Jones Family Papers

For over a century, the Jones Family has figured prominently in the life of the Oberlin community. The first member of the Jones family to settle permanently in Oberlin was Lynds Jones (b. 1865), the son of Publius Virgilius Jones. Coming from a long line of Puritan/New England stock, Lynds Jones was born on January 5, 1865 in Jefferson, Ohio. He was the third youngest in a family of eight. When he was only three months old, the Jones family moved to a farm outside of Grinnell, Iowa. It was here that Lynds Jones first became interested in the study of birds and their migration. His formal study of birds began in 1886 at Grinnell College (formerly known as Iowa College), near the family home. Lynds Jones' studies at Grinnell were often interrupted by farm chores in the spring and fall. Here also Lynds Jones, along with other individuals interested in the study of nature (including future wife Clara Tallmon), founded the Agassiz Association in 1886. Subsequently, in 1888 Lynds Jones would establish the Wilson Bulletin, an Oberlin-based journal devoted to ornithology (the scientific study of birds), of which he became the first editor. He was also one of the founders of the Wilson Ornithological Club, for which he later served as President from 1927 to 1929.

On the recommendation of his half-uncle Giles Waldo Shurtleff (1831-1904), then treasurer of Oberlin College, Lynds Jones transferred from Grinnell College to Oberlin College in 1890. He received his A.B. degree from Oberlin in 1892. Later that same year he married Clara Tallmon, the daughter of George Washington Tallmon of Grinnell, Iowa. Shortly after receiving his degree, Lynds Jones began teaching Oberlin students in private, non-credit classes in ornithology. Three years later in 1895, a course in ornithology was finally accepted by the General Faculty into the college curriculum.  Oberlin College was the first college in the United States to offer coursework in ornithology. One of his great sponsors was Althea Sherman, Class of 1874, who pushed for an academic chair in ornithology.

The teaching career of Lynds Jones at Oberlin College covered six decades. Beginning as an assistant in Geology and Zoology in 1892, Lynds Jones was appointed as an Instructor in the college's Zoology Department in 1899. In 1905, Jones was elevated to Associate Professor after receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Three years later he became Associate Professor of Animal Ecology, and he rose to the rank of Professor in 1922.

Although he retired in 1930, Lynds Jones continued his affiliation with Oberlin College by serving as Emeritus Professor until his death in 1951. In addition to his teaching duties, Lynds Jones also served Oberlin College as both Assistant Curator and later, Curator of the College's Zoological Museum. Jones, as the ornithologist, is also well-remembered for the series of summer ecology trips he led with his wife, Clara.

Beginning in 1915 and continuing into the 1920s, Jones’ credit-based expeditions were designed to give his students a basic understanding of the ecology of the Western United States. (Note: The College Archives holds a number of the paper projects produced by the students.) He is also to be remembered as one of the pioneers who taught in the field of ecology.

Aside from his teaching duties and curatorial work at Oberlin College, Lynds Jones was actively involved in a number of other activities related to his devotion of the study of birds. In 1902, Jones prepared a revised catalogue of the "Birds of Ohio." It was later revised at the solicitation of the Ohio Academy of Science. His writings, which numbered in the hundreds, often appeared in the Wilson Bulletin and in other prominent publications dealing with ornithology. During different summer sessions, Jones taught at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and at the Ohio State Lake Laboratory in Sandusky, Ohio. Jones for many years also served for the U.S. Biological Survey by making annual observations and reports on birds in the district in which he was living. His study of birds in all of the forty-eight states on the U.S mainland, as well as in Puerto Rico and five Canadian provinces, made him one of the foremost authorities in ornithology in North America.

Both before and during his retirement from Oberlin College, Lynds Jones played an active role in the civic life of the town of Oberlin. He served on the town council and was a member of various special committees. Jones was also chairman of the Oberlin School Board and a trustee of the local Pleasant View Tuberculosis Sanatorium. During the Second World War, Jones served as the chairman of the Selective Service Board and was later awarded a medal for his honorable service. Lynds Jones, active in the First Congregational Church of Oberlin: he served both as treasurer and deacon. In his spare time he enjoyed playing a round of golf at the Oberlin Golf Club.

In 1892, Lynds Jones married Clara Tallmon (1868-1956). Clara, the daughter of George W. and Susan Tallmon of Grinnell, Iowa, met Lynds while a member of the Agassiz Association. Clara shared a strong interest in the natural sciences with Lynds, and in later years, would often accompany her husband on ecology trips with Oberlin College students. Five children were born of the Jones-Tallmon marriage, four of whom attended Oberlin College: Lynds Leo (1893-1952), Theodore Burton (1896-1908), George Tallmon (1897-1998, 1920 A. B.), Beth (1899-?), and Harold Charles (1903-1994, 1928 A.B.).

For nearly all of his career at Oberlin College, Lynds Jones and his family lived almost exclusively in Oberlin. One of their first homes was located at 160 North Professor Street. After briefly residing in a rural farmhouse in Birmingham, the Jones family moved back to Oberlin in 1912. Their next Oberlin home was located at 143 West College Street. A few years later, they made their permanent residence at 352 West College Street, where Lynds Jones grew vegetables on a four-acre plot of land. It was here that Lynds Jones lived out his remaining days with Clara, who would outlive him by five years. During the last two years of his life, Lynds Jones was afflicted with arthritis of the lower spine. Owing to arteriosclerosis, Lynds Jones died at his home in Oberlin on February 11, 1951, at the age of eighty-six.

