Arthur L Jones and his family
Robert and Isabella's second son, Arthur, born on 16 November 1877 (1878 in the 1900 census), was managing one of his father's quarries (see right). He was best man for his brother Hayden at his first marriage on 22 November 1899. The information on the censuses is a little inconsistent but suggests that Arthur married in about 1904 when his bride, Mary (aka Mollie) was twenty-three. It appears he married the daughter of another local quarry owner, John W Jones, the namesake of his uncle. (see
here)
I believe their first child, Donald Lee Jones, was born on 14 November 1905. The following year, The York Daily, 7 March, 1906, reported: "Mrs. Arthur Lee Jones has been confined to the house with an attack of tonsillitis." Their daughter, Eleanor Isabel Jones, was born on 13 June 1909.
The 1907 biography of his father Robert L Jones states: "Besides his two large slate quarries, Robert was a senior partner in the firm of Jones & McConkey, big general merchandise dealers, an interest he transferred to two of his sons in 1903." It appears that Arthur was one of the beneficiaries; in the 1910 census he was listed as Arthur L. Jones (32) and was running a General Store. He was living with his wife of five years, 'Mellie' (later records indicate this she was actually known as 'Mollie' but that she was officially called 'Mary'), and their children Donald L. Jones, aged four, and Eleanor I. Jones, aged ten months, in Main Street, Peach Bottom. Mollie's father was a native of Wales and her mother was a native of Pennsylvania.
It appears that Arthur had some farmland and grew wheat. He was one of those mentioned in a newspaper report discussing the local wheat harvest: "Arthur Lee Jones began cutting on Monday July 1st." [Delta Herald-Times, 5 July 1912] However, when he registered for war service in December 1918, he was a shell-maker, employed by Thurlow Steel Co., Fourth and Booth streets, Chester, Pa. His address was given as 407 Highland Avenue, Chester, Pa., and his wife, Mary (not Mollie) was still living at Main Street, Delta, York, Pa. Perhaps Arthur’s move to Chester was to enable him to contribute to the war effort. He was described as being of medium height, medium weight, brown eyed with dark hair; the form was signed "Arthur Lee Jones". By then, he and Mollie had another daughter, Elizabeth (aka Betty) Lee Jones, who had been born on 25 April 1916.