Martin Eastwood Jones, (1844 - 1925), (A CSA soldier - Captured during the Battle of Resaca, during General William T. Sherman's campaign to capture Atlanta, Georgia prior the Yankee burning of Atlanta, Georgia and their subsequent march South to and capture of the city of Savannah), son of William Mitchell Jones (1813 - 1877) & Nancy Hendricks (1820 - 1907). After the war was over, Martin Eastwood Jones lived to the age of 80 and married three times with children from each wife, enumerated in this biography.

Married 1st Mary ‘Polly’ Sumerlin, born circa 1857, died (unknown), ON APRIL 27, 1871 in Bulloch County, Georgia. She is believed to be interred in Hillcrest Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia (still vetting this information). This marriage ended in divorce sometime after 1877, however the exact date is not known at the time of this writing - Two children from this marriage:
1. William ‘Billy’ Jones. Married and had children in Dade County (Miami), Florida, but the names are not now known. Still searching.
2. John Tilton Jones, b. About 1877, d. 17 OCT 1950. Interred in Salem Baptist Church Cemetery, Hillsborough County, Florida. Married to Alice I. Jones. There were no children from this marriage.

Married 2nd Sarah "Sallie" E. Lanier, on 24 JULY 1882, in Tattnall County, Georgia. She is Interred in Ephesus Baptist Church Cemetery, Bulloch County, Georgia. Together, they had five (5) children prior to her death in 1897. The five children are listed below in birth order:

(1) CALLEY D. JONES, b. 18 AUG 1883, d. 26 OCT 1886 (Died at age three, interred in a privately-owned cemetery named "Thomas Nevil Cemetery" in Bulloch County, The Grave Marker is located in this cemetery near the grave monuments of her grandparents, William M. Jones and Nancy Hendricks).

(2) NORMAN H. JONES, b. APR 1885, d. date unknown at time of this writing - Still searching for his burial location.

(3) DANIEL WEBSTER JONES, b. 13 SEP 1887, d. 04 MAR 1988. Interred in Ephesus Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery, Bulloch County, Georgia with his wife. (Married Martha Corey, b. 16 AUG 1897, d. 09 SEP 1984. They had three children:
a. Donald Jones, interred in Brewton Cemetery, Hagan, Georgia.
b. Mildred Elizabeth Jones, b. 21 JAN 1920, d. 18 SEP 2009, interred in Garden of Memories Cemetery, 4207 East Lake Avenue, Tampa, Florida. Married Henry P. Austin, b. 28 OCT 1921, d. 19 MAR 1997. Both are interred in Garden of Memories Cemetery, 4207 East Lake Avenue, Tampa, Florida.
c. Willis Reuben Jones, birth date unknown, Willis is still living in Statesboro with his wife Niza the time of this writing. They have two sons, Daniel Franklin Jones and John Jones.

(4) ANNIE ELIZABETH JONES, b. 01 JUN 1892, d. 30 NOV 1982. Interred in Hillcrest Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia near her 2nd Husband, Julius F. Bentley, b. 04 DEC 1883, d. 25 OCT 1952, interred Hillcrest Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia. She married 1st William L. Conner, b. 21 OCT 1878, d. 25 OCT 1918 - He died during the Spanish Flu Epidemic and is interred in Ephesus Church Cemetery, Bulloch County, Georgia - no children, As stated earlier, she married 2nd Julius F. Bentley (this was his 2nd marriage - his 1st marriage was to Catherine ‘Cassie’ Cartee, b. 23 APR 1877, Bulloch County, Georgia; d. 12 APR 1948 - interred Hillcrest Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia next to her husband Julius F. Bentley. The first wife of Annie's 2nd husband was her first cousin. Annia and Julius have No Children together - All three, Julius F. Bentley, Annie Elizabeth Jones and Cassie Cartee are interred in Hillcrest Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia.)

(5) MARY ALICE JONES, b. 28 AUG 1889, d. 25 JAN 1926, married Peterson and she is interred in Ephesus Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery, Bulloch County, Georgia - no children.

