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Wilson N. Jones
Sherman Democrat
July 4, 1976 America Always Edition pg.9 WILSON N. JONES, INDIAN CHIEF, PHILANTHROPIST, RANCHER By Oren Art Wilson N. Jones Hospital Development Director Wilson N. Jones was one of the most notable and versatile men in the Choctaw Nation, a rancher, planter, statesman and philantrophist, as well as being a highly successful merchant. He was born in Mississippi, but the date isn't certain. One report gives it as 1831, but the inscription on his tomb, which records his death in 1901, states he was 74, which could make his birth in 1827 or perhaps 1828. He was the youngest son of Captain Nathaniel Jones, half Choctaw. half white. His mother was a Battiest (pronounced Bah-teest), a prominent French-Choctaw family still represented in Eastern Oklahoma In 1833 the family came over the "Trail of Tears" to settle on Little River. Captain Jones was "annuity captain" in charge of distribution of government payments to the tribe. He was also a member of the Choctaw national council while it met at the first council house at old Nanih Waiya, near the present town of Tuskahoma. (Nanin Waiya was named after the Choctaws' "sacred mound" in Mississippi.) Little is known of Wilson Jones' early years. He did not have much formal education. In 1848 he left home and set out to make his fortune, first as a farmer in the Little River area. Starting with nothing, he had in a few years accumulated $500, the beginning of a vast estate. After the Civil War he moved to Shawnee Creek , about 15 miles east of Caddo in Bryan County, and began to prosper, though the road was not always smooth. In 1867 he went into the cattle business with a partner named Myers, and in four years they had accumulated a herd of about a 1,000. Myers drove them overland to Kansas markets, sold the cattle, and just kept going on. Jones never knew where. Wilson Jones was left with nothing but debts to show for four years of hard work, but he had acquired such a reputation for honest and good management that he was soon on the road to success again. After coming of the Katy (M.K.&T.) Railroad in 1872 he went into the mercantile business in a big way, owning a store at Shawnee Creek and another at Caddo. Due to mismanagement of the Caddo store by a partner, it failed. Jones had to take it over pay off $20,000 in debts, mostly to St. Louis wholesalers, but he soon had it flourishing again. Officially Jones owned only these two stores, but tradition is that he owned, had a partnership in, or had some kind of working interest in (usually a "silent partnership") in six other stores, or eight in all. Jones' land holdings were not small either. He had 17,000 acres under fence, about 5,000 cattle, and 75 to 300 head of horses. About 600 acres were under cultivation. He had a very fine orchard, mostly apples; the rest was in pasture. Until 1883 a Choctaw could use and hold any part of the public domain he cared to fence, improve, and use. A law passed in 1883 limited the holdings of any one man to a square mile, but the law was not retroactive, so Jones was able to keep his 27-1/2 square miles of land. He also owned a cotton gin and had extensive and profitable in some of the nation's coal mines. Once he became established, Jones built a home at a beautiful site on Shawnee Creek, near the present settlement of Cade. The house had two wings, with 14 rooms in all, and each room had a fireplace. One room was about 30 feet long and wide in proportion. It reportedly was used as a courtroom when Jones was a Choctaw official. Grand vereandas with walnuts posts and balusters enclosed the house. Underneath was a large cellar. Some said it was used to confine prisoners awaiting trial upstairs, but it is more likely it was used as a storage place, particularly for fruit. The house stood for a long time, but a few years ago was torn down. Enough lumber was salvaged from it to build three nice homes. The owner of one said he was replacing some of the old windows a few years back and was surprised to find the studdings in the wall were four inches square instead of the usual two inch by four inch. The cemetery near the site is in a sad state of disrepair, but an attempt is being made to have the Oklahoma State Historical Society restore it, a nd repair the monuments. The one of Mr. Jones is truly an impressive one that must have cost many thousands of dollars. It was said to have been shipped to Caddo in sections and moved to the gravesite where it was assembled. The inscription on the tomb is about as short and simple as one could possibly be. It says only W.N. Jones died June 1901 74 years of age There is no mention of his having been principal chief (or Governor) of the Choctaw Nation. It was not surprising that a man of Wilson Jones' ability should become involved in Choctaw politics. In 1884 he became trustee for Pushmataha District; in 1887 he was elected treasurer of the Choctaw Nation, and in 1890 was elected to the highest office within the gift of the Nation, that of principal chief - or, as it was sometimes called, governor. The election was a bitter one, Jones beating the incumbent, Benjamin Smallwood, by 200 votes. Jones was a member of the Progressive Pary (called derisively the "Polecats" by their opponents.) The opposition party was officially the "National," but they too soon had a nickname, "The Buzzards". Generally speaking, the Progressives were the more liberal and had many mixed-bloods. The Nationals wanted to keep all the old ways and had many fullbloods. The election of 1892 was the most bitter in Choctaw history. Inflammatory newspaper "letters to the editor" and adversitements added to the unrest and civil war was narrowly averted. Jones was opposed by Jacob B. Jackson, a full-blood who had attended college in the "states". The bitterness of the campaign, it is said, was partly because whites helped stir up trouble, wanting the Nation to be disbanded so they could more easily get possession of Choctaw land and other property. Another factor was that the winning party would have charge of disbursing large sums of money, more than $100 for every man, woman and child in the Nation, as a result of a per capita payment from the United States. The election was close, and there was probably some fraud on both sides. It seemed, on the face of the returns, that Jackson was the winner, but the vote was so close