W. H. Jones, 2nd Lieutenant
Terry's Texas Rangers

(Great-grandson)
December 1997

WILLIAM HENRY JONES, Born- 13 August 1842, Evergreen, Conecuh County, AL; Married- (1st) Isadore Tomlinson, 1865, Conecuh County, AL, (2nd) Octavia Ripley, 8 June 1870, Marlin, Falls County, TX; Died- 12 September 1912 in St. Louis (en route home from VA); Buried- Calvary Cemetery, Marlin, Falls County, TX.

Billy Jones was born in Alabama, the fifth of eight children born to Churchill Jones and Susan Tomlinson. At the age of 11 years, in 1853, he journeyed to his new home in Texas. His father, Churchill, had purchased 28,000 acres of land in Falls County, Texas in 1850 and had begun working it in 1851. Billy Jones grew up at the family farm, about 3 miles west of the "Falls on the Brazos." He was educated at Rudersville military school in Fayette County, TX. In late August or early September, 1861, he was recruited by family friend and lawyer, Thomas Harrison, to join a cavalry regiment. On 25 September 1861, in Houston, he enlisted for the period, "The War" in Captain Harrison's Company A, Terry's Texas Rangers, 8th Texas Calvary. W. H. Jones was elected 2nd Lieutenant in the initial organization of the regiment. Although sick in Bowling Green, KY, in November and December, 1861, Billy Jones fought with the Rangers during their campaigns in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Georgia during the regiment's first 28 months of service for the Confederacy. During Longstreet's campaign in eastern Tennessee in late 1863 and early 1864, W.H. Jones was wounded during a skirmish at Mossy Creek, Tennessee, 12 January 1864. Family stories say he was carried to relatives in Alabama (Conecuh County) to recover from his wounds. A 1933 War Department letter states: "Company Muster Roll for January and February 1864, last on file, shows him absent wounded on 30 days furlough from February 14, 1864. He was retired to the Invalid Corps, Provisional Army Confederate States October 5, 1864. He was surrendered by Lieutenant General R. Taylor, C.S.A., and paroled at Selma, Alabama June 6,1865." The family story adds that, many years later, the ball that had entered his shoulder came out of a sore on his back.

In the United Daughters of the Confederacy files, there is an application by Irene Irma Allen nee Jones that states: Wm H. Jones enlisted 7 Sept 1861 in Company A, Terry's Texas Rangers, as a private. He was promoted to 2nd Lt on 12 Sept 1861. Remarks section: "My father was in the battles of Perryville, Ky-Chicamauga at Murfresboro and was wounded at Moss(y) Creek, Tenn in 64. Under the command of N.B. Forrest, Armstrong, Joe Wheeler and Gen Thomas Harrison." Billy Jones married his first cousin, Isadore Tomlinson, a daughter of Aaron Tomlinson and Ann (Daffen or Doff), in Conech County, AL in 1865. They had one or two children who died early, and Isadore died in childbirth in 1867. In the old Jones Cemetery in Falls County, there is a gravestone which has the name missing but a footstone is marked "I.J."; the bottom of the headstone has "7 Dec 1844, d. in Marlin, Tex., 25 Oct. 1867". There are two small unmarked graves nearby. On 7 June 1870, in Marlin, Falls County, TX, Billy married Octavia Ripley, from Craig County, VA, the daughter of Hilleary (Hillary) Ripley and Rebecca Eakin of Craig County.

References (other than Terry's Texas Rangers):
(1) W. H. Jones Family Bible, in possession of Charles W. Rush
(2) National Archives Military Service Records, Confederate Forces, 8th Cavalry, Texas, W.H. Jones, 2nd Lt
(3) United Daughters of the Confederacy files, Application #51249, Texas Archives.
(4) Oltorf, Frank Calvert (Posh), The Marlin Compound, The University of Texas Press, Austin, TX, 1968
(5) Jones, Octavia Ripley, Widow's Application for Confederate Pension, The State of Texas, Texas State Archives, Austin, TX, July 24, 1933
(6) Rush, Octavia Allen, Recollections of Billy Jones, personal deposition given to author, June 1980
(7) Pen Pictures From The Garden of the World, A Memorial and Biographical History of McLennan, Falls, Bell and Coryell Counties, Texas, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, IL 1893

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