James Naylor Jones was the son of Mary Naylor Jones and Thomas Jones.

He married: Sarah Ann Malarnee October 16, 1829, Mary Hoskins February 9, 1852, Caroline Delight Allen December 3, 1855 in Salt Lake City, Utah, Catherine Jesperson December 10, 1856 and Marie Poulsen.

With Sarah Ann Malarnee they had the following children: Elizabeth Ann Jones, Amy Amelia Jones, Jacob Jones, William Jones, Edith Maria Jones, Sarah Jones, Thomas Jefferson Jones, James Naylor Jones, Brigham Jones and Ezra Benson Jones.

With Mary Hoskins they had the following children: Joshua Oliver Jones

With Caroline Delight Allen Jones they had the following children: Mary Diantha Jones, Lucy Jones, Isaac Morley Jones, Lovina Jones and James Naylor Jones.

He married Mette Catherine Jesperson on December 10, 1856. They had the following children: Anna Maria Jones, Charles Jesperson Jones and Elisha Jesse Jones.

James Naylor Jones was born 3 April 1810 in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Thomas Jones and Mary Naylor. His eyes were blue and his red hair very thick and curly. In fact there were those who teased him saying he would have a hard time fitting a bushel basket over his bushy hair. The family moved to Jefferson County, Ohio during the period 1810-1813. He married Sarah Ann Malarnee 17 October 1829 at Steubenville, Ohio.

In about 1842, he with his wife and four children were living in Pennsville, Morgan County, Ohio when a Mormon missionary came to town and James listened to his teachings. Becoming converted to the Restored Gospel, he soon moved his family to Illinois, and settled in Lima, some twenty-five miles south of Nauvoo, where his fifth child Thomas as born. He participated in the early activities of the LDS Church in Nauvoo and was associated with the Prophet Joseph Smith, acting as his bodyguard upon many occasions.

James and his family suffered many persecutions and mob violence. It was in Lima and the southern part of Hancock County where the mob violence erupted in trying to drive the Saints out of Illinois after the martyrdom of the Prophet. In August of 1845, a mob of 300 men, in three weeks time, burned about two hundred Mormon homes. The Saints were forced to hide in cornfields to save their lives. James' home was burned and his only cow driven off, although it was known that he had a family of little children to support. During September of 1845, most of the time was spent assisting families in moving to Nauvoo from different settlements, for greater safety.

When the Saints were driven out of Nauvoo in 1846, James and his wife and children went back to Pennsville and lived with his parents that winter. While there, he converted his brother Elisha and wife, the baptisms being performed in the river at night because of persecutions. Although James' parents were bitterly opposed to Mormonism, his father having been affiliated with the Methodist Church and his mother belonging to a group called Quakers, his father helped build a wagon and secure supplies for his journey west.

James with his family then joined the exiled Saints, locating at Kanesville, near Winter Quarters, Iowa, where he remained until 1849. Then crossing the pains with an ox team, in a company of immigrants, under Captain A. Johnson, he arrived in Great Salt Lake Valley in August of that year. Soon after arriving, he located on Big Cottonwood Creek.

On 9 February 1852, James N. Jones and Sarah were endowed and sealed in the Salt Lake Endowment House. Two years later, they moved to Provo, Utah, where he was called, in 1855, to act as a counselor in the Stake Presidency. It was in Provo on 29 March 1856 his seventh child, Ezra Benson, was born. In 1859 he moved to Mt. Pleasant, Sanpete County, Utah.

During the early years of the settlement of Utah every effort was put forth by Brigham Young and his people to make new settlements as rapidly as possible. From Mt. Pleasant men went northward in search of wild hay, which they cut by hand and hauled with ox teams for their winter use. The tract of land six miles north of Mt. Pleasant attracted their attention and it was decided this would be ideal for a settlement.

On 1 October 1859, a meeting was held at Mt. Pleasant and James N. Jones was selected and sustained by vote of the people, as a leader for the new settlement. The site chosen was called North Bend because the river at that point changes its course to a somewhat southerly direction. Here the settlers quarried rock for the erection of a fort as a protection against the Indians. When a post office was established, the name of the settlement was changed to Fairview, because of its pleasing location. Elder James Jones was the first Presiding Elder (Bishop) of the settlement, and under his direction a town site was surveyed and city lots distributed, while farming land for each family was also designated.

On 24 June 1861 Elder Orson O. Hyde was in Fairview and at that time James was released as Presiding Elder, after which James moved down on the Muddy (Muddy River on the border of Utah and Nevada), being a pioneer at heart and probably looking for greater opportunities to make a better living. While residing there he became ill from sunstroke and returned to Fairview where he died 14 August 1865.

The story is told that when his casket was placed in the back of the wagon that was to convey him to the cemetery for burial, one of the horses balked and would not go, his son Jacob being the driver. Another son, Tommy, asked to try his hand at driving and on his taking hold of the reins, the horses started to move right along. The boy's mother was somewhat worried thinking this may be a sign that Tommy might soon follow his father in death. Coincidently a few months later Tommy was killed by the Indians while herding the town cattle near Oak Creek during the Black Hawk War.

In 1909 a monument was erected in Fairview in honor of James N. Jones and fifteen other men who helped to build that town.

History complied by Verona Jones George, a granddaughter