that ballots were to be canvassed by the national council, which was to meet in October. Several Jones partisans were murdered during the campaign and after the election. Armed Jackson followers prevented the arrest of the culprits. In response to an appeal from Jones, a company of calvary from Fort Reno came in and outright war was averted. Nine Choctaws were sentenced to death, but only one was actually executed for the murders. Jackson, the losing candidate, was instrumental in restoring calm. He constantly urged his followers not to fight, but to let the law take its course. When the returns were officially canvassed, the count was 1,705 for Jones to 1,697 for Jackson, a difference of only eight votes. (Some reports put the difference at three.) Each side claimed victory, the nationals saying Jones controlled the assembly, which was true. The nationals felt they had been cheated out of the election, but, largely because of the urging of Jackson, they accepted the decision. Although Governor Jones was lacking in formal education, his administration was memorable for the radical changes made in the educational system. Three new schools were built, one a school for girls near the Choctaw captial, appropriately named Tuskahoma Academy. A school for boys was built near Hartshorne and was named after the governer, Jones Academy. This school is still in operation, but the students now stay in the dormatories at the academy and attend public school in Hartshorne, about two or three miles away. A third school, erected for "Choctaw Freedmen," was named Tuskaloosa Institute. The term "Freedmen" deserves explanation for those not familiar with Choctaw history. During the Civil War the Choctaws sided with the South. Many Choctaws owned slaves. After the war the federal government insisted the Choctaws (and the rest of the five civilized tribes) give the freed slaves full citizenship. The Choctaws resisted bitterly, but pressure was such they finally had to relent . Tuskaloosa Institute was built to provide education, but "Jim Crow" laws were enforced in the Choctaw Nation, and intermarriage was a crime punishable by death. Governor Jones was also insistent that Choctaw schools be run by Choctaw educators, and there were plenty of highly qualified Choctaws for these posts. Although successful in business and politics, Wilson Jones' personal life was beset by tragedy, almost from the beginning. When he was young he married the daughter of Colonel Pickens, well known Chickasaw leader. Two children were born of this marriage, both of whom died young, soon to be followed by the mother. In 1855 he married Louisa LeFlore, a granddaughter of Thomas LeFlore, district chief and kinsman of Greenwood LeFlore of Mississippi, who was one of the wealthiest men in the United States. To this marriage four children were born. Of them, only a son , W.W. Jones, and a daughter, Annie, grew to maturity. Annie, a beautiful and very intelligent girl died in her senior year in college at Fulton, Mo. Willie, the son, received the best educational opportunities, but developed habits of dissipation. In 1885 on the streets of Caddo, he killed a man. Three years later he himself was killed while returning with a group of revelers from Texas, his body being found on the sands of Red River. He left an infant son, Nat, who eventually became the heir of Wilson N. Jones. On Willie's tombstone in the family lot is engraved : "W.W. SON OF W.N. & LOUISA JONES. BORN DEC. 22, 1860. DIED JAN 27, 1888." On the bottom line is the time of his death: "At 9:00 P.M." Louisa Jones died in 1864. Her tombstone says she was "AGED ..ABOUT 32 YEARS". There was another marriage that was not recorded and on which the details are vague. This wife was Martha Risner, a white woman, daughter of George Risner. This marriaged lasted a year, one son being born to them. Then Martha left and remarried . It is not certain if there was a divorce or if Governor Jones had the marriage annulled, as he was politically powerful enough to do. The boy spent many of his boyhood summers at the ranch. His father seemed to like him but never acknowledged him as his son. In his will he left him a small cash settlement, but it was bequeathed "To my friend" not "To my son". Governor Jones' final venture into matrimony was in 1876 when he married a widow, Mrs. Belle Curtis, daughter of Colonel Heaston of Arkansas. She too bore him two children. They too died in infancy, but their mother survived their father. Governor Jones had long transacted business with banks and wholesale houses in Sherman, and in the late '90s he purchased a home there, the former residence of Judge Thomas J. Brown of the Texas Supreme Court. Most of Jones' declining years were spent in this home. When he died in 1901 his estate was valued at $250,000. In his will he provided for his sole remaining heir, Nat Jones, and made several other bequests, stipulating that the bulk of his fortune be used to erect or buy a hospital for the citizens of southern Oklahoma and north Texas. Tradition is that he wanted to hospital to be in Texas, as Oklahoma was not a state and did not have laws governing the operation of a hospital. Tradition also says that one of the provisions of the will was that no poor person or any Indian was ever to be refused admission to the hospital. Some old-time Indians say at one time they did not have to pay for using the hospital, but did have to pay the doctors who treated them. Some Indians say that later they did get a discount, but now this is not so. One final act in the Jones family tragedy was in 1916 when Nat Jones fell to his death from the ninth floor of a hotel in Oklahoma City. The official verdict was suicide, but the family never accepted that. They said he was thrown from the window, and that the condition of his body, particularly the fingernails, showed he had fought vigorously for his life, had grasped the edge of the window and had hung on until his fingernails had been almost torn from their sockets by whoever it was who wanted him out of the way. The will was vigourously contested by the family, litigation dragging on for 28 years. Finally, on June 27, 1929, for consideration of $100,000, the Sherman hospital and nurses school was purchased and renaimed the Wilson N. Jones Memorial Hospital. Chief Wilson Nathaniel Jones  Historical Marker Biography Index Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message.  |