ALBERT E. JACOBS.     While Mr. Jacobs first became known to the community of Wellston as an educator, he has now for more than twenty years successfully practiced law in that city, and his record as an attorney and citizen gives him a position of unusual prominence not only in Jackson but in the other counties of the Hanging Rock Iron Region.
     Born in Gallia County, Ohio, Feb. 13, 1868, Albert E. Jacobs is a son of Joseph F. and Elizabeth (Turner) Jacobs.  His father was born also in Gallia County, and the mother was the daughter of Samuel J. Turner.  Mr. Albert E. Jacobs gained, partly through his own efforts, a liberal education.  He attended the Rio Grande College at Gallia and the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, and for a number of years engaged in teaching.  He came to Wellston to become principal of the public schools, and filled that office four years.  In the meantime he took up the study of law, and on Oct. 5, 1892, was admitted to the bar, and since that date has been in continuous practice at Wellston.  From 1898 to 1904 Mr. Jacobs served as prosecuting attorney of Jackson County.  His was a fearless and vigorous administration, and added not a little to his prestige as a lawyer and sterling citizen.
     On Oct. 30, 1889, Mr. Jacobs married Anna Morgan, daughter of John and Margaret (Thomas) Morgan.  The other children in the Morgan family were Clara, Thomas E. and Charles L.  Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs have had four children.  Elizabeth, who was born Oct. 6, 1890, died Feb. 22, 1893.  Joseph M., born Jan. 26, 1892, graduated from Oberlin College, and is now principal of the high school at Elk Point in South Dakota.  Albert E., Jr., born Feb. 18, 1899, died Mar. 3, 1899. Edwin Burk, the youngest, was born July 10, 1903.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 1018

EBEN JONES.     President of the Globe Iron Furnace Company at Jackson, Eben Jones is one of the veteran ironmasters in the Hanging Rock Iron Region.  His name is one that has been associated Math iron manufacturing and furnaces in Southern Ohio for upwards of sixty years.
     On a farm near Lampeter in Cardiganshire, Wales, Eben Jones was born June 14, 1834; only about half a mile distant from his birthplace, on another farm, his father, Thomas T. Jones, was born.  The latter was reared and educated in his native shire and when a young man began dealing in horses.  These horses were bought and collected in Wales and taken to markets in England and France.  In 1837 Thomas T. Jones brought his family to America.  They all embarked on a sail vessel which carried them to one of the principal ports in Wales, and there they took passage on a boat loaded with lumber and with only a few passengers.  After two months on the voyage they landed at New York.  Their destination was the West, and at a time when railroad building had hardly begun in the United States they went by stage coach to Philadelphia, and by combined stage and canal boat west to Pittsburg.  After remaining at Pittsburg about six months, they went on to Palmyra, Ohio, which was their home about a year, and thence on to Cleveland, where they took passage on a canal boat that brought them south to Chillicothe, and from there with wagon and team they penetrated the heavy forests that then covered Jackson County.  Jackson County at that time was an almost unbroken wilderness and there were neither canals nor railroads.
     Here Thomas T. Jones bought 120 acres of land twelve miles south of Jackson.  Three acres had been cleared, and there was a log house which furnished the first shelter for the Jones family.  Later Thomas T. Jones sold his first land and bought a tract half a mile distant, with twenty acres of cleared ground.  The substantial hewed loghouse which he erected there was then considered one of the best farmhouses in the county.  For a number of years he superintended the improvement of his land, though much of his time was demanded by other interests.  When, in 1851, the Scioto and Hocking Valley Railroad, now the Baltimore and Ohio, was commenced, he contracted to build a section.  When this was completed in 1853 he became a factor in the iron industry by organizing the Jefferson Furnace Company, of which he was financial agent.  Later, with John D. Davis, Lot Davis, L. T. Hughes and Dr. S. Williams, he was one of the organizers of the Buckeye Furnace.  He finally moved to a home near the Village of Oak Hill and spent his last years there retired.  His death came as the result of an accident at the age of eighty-four.  Thomas T. Jones married Mary Edwards, who was born in Cardiganshire, Wales, a daughter of David Edwards.  Her death occurred at the age of sixty-five.  The nine children which she reared were named Ann, Thomas, David, Eben, Margaret, Elizabeth, Edward, John and Mary.  The four youngest were born in the United States.
