WILLIS R. JONES, foreman of the Sierra Nevada and Union Shaft Company, has been intimately connected with the mining interests of Virginia City for the past seventeen years. He was born December 13, 1851, at Cleveland, Ohio, and is a grandson of Thomas Jones, who was born in Wales and emigrated to Cleveland at a very early date in the history of that city, becoming the progenitor of many of the name in that locality. He located there in 1826. He was the father of United States Senator Jones.
William Jones, the father of Willis R. Jones, was born in Wales, in 1820, and was but six years old when the family settled in Cleveland. He learned the granite and marble business, and during the greater part of his life continued to follow it. He married Helen A. Root, who was born in Otsego county, New York, near Cooperstown, and two sons were born to this marriage: Herbert S., who is general passenger agent of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad at Burlington, Iowa: and Willis R.
Willis R. Jones was educated in Cleveland, and learned the marble business with his father. In 1872 he started out as a sailor, making a trip in the sailing vessel Ne Plus Ultra to the West Indies and Europe and then back to New York. After this adventurous experience he accepted a position as freight clerk on the Panama Railroad for two years, and then went to Arizona and engaged in mining in Mojave County, also carrying on milling operations and making that his home for fourteen years. He then located at Virginia City, and has been connected with a number of the leading mines, the Crown Point, the Chollar. the Sierra Nevada and the Union, and has been foreman of the latter for the past eight years. He is a good and efficient officer, possessing the confidence of his employers and the good will of the employes.
In 1886 Mr. Jones was happily married to Martha Phillips, who was born in Arkansas, and a son and daughter have been born lo this union: Helen A., born in Arizona, and Walter P., born in Virginia City. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have one of the most comfortable homes in Virginia City, and are most highly esteemed people. In politics Mr. Jones has always been identified with the Republican party, and served at one time as sheriff in Arizona. He is now in accord with the silver branch of the party. Fraternally he is an Odd Fellow and a member of the grand lodge of the state, and is also affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
Source: A History of The State of Nevada, Its Resources and People, The Late Hon. Thomas Wren, of Reno, Editor-in-Chief, published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1904; Pgs. 735-736
