Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!
Click here to return to Jones Family History Home page.

The History of the "Old Jones Farmhouse," and
Scenes from Providence Methodist Church,
Hillcrest and Dalzell Schools and
the town of Dalzell

Below is pictured the “Old Jones Farmhouse.” The picture was taken was taken probably sometime in the 1940s. It had snowed, so it is the wintertime. After Bob and Fannie died in the 1930s, their cousin, Ethel (Ross) Weldon, her husband Walter and their children started living and farming at the “Old Jones Place.”
Robert F. Jones home with snow The Old Jones Farmhouse was and is situated about one-half mile south of Horeb Baptist Church, which church is on Red Lane Road in Dalzell. To reach the old place, you go down the dirt road that is across Red Lane Road from Horeb Baptist. The dirt road goes south across several big fields, which constitute much of the 109 acres that make up the farm. After crossing the fields, the road turns west and goes along side of and then into the woods. It curves a bit further to the west and finally you come out on the Old Place, which sits on a ridge. One can also reach the place from the Cook’s farm, which is to the east of the Old Place and borders Old US 521. C:\Toby2\Terrar\Pics-03.doc, 05.07.03.03 (3T, 1940?, C:\Toby2\jones\dal-pics\2009.12.5.03.jpg) (un/joneshistory/pop-chd) (picture from Ronnie Weldon, 12/5/09).
If Bob did not build the place in the 1870s, he added onto it later on. Elizabeth “Lizzie” Jones Troublefield (1887-1971), one of Bob and Fannie’s children, gave the history of the “Old Place.” She was a good historian. She grew up on and lived much of her life there. She said that the farm was initially owned by the Spanns. That would be James R. Spann (b. 1798) and his wife, Emily E. Dinkins Spann (1802-c. 1875), who had nine children, including Videau Spann (1831-1914), Mariah Spann (b. 1841) and Dana Spann. The “Old Jones Place” was bought by Lizzie Jones Troublefield’s grandfather, Robert Lorenzo Jones (1823-1896) from the Spanns in the early 1860s. Robert Lorenzo Jones was the son of James F. Jones (1782-c. 1854) and Susannah (1790-1875). Robert Lorenzo Jones and his wife are discussed elsewhere on this web page. When she died, Susannah Jones was living near Spring Hill Township in Sumter County. In 1860 she was living at Providence. Several of her children lived near Bradford Springs. These places are all within ten miles of Dalzell. Many of the Jones were Methodists. James F. Jones was the son of the Revolutionary soldier, William Jones and Ann Beth Freeman Jones.
Robert F. Jones home The view to the left is the long part of the "Old Jones Farmhouse." The kitchen and eating area were in a separate detached building. This picture was of the sleep area. When Robert Lorenzo Jones bought the “Old Jones Place,” in about 1861, he did not own it outright, but by means of a mortgage held by the Spanns on the farm. Then he married Videau Spann (b. 1832) in about 1864. When he married Videau the mortgage on the “Old Place” was cancelled. Robert Lorenzo fought in the Civil War. Before the war he had attempted to farm in Alabama in the 1850s, but his first wife (Susan/Sarah Watts) died and his farming did not go well. He was a farm manager. He did not own a farm in Alabama. He had to come back to his family in Dalzell about the time the Civil War was heating up. He came back so that his family there could help in raising his three children from his first marriage. After marrying Videau he had three more children. But only one of them (Harry Jones) lived to adulthood.
Robert Lorenzo Jones and his second wife, Videau Spann Jones, in the 1860s may have built a one-room house where the “Old Jones Farmhouse” now stands. In time several additional rooms were added. Some people have said the “Old Jones Farmhouse” is done in “shotgun” style construction. That means that there is a straight hall from the front door to the backdoor, so that someone can fire a shotgun blast through the front door and it will exit the backdoor without hitting any walls. Besides shotgun, “dog-trot” construction was another style popular in the nineteenth century. They might be the same thing? One thing that is surely the same is that both shotgun and dogtrot start with a single room. Over time one or more rooms are added to the additional room. Howard Woody in his book South Carolina Postcards: Sumter County (Charleston: Arcadia, 2005), p. 91, has a description of dogtrot construction:
A one-room log cabin was initially built. As the farm prospered and the family grew, a second one-room cabin was added with an open-roofed space (dog-trot) in between the two living units. Later on an attic was added as sleeping and storage space and then a back section was built for a kitchen.
If the Old Jones Farmhouse started out as a single-room dwelling, that might mean that part of the old place dates from around the Civil War. At least a few of the brick in the fireplace were stamped with the word "Killian." There was a brick maker called "Killian 20th Century" located at Pensacola, Florida. The Killian bricks were hauled on the railroad to a building supplier in Sumter or Dalzell. See Jim Graves (compiler), Brick Brands of the United States (International Brick Collectors Association, 1996). It is also possible that Robert Lorenzo Jones, instead of living in the old place, might have moved into a second farmhouse that was then on the “Old Jones Place.” That farmhouse had belonged to the Spanns. That place was about half a mile to the northwest of the Old Jones Farmhouse. That farmhouse was torn down and replaced about 1948 by Rob Jones and his wife, I’Ans. The current address there is 4130 Red Lane Road, Dalzell. The new house was put on the same spot as the old Spann house. What is for sure is that some of the Spanns, including Mariah Spann (b. 1841) and Dana Spann lived there until they died sometime in the 1920s. Also living there until he died in 1947 was Harry Jones, the half-brother of Bob Jones and the only child of Robert Lorenzo and Videau to live to adulthood.
Robert F. Jones home This is the bottom leg to the left in the picture of the "L" that constituted the Old Jones Farmhouse. It was added about 1931 and provided the home with a kitchen. Fannie Jones grew up in Sumter. When she married Bob Jones in about 1876, she moved to the area around the “Old Jones Farmhouse” and either built the old farmhouse or perhaps moved into one that was already there. They raised their eight children in the “Old Jones Farmhouse.” After Bob Jones died in 1935, it is not clear to me who owned the place. Bob probably did not have a will, which would have meant that the place would have had to be sold and the proceeds split among Bob’s eight children. The children were all grown. The child living nearest the old place was Charles Lorenza “Charlie” Jones (1879-1949), who was married to Clyde Weldon Jones (1890-1971), the daughter of Robert Polk Weldon and Francis Irene Robertson Weldon. Charlie was an overseer on a farm several miles distant. That farm on which Charlie worked was owned by a storekeeper (Mr. Barnett) in Sumter. Charlie had six children of his own plus several of his sister’s children (Hazel and Edmunds Hogan) that he was raising. He did not have any money to buy out the interest of his siblings in the old place. It is also possible that the place could have been claimed by Bob’s younger half-brother, James “Harry” Jones (1874-1947). As noted Bob and Harry both had the same father (Robert Lorenzo Jones, 1823-1896), but different mothers. Bob’s mother was Susan A. Watts (1834-1856?), Harry’s mother was Videau Spann, b. 1832).
According to Allene Jones Compton, who was a daughter of Charlie Jones, by about 1947 the “Old Jones Place” was put up for sale by the government because no one had paid land taxes on it for a long time. Rob Jones, who was another of Bob’s sons and a brother to Charlie, paid the taxes and basically bought the place. Rob had joined the Navy about 1917 during World War I. He made a career in the Navy. During World War II he was what they called a mustang—an enlisted man who became an officer because he had accumulated much skill and knowledge. After retiring from the Navy in about 1946, he married I’Ans Jackson and farmed the “Old Jones Place” and also ran a county grocery store.

