A few weeks ago, Jack Nelson and his wife from Portland, Oregon stopped by and I took them to Hillside Cemetery where we located the grave of his grandfather, John E. Nelson, who died in 1885. Jack happened to mention that his grandfather married a Jones lady here in Saguache. I was thinking out loud when I said, I wonder if that could be a part of Price Marion Jones’ family?”  “Yeah, that is the name,” Jack replied.  So he took a pic-ture of P.M. Jones’ tombstone.

You oldtime “Crescent” readers will remember that P.M. Jones was an early day Saguache merchant and the father of the late Edgar and Edith Jones. He was also the grandfather of Ruth Jones Herndon who now lives in Denver.

While we were visiting the old part of Hillside Cemetery, I pointed out the tombstone of Major James P. