John L.T. Jones (1812-1881) was operating his farmstead off of Martinsburg Rd. in the 1850s. We know this because of an 1854 newspaper article highlighting John’s frustration with a reaping machine that had failed to meet his needs in cultivating his wheat.
John is one of the first local men I’ve come across who clearly supported the Union throughout the Civil War. In fact, we have evidence that he allowed Union officers to stay in his home, Union troops to camp on his land, and even invited Union Colonel William Henry (who would later win the Medal of Honor) to his home one evening for hot apple toddys!
It appears that Union troops may have taken their kind host for granted. Following the war in the 1870s, John filed at least two claims to the US Government for reimbursement. One claim, for $2000, was related to Union troops taking wheat from John’s land on Oxley Island on the Potomac River. A second claim, for $4,585, was claimed as reimbursement for Union troop lodging and for accidental damage to John’s home from a fire set by Union troops.
The Government did eventually compensate John, but it wasn’t until the early 1900s (more than 30 years after his claims were filed and long after John had passed on) and only for $240!
Unfortunately, the story of John’s farmhouse ended in a manner common to many old farms in the Ag Reserve. Falling into a state of disrepair, the home appears to have crumbled to the ground sometime in the early 2000s, but the chimney remains.
John and his wife, Cornelia (1831-1915) are buried in the cemetery at St. Mary’s, in Barnesville.
