The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1915-01-08
MRS. W.P. JONfSWAs
ONE OF THE PIONEERS
From Tuesdays Daily.

n
Lake Crystal last Friday and an &C
count of whose death appeared IN
The Free Press. was one of the
hardy women who yithstood the
hardshlps OF frontier life in the
early days, and lived 10 see the
dreaded Indians subdued, and the
country become modern and civil.
lied. ..er many thrilling and re-
markable experiences would make
a very interesting book. She was
about eighty years OF age at the
time of her death. and for the past
fifteen years had made her home
with her daughter in Lake Crystal.
Mrs. Jones met her husband In
Ohio. and was married TO him I'm
that state in 1852. They came to
Minnesota in 1856 and settled on a
farm near Cambria. Mr.. Jones died
May 25, 1908, and since then his
widow made her home with her chill
dren. She was a member OF the
Welsh church, and a most estimable
lady, having host of friends who
VIII MISS nef greatly.
In the Sioux Uprising.
Mrs. Jones was a young woman at
the time of the great Sioux massacre
i'm 1862. When the first news came
of this terrible event the Inhabitants
of the town of Cambria fed TO South
Bend, Mankato and otner eastern
points. \ number Of families found
refuge in the log cabins of settlers
along AlinneOpa creek. Among them
was the family Of William =. Jones,
and of his father-in.law, John Wal
tiers, who were harbored at the home
of the late William Roberts about a
mile west of what is now the state
park.
On the day when the Indians made
their attack on the city OF New
Ulm. August 80, 1862, all the men
who were not already defending
New Ulm. formed a company for mu.
tual protection, and proceeded In a
body to their deserted homes in
Cambria TO get a few things needed,
in the shape of food and clothing,
and to look after their stock. Late
that afternoon the news came that
Indians had captured New Ulm, had
butchered all the people, and we're
burning the town. BY looking up
the valley the flames and smoke
from the burning town could be
plainly seen. II was reported that
the savages were sweeping down
the valley two thousand strong,
killing everyone as they came, and
that the squad of men at Cambria
had all been murdered by them.
Boy Begged Folks to Fly.
Mrs. Jones had a brother Thomas
Walters, a young man about twenty
years DID, who was sick I'm bed I'm |
the last stages of consumption. His |
death was expected at any moment. !
The dyirx boy begged his mother
and three sisters to fly and leave
him alone, as he was too i'll to be
moved. This they would not do.
Mrs. Jones and one of her sisters
went outside. and hitched the oxen
TO the lumber wagon. The four
women then carried the sick young
man cut on his bed, and placed hi.
in the bottom of the wagon. His
mother and the smaller children sat
in the bottom of the wagon by his
side. They then hurried to the vii
lage of South Bend. Mrs. jones,
crazed with grief for her husband.
father and brothers, all of whom she
supposed had just been murdered
by the Indians, and wild with ankle
~ for her sick brother (who died
next day. and who groaned piteous-
~ with every jolt of the wagon, was
expecting every moment to hear
the whoop of the numbering savages,
but heroically drove the team OF
oxen. Between the fact that the
animals were not accustomed TO
being driven by a woman, and that
Mrs. Jones was not familiar with
that sort of work, their progress was
filed with difficulties. Part OF the
time she prayed, part of the time
she cried, and at other times she
imagined that she had forgotten one
or the children, or Fought with the
stubborn oxen.
II Was Dusk.
IL was dusk by the time they
reached the crossing at Minneopa
creek, and the sky up the valley
toward New Ulm was all aglow with
the light from the big fire of the
burning town. A number other
teams, all driven by women and chill J
dren, were also moving in the same
direction as Mrs. Jones was driving.
II was journey never to be for
gotten, and In the following years
Mrs. Jones and her sisters often
spoke OF IT, II was welcome news
when they found that the men OF
their family had not been murdered
by the Indians as had been reported.
This is but glimpse Of what many
OF the pioneer women OF this part
of the country had to endure in
those old pioneer days.
alt.