In the mid 1780s, Ebenezer moved to Rowan County, North Carolina, where he married Mary Roten at a little town between the forks of the Yadkin River. Mary Roten was born April 8, 1762, in Maryland. She is said to have been of Irish descent, very small, and red-headed.382 The 1790 census of North Carolina shows that Ebenezer and Mary lived in Rowan County, near the forks of South Radkin and Horse Shoe Creeks. At this time they had four children, all under 10 years of age.

Another Jones bible was found by Marie W. McCormick. This small Bible was printed in Philadelphia in 1813. Mrs. McCormick speculates that the Bible belonged to Ebenezer and was passed to his son Wiley when Ebenezer died. When Wiley died, the Bible must have gone to Laura Jones, Wiley's eldest daughter, as her name and date of birth are given following the birth records for Ebenezer and Mary Jones' children. An Anna Purcell, a granddaughter of Ebenezer Jones, placed the bible on sale in the Wallace Grocery store south of Washington, Indiana. The Bible now belongs to Mrs. Elva O'Brien Fisher, a great-great-granddaughter of Wiley R. Jones through his daughter Emily. In addition to the birth records for Ebenezer and Mary Jones' children, the following is written on the fly leaf:

"Daniel son of Nathaniel Roden (?) and
Sally his wife was born January 6th 1712.
this 19th of August 1816
Daniel Slinkard was born June the 24th 1819 (?)"

On the back of this fly leaf is written: "Bible (illegible) of E. and Mary Ro(illegible) Jones". It is not known who Daniel Roden was. It was long believed that this was Mary’s father, but recent evidence suggests that Mary’s father was William Wroten of Mispillion Hundred, Delaware.369 Daniel Slinkard was the son of Catherine Wentz Slinkard, Ebenezer's second wife, whom he married in 1831.

The most definitive research on Ebenezer Jones has been carried out by Gilbert X. Drendel, who has written an important book called “Footprints in the Frontier.”369 This book clarifies many early myths, based on family traditions, that appear to have germs of truth, but to have been mixed up in many cases. The most important early work, which has shaped much of the thinking about Ebenezer Jones, was done by Mrs. Olive Smith, who wrote a book that was privately published and widely distributed in the early 1970s,370 and a great deal of work by Jesse Mattes Jones, who left reams of notes and wrote dozens of letters to other Joneses, but who had the unfortunate habit of not recording sources. It appears that much of what Mattes discovered and disseminated is truth, but some is speculation that has been taken as fact by the new “internet generation” of family searchers.

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The following tradition was originally written by Mrs. Olive Smith.371 More recent research by Gilbert S. Drendel suggests that Ebenezer Jones actually was not a Revolutionary War veteran.

“Ebenezer enlisted at Dover, Delaware in the Continental Army on January 20, 1776, in Captain Nathan Adams' Company.372 A family tradition, passed down by Ebenezer's grandson, Enoch Jones, is that "Ebenezer Jones was a husky lad, but wasn't quite tall enough to pass the lax requirements for the Continental Army. Being patriotic and resourceful, he just put padding in his shoes and was accepted. A boy of 13 was as expert with a gun in those days as any man. Ebenezer played a fife as part of his duties during the war. This battered instrument is still in existence somewhere among his descendants." Enoch Jones, son of Hullum Jones, lived to be nearly 99 and knew his grandfather Ebenezer Jones very well. The foregoing story, and others recounted in this essay, were told to Mrs. O. J. Smith. In a letter to the author, dated June 24, 1982, Mrs. Smith said "I knew my great uncle, Enoch Jones (b August 9, 1834 - d December 25, 1932) well, for he lived in Palmetto, Fla. with his daughter Bertha. I was in Palmetto in high school (1912-14) and I often talked with him. He was my favorite uncle! He told me about knowing and talking with his grandfather Ebenezer Jones (b January 21, 1763 - d March 9, 1862). These dates were from O. P. Estes' family bible. O. P. Estes was the grandson of "Gincy" O. Garten, Ebenezer's youngest child."”

