Robert Weston Jones
Annie Laura
daughter of
R. W. & I. W. Jones
born
Sept. 13, 1889
died Sept. 14, 1889
Robert
Weston
son of
R. W. & I. W. Jones
born
Mar. 10, 1891
died
Apr. 18, 1891
Photo Credit: Rosa G. Gonzales
Biography
According to his tombstone this young child lived only a little more than a month before his little body was put to rest next to the remains of his sister and father. His memorial testifies that he is the son of R. W. and L. W. Jones. He is named for his father, Robert W. Jones, who died before the birth of this son. Dr. Robert W. Jones was born in Ohio on 14 February 1848 to Dr. Hiram G. Jones and Nancy Jane Woods who were married in Adams County, Ohio on 4 August 1846. Hiram was a pioneer physician in the community of Evansville, Indiana; and his son Robert may have decided early to follow his father into that honorable profession. In 1880 Robert is listed with his father and stepmother, along with their young children, in Evansville (Vanderburgh County federal census, page 435). Already Robert was practicing the medical profession along side his father. Sometime in the mid-1880s Robert W. Jones married and moved to south Texas with his new wife Laura, possibly in conjunction with the continuing Ropes Boom. In February 1888, the Caller announced the birth of a son who presumably survived since there are no gravestones in Old Bayview marking a Jones child who was born in 1888. The paper reports the family's visit to San Diego where Dr. Jones took part in a shooting contest with the local Gun Club and visited the C. K. Gravis family. Robert and wife Laura also became a part of the local society and religious community of Corpus Christi, received into the First Presbyterian Church as members in March of 1889. Apparently the family was well respected in the community as Dr. Jones was also an officer in the local lodge of the fraternal order known as the Ancient Order of United Workmen. However, the young family suffered a series of tragic deaths beginning with the birth of Annie Laura Jones on 13 September 1889. She lived only one day before death took her from her parents. The following December of 1890, it was Dr. Jones who died while his young wife was pregnant with the child that would bear his name. Little Robert Weston Jones was no doubt named in honor of his father by the grieving widow. She buried her husband in December of 1890, and little Robert was born the following March. The month after her husband's death, Laura was making plans to move out near the Miramar Hotel. Possibly she thought this would be beneficial to the health of the family. However, little Robert who was born 10 March 1891 lived for only a little more than a month before he died on 18 April 1891. This may have been the final straw for Laura as she leaves no subsequent record of her presence in Corpus Christi. It seems she left this place of painful memories where she had buried in Old Bayview Cemetery a daughter, a husband, and a son in 1889, 1890, and 1891 respectively.
Research and transcription: Michael A. Howell