JONES MUSEUM - Key Persons
Director at The Jones Museum since August 2022, Ms. Aldrich is a graduate of Ohio University with a B.S. in Education and a B.S. in Journalism as well as an M.S. in Library & Information Science from Drexel University. Her professional experiences include teaching English, speech, and drama at Eastern Local High School in Beaver, Ohio, being an adjunct instructor of composition at the University of Rio Grande and Shawnee State University, teaching English and College Success at Jackson High School, and being the library media specialist. Ms. Aldrich is a 2004 graduate of Jackson High School - the last class to graduate when it was still on Tropic and Vaughn Streets. She is looking forward to continuing the work of previous museum directors to ensure the preservation and exhibition of Jackson County's history.
Lillian Jones, born September 10, 1893, was the second child and only daughter of Edwin and Lola Williams Jones. Her brothers were Donald and Dwight Jones.
She went to boarding school at the Knickerbocker School for Girls in Indianapolis. After graduation, she went to France for a year to study voice. After leaving France, she lived in New York "taking" music. Lillian did not talk much about herself, but we do know she was still in New York in 1923. She would have been thirty at that time.
Lillian's father died in 1921, and several months after that her mother bought the house on the corner of Broad and Broadway Streets. The house was built in 1867 by Horace L. Chapman for his family. Mr. Chapman started the National Bank and was a staunch Democrat in a Republican stronghold.
Mrs. Jones hired Frank L. Packard, who was the architect for the Cambrian Hotel, to completely renovate her newly purchased home. This was completed in the early 1920s. The only structural change since that time is the pitched roof over the side porch.
Lillian came home from New York to stay with her mother, who was ill at the time, and was convinced to remain in Jackson. Lillian and her mother spent winters in Sarasota, Florida, a habit Lillian continued until she no longer felt like traveling.
Although she was a very frugal woman, Lillian loved to travel and made four trips around the world. Once in Europe, she took a freighter to Sweden because the passage was so cheap. While there, she met and talked with the King of Sweden while admiring flower gardens. She especially loved India and Japan. She would often leave the group she was traveling with to stay in a place she particularly liked.
She was an active member of the Presbyterian Church, but as far as we know, she did not belong to any other organizations. Lillian never married, had no children, and died on August 22, 1991, at the age of 97.
Job Titles:
- Founder of the National Bank
Lillian Jones' great-grandfather came with his family from Wales in 1834 and settled in southern Jackson County at Hewitts Fork. He was a very ambitious and capable man and was one of the founders and the first president of Jefferson Furnace in 1854. He purchased Globe & Fulton Furnaces which became Globe Iron in 1872. Globe Iron was on West Main Street (at the site of the Eddie Jones Ball Field) and was destroyed by fire in 1876. Fulton Furnace was remodeled and became Globe Iron Company on East Main Street.
Thomas had four children, one of whom was Eben Jones (Lillian's grandfather). Eben, a Civil War Captain, was involved with Jefferson Furnace and was also a banker. He married Ann Williams, and they had seven children:
(1) Thomas A. (1895-1937) a member of the Ohio Supreme Court 1914-1937;
(2) Edwin (1862-1921) Lillian's father and Jackson business developer;
(3) John E. (1864-1944) the Iron Master linking the 19th to 20th centuries at Globe Iron, father of Globe Presidents Edwin A. Jones and Marshall H. Jones as well as noted attorney Harold Jones;
(4) Newton M. (1866-1941) President of Jones Sand Co.;
(5) Emma Jones Givens (1886-1943);
(6) Charles D. (1872-1921) owner of Millwood White Sand Co. and lived on South St. in Jackson next door to older brother John E.;
(7) Frederick E. (1876-1936), his son Fred, Jr. was the founder of Buckeye Union Insurance Company.
Most of the sons of Eben were involved in the local coal, furnace, and banking industries. Edwin was involved in many businesses in Jackson including coal mining, the Diamond Flint Glass Company, Crown Pipe & Foundry, Globe Iron Company, Jackson Mill and Lumber Company, and the DT&I Railroad. In 1901, he built the Cambrian Hotel. Everything he touched seemed to do very well. He was mayor, and a councilman, on the Republican Party's State Central Committee and the State Executive Committee. He made an unsuccessful run for governor in 1918. He was a strong supporter of community athletics and a member of the Presbyterian Church, Elks Lodge, and K of P. He was held in high esteem by those who knew him.