Raymond T. Jones

Unknown Source/Date

Raymond T. Jones Dies at 91; Retired Lumber Firm Head

A graveside memorial service for Raymond T. Jones, 91, of Buffalo and Naples, FL, a retired executive of a North Tonawanda lumber company, will be held at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow in Forest Lawn Section H.

Mr. Jones, a native of Elmira but a resident of the Buffalo area since boyhood, died Sunday, September 2, 1984 in Buffalo General Hospital.

He retired about 30 years ago as president and chairman of the board of R.T. Jones Lumber Co. of North Tonawanda, a concern founded by his father in 1902.  Mr. Jones started working for the company at 15.

During his active business life he was a member of several boards of directors and was still a director of R.T. Jones at the time of his death.

Mr. Jones was a member of the Buffalo Club and of the Naples Yacht Club.

He is survived by two sons, R. Thomas III and David T.; a daughter, Barbara Clark; nine grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

Credit:  Alma Miller Miller collection, in memory of William D. Miller.  Her father worked for R. T. Jones and his family for 72 years.


OBITUARY FROM BUFFALO EVENING NEWS

Undated

Raymond T. Jones Called by Death

Prominent Lumberman Victim of Heart Attack

North Tonawanda, May 26--Raymond T. Jones, 75 years old, 604 West Ferry Street, Buffalo, president of the R. T. Jones Lumber Company, this city, died yesterday afternoon after a heart attack.

Mr. Jones, who had been in the lumber business here since 1901, was born in Southport, NY, and was engaged in the lumber business with his father and brother in Elmira until coming to this city.  He entered business here with Robert Laidlaw and Allen McPhersson, the partnership continuing until 1920, when the business was incorporated and Mr. Jones was made President.

He was a founder and one of the principal stockholders of the Whissel Lumber company, the Georgian Bay Lumber Company, and the Jones Navigation Company, Inc., and the Buffalo Copper and Brass Rolling Mills.

He was a member of the Buffalo Club, the Buffalo Athletic Club, and the old Ellicott Club.  In Miami Beach, Florida, where he maintained a winter home, he was a member of the Committee of One Hundred and served on its board of governors.

He is survived by three sons, H. Morton Jones, Raymond T. Jones, Jr., and Charles D. Jones, all officers and directors of the Jones Lumber Company.  Five grandchildren also survive.

Funeral services will be held tomorrow at 2 p.m. from the home, with interment in Forest Lawn Cemetery.  The Rev. Dr. Earl F. Adams will officiate.

Credit:  Alma Miller Miller collection, in memory of William D. Miller.  Her father worked for R. T. Jones and his family for 72 years.


Raymond Thomas JONES was born Sept. 1, 1864/hist in Southport, Chemung Co., N.Y.. He died May 25, 1939 in Elmira, N.Y..

Obit for Raymond Thomas Jones Sr.

Raymond Thomas Jones

HEART ATTACK CAUSES DEATH OF R.T. JONES

Funeral services to be held tomorrow for lumber executive, prominent clubman

Raymond T. Jones of 604 West Ferry Street, president of the R. T. Jones Lumber Company, Inc., North Tonawanda, died yesterday afternoon of a heart attack. He was 75 years old.

Born September 1, 1864, in Southport, Chemung County, near Elmira, Mr. Jones entered his fathers; lumber business at the age of fifteen, after public and private school education in Chemung County.

A year later his father died and he continued in the lumber business with his brother C.M. Jones. They opened a retail yard in Elmira where Mr. Jones remained until 1901, when he established a lumber company in North Tonawanda under co-partnership with Robert Laidlaw and Allen McPherson of Toronto.
                                
President Since 1920

The partnership continued until 1920 when the company was incorporated under its present name and Mr. Jones was elected president.
 
Mr. Jones served as director of several prominent financial and industrial corporations of Buffalo, among them the Citizens Trust Company, of which he was one of the founders, and the Marine Trust Company. A founder and one of the principal stockholders of the L. N. Whissel Lumber Company, Mr. Jones also organized and established the Georgian Bay Lumber Company. He had also served as president of the Jones Navigation Company, Inc., and the Buffalo Copper and Brass Rolling Mills.

