Peter Jones

Peter Jones and his family

Peter Jones (1840-1937), born enslaved in Virginia around 1840, was one of Lawrence’s earliest and longest-lived settlers. He reportedly came to Lawrence from Clay County, Missouri in 1854, the same year that the New England Emigrant Aid Society founded the town after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.[1] He may have been the same “Peter, a very worthy and reliable slave in the employ of the Morrow House, [who] is circulating a subscription paper for friends to enable him to purchase his freedom. His master agrees to free him for six hundred dollars, and he has already earned three hundred dollars towards that sum.”[2] But a “Republican” replied that Peter did not owe his master one cent:

He has paid for himself twice over, and no true Republican would feel very anxious to

furnish him with money to pay for himself a third time. They will very willingly open

their purses, no doubt, to help him along towards the ‘north star,’ if he is desirous of

journeying thither; but as for furnishing him with six hundred dollars for the purpose of

buying himself, we shall do no such thing. His master has no honest claim for further

services from him. He is abundantly able to take care of himself, and if he wishes to be

his own man, he can take passage on the underground railroad, at any regular trip, and in

a few days get beyond the fetters and whip of a slave driver.[3]

It is not known how or when Peter Jones earned his freedom and whether he experienced Douglas County Sheriff Samuel J. Jones’ Sack of Lawrence on May 21, 1856 with his proslavery border ruffians.[4] However, during Quantrill’s raid on August 21, 1863, he and his wife Mary suffered one of the most horrific tragedies on that fateful morning:

His wife was ill when the raiders came, and was forced to leave her infant at the Eldridge

house where Jones was employed as a cook. ‘I was wounded on that day, not with a

bullet or a knife, but in my breast. The raiders threw my 24-day-old first baby into the

flames after the Eldridge house was set on fire, saying ‘There are too many n______.’[5]

During the Civil War, Douglass’ all-Black Independent Light Artillery Battery was organized at Fort Leavenworth, the only federal unit under the leadership of Black officers. Under the command of Captain H. Ford Douglass and First Lieutenant William D. Matthews, Sergeant  Jones served with other Lawrence men from February 27 thru July 22, 1865.[6]

After the war, Mary J. Jones (1847-1901) gave birth to at least three daughters, Mary Louise “Lula” (1867-?), Malinda (1869-?), and Eva (1872-1899).[7] Like other Black residents, the family lived at several different locations in East Lawrence, first on New York street (lot 49) for which Mr. Jones paid $140 ($3,172 today) in 1870.[8] Later, the Black-owned Western Recorder noted that “If your chickens get the cholera, call on Mrs. Mary Jones, corner of New Jersey and [13th] streets, and you will find she has a cure for it.”[9] In 1889, Mrs. Pete Jones and her “little daughter” provided a drink of water to a disoriented woman who then jumped in their well at 1021 Delaware.[10] In his report of Negro news, Samuel H. Johnson noted that “Mrs. Peter Jones is suffering from nervous prostration brought on by constant attendance upon her daughter.”[11]

By trade, Peter Jones worked primarily as a butcher for Charles A. Pease’s meat market and other downtown markets.[12] Beginning in 1888, the City Council appointed him to serve as a southside police officer three consecutive years as one of several “capable, energetic and upright men” on the racially integrated police force.[13] His duties included arresting both white and Black offenders for thievery, putting out suspicious fires, checking unclaimed dogs for dog taxes, and removing dead tomcats.[14] Jury duty also earned him $16.[15]

Jones’ participation in various community organizations extended in multiple ways. At some point, he became an honorable Mason of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Kansas, re-organized by Rev. David G. Lett in 1875.[16] Like most Black men, he was active in Republican party politics as a delegate (initially in the 4th Ward in 1877 and the 3rd Ward beginning in 1884), helped obtain uniforms for a 60-member Plumed Knights Flambeau Corps, served as an elected treasurer of the Fred Douglass Club, and attended several campaign rallies, as well as a state Republican league meeting in 1892.[17] In regard to social events, he helped arrange a successful banquet for Topeka’s Crusher Club (men who constructed asphalt streets) attended by over 80 leading Black citizens. As president of a unique “Gander Fair” held at Cosley’s skating rink with over 100 people, Black gentlemen exhibited and sold their best fancy needlework in a friendly competition “amid much hilarity.”[18]