     Eben Jones was less than four years of age when the family came to the United States.  He grew up in Jackson County, his earliest recollections being associated with the heavily forested country and with the primitive conditions which then prevailed in this section of Ohio.  For part of his education he attended a primitive country school but was afterwards a student in the old Ohio University at Athens and also had a course in Bartlett's Commercial College at Cincinnati.  His education was much more liberal than was supplied to most men of the time, and for a number of years he employed these advantages by teaching school.  His first term was taught at Jefferson Furnace, and his wages were $1.00 a day.  Later his salary increased to $75.00 a month, and altogether he put in about six years in this useful calling.  In the mean time he had become interested in the iron business, and made his first investment as a stockholder in the Cambria Furnace.  Subsequently he became a contractor for getting out iron ore at the Jefferson Furnace.
     His business career was interrupted by the war.  In 1864 he enlisted in Company C of the 179th Ohio Infantry.  Before his enlistment he had assisted Captain Jenkins in recruiting and had raised a company of eighty men which he took to Ironton, where all but sixteen were accepted.  He then recruited twenty-one more and went with them to Columbus, where, when four were rejected, he found recruits to take their places.  In this way he had raised a full company and was him self mustered in as first lieutenant.  He went south first into Kentucky and then into Tennessee.  This was during the last year of the war, and the chief battle in which he participated was at Nashville in December, 1864, when the resistance of the Confederate forces in the West was effectually broken with the complete defeat of Hood's army.  He remained on duty with his command at Nashville until after the close of the war, and was honorably discharged.  On returning to Jefferson Furnace Mr. Jones taught another term of school and then became secretary and treasurer of the Buckeye Furnace.  In 1873 he took the leading part in the organization of the Globe Iron Company at Jackson, and was made its secretary and treasurer.  With that organization he has been identified more than forty years, has been one of the chief factors in its successful operation, and is now serving as president, while his son John E. is secretary, treasurer and general manager.  Mr. Jones is also a stockholder and director in several banks and in other corporations.  He is easily one of the leading factors in business affairs in the Hanging Rock Iron Region.
     It is interesting to note that Mr. Jones began his practical career without any capital though with a liberal education, as has already been noted.  His first savings came from his salary as a school teacher at $1.00 a day.  When he bought stock in the Cambria Furnace, as already noted, he paid one-half in cash and the rest in notes.  This was a profitable business, and the notes were paid from the dividend of the company.  From that time on his advancement was rapid and substantial and he has never had any serious setbacks in his business career.
     In early manhood and before the Civil war, in August, 1857, Mr. Jones married Miss Ann Williams.  She was born in Wales, a daughter of Morgan and Margaret Williams.  Mrs. Jones died in 1887.  Mr. and Mrs. Jones reared six sons and one daughter, namely: Thomas A., Edwin, John E., Emma, Newton, Charles D. and Frederick E.  The sons are all prominent and successful business men in affairs of the county and state of which their ancestors were among the pioneers.  Mr. Jones also has twenty-five grandchildren and two great-grand children.
     Mr. Jones is a member of the Presbyterian Church as was his wife.  He has fraternal affiliations with Trowel Lodge No. 132, Free and Accepted Masons; Trowel Chapter No. 73, Royal Arch Masons and Jackson Commandery No. 53. Knights Templar.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 1070

JOHN E. JONES.     One of the prominent iron operators in the Hanging Rock Iron Region is John E. Jones, who practically grew up around the furnaces in Jackson County and has extended his interests to a number of business corporations in this part of the state.
     John E. Jones is a son of Eben and Ann (Williams) Jones, and was born at Jefferson Furnace in Jackson County. As a boy he attended country schools, and at the same time gained a valuable business experience by assisting in the store at Jefferson Furnace.  On leaving school he was made storekeeper at the Globe Furnace, and has been closely identified with that business ever since.  For a number of years he has been secretary, treasurer and general manager, and in the meantime has acquired financial and business relations with a number of other corporations in Jackson and elsewhere.
     In 1802 Mr. Jones married Blanche Armstrong, a daughter of David and Eliza (Martin) Armstrong.  They are the parents of five children: Frances A., Harold Armstrong, Edwin Alfred, David Ellsworth and Marshall Hay.
     Mr. and Mrs. Jones are members of the Presbyterian Church at Jackson, and Mr. Jones is prominent in Masonic circles.  He has affiliation with Trowel Lodge No. 132, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons; with Trowel Chapter No. 73, Royal Arch Masons; with Jackson Commandery No. 53, Knights Templar; with Cincinnati Consistory of the Scottish Rite, and with the Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Columbus.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Pages 1318 - 1319