Edward Wadsworth Jones (1840–1934) was an officer in the American Civil War, a miner in Idaho and Utah and an entrepreneur in Los Angeles, California. He was a member of the Los Angeles Common Council, the governing body of that city in the 19th century.
Jones was born November 28, 1840, inNew Hartford, Connecticut, and spent his youth inTennessee, where he studied at thestate university.[1]
In 1863 he married Ellen Carter Spencer ofIllinois inWashington, D.C.[1][2]
In 1871 Jones settled with his family inSalt Lake City for ten years, spent a year in New York and finally moved his household to Los Angeles in August 1882.[1]
He died December 8, 1934, in the family home at 1540 South Wilton Place[3] in theArlington Heights district, leaving a son, Edward Conde Jones of Paris, France, and two daughters, Mrs. J. Forsyth of Los Angeles and Mrs. Louise J. Dobbins ofMonterey, California. Cremation services were atRosedale Cemetery.[2]
At the outbreak of theCivil War Jones helped enlist a number of men who formed amilitary company and elected himcaptain. He began his service of more than three years in the 19th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, which became theSecond Connecticut Artillery. His unit was with theArmy of the Potomac and in theShenandoah Valley; atCedar Creek he was in command of his regiment and was mentioned by GeneralPhilip Sheridan in his memoirs. Jones rose to the rank ofmajor, then wasbreveted aslieutenant-colonel for his "gallant and meritorious conduct."[1][4]
Jones operated a mining company in Idaho and Utah between 1871 and 1881. Its rich silver mines in theSalmon River region were the most profitable, with around $600,000 to $800,000 of ore extracted. He spent most winters in Salt Lake, but in 1876 and 1877 he went toEl Salvador to examine the mines there.[1]
As anentrepreneur, Jones was in 1886 the president of asyndicate formed to build a "first-class hotel in the style of theArlington Hotel inSanta Barbara," on Sixth Street between Hill and Broadway inDowntown Los Angeles. It was to be on the site of Saint Vincent's College, which was planning a move to the northwest corner of Grand and Washington. The property instead became the location of the originalBullock's department store.[5][6][7]
Jones was also ahorticulturist, and in 1919, at the age of seventy-six, he sought a passport to visit Italy, writing in his application:
The applicant has been a grower of oranges, lemons, walnuts, grapes and other fruits for about thirty years . . .; knows something about the labor problems of this State; is aware that we are losing hundreds of our best laborers, who are returning to their Italian homes; has spent many months in Italy up to thebeginning of the war [World War I]; speaks and reads the Italian language fairly well; enjoys improved health there and has friends in that country. He hopes and expects to sow seeds for our and their labor improvement, without which improvement California will suffer.[8]
Jones represented the 3rdWard on theLos Angeles Common Council beginning December 7, 1885, and was reelected for another one-year term in 1886.[9]
He served for three years as the first president of the newly organizedLos Angeles Chamber of Commerce beginning in 1888, and then on theboard of directors from 1893–95.[2] He also served on the board of theLos Angeles Public Library.[10] Jones was the president of the Historical Society of Southern California.[1]