Married 3rd, and last, in the year 1900, in Bulloch County, Georgia to ELLA J. ENNIS, born 03 FEB 1874, died 30 APR 1942, from Bryan County, Georgia. Ella was a widow of THOMAS H. DURRENCE, SR. with two minor children, Thomas H. "Tom" Durrence, JR. and Lula Durrence. Martin Eastwood and Ella J. Ennis had four children together, two died in infancy, and two lived to maturity and had long lives:

1. Ollie J. Jones, b. 19 AUG 1906, d. 07 JUN 1907. (died as an infant - Ephesus Church Cemetery.

2. Randford Jones, b. 18 DEC 1901, d. 07 JAN 1902 (died as an infant - Ephesus Church Cemetery.

3. Samuel "Sam" Gordon Jones, b. 13 APR 1903, d. 08 JAN 2006 - married Inez Bruner, Samuel "Sam" (lived to the age of 102 years) - Interred in Ephesus Church Cemetery, Bulloch County, Georgia.

4. Ethel Marguerite Jones, b. 01 NOV 1908, d. 18 MAR 1997 - married Alfred Jackson ‘A. J.” Bowen, Jr. - Both are interred in Ephesus Church Cemetery, Bulloch County, Georgia. Together, they had seven children, six sons and one daughter (James Harold, Alfred Jackson, III, Martin Eastwood, William Kenneth, Clyde Randford, Charles Elliott, and Alice Marguerite).

1900 Census (Contributed by Robert Thompson, a find a grave contributor):
Household Role Sex Age Birthplace
Martin Jones Head M 56 (DEC 1844) Georgia [*3 years married though conflicts) with age of Lulu Durrence]
Ella Jones Wife F 24 (FEB 1876) Georgia
Norman H Jones Servant M 15 (APR 1885) Georgia (*Son)
Daniel W Jones Son M 14 (SEP 1886) Georgia
Alice Jones Daughter F 11 (AUG 1889) Georgia
Annie Jones Daughter F 8 (JUN 1892) Georgia
Tommie Durrance Stepson M 3 (MAY 1897) Georgia
Lulu Durrance Stepdaughter F 2 (DEC 1898) Georgia

1910 Census (Contributed by Robert Thompson, a find a grave contributor):
Household Role Sex Age Birthplace

Martin E Jones Head M 65 Georgia
Ella Jones Wife F 35 Georgia
Norman H Jones Son M 25 Georgia
Daniel W Jones Son M 22 Georgia
Alice Jones Daughter F 19 Georgia
Annie Jones Daughter F 16 Georgia
Thomas D Jones Son M 12 Georgia (*should be Step-Son, Last name was Durrence)
Lula Jones Daughter F 11 Georgia (*should be Step-Daughter, Last name was Durrence)
Samuel G Jones Son M 7 Georgia
Ethel Jones Daughter F 1 Georgia


Note: This biography is currently A WORK IN PROGRESS and will be updated periodically as new facts are revealed by the descendants of Martin Eastwood Jones' 1st wife, Mary 'Polly" Sumerlin Jones, 2nd wife, Sarah "Sallie" E. Lanier Jones and 3rd wife, Ella J. Ennis Jones.

Written by William Kenneth Bowen, grandson of Martin Eastwood Jones (1844 - 1925) and Ella J. Ennis - October 25, 2011

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Some Facts about Company G, 47th Georgia Regiment Volunteer Infantry
(Monument Analysis and other documented information)

The Company consisted of one hundred sixteen (143) men and officers. A total of 33 soldiers and 1 officer (23.8%) were killed in action.

Captains ------------ 2 (killed in action: 0) (0%)
Lieutenants ---------- 8 (killed in action: 1) (12.5%)
Sergeants ----------- 11 (killed in action: 5) (45.5%)
Corporals ----------- 6 (killed in action: 2) (33.3%)
Privates ------------ 116 (killed in action: 26) (22.41%)

My Grandfather was Private Martin E. Jones (b. 27 Dec 1844, d. 05 May 1925); born in Lumpkin County, Georgia (he often said to his children, “I was born at the foothills of Hogback mountain in North Georgia.”). His father, William M. Jones (b. 24 Nov 1813, d. 25 Aug 1877), of Tattnall County, Georgia, moved to Lumpkin County, Georgia at an early age of about 12 or 13 with his siblings and parents to seek their fortune during the time gold was discovered there in the mid 1820s. The County seat is Dahlonega. Martin’s father, William M. Jones, later went for a visit on horseback to Tattnall County with a south Georgia friend and while there, during the visit, he met and later married Nancy Hendricks (b. 17 Feb 1820, d. 08 Aug 1907), daughter of John (‘Jack’) Hendricks (b. 09 Dec 1795 in Northern Ireland, d. 10 Jun 1876) and Elmira Jemima Brewton (b. 09 Dec 1795, d. 10 Jun 1876), Grand daughter of Nathan Brewton and Nancy Fontaine. William M. Jones and Nancy Hendricks were the parents of several children including Martin Eastwood Jones. In later years Martin's father moved with his family back to Southern Georgia, Tattnall, County, however William’s father and Martin's siblings stayed in Lumpkin County, Georgia.