He was a member of the Buffalo Club, the Buffalo Athletic Club and the old Ellicott Club. In Miami Beach, Fla., where he had his winter home, he was a member of the Committee of One Hundred and served on the board of governors of this organization.
                                 
Funeral Tomorrow

Mr. Jones was married in 1888 to Miss May Effie Seely, who died in 1931. Surviving are three sons, H. Morton Jones, Raymond T. Jones, Jr., and Charles D.
Jones all officers and directors in the R.T. Jones Lumber Company, Inc., and five grandchildren, H. Morton Jr., Douglas B., Raymond T., III, David P., Barbara and Walter S. Jones.
 
A fourth son, Walter S. Jones, served as a first lieutenant with the 78th Division and was killed in action at the battle of St. Mihiel, France.
 
Funeral services will be held at 2 o’clock tomorrow afternoon in the home. Burial will be in Forest Lawn. The Rev. Dr. Earl F. Adams will officiate. 

From information given by John McCandless, "He was President of the R. T. Jones Lumber Co. of North Tonawanda for nearly 60 years. Took over lumber business when his father died when R. T. was 16 years of age. He was a director of Marine Trust Co., directorof Citizens Trust Co., founded L.N. Whissel Lumber Co., established Georgian Bay Lumber Co., was President of Jones Nvigation Co., and former President of Buffalo Copper and Brass Rolling Mills. Had a winter home in Miami Beach."

Obit saved by my great grandfather, Grant Helm Jones, 1st cousin to Raymond Thomas Jones

Raymond Thomas married May Effee Seeley on Dec. 15, 1888 in N.Y.. May Effee (parents Absalom SEELEY and Mary UNKNOWN) died 1931.

Raymond Thomas JONES and May Effee Seeley had the following children:

1. Maj. Harrison Morton JONES was born 15 Jul 1888/hist.

H. MORTON JONES Newspaper article -1934

H. MORTON JONES, vice president and treasurer of R. T. Jones Lumber Company of Tonawanda, is Major to his acquaintances and Mort to his friends. Almost never is the formal Mr. Jones used in speaking to him.
 
He knows every angle of the lumber business and believing that "experience is the best of teachers", learned every phase of the business by doing things himself. He is thoroughly at home in a lumber camp. He has visited many of them, from British Columbia to Alabama, and has joined the rugged lumbermen in their recreations.
                                    
Born in Elmira
 
Born in Elmira in 1888, Maj. Jones has lived in the Tonawandas since 1902, when his father R. T. Jones, established his lumber company on Little Island. . At that time the place was a lumber center. Only R. T. Jones Company has survived, "But the lumber business isn’t done for and never will be, " Maj. Jones maintains, " for wood is the lowest priced and easiest converted of building materials".
 
Dan Cupid had a hand in shaping Maj. Jones career. After his graduation from the North Tonawanda High School he studied law at Cornell University, obtaining his degree in 1911. For a short time he was associated with the office of Kenefick, Cooke, Mitchell & Bass, and subsequently with Ferguson & Magaven. Then a high school romance ripened into his marriage to Ruth Neff Stocum, and he joined his fathers firm.

Maj. Jones has never regretted the change. He has won nationwide recognition in his field. Some time ago, he represented the lumbermen at a hearing before
Congress in connection with the lumber tariff, he has held offices in national trade organizations, and has written articles for lumber journals of national circulation.

  Since his college days, Maj. Jones has been interested in things military. During his junior and senior years at Cornell, he earned a part of his expenses as an instructor of military science and tactics. Later he was commander of company K of the old 74th. During the war, he was first sergeant at the second Officers’ Training Camp at Fort Niagara, a first Lieutenant at Camp Upton, Long Island, an officer in the air service while it was still udder the signal corps, and finally a major in the aviation corps in charge of personnel in aircraft production. He was a charter member of the Tonawanda Post of the American Legion.
                              