Below is Rebecca Glover, standing by the side of the “Old Jones Place” in about 1940. She worked there at least sometimes in the late 1930s and 1940s when J.S. Weldon and his family farmed the place. In the background can be seen the Old Jones Farmhouse, but was there any smoke stack in the position that is shown in this picture? Also in the background is a black car.
V. Washington In this picture Rebecca Glover is standing in front of a # 10 washtub. That probably means it holds ten gallons. She is helping to butcher a hog. Hogs weighed several hundred pounds and butchering was a big operation. To Rebecca’s left (it is on the right as viewed in the picture) is something that looks like a white log or fence post stuck in the ground with another log that juts out from it at a little greater than a 90 degree right angel. That is part of a shift-lever. The doomed hog was attached to it and raised so it was stretched out to make it easier to butcher. Butchering was done in the fall. Ronnie Weldon ("Interview" March 16, 2009), mentioned that butchering might have been done almost weekly in order to have fresh meat. He also talked of salt being used to cure the hams. For sure, around Thanksgiving a hog would be slaughtered. In the early 1930s the Old Jones Farmhouse had a smoke house as one of the out buildings. That is how they preserved the pork for the winter. In this picture it looks like most of the leaves were off the tree and Rebecca was wearing a sweater over her white apron. So it was not the summer time. During the summer there would be canning parties when a group of neighborhood women and their children would get together and put up three or four bushels of tomatoes or other produce. There would be visiting and work at the same time. C:\Toby2\Terrar\Pics-03.doc, 05.07.03.04 (8T, 1940?, C:\Toby2\jones\dal-pics\2009.12.5.04.jpg)(un/joneshistory/pop-chd) (from Ronnie Weldon, 12/5/09).
In the back of Rebecca in the above picture was a wagon with the hog on it. Two black men wearing soft hats were working away at it. Directly behind Rebecca it looks like there was also a young white man in a baseball-type cap. That may have been one of J.S. Waldon’s sons.
diagram of old house

