JONES. JONES. 345 been since its organization. He has been president of the Spencer Savings Bank and treasurer of the First Congregational parish for a long term of years ; has been treasurer of the town of Spencer for sev- eral years, being elected to the latter posi- tion without any opposition. During the war he was firm in his support of the Union cause, and liberal in his contributions. A man of the strictest integrity in his success- ful business relations, he has a large heart, and his most intimate friends are not ac- quainted with the extent or direction of many of his charities. JONES, JEROME, was born in Athol, Worcester county, October 13, 1837. He is the youngest son of the late Theodore and Marcia (Eetabrook) Jones, and grand- son of Rev. Joseph Estabrook, the second minister of Athol, and a noted preacher in his time. The subject of this sketch was educated in the common school at Athol, and at an early aye entered as clerk the country store of Goddard & Ward, in the adjoining town of Orange. In 1853 he was appren- ticed to Otis Norcross & Co., of Boston, where he received his commercial training, this firm being then the leading importers of crockery in the United States. In 1861, at twenty-three years of age, he was ad- mitted a partner, and in 1S65 he was sent to Europe as the foreign buyer of the firm, which position he filled with ability for many years. In 1867 Otis Norcross was elected mayor of Boston, and retired from the business, which was subsequently carried on under the firm name of Howland & Jones. On the death of Ichabod Howland, in 1871, the firm was changed to the present firm of Jones, McDuffee & Stratton, the senior partner of which completed in June of the present year thirty-six years of con- tinuous service in this widely-known house. Few instances can be found of more rapid and marked mercantile success than in the case of Mr. Jones. He went from home a mere lad to make his own way in the world, and with this purpose in view worked earnestly in a country store until he was sixteen years of age. During the next seven years, by thorough training and faithful service, he gained, step by step, position and prominence, and at the age of twenty-three, was admitted as partner in the leading crockery house in the coun- try. " At the age of twenty-seven he be- came its foreign buyer, and at thirty-three its senior partner — a career notable in many respects, and especially in exempli- fying the dignity of labor and its appro- priate rewards. Mr. Jones has been twice married. His first wife was Elizabeth R. Wait of Green- field, to whom he was married February n, 1864. Mrs. Jones died July 10, 1.S7.S, leaving four children : Theodore, Eliza- beth W., Marcia E., and Helen R. Jones. He was married the second time in Febru- ary, 1881, to Mrs. Maria E. Button of Bos- ton. Mr. Jones is a representative business man of the best type. His record has made him a man of marked prominence. He is a Jeffersonian Bemocrat, and a member of the executive committee of the Massachu- setts Tariff Reform Club. He has been for many years a trustee of Mt. Auburn Cemetery ; director in the Traders National Bank ; member of the Boston Commercial Club, of the Unitarian Club, and Brookline Thursday. Club, lie was also for several years president of the Boston Earthenware Association, and president of the Worcester Northwest Agri- cultural Society. His residence is Brookline. JONES, SlLAS, son of Silas and Love (Shiverick) Jones, was born in Falmouth, Barnstable county, February 25, [814. He received what education he could glean from books in the common schools of Falmouth in those days. Early in life, turning toward the sea for a livelihood, he engaged in the whaling business, making his first venture at six- teen years of age. At the age of twenty- six he was in command of a ship, and continued in the business as master of a ship for fifteen years. He was a member of the lower branch of the Legislature in 1865 and '66. He retired from active business, and accepted the presidency of the Falmouth Bank, 1881. Captain Jones was married in Falmouth, May 19, 1845, to Harriet B., daughter of Joseph (a descendant of John Robinson, of Puritan fame) and Olive C. (Lawrence) Robinson. Of this union were six children: George F., Rowland R.. Lucy S., Ellen M., Mary R., and Silas Jones, Jr. He is a man of strong individuality, firm, reticent and unostentatious, though self- reliant. He possesses in an eminent de- gree the respect of his townsmen. He comes of good New England stock. Always cool and self-possessed, he had these qualities once tested to their limit, when third mate of a ship, while running through the Micronesian Islands. She