Interest In Government

  Also of long standing is Mr. Jones’ interest in government. He has served as police commissioner of Tonawanda and chairman of the civil service board. He has made a study of the Constitution and of contemporary problems of governing.

"In this country the government never will supplant private business, " he said, "for where that is done, liberty of speech is immediately limited. I admire President Roosevelt for his manful struggle against tremendous odds. What he is doing is simply stepping in to help the poor during an emergency. I am sure he is not working toward government control of business and industry."

Maj. And Mrs. Jones are the parents of two sons, H. Morton, Jr., a student at Lehigh University, and Douglas B. Jones, who attends De Vaux School and plans to follow his father’s footsteps. Douglas will be the fourth generation of his family on both sides in the lumber business. Both boys are excellent sailors, and share Maj. Jones fondness for yachting. Last summer they made a trip to Cape Cod in their schooner (missing part of article)

He is a past president of the Community Chest of the Tonawandas, is a trustee of the Presbyterian Church of North Tonawanda, has served on the advisory commission of the Sunshine Mission, and was a leader of one of the first Boy Scout troops in Buffalo.

He is a director of the State Trust Company of North Tonawanda, past commodore of the Buffalo Yacht Club, a director of the Niagara Youngstown Yacht Club, vice-president of the Presbyterian Men’s Club of North Tonawanda and affiliated with the Army and Navy Club and National Republican Club, both of New York City; the Buffalo Athletic Club, the Cornell Club, Delta Chi Fraternity, the University Club of Buffalo, the Masonic Shrine and Commandery, the Olcott Yacht Club, Hoo-Hoos Lumbermen Association, and the Buffalo Lumber Exchange of which he is vice president. His home is at 266 Christiana Street, North Tonawanda.

Saved by Grant Helm Jones

2. Walter Seeley JONES was born 2 June 1890/hist.   

ELMIRA STAR

WALTER JONES IN BATTLE
September 26, 1918,

Former Elmira Young Man, Son of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond T. Jones, Gives His Life for Freedom and Liberty-Moved to Buffalo with Parents.

Lieutenant Walter Seeley Jones, twenty-seven years old, son of Mr. And Mrs. Raymond T. Jones, former Elmirans was killed in action over seas, September 27. The advice was received in this city yesterday afternoon by Miss Ida Jones of 323 West Church street, an aunt of the young soldier.
       
Lieutenant Jones was serving with Company G, 312th Infantry, when he met his death in battle against the Germans. A resident of Elmira until his parents moved to Buffalo, about 15 years ago, Lieutenant Jones is well remembered here. The young soldier enlisted in the United States army very soon after the war was declared and was commissioned at Madison Barracks as first lieutenant.
       
He was sent to Camp Dix a year ago and trained recruits until about May 1, when he went across with his regiment. No particulars of his death were received by the family in the message from the war department.

Lieutenant Jones was born in Elmira and attended the Elmira schools. He was later graduated from Cornell University and when he enlisted in the army he was filling an executive position with the R.T. Jones Lumber Company of North Tonawanda.

Besides his father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. R. T. Jones of 604 West Ferry street, Buffalo, the young lieutenant is survived by three brothers, Morton, Raymond, jr., and Charles.  Morton Jones is a captain (missing piece from newspaper-.) Army.

Raymond T. Jones the young mans father was interested in the Doane & Jones Lumber Company of this city. Mrs.. Jones, the mother of the soldier, was formerly Miss Effie Seeley, daughter of Absalom Seeley, well known in Elmira.
 