Peter and Mary’s daughter, Eva Maude Jones (1872-1899), earned much public praise for her considerable accomplishments over the course of her all-too-brief life, beginning on the seventh grade honor roll list at New York street school with a white teacher.[19] As a member of St. Luke AME Church with her parents, she taught Sunday school as a young teenager with superintendent W. W. Jones.[20] Upon graduating from high school in 1889 with 42 classmates, her declamation, entitled “Life’s Battles,” “showed careful preparation and training. Her voice was clear and strong, and her enunciation and articulation excellent. Her delivery and manner deserve commendation.”[21] Her speech, “Woman in Politics,” followed in a literary and musical program at an outdoor reception given by the Young Men’s Social Club. To celebrate Lincoln’s initial Emancipation Proclamation, she read the 15th and 16th Amendments of the Constitution with Lulu Woodruff at Starrett’s grove. She also served on an art work committee when the white Columbian Society invited Black women to showcase their work for Chicago’s World Exposition.[22] Having joined the Ideal Dramatic Company of the Progressive Club, her leading role as Juneta in Jennie Barker’s play, “Gypie, the Waif,” earned critical praise at the Bowersock Theatre and on tour. She “played her difficult part with great emotional passion” and “a graceful use of language” that “captured the audience and was encored several times,” reminding one critic of Lotta Crabtree, a popular white actress.[23]

Although Miss Jones had applied for a teaching position in a Black school in March 1891, she was not hired until the following year to assist Minerva D. Thomas at the overcrowded New York street school.[24] In June 1893, she married Charles A. Johnson (1857-1908), a talented cornetist who had toured the country with Black minstrel companies. A large number of invited guests attended this “society event” held at 1019 Delaware. While living in Denver, Eva Johnson passed away in 1899, followed by her 4-year-old son Paul in January 1901.[25]

Seven months later, Mrs. Mary J. Jones died at 1019 Delaware, having cared for her family, as well as refugees from Mississippi in 1879.[26] Unfortunately, a 3 a.m. fire in 1907 destroyed this Delaware house and its contents at a loss of $880 ($27,785 today), apparently while Mr. Jones was away. The fire started in a closet where he had piled various items in preparation for wallpaper hangers. Fortunately, he had insured his furniture for $300 ($9,472 today) in this house owned by a woman living in Missouri.[27]

Four months later, Peter Jones married Mrs. Carrie Fry (1858-1951) on October 20, 1907, and moved into her long-time home at 1845 Kentucky street with Carrie’s mother, Mrs. Kittie Price.[28] Carrie’s life in Lawrence began in 1878 when she arrived from Nicholasville, Kentucky. She married Henry Williams by 1880 and raised four children: Arthur S. (1881-1969), Mollie C. (1882-1946), Lizzie B. (1884-1933), and Lillie H. (1885-1955).[29] After Henry’s death in August 1885, Carrie Williams married Edward J. Jones in 1889, who died one year later.[30] She then married Edward H. Fry in 1894, but they divorced in 1901.[31]

Some Williams and Fry family members also lived on the 1800 block of Kentucky, where they enjoyed extended family gatherings. For instance, Mrs. Jones held a lawn party for 25 to 50 guests.[32] Lillie Helena Williams, a 1903 high school graduate and former KU student, also honored her father with a New Year’s Eve party, as well as her mother by conducting a Mother’s Day symposium at the 9th Street Baptist Church.[33]

When her mother Kittie Price (1818-1910) passed away, Carrie Jones purchased the north half of Lot 21, Section 1 in Oak Hill Cemetery on November 5, 1910 for $67 ($2,093). Seven Jones-Williams family members lie buried here, along with Carrie’s sister, Charlotte Drisdom, and her nephew Joseph A. Smothers. After Peter Jones’ death, she also arranged for his inscribed Civil War shield headstone.[34] Let us remember this family by visiting this plot.