My Genealogy Hound

LEVI M. JONES, M. D. Although but fourteen years a resident of Jamestown, Greene County, Dr. Jones is regarded by the people of that vicinity as a member of the community almost indispensable, and who by a strict attention to the duties of his profession, has fully established himself in their confidence and esteem. He established his office at Jamestown in the summer of 1876, coming to this place from Mechanicsburg, where he commenced his practice immediately after being graduated from the Miami Medical College at Cincinnati, in the spring of 1871.

Dr. Jones commenced reading medicine under the well-known Dr. J. H. Clark, of Mechanicsburg, one of the favorite practioners of Champaign County. Our subject was born in Union Township, that county, September 20, 1844, and lived there with his parents on a farm until a young man of twenty-two years. He acquired his early education in the district school, and in 1866, having decided upon the profession of medicine, entered Miami University, at Delaware, Ohio, in which he spent the junior year, after which he entered upon the study of his chosen profession. He has for some time been one of the pension examiners of Greene County, and is a member of its Medical Association. He is regarded as a public-spirited and liberal-minded citizen, and has always maintained a warm interest in the enterprises calculated for the upbuilding of the town. He has been for some years a member of the School Board and has filled other positions of trust and responsibility.

The Doctor was married January 8, 1873, in Mechanicsburg, to Miss Mary S. Williams, a native of that town, who was born in 1845. Mrs. Jones was carefully reared and educated, completing her studies in the Female College at Springfield. She is a very intelligent and estimable lady, and the mother of one child, a son, Clement L., who was born April 29, 1876.

Politically Dr. Jones affiliates with the Republican party. He and his wife are members, in good standing, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and move in the best social circles of Jamestown. The Doctor comes of a good family, being the son of John Jones, who was born in Champaign County, and was the second white child born in the vicinity of Buck Creek, that county, this event occurring November 16, 1804. The paternal grandfather was Abraham Jones, a native of Virginia and of Welsh extraction. He was reared to manhood in the Old Dominion, and was there married to a lady who sprang from the F. F. V’s. Immediately after the wedding they emigrated to Ohio, and Grandfather Jones secured land from the Government, comprising a part of what was then known as the Military Tract, and which is now included in Union Township, Champaign County. There he and his wife built up a home from the wilderness, became well-to-do and there spent their last days. They lived to be very aged, and Grandfather Jones passed away in 1816. It is believed that both were connected with the Primitive Methodist Church. There were born to them only two children: John, the father of our subject: and Hannah. The latter, like her brother, lived to a ripe old age.

The father of our subject was only twelve years old at the time of his father’s death, and he remained with his mother, assisting her in the management of the farm until his marriage. His wife bore the maiden name of Mary Lafferty. She was born in Union Township, Champaign County, in 1808, of parents who were natives of Virginia, and who emigrated to Ohio early in the present century. After their marriage, John Jones and his wife settled down on the old homestead, which was taken up by Abraham Jones from the Government, and there, like Grandfather Jones and his wife they spent the remainder of their lives. John Jones departed this life July 17, 1876. His wife, Mary, survived him ten years, passing away in 1886. Both were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. There had been born to them a family of seven children, six sons and one daughter, all of whom are living, married and have families of their own.

The maternal grandparents of our subject were William and Anna (Cleggett) Williams, natives of Maryland, who were reared and married in that State. Thence they emigrated to Ohio, settling in the embryo town of Mechanicsburg, where Grandfather Williams engaged in general merchandising until his death, which occurred in February, 1887, when he was quite aged. His wife had preceded him many years to the silent land, dying in middle life; both were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Dr. Jones, politically, votes the straight Republican ticket. In 1864, during the progress of the Civil War, he enlisted in the Union service, from Urbana, Ohio, under the last call for troops, becoming a member of Company G, One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Ohio Infantry, under command of Capt. James Robinson and Col. Armstrong. They operated mostly in Virginia in the vicinity of Appomattox, but saw very little active service, simply skirmishing and holding themselves in readiness to go wherever called. The Doctor was in the army one year, at the close of which he received his honorable discharge, and returned home without a scratch.