Ebenezer Jones

Bud Burchell's records indicate that this Augustus Jones was of Welsh decent, a well known British government land surveyor in Upper Canada (see records on Margaret Victoria Jones). Cindy Jones Christenson (to Peg Ransom Oct 1997) confirms that the Jones family came from Wales. She says that the Rev Peter Jones, missionary to Indians in Canada, was Ebenezer’s brother Augustus’ son. Ebenezer himself had no Indian blood. Ebenezer went to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, in 1789. His daughter married a Gage, very prominent family in Hamilton. Ebenezer. References to Rev. Peter Jones occur in the Brantford, Ontario, Canada, Expositor, December 14/15, 1949, with credit as follows: "Jean H. Waldie, for many years a contributor to the Looking Over Western Ontario page, died March 22, 1957, but this article was recently discovered by her mother, Mrs. William Waldie, among personal papers and forwarded to The Free Press through Chief Librarian James J. Talman, of the University of Western Ontario. "Here you see me in full regalia, a chief among men. But at home I am just plain Indian." With these words, Kahkewaquonaby, handsome chief of the Ojibways, bade farewell to the beautiful Elizabeth Field as he left England to return to his native Canada. Kahkewaquonaby, or Sacred Feathers, was the Rev. Peter Jones, famed Indian missionary, who spent his life in the service of his people and died just a century ago, at the early age of 54. The love story of the Ojibway chief and the lovely English girl forms a romantic and colorful facet of Ontario's history. Few homes in this province have a more interesting story than does "Echo Villa," which the young couple built nearly a century and a quarter ago in the forest wilderness in what is now the City of Brantford. ....There [sic] five sons were born to Kahkewaquonaby and his English bride. One died in infancy. The others were Dr. Peter Jones, Hagersville; George Dunlop Jones (father of Peter, recently deceased, as of Charles Jones, 116 Mary Street); Charles Augustus Jones, an early registrar, and Frederick Jones, a lawyer, who married into the Biggar family of Mount Pleasant." From an unnamed source book is found this further history of Rev. Peter Jones: Jones, Peter (1802 - 1856), Indian missionary, was born at Burlington Heights, near Hamilton, Upper Canada, in 1802, the son of Augustus Jones, a surveyor, and an Ojibwa woman. His Indian name was Kahkewaguonaby. In 188? he was ordained a minister of the Wesleyan Methodist Church; and he served as a missionary among the Ojibwa Indians for over twenty years. He died at Brantford, Upper Canada, on June 29, 1856. He published an Ojebway spelling book (1828), an Ojebway hymn book (New York, 1829), The Gospel of St. Matthew, translated into the Ojebway language (York, Upper Canada, 1829), The Gospel according to St. John, translated into the Chippeway language (York, Upper Canada, 1831); and his History of the Ojebway Indians was published posthumously (London, 1861). From another unidentified source book is this record of Rev. Peter Jones: Jones, Peter, American Indian missionary, b. Jan. 1, 1802; d. June 29, 1856. His Indian name was Kahkewaquonaby; his father was a white man of Welsh descent named Augustus Jones, who maintained the closest friendship [illegible] Brant during the latter's life. Peter's mother was Tuhbenahneeguay, daughter of a chief of the Missisauga on Credit River at the extreme western end of Lake Ontario.... His [Rev. Jone's] position as a Christian pastor and ruling chief of his tribe gave him great influence, not only among his own people, but among all the Chippewa tribes....A monument was erected to his memory, in 1887, at Brantford.... Bud Burchell traveled to Brantford, Ontario, Canada and learned that Dr. Peter Jones son Peter died in the late 1940's. Son Charles was alive in 1949, living in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Bud also learned that the wife (last name Biggar) of Frederick Jones (brother of Dr. Peter Jones) was alive in 1949 living in Mt. Pleasant, Ontario, Canada.