This is a diagram of the "Old Jones Farmhouse, yard and out-buildings from the 1870s to the 1950s. Rebecca Glover might have lived on the Old Jones Farm in the tenant house house shown here next to the main house. There were several other old houses on the place not shown here. As pay for her work in butchering, Rebecca probably received part of the hog, rather than wages. (pop-chd/old-hse.jpg).

Robert F. Jones home Another picture of the Jones' place at Dalzell, S.C. about 1970. No one had been living in it for a while and it was run down. (ch-jpg/J25-3.jpg).
map of old farm This is a map of where the "Old Jones Farmhouse" is located on Red Lane Road in Dalzell. (https://www.angelfire.com/un/cw/images/map.jpg).

Providence Methodist Church at Dalzell

Click on pictures to enlarge.
New Providence Methodist Church To the left is Providence Methodist Church in Dalzell as it currently stands. The picture is taken from the front cover of a 1985 eight-page pamphlet with the title, Providence Southern Methodist Church, Dalzell, South Carolina: “Proclaiming the Gospel” 1785-1985. The pamphlet was collectively written by the congregation and no author is listed. Ronnie Weldon owns the copy used here. Providence Methodists have been meeting on the current church grounds since 1785. At that time they would have tent or camp meetings lasting several days. There was no permanent church building. Ronnie Weldon ("Interview" March 30, 2009) remarked that people came from as far away as the coast in the summer to Providence, but especially from the swampy area along the Wateree River. This was because Providence was the highest area where they could escape the mosquitoes and malaria. William Jones came to the Dalzell area in 1779. If there are records of who attended the early camp meetings at Providence, they are not mentioned in the Providence Southern Methodist Church pamphlet. The daughter-in-law of William Jones was Barbary (Stafford) Jones. She and presumably her husband, Eli, were Providence Methodists from the 1820s onwards. Even those who were not formal church members attended camp revivals. William Jones and his wife were living in the Providence in the 1780s and would have come to the services at Providence.
More recently, in 1908 many members of the church decided to move the church two miles southeast to what is the business area of Dalzell. The pamphlet cited above states that for three years after many of the congregation moved closer to Dalzell, the Providence Church was without recognition by the South Carolina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. But in 1912 the church was re-instated as a member of that conference largely through the efforts of James Samuel Weldon (1851-1926), who was a layman of the church and the father of Walter Weldon (1884-1947). In 1939 there was a merger of the Union of the Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal South, and Methodist Protestant Churches. At that point the Providence ceased to be a Methodist Church and united with the Southern Methodist Church, a denomination which was organized that same year by Methodists who were opposed to the merger.

The picture below, which was taken in about 1945, is of the Providence Methodist congregation and the old church building, with the narrow gothic windows pointed at the top. The picture was taken in the summer time or warm months, because the people were in their shirt-sleeves and the window of the church was open. The main or backdoor of the church was in its back. It was the door at the far end of the church from the pulpit and sanctuary. It was the door where the congregation entered and exited. The backdoor faced north and Red Lane Road. This picture was not taken at the main door, but of the door on the east side of the church that faced the graveyard. The church pictured here burned down on Sunday February 23, 1963 because a fire started in the chimney flue of the old wood-burning heater. Everyone got out of the building ok. Many of the Jones and Weldons who are buried in the churchyard worshiped here and were buried from this church. The present building was dedicated in 1965. Among the three-member building committee was James S. Weldon (1923-1996). The 1985 pamphlet states that “We are a Bible-believing, fundamental Methodist Church, proclaiming the Gospel.” Both blacks and whites are in the congregation, as pictured in the pamphlet. This integration probably happened in the 1970s? More than a hundred years earlier, however, Providence was also probably integrated. It was only after the Civil War that the blacks set up their own churches. Now there is probably integration for economic reasons. There is a nice building there, but not enough whites or blacks in the neighborhood to support a pastor. But together they can do it.