Ebenezer Jones became a minister of the Methodist Church at the age of 18, according to family tradition. According to Rowan County probate records, Minister Ebenezer Jones and the trustees of the Methodist Church bought one acre of land on Cedar Creek in Rowan County for the purpose of erecting a church building. Ebenezer and Mary Jones had 15 children in the 26 years they lived in Rowan County. The entire family was recorded in a bible that was kept by the family in their early years in Indiana. The Bible is on display at the Washington Museum in Washington, Indiana. It was printed in 1816 and is five inches by seven inches in size. The writing in the Bible is very faded and its pages are brittle. Accompanying the Jones Bible is a letter that reads, in part, as follows:

"June 23, 1969
Columbus, Ohio
Dear Elva:
I received your letter this past week end, yes, I do have an old Bible that I am sure must have belonged to the Jones Family. Aunt Eula gave me the Bible sometime ago, it was with some things that have belonged to the Wallaces' for years. I imagine the old Bible came from the old Jones Fort which I think was also close to my grand-father Wallaces' house.
Sincerely, Anne Brown"

Because of the open warfare that existed with the Indians, the early settlers of the Vincennes area erected several forts. Although they normally lived in log cabins on their own farms, the settlers repaired to the forts for refuge during especially troubled times. Each of the forts was about 150 feet square and was constructed from timbers about twelve feet high with sharpened tops. There was a gateway for wagons in one wall. Within the enclosure was a two-story, hewed-log house, called a block house. Other block houses were built at the northeast and southwest corners of the fort. The block houses were about 25 by 18 feet in dimension and the second floors were reached by ladders. Some of the inhabitants lived in the three block houses, while others built huts of various size and form, according to their taste and means. In "forting times" the life was spartan, the settlers subsisting on stores of corn, potatoes, turnips, cabbage, pumpkins, and a little meat. One of the forts, called Comer's Fort, was on Ebenezer Jones' farm.373

In 1812, Jesse Jones, son of Ebenezer and Anna Jones, was killed in an altercation with Indians. The following account is abstracted from History of Knox and Daviess Counties.374 "In September of 1812, General Samuel Hopkins was assigned the duty of destroying the Indian settlements along the Wabash and Illinois River. With 2000 volunteers, General Hopkins accomplished the destruction of the Kickapoo town at the head of Lake Peoria. He then returned to Vincennes with his mounted forces, most of whom he proceeded to discharge on the grounds they refused to obey their commander. He then assembled a new force, mostly infantry, and sallied forth with the intention of destroying Prophetstown, which had about 40 cabins and huts, and the large Kickapoo village adjoining it on the east side of the river. On September 21 the force discovered a band of Indians on Wild Cat Creek. The Indians fired upon a scouting party and killed a man by the name of Dunn. The next day a party of 60 horsemen went forth to bury their dead comrade and scout out the Indian force. Approaching the spot where the slain man lay, they discovered a mounted Indian. The troopers dropped their burying tools and started in tumultuous pursuit of the Indian. Their quarry at first kept a northeast course, but gradually inclined to the north, until he arrived at the head of a ravine, which was quite steep at the sides, and covered with timber and thick underbrush. When his pursuers had proceeded about 300 yards down the hollow, they received a very heavy fire on both flanks. A general route ensued. Those who escaped the ambush had to cut their way through the enemy lines. The next day the whole army went out to bury the dead, of which there were eighteen, and found the bodies to be 'much mutilated.' Some who were reported missing were never found. Two of those who were killed in this ambuscade were from the settlement at the forks of the White River--Samuel Culbertson and Jesse Jones, a son of Ebenezer Jones." Family tradition holds that Jesse Jones' saddle girth broke, causing him to fall from his horse. It is said that he was scalped by the Indians. Jesse Jones' estate was probated in 1813.375

