting under the large
hickory tree in the yard listening to Lewis Jones tell of things hed read
and experiences hed had. One story was well remembered by my father.
Some man in Cincinnati, Ohio had written a so-called vision where men flew
through the air like birds and traveled under the sea like fish. (note:
perhaps this was in reference to Jules Verne books. --SB)
Grant Jones said, I can hear my father telling the men about this yet,
and think, Ive really lived to see these prophecies come true.

On March 17, 1860 a son was born to Lewis and Betsy Jones. They named him
William Lewis Jackson Jones. Since it was customary to name the first son
for the grandparents, the new baby, Uncle Billy to me, very likely carried
Betsys grandparents name. He was named William for her grandfather,
WILLIAM HILL, and Jackson for JACKSON KIZZIRE of Tennessee who I assume to
be Betsys grandfather on her mothers side and Lewis for LEWIS JONES,
Betsys husband. Uncle Billy carried the Lewis for family identification
and signed his cards W. L. Jones. The name Jackson was almost never used
by him. Betsy had already named a son John for her father JOHN HILL and a
daughter Polly Ann for her mother POLLY KIZZIRE HILL.
Grant Jones, my father, wrote, When I was three years old my father
bought a farm on the Osage River down near St. Elizabeth or down about two
miles from Capps Landing on the same side of the river. He owned 311 acres
of land but only 100 acres was on the river bottom. The rest of the farm
was woodsy and rough. The deed is recorded in Tuscumbia Courthouse on
June 9, 1869 and is dated May 9, 1869.
The 1870 U.S. Census records taken on July 19, 1870 Osage Township, Miller
County, Missouri gives the following record:

Lewis JonesAge 68MWhiteFarmerBorn in VirginiaEstate $2000
Elizabeth JonesAge 38FWhiteHouseKeepBorn in Indiana
Lewis B. JonesAge 21MWhiteFarmhandBorn in Virginia (b.1849)
Calvin R. JonesAge 17 MWhiteAt SchoolBorn in Virginia (b.1853)
Polly Ann Hampton 18FWhiteLiving w/JonesBorn in Missouri (b.1852)
Lucinda Hampton 16 FWhiteLiving w/JonesBorn in Missouri *died
pre-1878
Nancy Hampton 13 FWhiteLiving w/JonesBorn in Iowa
*later married Abner Hathaway died pre-1878 fall from horse. 1
dau

William JonesAge 11MWhiteAt homeBorn in Missouri(b.1860)
Ulysses G. Jones 5 MWhiteAt homeBorn in Missouri (b.1865)
John HillAge 12MWhiteFarmhandBorn in Missouri *son of Jackson &
Mary Hill
The John Hill shown here is evidently Jackson Hills son who was later know
as Wild John. (note: he married Emaline Burrell, dau of Geo and Minta
(Kizzire) Burrell -- SB)

In the same county on page 258 we find Elizabeth Hill Hampton Jones brother
as follows:

John A. HillAge 30MWhiteFarmer Born in Indiana Estate $200
Frank HillAge 11 MWhiteAt homeBorn in Missouri (b.1859)
Lewis J. HillAge 9MWhiteAt homeBorn in Missouri (b.1861)
Lucy Z. HillAge 5FWhiteAt homeBorn in Missouri (b.1865)
William P. HillAge 17 MWhiteFarmhandBorn in Kentucky (b.1853)

Elizabeth Hill Hampton Jones mother was also in Miller County, Missouri
for the 1870 census. The record follows: (note: John C. Hill had died by
this time.--SB)

Polly (Kizzire) Hill 53FWhiteWidow ladyBorn in Kentucky
Alex Hill 18MWhiteFarmhandBorn in Missouri
Zemineah ** Hill 16 M**WhiteAt homeBorn in Missouri (b. 1854)
Nancy Hill 14FWhiteAt homeBorn in Missouri *dau of Jackson &
Mary Hill

(**note: confusion about this child who has been listed as Levi,
Zemineah and Jemimah/Jemima. It is unclear if Male or Female though
Hazel Uthoff provides for male. This person is also thought to be a child
of Jackson & Mary Hill, though Hazel Uthoff previously, perhaps
erroneously, listed as a 10th child of John & Polly, after providing that
eldest daughter, Elizabeth, was one of nine children. --SB)