George Tallmon Jones, a son of Lynds and Clara Jones, represented the second generation of the Jones Family who left his imprint on both Oberlin College and the town of Oberlin. George Jones was born on August 28, 1897, in the Jones' first home in Oberlin. Much like his father before him, he also developed a deep abiding interest for nature. Although George Jones studied all aspects of nature, he concentrated his formal studies on plants and trees instead of animals.

After graduating from the Oberlin Academy in 1916, George Jones enrolled at Oberlin College where he took classes in botany under the direction of Frederick Grover and Susan P. Nichols. During America's involvement in the First World War, George Jones participated briefly in the Oberlin Student Army Training Corps (SATC). In 1920, he received his A.B. degree and began his graduate studies at Oberlin College that same year. After receiving his A.M. from Oberlin in 1923, George Jones continued his graduate work in botany at the University of Nebraska, the University of Illinois, and the University of Chicago (he would not earn his Ph.D. until 1935). He went back to Oberlin College in 1924 to serve as his father's assistant in animal ecology. In that same year he married Mary Burwell, a native of Benton Harbor, Michigan and a member of the Oberlin College Class of 1923.

The teaching career of George Jones at Oberlin College began in 1924 when the young botanist was appointed Instructor in the school's Botany Department. His fields of specializations included animal ecology, plant ecology, and plant morphology. Early in his teaching career, Jones served under Professor Frederick Grover who at the time was a noted scientist and teacher of botany. Upon obtaining his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, George Jones rose to the rank of Assistant Professor of Botany. In 1952, George Jones became the Dascomb Professor of Botany, a position which he held until stepping down as department chairman in 1963. After 1963, George Jones continued to work for the college by serving as Emeritus Professor until the end of 1968. However, he continued to lead or participate in field trips conducted by David Benzing and other members of the Department of Biology. Like his father Lynds Jones, George Jones was affiliated with a number of scientific organizations. These organizations included the Ecological Society of America, Sigma Xi, and the Ohio Academy of Science, of which he was a fellow.

One of Jones' most notable achievements during his long association with Oberlin College was his work at acquiring species of plants for the Oberlin College Herbarium. As a curator of the herbarium, which was begun in 1834 by Dr. James Dascomb, George Jones collected thousands of plant specimens for the herbarium's collection. In 1973, George Jones completed a catalog that lists all of the individual species of plants in the herbarium. The catalog also provides information on where each of the plants can be found in Ohio and its individual counties. Aside from his important contributions to the herbarium, George Jones was known for his popular "Sunday Afternoon" field trips in and around Oberlin. Beginning in the 1940s and continuing into the 1990s, Jones conducted field trips every Sunday for both students and individuals interested in learning about tree and plant life in the local area.

During his years at Oberlin College, George Jones, his wife Mary Burwell (b. 1900) and his children Frances Burwell (b. 1926)  Margaret Susan (b. 1928), and Lynds Arthur (1932-1950), resided at the home located at 322 West College Street. While living in Oberlin, George Jones was affiliated with the First Congregational Church in Oberlin. Among his many activities was his service as church treasurer for a number of years. The hobbies and non-professional interests of this botanist included traveling, ecological photography, and playing handball.

During his fourth decade of retirement, George Jones remained active in the civic and academic life of the town that he lived in for one hundred years. Included among these was collecting plant material for the herbarium, assisting biology students in the labs, and conducting tours of the trees of Tappan Square during commencement/reunion weekends. Well-liked and admired by many Oberlin College students and residents through the years, George Jones was a living repository of local, botanical and academic history. In August 1997 he celebrated two milestones: he became a centenarian and he celebrated seventy-three years of marriage with Mary.

After a short illness, George Jones died on 3 March 1998 and was buried at Birmingham Cemetery in Birmingham, Ohio. His body was later moved to the Westwood Cemetery in Oberlin.

The Jones family of Oberlin has family ties with two other prominent families: the Shurtleff family of Oberlin, and the Burton family of Jefferson, Ohio. Mary Burton Shurtleff (1836-1924), teacher, temperance organizer, and the wife of Civil War hero and Oberlin College Professor Giles Waldo Shurtleff (1831-1904), was the daughter of the Congregational minister and Jefferson, Ohio resident William Burton. William Burton had another daughter named Lavinia Burton Howard from a previous marriage. It was this daughter of William Burton's who married Publius Jones, the father of Lynds Jones. Mary Burton Shurtleff is thus the aunt of Lynds Jones. Mary Shurtleff's brother Theodore Burton, an Oberlin College alumnus and a well-known U.S. Senator in the early twentieth century, was the uncle of Lynds Jones. Mary Burton Shurtleff lived in Oberlin until her death in 1924. Theodore Burton died five years later in Washington, D.C.

SOURCES CONSULTED

Former faculty, Staff and Trustee Files (RG 28): Lynds and George T. Jones

Jones Family Papers (RG 30/107)   

Subgroup I. Lynds Jones Papers

Series 3: Biographical sketches and articles

Subgroup II. George Jones Papers

Series 1. "The Chronicle of Lynds Jones of Oberlin College”

Series 2. "Autobiography of George Tallmon Jones”

Note written by Jeff Zdanowicz; edited by Anne Cuyler Salsich.