BORN IN A HUMBLE HOME.
Mr. Jones was born in 1846, in Wales. Of his humble home he says: “It could scarcely be dignified by the name of cottage, for, as I saw it a few years ago, it seemed a little barren hut, though still occupied.” It was in memory of this modest birthplace over the sea, which is known as Tan y Craig (under the rock), that Mr. Jones named his handsome Toledo mansion Tan y Oderwen (under the oak).
Perhaps the following autobiographical statement will serve better than anything I could write to present his life story:
“I came with my parents to America when I was three years old, and I have often heard them tell of the tedious voyage of thirty days in an emigrant sailing ship, and the subsequent voyage over the Erie Canal to central New York, where they settled in Lewis County. My parents were very poor and very pious. The poverty in our family was so stringent that it was necessary for me to go out and work, and I bear upon my body to-day the marks of the injustice and wrong of child labor.
“At the age of eighteen I heard of the opportunities in the oil regions in Pennsylvania, and at once made my way to Titusville. I landed there with fifteen cents in my pocket, and without an acquaintance in the State. For three days I went through one of the most trying experiences of any young man’s life—living without money and seeking work among strangers. I had promised to write to my mother, and I used hotel stationery to fulfil my promise, but was without the necessary three cents then needed to purchase a postage stamp. This was one of the hardest financial problems of my life. I overcame it through stratagem. Seeing a man on the way to the post-office with a bundle of letters I inquired of him: ‘Are you going to the post-office?’ ‘Yes, sir,’ he said. ‘Will you have the kindness to mail this for me?’ At the same time I put my hand into my empty pocket in search of the necessary coin, fumbling my pocket-knife and keys a moment. The gentleman kindly said: ‘Never mind, I’ll stamp it,’ and the revenue was provided which took my first letter to my mother.