This last Nancy must have been a granddaughter, Zemineahs first name was
Levi. Pollys age as computed from other census records should have been
57 years.
Although the deed to the Lewis and Elizabeth Jones farm is dated May 9,
1869, it is very probable that the Jones family moved to the Sterling H.
Berry farm in 1866 or the spring of 1867 because the owner of the Wells
Farm, Chas Wells, came to Miller County, Missouri after the Civil War in
1866. He had lost his fleet of boats during the Civil War and his Missouri
farm was the best prospect for regaining his fortune. Chas Wells was a
slave owner and a southern sympathizer and used his river boats to further
the cause of the Confederacy. When the Union Navy captured Mobile,
Alabama, Chas Wells boats were there and were confiscated. Shortly after
arriving in Miller County, Missouri he purchased additional steamboats
which now hauled freight on the Osage and Missouri Rivers. As they had on
the Ohio, the captains of the steamboats on the Osage stopped at the Jones
farm for meat and other products of the farm.
In visiting the Chas Wells Farm in June of 1971 my husband talked with
Colonel William Wells, Air Force Retired, and a grandson of Chas Wells.
The farm had been sold at that time and the new owners had already moved in
but Colonel Wells was there to move out any remaining personal property not
included in the sale. He pointed out the foundation of the original house
on the property, the spring house that was used for fresh water in the
original house, the original location of the present farm house with the
fountain curb still in place and one of the original log cabins that had
served through the years, first as a home and later as a barn. He recalled
for us some of his experiences as a boy while living with his father,
Joshua Russell Wells, who had inherited the land and the steamboats from
Chas Wells. Colonel Wells told how as a boy of 7or 8 his father would
permit him to take trips with the steamboats. As the steamboat passed the
Wells Farm his father would hand him up to the deck and he would ride the
boat to its destination and return to the farm when the boat make a return
trip in a week or so.
Wells found real trouble when he returned to Miller County, Missouri and
established his steamboat business. Although the Civil War had ended in
the spring of 1865 a decade of violence would follow.
Judge Jenkins of Tuscumbia, Missouri wrote of Miller County, The fatal
and ruinous warfare continued some years longer. It seemed as if the
people, having become accustomed to fighting, did not know how to leave
off.

Chas Wells brought his servants, former Negro slaves, but they soon
disappeared becoming victims of the murderous element or of the element
determined to frighten away all black people who attempted to settle in
Miller County, Missouri. The blacks working on the steamboats were not
permitted to enter Miller County, according to Colonel William Wells, and
so were unloaded in a more friendly area on the way up the river and
rejoined the steamboat again as it returned down the river.
Grant Jones was unable to remember how profitable the smoke-house business
was for Lewis Jones in Missouri but he left us a good account of the
butchering. He said, When I was a little boy my father had a farm down on
the Osage River, right in the bend of the river. We cured meat. We
ordinarily butchered forty or fifty head of hogs each year. We sugar cured
the hams, shoulders and sides and sold the cured meat in town or to the men
on the river boats. Sometimes we took meat to the larger towns like
Jefferson City and St. Louis because cured meat brought more money than
hogs on the hoof. The side meat sold for 7 cents a pound and the hams for
10 cents a pound. In those days there were plenty of deer so after they
had butchered the hogs my brothers Lou and Cal and sometimes my father
would go into the woods and kill as many as ten to twelve deer. They
always had a stall fed steer that butchered out 1,000 or 1,200 pounds of
beef. The hind quarters of the deer, the hind quarters of the beef and the
sausage meat of the hogs were all ground together and seasoned with salt,
pepper and brown sugar. To some of the sausage they added sage and other
spices. This sausage was tied up in corn husks and cured. The corn husks
had the ear and silk removed. The sausage rolls were put in the clean
liner husks and the ends of the husks were tied tight. This kept all the
dirt out.
The smoke-house must have been more profitable than shipping hogs to St.
Louis because Grant Jones mentioned that a shipment of hogs sent to St.
Louis did not pay the freight bill.

