(John) Hayden Jones (1874-1917)
(John) Hayden Jones, the second child and eldest son of Robert L Jones and Isabella, was born on 17 September 1874 and not surprisingly his working life began in the slate quarries. Hayden, as he appears to have become known in adulthood, appears to have been lucky to survive an accident at his father’s quarry just before his twenty-fourth birthday; Y Drych, 15 Sept 1898, reported :
Boreu dydd Mawrth cafodd J. Hayden Jones, mab hynaf R. L. Jones, Esq., ddiangfa gyfyng trwy i gareg yn pwyso tua 75 o bwysi syrthio o'r box tra yr oedd yn myned i fyny gyda'r derrick uwch ei ben yn y chwarel; torodd archoll ddifrifol yn ei lin. Dywedir nad oedd ond ychydig fodfeddi rhyngddi a disgyn ar ei ben yr hyn a brofasai yn angeuol iddo yn y fan. Da genym ddeall ei fod yn llawer gwell na'r dysgwyliad. Cynorthwyo ei dad yn ngoruchwyliaeth un o'i chwarelau y mae Mr. Jones. Dymunwn iddo adferiad buan.I believe this roughly translates as: "On Tuesday morning J. Hayden Jones, the eldest son of R L Jones, Esq., had a lucky escape when a stone weighing 75 pounds fell from the box as it was being lifted high above him by a derrick in the quarry; it gouged a deep gash in his knee. We are told it was just inches from landing on his head, the effect of which would have been fatal. We are led to believe that he is faring much better than expected. Mr. Jones assists his father in the supervision of one of his quarries. We hope he makes a full recovery."
This lucky escape was mentioned again the following year in the report of his wedding [The York Daily, 23 November 1899] which took place at Highland Presbyterian Church, Street, Maryland (about 5 miles south-west of Delta) on 22 November. The bride was Mary Ann DeRan, Hayden’s brother Arthur was best man and Mary’s brother John was an usher. The 1900 US census (enumerated on 31 June) confirms that the couple had been married for seven months, that Hayden was a 'slate Quarry Superintendant' and that they were living in the borough of Delta in Peach Bottom Township. Hayden’s wife was listed as Mary Ann Jones, aged nineteen and born in August 1880 though other sources state that Mary was born in 1879; the census states that they had no children but their son, Robert F Jones was born on 28 April that year. Tragically Mary died on 19 November 1901; she was buried in the graveyard of the church in which they had been married. (Click here to see a photo of her grave.)