Claburn S. Jones Family Collection
Scope and Contents
Claburn S. Jones (1860-1941) was a Pennsylvania Railroad official and the husband of Margaret (Kenworthy) Jones (1864-1929). This collection of family papers reflects the lives of Claburn and Margaret Jones and their children and relatives, especially Margaret's Evans Kenworthy Quaker relatives in Indiana and Ohio. Claburn S. Jones was apparently a man with a strong sense of family. He maintained a number of ledgers that he considered the family archives. Into these volumes he pasted clippings, letters, and other items that reflected the lives of his children and other relatives. Although he and Margaret had been members of Whitewater Monthly Meeting of Friends in Richmond, and showed some interest in Quaker history, their sons served in World War I and Claburn, at least, had a strong sense of class and social status. Much of the material in the Jones Collection concerns Margaret's family. Margaret Kenworthy was a native of Richmond the daughter of Jesse and Mary (Evans) Kenworthy. Her grandfather, Thomas Evans (1791-1852), was one of the most influential Friends in the Midwest from the 1820s until his death. A resident of Waynesville, Ohio, he emerged as a leader of the Orthodox group there at the time of the Hicksite Separation in 1828, and was the clerk of the Meeting for Sufferings of the Orthodox Indiana Yearly Meeting for many years. His son Isaac P. Evans (1821-1882) owned a large home adjacent to the Kenworthy residence on the north side of Richmond, and his sons Joseph and William were wealthy Indianapolis businessman and influential Quakers.
Dates
- 1674-1993
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open without restriction.
Conditions Governing Use
Some materials may be protected by copyright. Permission to reproduce and to publish for commercial purposes must be requested from the Archivist.
Biographical or Historical Information
Claburn S. Jones was a native of Centerville, Indiana, and graduated from Earlham College in 1884. After teaching school for a few years, he became an official for the Pennsylvania Railroad. His job took him to various cities in Ohio and Indiana before he was transferred to Chicago about 1903. There he and Margaret lived until their deaths. They were returned to Richmond, Indiana, for burial in Earlham Cemetery.
Note written by William Fuson
Extent
7 Boxes
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement Note
THE "SCRAPBOOK"/DIARIES OF CLABURN S. JONES The dates each volume appears to cover are: I. (1860) - 1896 - 1921 II. November 6, 1921 - November, 1924 III. November, 1924 - November, 1927 IV. November 7, 1927 - August 11, 1929 V. August, 1929 - July 24, 1930 VI. July, 1930 - May 20, 1934 VII. May, 1934 - August 14, 1941 However, there are many items with dates given that should have been included in earlier volumes. Volume VIII consists of clippings accumulated by Margaret Jones but put in order by Claburn. Volume IX apparently is the oldest of the scrapbooks and was apparently Margaret’s work, since it focuses on her relatives and lacks Claburn’s annotations. The attached index (or summary of contents) is focused upon the life of C.S. Jones, the patriarch of the family, who compiled the document. Other family members and a few non-family persons are indexed, but many people named in Jones's entries are not -- they run into the hundreds. Within indexed items, e.g., persons, citations are listed chronologically, when that is possible, rather then in volume-page order, as references to one event may be scattered in several locations. For each item or sub-item, a title, date(s), volume number(s), and page number(s) is(are) given when available. Jones pasted in scores of often (but not always) annotated clippings from newspapers, ranging from one inch to several full pages in length. He also included programs, business cards, tickets, bills, notes and photographs, etc. Not all of these have been indexed: I have tried to include references to most of those having particular relevance to family members. General news easily available elsewhere is usually neglected. Jones included many brief memoirs or essays (which I have marked with quotation marks to highlight) and a number of occasional poems which he himself wrote. He also included many poems by others, especially his wife, and many horoscopes printed in newspapers, applying them to family members. Volume IV contains diaries (daily entries) for various periods, often separated by several pages of clippings and photographs (often unlabeled). Pagination has had to be added in volumes IV, VI, and VII. Much of the latter part of Volume IV and of the following volumes is devoted to records and recollections of Margaret K. Jones, his wife, for whom he grieved intensely. Some Comments on the SCRAPBOOKS & CSJ. Having perused the seven volumes, I want to note a few of my own reactions thereto. First is his intense devotion to his wife; the scrapbooks are as much a record of her activities and interests as they are of his -- but from his point of view. CSJ believed a wife should obey her husband! After her death he frequently returns to the theme of loneliness although his sons and their families are very attentive, visiting him or entertaining him quite often. Second, he is a railroader, For 43 years he worked as a manager for a railroads, most of the time for the Pennsylvania. Many of this associations are connected with the railroad, even his participation in "security" groups, during and after WW I. This also facilitated his frequent travels around the country: he had free railroad transportation anywhere he wanted to go in the USA or Canada. (He does not seem to have wanted to travel abroad.) He grew up in a Friends family and in early life was associated with Friends and the families related to him and his wife (Kenworthy, Fouts, Evans, Morris) were often Friends, but he had apparently no real attachment to Friends Testimonies or Meetings. He joined the Presbyterian church in Chicago and was a "faithful member" there. He does not seem to have supported strongly the effort by others to establish a Jones Scholarship for an Earlham College student! His sons went elsewhere to college, e.g. U. of Illinois, and were BMOC's with fraternity connections. CSJ was a Mason. He was also clearly more than intrigued by astrology, and includes many horoscopes in his collection (with an escape clause, "if you believe it.") CSJ's and his wife's interest in poetry is evident. Both wrote and he preserves dozens of poems (modeled on Edgar Guest, also clipped and preserved) many of which they seem to have read at meetings and banquets or family gatherings. His interest in drama and music seems limited to family members parts in school affairs. He did not support civic arts organizations. While MKJ took lessons in painting as a child from Marcus Mote, she seems not to have continued this activity. He was not a "successful" business man; although he worked hard and saved his money he did not amass a fortune. The collapse of 1929 and the depression hurt him badly in faith and fortune, but he remained a good Republican to the end. What might have hurt him the most, though, was that his often expressed hope that his descendants would build on his devoted work of historical recording of the family affairs -- they did not. The seventh volume ends, pathetically, with his account of a dog fight in front of his house! There is not even a note narrating his last day or days... R.I.P. William Fuson, December, 2000.
Method of Acquisition
Gift, Richard N. Jones of Hanover, New Hampshire, and his niece, Edie Batton of North Canton, Ohio.
Other Descriptive Information
Please download the index to the collection for more detailed information.
- Title
- Archon Finding Aid Title
- Author
- William Fuson
- Description rules
- Other Unmapped
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- und
Repository Details
Part of the Friends Collection and Earlham College Archives Repository