The Indian troubles subsided and had virtually ended by the end of 1813. Indiana was granted statehood in 1816 and Daviess County was incorporated in 1817. Its population, which had been but 300 in 1811 when Ebenezer Jones and Joseph Hobbs settled there, had grown to 3432 by 1820. One of the first official activities of the new county was the election of officials. Ebenezer Jones was elected County Treasurer in June, 1817 at a temporary log Court House in the new town. His first report, filed in 1819 showed receipts of $1,126.43 and expenses of $1,064.68. Another of the early activities involved in the establishment of the new county was the creation of a County Seat. The town of Washington was officially established in 1817. Building lots were sold at public auction to raise money for construction of the necessary county buildings. Ebenezer Jones and Joseph Hobbs purchased two of these lots.376

Ebenezer's wife Mary died in 1829, at the age of 67, near Washington, Indiana. She was buried at Washington in the Old City Cemetery, which was abandoned in the late nineteenth century; in 1936 it was levelled by the WPA to build a public Park.377 Two years later, on June 15, 1831, Ebenezer married the widow Kattarine Slinkard, of Green County, Indiana.368 In addition to being a Methodist minister in Washington, Ebenezer was a cabinet maker. The 1850 and 1860 Daviess County Indiana census records show that Ebenezer lived his last quarter century with his son Wiley.378 He died on March 9, 1862 at the age of 99, and was buried in the Old City Cemetery alongside Mary, his first wife.

Another account is given by Eileen Phipps:198

Living in Frederich County, Joseph Sr and Ann Hobbs were neighbors and good friends of the Josiah Roten family. After the Josiah Rotens moved to Rowan County, North Carolina, they maintained close contact with Joseph and Ann, encouraging them to join them in Rowan County. Joseph Hobbs Sr did eventually buy some land in Rowan County, but he and his family never moved there. Instead, they sold their North Carolina land in November of 1784.

The Josiah Rotens had a grown daughter named Mary who was married to Ebenezer Jones. Ebenezer and Mary Jones were living in North Carolina when they, along with some fifteen other families, decided to move to Indiana. In August of 1810 they formed a train of 35 wagons and headed west. Joseph Hobbs Sr seems to have found Indiana a more appealing destination than North Carolina, as he agreed to join the Ebenezer Jones Wagon Train somewhere in Virginia.

On this wagon train young Joseph Hobbs Jr met Ebenezer and Mary Jones's teenage daughter Anna. Joseph Jr and Anna began a courtship that lasted some ten months on the wagon train and culminated in marriage in Washington Township, Knox County, on July 12, 1811, about two weeks after the wagons reached Indiana.

A similar account was told by Mr. Jesse M. Jones, Jr., of Beaumont, TX:184

“Sometime around the last of August in 1810, the Ebenezer Jones Wagon Train, consisting of some 35 wagons, and 16 families left the Salisbury District of North Carolina, in Rowen Co and headed westward to Indiana. As the Jones family and the Roten family had been writing to one another, the idea of migrating westward to Indiana interested the Joseph Hobbs, Sr. family and they agreed to migrate with them. They decided to join the wagon train somewhere in Virginia. It was on this wagon train that young Joseph Hobbs, Jr. met Anna Jones and it was the beginning of a ten and a half month courtship which ended about two weeks after the wagon train reached Washington Township, Knox Co, Indiana when on July 11, 1811, Joseph and Anna were married.”

These last two stories appear to be based on family tradition, probably embellished somewhat by Jesse M. Jones. The part about “Joseph Hobbs Sr. and Ann Hobbs” refers to a Joseph Hobbs who was married to Ann Maynard in Frederich Co MD. Somewhere along the line, someone decided that this couple must have been the parents of the Joseph Hobbs who married Anna Jones. However, there is good evidence that Joseph Hobbs and Ann Maynard were not the parents of Joseph Hobbs; see miscellaneous notes under Joseph Hobbs for a full explaination.

