One of the rugged stalwart pioneers of southern Nevada and southern Utah was Thomas Jefferson Jones.
He was born September 6, 1838 at Pittsfield, Pike County, Illinois. His father died when he was only eight months old, leaving his mother a widow at the age of twenty. There was little chance for schooling when he was growing up and the family circumstances were such that the boy had to find a job as early as he was able to do anything.
In 1841 his mother married agian and on April 13, 1852, she with her new husband and Thomas and two younger children started for Oregon. His mother having joined the Mormon Church, prevailed on her husband to go to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and join a company of Mormons that were soon to depart for Utah. It being safer to travel in a larger company because of possible trouble with the Indians. After seventy-three days they arrived in Salt Lake Valley on August 13, 1852.
They first settled in Centerville, but a year later moved to Willard City, where they remained for the next twelve years.
In 1860 Thomas became of legal age. As his father's estate in Illinois had remained unsettled until this time, he then returned there and spent a year settling the estate and disposing of the family holdings. It was during this time that he met and married Emily Miller, a school teacher who was boarding with his aunt with who he was staying. He worked at whatever jobs were available and saved enough to purchase 2 teams and wagons. ON June 2, 1861, they left the Missouri River and on August 9 arrived back in the Salt Lake Valley. His have having driven one of the teams all the way across the plains. He thus crossed the plains three times by team and wagon.
In the fall of 1865, after the birth of his third son, he was called by President Brigham Young to go to the Southern Mission in Washington County. After arriving there he was sent by Apostle Erastus Snow to Panaca, Nevada, where the church owned a Co-op Mercantile store that had become in debt to the amount of $3,000. He was appointed to take charge of this store, and without previous business experience he pulled the store through and returned it to the stockholders in good condition.
From May 1871 to March 1875, Thomas presided over the Panaca ward as Bishop. During these years he served two terms as County Commissioner anf Lincoln County, Nevada. He also did freighting between Panaca and Salt Lake City.
In 1875, he was called by [Utah Governor and Mormon Church] President Brigham Young to move to Washington, Utah, there to take charge of and manage the Rio Virgin Cotton and Woolen Mills. Again he had a business on his hands of a kind in which he had had no previous experience. For six years he operated the cotton mills successfully and during that same period he served as Bishop of the Washington Ward and as First Counsellor to the State President in the St. George Stake. He also served as County Commissioner of Washington County for two terms.
Because of some contentions among the people of Parawan, Iron County, over wate rights and other problems, the president of Parawan Stake was released by Brigham Young in 1881 and Thomas Jefferson Jones was again called to move his family to Parowan, Utah and assume the Presidency of the Parawan Stake. He was also appointed by the court to the county board of selectmen and entered very earnestly upon his duties in both Church and civil positions. He rendered a very usefule service in assisting the people in checking and correcting the titles to their lands and water rights.
In May 1878, before moving to Parawan, he married Johanna C. Larson and in 1879 he married Alice Hall, both of Washington, Utah.
In May 1884, he moved his second family to Overton, Nevada. There he served as the Bishop of the Overton Ward and was appointed postmaster of Overton.
Here the endured the hardships of a new, sparsely settled country. To obtain flour it was necessary to haul wheat to Parawan, Utah for milling. On other trips he would haul salt from the mines south of St. Thomas to Cedar City and other ponts for trading for food and merchandise. Few men in the south saw more active duty than Thomas Jefferson Jones. He was a big and commanding figure both mentally and physically. He was a man to whom everyone instinctively yielded respect and his very physical strength imparted confidence. He was a safe and sane arbiter and balance wheel in all church and civic councils. Moreover, he was a most useful and handy community man. He pulled their aching teeth, set their broken bones, assisted the sick, made water barrels for freighters, hay racks and wagons for the famers, and coffins to lay away the dead.
He died July 18, 1914 in Delta, Utah, where he was visiting members of his family. By his three wives he reared a family of twenty-six sons and daughters.