DALE JONES

The following bio was taken from page 263 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Cemeteries of Texas

My husband, Dale Jones, is descended from one of the oldest families and original landowners in Rusk County. In New York there was a James McClune who was married to Sarah McCune. He acquired three Spanish Land Grants, one for each of three sons. The one in Rusk County, acquired July 2, 1835, was for James L. McClune.

At the age of nineteen, James came from New York to Galveston on a ship and continued by horseback and wagon from there. He married Delilah Storm on May 5, 1846 in Nacogdoches. James and Delilah had nine children: John Wesley; Sally J., who married J. M. Bohannon; William Oliver; Mattie; Delilah Alice, who married J. D. Johnson; Emma P., who married J.P.B. Moore; James L.; R.J.L.; Ida, who married Jim Hughes; and Mary who married J. C. (Joe) Moore. During 1889, the Spanish Land Grant was divided among these nine children. James L. (one of the nine) married Lizzie McCune, and they had Bryant, Maud, Earl, Bob, Gracie, and Homer. Gracie, who married Oscar O. Jones, had Dale, Ray and Joe. Each of these three children owns a small piece of the original Land Grant, but Dale is the only one actually living on it.

Dale’s great granddaddy worked the land with slaves before the Civil War. He raised cotton, turnip greens, okra and peas. There used to be a cotton gin across the road from his place. He also started the McCune Cemetery at Redland community east of Laneville. The family would go by wagon to Shreveport once a year to buy supplies. It took two weeks to a month.

Grandpa McCune had registered Holstein cows imported from England and also had big patches of cotton, turnip greens, okra and peas.

Dale’s great granddaddy, granddaddy, mother, and he were all born on the home place. His mother went to a small community school which used to be in front of the Redland Church. There was also a small library there. Grandpa McCune, Gracie, and Dale graduated from Laneville School.

In 1903 Dale’s dad, Oscar Jones, his mother and daddy, and six brothers and sisters came by train from Lumpkin County, Georgia when Oscar was five years old. They settled in Millville community. Later Mr. Jones moved to Laneville, met Gracie, and married her. Mr. Jones liked to fish, hunt, and farm. He raised corn, peanuts, watermelons, cotton, cows, horses, and mules. When Dale was very young, his family washed their clothes in a wash pot down at the creek every Saturday morning. Both Mr. and Mrs. Jones are buried in the McCune Cemetery. Dale’s great grandparents and grandparents are also buried there.

After graduation from school, Dale went to Tyler commercial TV Repair School, and later joined the Army, and for one year went to school at Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey. Dale now has a TV Repair Shop in Henderson.

I graduated from Gaston High School and Tyler Commercial College and am presently employed by County Judge James B. Porter. Dale and I have three children: Anita, Paul, and Jeff. Our place at Laneville was entered in the Family Land Heritage Program in 1974. My family history is related by my father, T. R. Richards, elsewhere in the book.

Submitted by Joyce Richards Jones