The 1790 Rowan Co NC census lists Ebenezer Jones, adajacent to two other Jones families:

JONES, Ebenezer 1 4 1 0 1 entry # 1181
JONES, Isaac 1 2 3 0 0 entry # 1182
JONES, Joseph 1 3 5 0 0 entry # 1183

[Foregoing numbers = males over 16, males under 16, females, other free persons, slaves.] The census date for 1790 was August 2, the first Monday in August. However, by that date, five sons had been born to Ebenezer and Anna. As explained in the miscellaneous notes for William Jones, it is believed that he must have died before August 2, 1790. Therefore, the census recorded Ebenezer, Enoch, Smith, Vance, Lewis and Anna.

Ebenezer Jones is listed in the 1810 Rowan Co NC census (page 282) with the following count:

<10 - 1 male, 4 females
10-15 - 2 males, 1 female
16-25 - 2 males, 1 female
26-44 - 0 males, 1 female
>45 - 1 male, 1 female

This would indicate that three of the 16-25 year old sons were no longer living at home. Smith Jones is listed on the same census page, along with a female <10 and a female 26-44. The six daughters are all accounted for, and there is an “extra” female 26-44 years of age. It is not known who this extra female was.

In the 1830 census, he is listed in Daviess Co IN as the head of a household consisting of one male 10-15, one female 20-30, and one male 60-70. It is not clear who the young male and the 20-30 year old female were. Ebenezer’s youngest son would have been 28 and although he had three daughters who would have been 20-30, they were all married.

In the 1840 census, Ebenezer is listed in Daviess Co IN as the head of a household consisting of one male 10-15, 1 male 20-30, 1 male 70-80, and one female 60-70. He had married Catherine Slinkard in 1831, so she was presumably the female. Daniel Slinkard was 21 at the time of this census, but it is not clear who the younger male was.

In the 1850 census of Daviess Co IN, 86-year old Ebenezer Jones is listed as head of household that included his son Wiley and his wife Annie plus their six daughters:

Daviess Co.1850 Washington, Indiana
Jones, Ebenezer 86 Preacher born Delaware
Jones, Wiley R. 51 Farmer 500 born North Carolina
Jones, Annie 39 born Indiana
Jones, Laura  20  born Indiana
Jones, Emily 18 born Indiana
Jones, Huldah 15 born Indiana
Jones, Martha 13 born Indiana
Jones, Charity 11 born Indiana
Jones, Alice 7 born Indiana

1860 Daviess Co. Washington, Indiana
Jones, Wiley 61 Farmer 2000 400 born North Carolina
Jones, Ann 48 born Indiana
Jones, Laura 29 born Indiana
Jones, Hulda 24 born Indiana
Jones, Charity 19 born Indiana
Jones, Margaret 16 born Indiana
Burch, Mary 9 born Indiana
Purcell, Masion 6 born Indiana
Purcell, Sylvester 5 born Indiana
Purcell, Jane 3 born Indiana
Jones, Ebenezer 97 born Delaware

When these settlers arrived from South Carolina the Northwest Territory was sparsely settled. In 1810 there were no more than 300 persons in all of what is now Daviess County (per Goodspeed's page 620). Five forts were built in 1812. Comer's Fort was built on Daniel Comer's farm not far from the cabin occupied by Hezekiah and Nancy Ragsdale, in the forks of White River in Hawkins Twp., Knox County, Indiana.

Goodspeed's History of Knox and Daviess Counties, Indiana, 1886

Occupants of the Forts:
Comer's Fort - Friend Spears, James and Thomas Aikman, Ebenezer Jones, Alexander Stevens, Chris. Gregory, John Stringer, William White, John Wallace, the widow Wallace and two sons, the widow Ellis, Vance Jones, Ephraim Thompson, E. RAGSDALE, Thrice Stafford, and Alexander Stephenson. There were a large number of young men in this fort, among them Wiley R. Jones, Jesse Hallem, William Phillips, John and James Stafford, Samuel Aikman, John and Josiah Wallace; John, David, and William Ellis; Colman Morgan and Wesley Wallace; John RAGSDALE and John Thompson.