The last letter received by the family of the soldier before his death in action, written August 27, follows:

"Things certainly have been doing since I wrote a week ago Sunday. The wandering division has wandered again and this time for a long stretch. Early last week we got orders to move away from the town we were in to one situated about eight miles away on the railroad. So we packed up and marched over there. We bivouaced for the night-just rolled up the blankets and slept in the meadow. The next morning, before day break, we entrained with three days’ travel rations, canned ‘Willie,’ hard-tack, cheese and jam. And off we went, plowing along steadily for two days and two nights without the slightest idea where we would land. The men were in box  cars, and the officers luckily in the coach-not a Pullman car, but a little coach with seats in it, where in spite of the crowd we were fairly
comfortable. We had wonderful weather during the trip, and passed through very interesting country-in fact, through towns where the heaviest fighting has recently
taken place, and where the Americans were engaged. As we came down, we could see the evidence all along the route.
 
We reached our destination at 1:30 a.m., unloaded the bovouaced again. The next day we marched to a little town almost 12 miles from the railroad and there we took up billets. At noon on the march we halted beside a creek and every man in the command went in for a swim. People in this section are very friendly-far more than they are in the north of France where we were before. We are now in the American sector and very thankful to be here. Our billets were fine in the town we stopped at. I had a room with a great big bed in it and a carpet on the floor-sheer luxury and at our officers’ mess we had a table cloth on the table and real dishes, but it was too good to last and on Sunday we moved again a short distance to rejoin the battalion.

Here the best billets were taken of course by the companies that arrived ahead of us but nevertheless we are fairly comfortable, American rations which are certainly fine compared to what we got before.

"Here we are considerable distance behind the lines working along as usual. I expect we will be going up again soon, but you never know in the army, where the
next move will be.

EVENING NEWS
NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y., SATURDAY, JULY 30, 1921.

LT. JONES BODY ARRIVES IN U.S.

Dead Officer’s Brother Will Accompany Casket Back from Hoboken.

KILLED DURING BARRAGE

North Tonawanda High School Boy Was Buried with Military Honors in France After Shell Takes Life in Counter Attack.

The body of First Lieutenant Walter S. Jones, son of Mr. and Mrs. R.T Jones, No. 604 West Ferry street, Buffalo, formerly of North Tonawanda, killed in action in France, has arrived at Hoboken, NJ.

Raymond Jones, brother of Lieut. Jones, left last night for Hoboken to accompany the body to Buffalo, where the funeral will be held either Monday or Tuesday. Lieutenant Jones was a graduate of North Tonawanda high school and was well known in the Tonawandas.

Lieut. Jones held a responsible position with R. T. Jones Lumber Company when he left to go to the First Officers’ Training Camp at Madison Barracks, in the spring of 1917.At the camp he was commissioned second lieutenant of infantry in the Reserve corps, and was sent to Camp Dix. There he was assigned to the 312th Infantry, A company. He was later promoted to first lieutenant and assigned to G company, with which company and regiment he served continuously to his death.

In May,  1918, the regiment went overseas. After spending four or five days in England the regiment moved to France to the training center behind the British forces in Flanders. During July and August the regiment was brigaded with the British, and Lieut. Jones did several tours of trench duty while so brigaded in the Arrars sector.

In September his division was reunited and his regiment moved to the vicinity of St. Meheil. On the morning of September 25, 1918, orders were received for an advance of 300 yards. Accompanied by Captain Gray, he assisted in reconnoitering the advance. The regiment made the advance with little loss and early next morning withstood a strong counter-attack from the Germans accompanied by a heavy barrage fire.

Lieutenant Jones’ platoon, one of the platoons of Company G, held the extreme right flank of the American line and defeated an attempted turning movement at this flank of the American line and defeated an attempted turning movement at this flank. During the barrage fire that accompanied the counterattack, Lieut. Jones was instantly killed by a shell fragment. His runner was also killed by the same shell. The line was held by the regiment continuously until relieved four days later.

Sept. 29, 1918, Lieutenant Jones was buried with military honors in the Commune of Vieville-en-Haye, Department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, on the right hand side of the road leading to Jaulny, between the woods Bois d’Heiche and Bois de Gerard. 

Saved by Grant Helm Jones

Credit: Sue Edling, as saved by her great grandfather, Grant Helm Jones. Grant Helm Jones was vice president of Shawmut Coal & Coke in Buffalo.