Grandma Betsy Jones life was not to be the secure and serene life she had
anticipated when she married Lewis Jones, for the Civil War was fought
viciously all over Miller County, Missouri during the years they lived on
the Chas Wells Farm. Her life was normal in that she gave birth to four
children during this time. WILLIAM LEWIS JACKSON JONES on March 17, 1860,
ELIZA JONES in 1862, and ULYSSES GRANT JONES, my father, on September 3,
1864 the day Sherman marched into
Atlanta, Georgia, VIRGINIA JONES in 1867. Her life was normal in the tasks
that were labeled womens work must be done; that is, cooking, gardening,
milking, poultry raising, spinning, weaving, knitting and sewing of
clothing for the family. Grant Jones never told stories about the Civil
War in Miller County, Missouri. He was too young to remember but he did
say that he had two brothers on each side but only Mark Jones has been
identified with Confederacy leaning. Grant Jones did remember that his
father, known in Miller County as Uncle Lewis, gave aid to his neighbors
after the Civil War.
Judge Jenkins wrote, To add to the distresses which Miller County
suffered from the conduct of soldiers, militiamen, confederates, and
bushwhackers, there occurred a most grievous famine. Many people in the
county were almost destitute in regard to the necessities of life. All
able bodied men, subject to military duty, gone from their homes in 1864,
made it utterly impossible for many citizens to raise corn or even a
garden. The winter of 1864-65 was cold, snowy and miserable.
Betsy Hill (Hampton) Jones was very emotionally involved in the Civil War
because her three young brothers, JACKSON, JOHN and WILLIAM HILL fought for
the Union. Her step-son, MARK JONES, was associated with the cause of the
confederacy. ROBERT HAWK, the man her sister ELIZA was to marry, with
others from Miller County, Missouri, marched with Sherman through Georgia.
The war between the states had been brewing for a long time but had been
held in check by such leaders as Andrew Jackson and his close friends Sam
Houston and James Polk who, although southerners, firmly declared that the
Union must be preserved at all costs. By 1860 the radicals of both the
North and South were in command and the age of reason had passed. In
Miller County, Missouri it is recorded that Phillip Robinson of Glaze
Township cast the first Republican vote in Miller County and nearly lost
his life as a result. By November of that year, 1860, the presidential
election records in the court house show that Breckenbridge, Southern
Democrat received 495 votes; Bell, Constitutional Union, 193 votes;
Douglas, Northern Democrat, 94 votes; Lincoln, Republican, 23 votes.
Lincoln was elected and on March 4, 1861 in his inaugural address on the
steps of the Nations Capitol said, In your hands, my dissatisfied
countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of Civil War. You can
have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath
registered in heaven to destroy this government; while I have the most
solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it.
Huge mass meetings were held in Miller County and often rough and tumble
fighting broke out between participants. Judge Jenkins reports on one
meeting, Before the meeting could get started a fight broke between C.
Wolf and W. B. Mansell. They commenced slashing at each other with
cat-o-nine whips, the leather thongs cracking like a discharged bullet,
then fists, rocks, whip handles and knives came into play. The meeting
was dismissed.
April 13, 1861the Confederacy took the offensive and Fort Sumter fell.
True to his oath and the promise contained in his inaugural address,
President Lincoln issued a call on April 15, 1861 for 75,000 troops to
preserve the Union. Governor Jackson was determined to take Missouri out
of the Union. Captain Lyons, United States Army Commanding Officer of Camp
Jackson Arsenal, remained loyal to Lincoln and began enrolling troops from
St. Louis and surrounding area that were loyal to the Union. On May 10,
1861 Captain Lyons with 5,000 or 6,000 troops, made up mostly of German
emigrants from St. Louis but with a few regular army troops, attacked the
State Guard Troops loyal to Governor Jackson and captured them. The Union
forces were now in command of the Camp Jackson Arsenal. The battle lines
in Missouri were drawn. The Union cause was let by Francis Preston Blair
Jr. and the Confederacy by the soon to be ex-governor Claiborne Fox
Jackson. Each leader had his own Brigadier General. Nathaniel Lyons for
the Union Forces under Blair and Sterling Price Ol Pappy Price for the
Confederacy Force under Jackson.
In Miller County, Missouri, when the news of the fall of Fort Sumter
reached Tuscumbia a few joyous citizens hoisted a rebel flag on top of a
tall tree near Atkinsons store and on the leeward of the ferry landing but
the Stars and Stripes continued flying on the right side of the landing.
Since the State Guard Companies in Miller County, Missouri, were Secesh,
people upholding the Union were told either to join-up or leave the
county. Since the troops in St. Louis were German emigrants, hatred
increased against the minorities. The order was given by the Iberia Home
Guard to hang or shoot all eastern people or Pennsylvanians who refused to
take the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. Many refused to take the
oath and fled for their lives. The later part of June 1861 most of the
State Guard Companies in sympathy with the Confederacy left Miller County
and joined the new resigned Governor Jackson and Sterling Price in
Southwest Missouri.
This move of the State Guards was almost a fatal one for the cause of the
Confederacy in Miller County. The Union Forces rallied to oppose the
Confederacy. Reverend Jacob Capps, Baptist Minister from Capps Landing,
one of the chief Union agitators joined forces with the Osage Valley
Regiment to the South of Capps Landing and the Cole County Regiment to the
North and the local war was in full force. These men armed only with
knives, pitchforks, muzzle loading rifles, shotguns, pistols and rocks
proceeded to round up ex-governor Jacksons powder and shot that had been
hidden in houses, barns, cellars and caves in Miller County. Then Colonel
Emly Goldens forces secured the south side of the county and Captain Jacob
Capps forces with Captain Daniel Rices County Cavalry secured the north
side of the county. The Golden and Capps Forces moved upon the courthouse
at Tuscumbia and after a minor skirmish took tremendous quantities of the
powder which had been stored n the courthouse secretly by E. B. Farley,
County Clerk.



--continued in Part 5


Sherry Balow




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