Ballow's Fort - John, Thomas and William Horrall, Jeremiah Lucas, Charles Sinks, Richard Steen, Thomas Scales and Nathan Davis. Young men and boys: George Mason and Fleming Ballow; John, James and Samuel Steen, and Salem Sinks. These names comprise a list of nearly, if not quite all the male inhabitants of Daviess County, at the breaking out of troubles with the Indians.379

For another account see “DAVIESS COUNTY, INDIANA, EARLY SETTLEMENT OF DAVIESS COUNTY.”380

A brief bio of Ebenezer Jones, differing in some details from what is normally published about him, is found on listing of Indiana Patriot Graves.381 [The idea that he was descended from Morgan Jones has subsequently been disproven by the reserach of Gilbert X. Drendel.] The bio from this source, provided by Paul L. Stone, is as follows:

EBENEZER JONES

Born: 21 Jan 1763 in New Castle Co. DE (then part of PA)
Son of Zacharian (sic) and Johanna Thomas Jones.
His great-grandfather David, grandfather Morgan and possibly his father Zachariah were born in Wales. They are buried at the Welsh Tract Baptist Church near Newark, DE.

Died: 9 Mar 1862, age 99

Buried: Supposedly buried in the Old City Cemetery in Washington, next to his first wife Mary. There is no official record of his burial. The Old City Cemetery has been destroyed and buildings built in the vicinity of where the cemetery was located.

Service: 20 Jan 1776: Enlisted at Dover, DE in the Continental Army in Capt Nathan Adams' Company of Col. John Haslet's Delaware Regiment. (Age 13)
He is also supposedly listed as a soldier & pensioner in Maryland. The records of the DE Regt show it was attached at one time to a MD Regt because of small numbers in the DE Regt. This might account for him being listed in Maryland records.
The oral family history says he played the fife as part of his duties.

Proof: Delaware Military Archives, Vol. I, p.52.
Maryland Revolutionary Records, p141 by Newman, Harry Wright 1938 reprinted 1980 by Geneological Publ. Co., Baltimore

Lived in North Cariolna from 1783-1811. Listed in the 1790, 1800 & 1810 Federal census in NC.
In 1810 he sold 247 acres in Rowan Co. NC and led a wagon train of 35 to Knox Co. Indiana east of Vincennes, arriving in 1811.
Purchased land in sec. #3 where South Washington, IN lies.
He was appointed the first treasurer of Daviess Co. when it was formed in 1817, and served as treasurer for 20 of the next 21 years.

Married: Mary Roten, Rowan Co, NC
Mary died 1829 in Indiana. When the Old City Cemetery was abandoned and made into a park by the WPA in 1936, records made of stones were found in the cemetery showing she was buried there.

Children:15 children were born to Ebeneezer & Mary in NC:
William
Enoch
Smith
Vance
Lewis (Indiana State Representative 1835-36)
Anna
Jesse (killed 1812 by Indians in Indiana)
Hullum
Wiley
Mary
Nancy
Vincent
Sally
Deborah
Jincy.

Married: June 15, 1831 the widow Katharine Slinkard.

The 1850 & 1860 census show he lived with his son Wiley and list his occupation as minister. Deed records in NC indicate he was associated with the Methodist church but may not have been an ordained minister as there is no record of him serving as minister of any church in IN. He was also a carpenter.

Directions: Old City Cemetery / Pioneer Park
Washington High School was built in 1967 over most of what was the Old City Cemetery. All that remains is a small memorial called Pioneer Park which contains a very few stones from the old cemetery. There are also about a dozen new "government" tombstones for Civil War Veterans who I assume were buried in the old cemetery. I am going to work on getting a Veteran's stone for Ebenezer to place next to those of the Civil War vets in Pioneer Park.

Information provided by Paul L. Stone

The National CD patriot index shows an Ebenezer Jones b. 1763 d. 1835 NY
The National Graves CD shows 2 Ebenezer Joneses born 1763 and buried out east. These same two appear on Heritages Pensions CD.

For an interesting first party account of life in early Indiana, see the miscellaneous note attached to the person sheet of Mary Jane Jones Allison.

http://heathcock.org/genealogy/ps01/ps01_242.html