Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/800

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

Shenandoah), Virginia. Through every line of his ancestry he was descended from pioneer landowners of English stock, who as substantial farmers and merchants did much for the development of the new colony and the creation of its wealth. His father, Wharton Jones, was born in Shen- andoah county (now Page) on the 31st of March. 1786, the son of George Jones and Margaret (AI organ) Jones. George Jones was born in Caroline county, the son of Thomas and Mary (Wharton) Jones, of that part of Essex county formed into Caroline in 1727. He moved over into the Valley of Vir- ginia prior to the revolution, married, and lived there until his death on the 30th of April, 1810. His wife, Margaret Morgan, was born in Shenandoah county (then Frederick and now Page), in 1757, the daughter of John Morgan. The vivacity and activity for which as an old lady she was notable made her a great favorite with her grandchildren. She kept up her horseback riding, at which she had been expert, all of her life, being finally thrown b}' a horse and killed in her eighty- sixth year, on September 8, 1843.

Mr. Jones' mother, Ann Wood (called Nancy), was born on the 15th of October, 1799, the daughter of Benjamin and Sarah (Follis) Wood, at her father's home, "Cedar Point," Shenandoah county (now Page). Her father, Benjamin Wood, was born April 30, 1 76 1, the son of Nehemiah Wood Sr. and Abigail (Grigsby) Wood, who had come into the Valley from Stafford county. Ne- hemiah Wood Sr., who died October 3, 1816, at an extremely advanced age, was the son of William Wood. Benjamin Wood's first wife, Mrs. Jones' mother, Sarah Follis, was born November, 1766, a daughter of Jacob Follis and Sarah, his wife, who was Sarah Springer, a daughter of Isaac Springer. They were married February 12, 1 79 1, and she died March 27, 1812. On June 29, 1823, Benjamin W'ood married for his second wife Elizabeth Abbot, daughter of Rogden Abbot, of Culpeper county, born November 15, 1789, and died at Cedar Point, November 17, 1871. Nothing is known of William Wood beyond his name, but his son Nehe- miah is reputed to have been a splendid specimen of the sturdy manhood that con- quered the wilderness of the New World. The memory of his wife, Abigail Grigsby, was held in great veneration by her children and she left her impress upon her generation

as a woman whose dignity of position was well maintained by force of sweetness of character and charm of manner.

All of these men were extensive land- owners, as the records of their counties of residence abundantly testify. They were distinguished by no brilliant achievements, but of high character and independent means, they were people of influential posi- tion who were counted a valuable force in community life and bore their full share of the burdens of local affairs. Their opin- ions were C(UOted as the highest authority on all agricultural questions. Benjamin \\'ood, Mr. Jones' maternal grandfather, was a man of wealth, and his estate in the long division among his eight children yielded valuable farms and slaves for them all, much of which he gave them in his life time, as they married and established homes of their own. The grandfather, George Jones, was likewise a man of influence pos- sessed of comtortable fortune according to the standards of his time and place.

The family characteristics were pronounced, and Mr. Jones showed marked influences of heredity. An independent, reserved, home- loving and unostentatious people, they shrank from publicity. Though uninclined to assume leadership responsibility, they never shirked it, and when they followed it was only where mind and judgment led. With no taste for military life, they con- scientiously performed their soldier duty whenever occasion demanded. Benjamin Wood and George Jones both served as sol- diers in the revolution, the former as pri- vate in the First Virginia, and the latter in the Third Virginia Regiment.

The story is told of Benjamin Wood that as a very young man he inclined toward luxury and sport to an extent inconsistent with his father's ideas. Paternal lectures not availing to bring him to the paths of in- dustry, paternal authority was exercised. All income was cut ofT, a tract of unim- proved land conveyed to him, and he was sternly thrust upon his own resources. His riding horse and its equipment, and his own wardrobe — he was something of a dandy in his tastes — constituted his sole capital for the development of his land. The outlook was not cheerful, but the father was un- relenting and the son of the same fibre. A comrade-cousin, likewise out of favor at home for similar reasons, also owned his