Friday’s Faces From the Past – William L. Jones

This tintype is identified as “William L. Jones, etc.” Thank you VERY much for THAT identification! Who ARE these people? I did a little research (okay – a lot of research). Tintypes were created between about 1855 and 1900, peaking in popularity between 1861 and 1871. William L. Jones was born in April 1836 in Weld, Maine to Jacob Jones and Almira Jenkins. He served in the Civil War enlisting in Company D, Massachusetts 22nd Infantry Regiment on 06 Sep 1861 and mustered out on 17 Oct 1864 at Boston, MA. William was married, for the first time at age 39, on 4 May 1875 to Sarah A. (Irving) Russell, a widow who was ten years his junior. It was her second marriage having married for the first time at age 20, but widowed by the time she was 28. It is perhaps her seated beside him in this photo. She died a little over 3 years after their marriage of tuberculosis, so neither of the young men pictured are his children. Sarah and her first husband had two children: a daughter named Addie who was born in January of 1867 and a son, Harry born about 1868. If the woman is Sarah, the latest this photo could have been taken is 1878 when she died. Her children from her first marriage would have been 10 and 11 years old. Neither of the younger people pictured match that age and gender. In 1880, 14 year old Addie lived with her stepfather. I have been able to rule out that Addie is the woman seated beside William Jones – I have several photographs of her as a younger woman – this woman is not her. Who are these people connected to William L. Jones? Disappointingly, we may never know. But don’t you just love the impish look on his face?

It does not appear that William Jones had any children of his own. However, there may be hope that there are relatives who would like to have the photo. William had siblings, in fact, quite a few siblings: George born about 1835, Cordelia born about 1840, Sarah born about 1841, Luther born about 1843, Charles born about 1845, Oren born about 1847, Ellen born about 1848, Jacob born about 1852 and Sophronia born about 1854. I am hoping that one of their descendants would like to have the photo.

Please contact me if you are a relative and would like to have the photo.