There are thirteen people in the picture below. As identified by Ronnie Weldon, they are, left to right:
Providence Methodist Church 1. Rev. W. Lynn Corbett (preacher)
2. Ethel Weldon (1898-1983) (grandmother of Ronnie Weldon)
3.
4. (Maybe Florence Weldon Smith?).
5. (Maybe Ernest Dexter Hatfield, Jr.?).
6.
7. Rosa Weldon Hatfield.
8.
9. George D. Ross.
10. Irving (he got polio).
11.
12.
13. Walter Weldon (1884-1947).
C:\Toby2\Terrar\Pics-03.doc, 05.07.03.07b (5T, 1945?, C:\Toby2\jones\dal-pics\2009.12.5.07b.jpg) (picture from Ronnie Weldon, 12/5/09).

The picture below is another view of the Providence Methodist church building that burned down in 1963. Among the congregation members that were using this building in 1939, according to the pamphlet cited above were three children of Bob and Fannie Jones. They were Charles L. Jones, Robert L. Jones, and Elizabeth Jones “Lizzie” Troublefield.
Providence Methodist Church Others in the congregation in 1939 were Henry Cook, Mary Truesdale Cook and Robert D. Ross, Sr. (1903-1978), who were neighbors of the Jones. Robert Ross was Ethel Ross Weldon’s brother and a cousin to Bob and Fannie Jones. Also in the congregation in 1939 were James Yates (1880-1957) and his wife, Lena (Ross) Yates (1896-1978), and Edna R. McLeod (1894-1977) and her husband, John Albert McLeod, Sr., along with her son John Albert McLeod, Jr. Lena and Edna were sisters to Ethel Ross Weldon. At least half those in the congregation were cousins, so that church services were like a family reunion. Their church and family were a big part of their life. Even in death they are close, with at least half those in the cemetery being cousins. The above 1945 picture, if it was a 1945 photo, probably was not of the entire congregation, because Charlie and Clyde Jones are not shown. They were members at the time.
Below is a scene from a homecoming church picnic at Providence Methodist Church in Dalzell in about 1960. At these monthly socials after Sunday services, some of the woman who would have stayed home to cook, would bring food for the congregation to enjoy. After the meal, while the adults visited, the children would go to the field and play football or baseball. (Ronnie Weldon, "Interview, March 16, 2009).

Those in the church social picture below, as identified by Ronnie Weldon were:
Providence Methodist Church
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8) Mazie (Mary?) Caughman
9)
10) Florence (Ross) Creighton (1874-1973), married Allen Creighton. She was a daughter of Mary Jones Ross and a sister to Thomas Salmond Ross (1866-1940).
11)
12) Thelma Hair Ross
13)
C:\Toby2\Terrar\Pics-03.doc, 05.07.03.013b (4T, 1960?, C:\Toby2\jones\dal-pics\2009.12.5.013b.jpg) (picture from Ronnie Weldon, 12/5/09).