According to data retrieved from the 1860 Federal Census Enumeration of Bulloch County, Georgia, Martin E. Jones was sixteen (16) years of age. His father, William M. Jones and Nancy Hendricks had nine (9) children in their household at that particular time. They are, Amy, 17, Martin Eastwood, 16, Jane, 12, James, 10, Martha, 8, George, 6, Lavisa, 4, Isabel, 2, and Virginia, 2 months old. William M Jones is listed as ‘head of household,” age 46, and his wife, Nancy Hendricks, age 40, Martin’s mother, Nancy Hendricks Jones and eight (8) siblings are denizens of this home. The nearest post office to the William M. Jones domicile is “Bengal, Georgia.” According to this 1860 census the family were not slave holders, nor were they wealthy as his real estate holdings at that time was 500 dollars and personal property valued at 300 dollars.

Martin Eastwood Jones enlisted, at the age of seventeen (17), in Company G of the 47th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment on September 30, 1862; according to his records, he was a substitute for one Simon W. Brewton (an uncle of his {his grandmother’s brother}, who later served as a Sergeant of the same company and was killed in action).

Private Martin E. Jones was captured by the Yankees on May 16th, 1864 at a location then known as Calhoun Ferry, Georgia. This was during the Battle of Resaca (Resaca, Georgia is on US Highway 41, north of Atlanta, at the northern edge of Gordon County). A few miles south is Calhoun, the county seat), which occurred during the earliest weeks of the Atlanta Campaign. Private records and historical notes, I learned, often list his place of capture as “RESACA, GEORGIA."

During his “Yankee incarceration,” Private Martin E. Jones was detained at Louisville Military Prison, Kentucky, Alton, Illinois, Rock Island, Illinois, and was finally processed for prisoner exchange at Point Lookout, Maryland. Private Martin E. Jones was among 2,254 Confederate prisoners of war (including 31 Confederate officers) exchanged at Boulware & Coxe’s Wharf on the James River in Virginia on March 6th and March 9th, 1865. His final medical record indicates that he was a convalescent at the Third Division General Hospital at Camp Winder, near Richmond, Virginia on March 10th, 1865. Private Martin E. Jones had to be tough to endure the hardships and sicknesses then prevalent in the Yankee prisons and live among the prisoners and endure the daily hardships of a prisoner's day-to-day existence during those years.

According to data on his application for a Veterans Pension in 1918, Private Martin E. Jones was granted a convalescent furlough after March 10th, 1865. He “walked home from Camp Winder, Virginia” for he"had no money and no means of transportation," he told his family. His Georgia Pension application states he was home on convalescent furlough when the Confederate Armies were finally compelled to surrender, which ended the conflict.

In 1880, the United States Census finds Martin E. Jones residing in Tattnall County , Georgia in the household of an Elbert Bird (who is also a former Confederate Soldier and friend). At this snapshot in time, he is listed as “a divorced farmer.” At the time of this writing there is no familial connection between Elbert Bird and Martin E. Jones established, but his descendants know that he and his first wife, Mary “Polly” Sumerlin, could not live together for in his words, “her mean disposition” which she displayed to him on at least one occasion by stabbing him with a fork and which lead to their subsequent divorce. They had two (2) children (sons) together (William ‘Billy’, the eldest, and John Tilton Jones) and both were very young at the time of the divorce. The Court awarded William, the eldest son to his father and John to his mother. William’s mother would not freely give him up, as ordered by the court, so Martin rode his horse over and lured William with candy and rode off with the child. When John grew older, about 12 years of age, he ran away from his mother and came to live with his father. Both boys grew to be big men standing well over six feet tall. John Tilton Jones served many years as a deputy sheriff, in Bulloch County, Georgia and was a veteran of World War I. Both William and John later moved to Florida; William to Miami (Dade County) and John Tilton to the central area of Florida Hillsborough County) very near Tampa. Martin Eastwood Jones married second Miss Sally E. Lanier (1847-1897) of Tattnall County, Georgia. They had four (4) children together (Daniel “Dan” Webster, Mary Alice, Norman H., and Annie Elizabeth). Sarah "Sallie" E. Lanier Jones died 28 Jan 1897, leaving Martin with four small children. Martin married 3rd, and last, a widow, Ella J. Ennis, born 03 FEB 1874, died 30 APR 1942, from Bryan County, Georgia. This marriage was Ella's second marriage. She was divorced from Thomas H. Durrence and had two minor children, THomas "Tom" H. Durrence, JR. and Lula Durrence. Martin and Ella had four children together, two died in infancy, and two lived to maturity and had long lives:

