History of Lee County, Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

262 HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
that of one of her native sons, his birth having here occurred in
1859. His parents were William and Agnes Jones, who arrived
in Dixon in the '40s when the town was little more than a village
and gave but slight promise of becoming the enterprising center
of trade which it is today. Here the father engaged in the transfer
business until the time of his death and the mother is still living
at the age of eighty-four years. They had a family of four sons
and four daughters, who reached adult age.
W. C Jones was a public school j)upil in Dixon and in early
life started out to earn his living, becoming, as previously stated,
the first telegraph messenger boy in the town. Some of his fellow
townsmen today remembei' him in that service and have watched
with interest his advancement along business lines. He learned
telegraphy and was afterward appointed operator at Dimmick,
Illinois, when but nineteen yeai's of age. He did not hold the
position, however, but jumping on the train as it started away,
went to other fields, having changed his mind concerning telegraphy
as a fife work. He next obtained a position as clerk in the
store of Stephens & Pankhurst, where he I'emained for a short
time and subsequently he entered the draying business, which he
followed for nine years, having the first double truck in Dixon.
In 1887 he established a small grocery store upon a capital of
four lunidred dollars and in 1895 he erected a new building forty
by ninety feet and two stories in height to accommodate his stock.
As time passed on he extended the scope of his business and is
proprietoi' of a large general store which is one of the leading
mercantile establishments of the city. He has carefully watched
all the details, noted the indications pointing to success and has
f(»llnwed the methods seeming to promise bright i-esults. Studying
the trade, maintaining honorable business methods and
reasonable prices, his success has grown year by year and he is
now one of the substantial merchants of the city. At one time he
was also secretary of the Fletcher Manufacturing Company, from
which he resigned. He was the first man authorized as postmaster
of a sub]">ostal station to handle the parcel post.
On the r>lst of October. 18R3, Mr. Jones was united in marriage
to Miss Certrude Woolley, a daughter of W. C. Wnolley. who was
station agent at Dixon for the Hlinois Central Railroad for
tliirty-sevon years. He also helped build the road into the town
and was one of the pioneer settlers here. Unto Mr. and Mrs.
Jones have been born two sons and two daughters.