Hillcrest Elementary and High School in Dalzell

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.
Below is a picture of the Dalzell School in Dalzell in the mid-1920s. This was the old school that existed prior to Hillcrest comprehensive school, which started in 1928. Jones children and their cousins attended the Dalzell school and its predecessors, as well as Hillcrest after it started up. For some of the Jones children, school was a positive place. Others did not like it and did not attend or dropped out as soon as possible. This picture is from Annie Mae Jones Smyre’s (1917-2008) Autograph Book: 1928-1933.
Dalzell scene There are 25 children in this picture, which was made when Annie Mae was in about the fifth grade in 1927. There may be two classes combined here, as the children in the back rows look to be a little younger than those in front? The autograph book is stored in Box 1.9, pt. 1. It was given to Toby Terrar by Annie Mae Smyre’s son, Billy Smyre, on 6/6/08. It would be good to identify the children in the picture and maybe replace the area that was cut out. I expect it was cut out by Annie Mae and was the picture of herself. She may have felt the picture did not do her justice.
C:\Toby2\Terrar\Pics-03.doc, 05.07.01.01 (from Annie Mae Jones Smyre’s pictures).
Three of the girls in the front row above and two of the boys were not wearing shoes. They all have smiles on their faces and do not seem to be concerned. One is even clowning around. That was the advantage of growing up in a rural area. The formal conventions forced on people in the city, such as shoes and ties, did not prevail. On the farm all ages went barefoot whenever they wanted. About going barefoot to school, a non-Dalzell woman remembered:
I grew up in an Amish family in Northern Indiana. I went to the Amish school barefoot whenever the weather would allow, as did all the children, we would have thought it strange to have shoes on at all in warm weather. Our feet where as tough as leather, we walked gravel roads in bare feet all the time. I don't remember ever hearing of a foot injury ever. I miss those days, getting to go barefoot to school is a fond childhood memory with me, I wish all kids could enjoy. We sure did." (see: http://www.unshod.org/pfbc/bfs_amish.htm)
Annie Mae contended that the county children did not have the conveniences of the city, like electricity and running water, but these were not of consequence. Farmer people produced and enjoyed an abundance of food, entertainment, culture, religion and politics. From Annie Mae's perspective, if she was poor, she never knew it. Parked on the right side in the picture, leaning against the stairs, was someone's bicycle. There was no lock on it. Children children could leave their bikes in the open wihtout having someone steal them.

Annie Mae liked school and the social, cultural, intellectual and spiritual life that went along with it. She was the oldest daughter of Charlie and Clyde (Weldon) Jones. She started at Dalzell School in about September 1923 and graduated from Hillcrest in about May 1935. She may have completed school in 1934, if they only had eleven grades, which was sometimes the custom. She kept an Autograph Book while she was a student at Hillcrest Consolidated School from the sixth grade onward. This was when she was about 11 to 18 years old (1928 to 1935). The book tells her story and that of her friends and family during adolescence. Click here to see a summary of the material in the Autograph Book. It has 125 pages, the last 40 or so of which are mostly blank. The first 80 pages have biographical information, nice sayings and poetry, jokes, artwork, and discussion of philosophy, religion, marriage and life. The material was written by Annie Mae and her friends. There are also dryed flowers pasted onto the pages, newspaper and cartoon clippings and cartoons drawn by Annie Mae herself. She had an artistic talent.
Dalzell school scene To the left is another view of the Dalzell School as it appeared in the early part of the 1900s. It was part of the Providence School District # 7. In 1913 this two-teacher school had 60 students in a 155-day session. In 1915 Maureen Hammond was the teacher of 68 students. After the May 1923 fire that destroyed the two-story frame Cleveland School in Kershaw County and killed 77 parents and children in the second floor auditorium, school districts locked or removed the second floor in older buildings and only built one-story schools after that. The picture is borrowed from Woody’s book, cited above.

Scenes from the town of Dalzell

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.
Dalzell scene This is a view of Dalzell in about 1949, looking toward the east (and Sumter) on old US 521. The building to the right was the post office. Even further to the right was the cotton gin. On the left or north side of the road was the Bee Hive Store, which Philip P. Gaillard opened in 1932. He called it a “city store in the county.” It was a grocery store. Gaillard was the postmaster. It looks like a little further east down Old US 521 and on the north sides of the road was a gas station and several cars were sitting out in front of it. C:\Toby2\Terrar\Pics-03.doc, 05.07.03.08 (13T, 1949?, C:\Toby2\jones\dal-pics\2009.12.5.08.jpg)(picture from Ronnie Weldon, 12/5/09).
Dalzell Bee Hive store scene This is a view of what the Jones folks saw when they went shopping at the Bee Hive Store. The produce and fruits were left in the initial baskets or boxes. More often than not, folks went into Sumter on Saturday to do most of their shopping.
Dalzell scene
This is the cotton mill or gin at Dalzell in about 1949. It was located on the south side of old US 521 in the middle of the business area of Dalzell. The railroad used to run along side the mill. This view is from the west side of the mill, looking east. (from Ronnie Weldon, 12/5/09).
Dalzell scene This is another view of the cotton mill Dalzell in about 1949. This view is from Old US 521, looking south. (from Ronnie Weldon, 12/5/09).