1. Randford Jones, b. 18 DEC 1901, d. 07 JAN 1902 (died as an infant - Ephesus Church Cemetery.

2. Samuel Gordon Jones, b. 13 APR 1903, d. 08 JAN 2006 - married Inez Bruner, Samuel (lived to the age of 102 years) - Interred in Ephesus Church Cemetery, Bulloch County, Georgia.

3. Ollie J. Jones, b. 19 AUG 1906, d. 07 JUN 1907. (died as an infant - Ephesus Church Cemetery.

4. Ethel Marguerite Jones, b. 01 NOV 1908, d. 18 MAR 1997 - married Alfred Jackson ‘A. J.” Bowen, Jr. - Both are interred in Ephesus Church Cemetery, Bulloch County, Georgia. Together, they had seven children, six sons and one daughter.

Martin Eastwood Jones (1844-1925) built a new family home on his farm in Bulloch County, Georgia in 1889. The house still stands today and is now owned and inhabited by his Grandson, William Kenneth Bowen and his wife, Wealthy Bradley Bowen, at the time of this writing (Sunday, October 29, 2017).

Data gleaned from the 1920 Census of Evans County, Georgia, reveals that Martin Eastwood Jones, age 74 years, is a recipient of a Confederate Old Soldier’s Pension and is living with his wife, Ella J. Ennis Durrence Jones (Date of Birth: Feb. 03, 1874, who is 29 years younger than Martin, and two minor children, Sam, age 16, and (my mother) Ethel, age 11. At this time, he owned his farm, and was operating the farm for his livelihood in the Canoochee district of Evans County, Georgia.

One Sunday in late April of 1925, Martin Eastwood Jones, 80-years old, hitched his horse to his buggy and drove over to Sikes Chapel Church, had “dinner on the grounds,” and later that evening he became sick and died, after a few days, on May 5th, 1925. He is buried in the Ephesus Church Cemetery in Bulloch County, Georgia which is about two (2) miles from the house he built on his farm. As of this writing, his Grandson, William Kenneth Bowen (Son of his daughter, Ethel Marguerite Jones and Alfred Jackson Bowen) owns and lives in the house he build in 1889 when he was 45 years old.

PARENTS OF MARTIN EASTWOOD JONES: Father, William M. Jones, the son of Daniel E. Jones, married Martin's mother, Nancy Ann Hendricks (1820-1907), first child and daughter of John (Jack) Hendricks (1790-1837), and Elmira "Jemima" Brewton (1795-1876). Nancy Ann Hendricks’ mother, Elmira "Jemima" Brewton(1795-1876) was the third child of Nathan Jackson Brewton and Nancy Fontaine. John ‘Jack’ Hendricks was a veteran of the War of 1812. John ‘Jack’ Hendricks was nineteen years of age when the Treaty of Ghent ending the conflict with England was received in Washington D.C. in January, 1815. Nancy Ann Hendricks Jones (1820-1907) had eight siblings, John Fontaine, Elizabeth “Betsy” Ann, Nathan Brewton, Mary, Martha Elizabeth, James J., Samuel Alexander and Glenn Francis Hendricks.

This biography compiled on October 25, 2011, by William Kenneth Bowen, Grandson of Martin Eastwood Jones (1844-1925), and son of his youngest daughter, Ethel Marguerite Jones Bowen (1908-1997). Date of last update: Wednesday, December 27, 10:08 P.M.

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