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M.T. Jones Lumber Co. records and business ledgers

 Collection
Identifier: MS 629
Finding aid note: Stored off-site at the Library Service Center. Please request this material via woodson@rice.edu or call 713-348-2586. Boxes 23-24, 32-33, 35-36, 38, 40-49, 51-52, 54, 56-62, and 65 are unprocessed/unavailable.

Scope and Contents

The M.T. Jones Lumber Co. Records & Business Ledgers, 1890-1920, consist of business records, correspondence, letterpress books, invoices, orders, shipping records, and ledgers for the daily operations and administration of the lumber company for Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado.

Dates

  • 1880 - 1940

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open for use.

Conditions Governing Access

Stored off-site at the Library Service Center. Please request this material via woodson@rice.edu or call 713-348-2586. Boxes 23-24, 32-33, 35-36, 38, 40-49, 51-52, 54, 56-62, and 65 are unprocessed/unavailable.

Biographical / Historical

Martin Tilford Jones, brother of William Hasque Jones/father of Jesse H. Jones, was born in 1841 in Robertson County, Tennessee, and died June 22, 1898 in Houston, TX. He was the fifth of six siblings. He enlisted in the Union Army in 1861 and was mustered out in 1865. After the war he married Louisa Woolard (1849-1934) and had three children: Augusta (1867-1960), Wiliam Eli (1871-1937), and Adiliene Jeanette (1877- ). After farming in Illinois, he moved to Terrell, Texas in 1875 to open a small lumber yard. He moved to Houston in 1883 and two years later organized the M.T. Jones Lumber Company and began acquiring property and timber rights and built saw mills, mostly in east Texas. He built a hugely successful business with an estimated six-five lumber yards mainly in Texas, but also in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Oklahoma. M.T.'s nephew, Jesse H. Jones worked for the Dallas lumberyard, and when M.T. died, Jesse Jones moved to Houston to manage his estate.

Extent

43.5 Linear Feet (65 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Overview

The M.T. Jones Lumber Co. Records & Business Ledgers, 1890-1920, consist of business records, correspondence, letterpress books, invoices, orders, shipping records, and ledgers for the daily operations and administration of the lumber company for Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in three series, with various sub-series as necessary: Series I: Administrative; Series II: Operations ledgers; Series III: Lumberyard general accounting ledgers.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The collection was donated by Houston Endowment, Inc. in Oct. 2014.

Related Materials

See also "A Guide to the M.T. Jones Lumber Company Records, 1883-1914," Briscoe Center for American History, the University of Texas at Austin; and Jesse H. Jones Family & Personal Papers, MS 252, Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University.

Subjects

Record Groups

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Guide to the M.T. Jones Lumber Co. records and business ledgers, 1880-1940
Status
Completed
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Woodson Research Center, Rice University, Houston, Texas Repository

https://library.rice.edu/woodson
Contact:
Fondren Library MS-44, Rice University
6100 Main St.
Houston Texas 77005 USA

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Harmful Content Statement
© 2023 Woodson Research Center
Fondren Library, Rice University
Physical Address: 6100 Main, Houston, Texas 77005-1827
Mailing Address: MS-44, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, Texas 77251-1892