James Davis Jones - Frankie Hamblen Jones History

Submitted by Alan Hamblen (alanhamblen@yahoo.com):

This daughter of Pierce Dant Hamblen was born June 26, 1801, in either southwestern Virginia or in Knox County, Kentucky. She married James Davis Jones on January 11, 1828, in Knox County. James was born in North Carolina on August 13, 1803. He was the son of Shugar and Rebecca (Nicholson) Jones.

By October of 1832, James and Franky moved to Hendricks County, Indiana and claimed 80 acres of Federal land (Oct. 24, 1832). The land is described in Book 6, page 86, of Crawfordville District: NW1/4, Sec. 10, Twp. 14, Range 2N. On November 7, 1835, James sold 40 acres of this land to his father and mother, Shugar and Rebecca.

James and Franky moved to Taney County Missouri, selling their Indiana property on March 18, 1837. Franky's brother, Thomas Hamblen, had moved to Missouri in 1829 and was in Jackson County at this time. We are unsure of how much contact existed between this sister and brother, but the movement of both families seems to indicate that considerable contact continued, even into the 1870's and 80's.

One of the last entries made by James Davis Jones in the Family Bible says, "and die the 25 of February 1863 by murders, C. L. Jones." Those were dark days for the Joneses as they were for most of the families living in the border states. Bushwhackers and others made life uncertain for those living in those times and areas.

The Jones family moved for the final time in 1864, to Lamar County, Texas. One night, late in the war, several families in Taney County, Missouri, went to the Court House, boxed up the county records and took the official records by wagon south through Arkansas to Lamar County, Texas and buried them there. We cannot say for certain that the Jones Family was involved in this escapade, but they certainly did move at that approximate time to Lamar County.

Frances "Franky" Hamblen Jones died in Lamar County on December 12, 1869, and her will is probated there. Peter H. Jones, the eldest son of James Davis Jones, died there in 1872 and his will is there also.

The will of James Davis Jones is in the Court House in Paris, Texas. The will was dated August 20, 1879. He died on January 9, 1880. The children of James Davis and Frances Hamblen Jones:

4.7.1 Peter H. Jones b. Oct. 20, 1828.*
4.7.2 Elizabeth Jones b. Aug. 25, 1830.
4.7.3 Nancy Jones b. Jan. 19, 1831.
4.7.4 Enoch Jones b. July 19, 1835.
4.7.5 Emley (Emlene) Jones b. April 18, 1837.
4.7.6 James Monroe Jones b. Dec. 11, 1840.*
4.7.7 Calvin L. Jones b. July 8, 1843.*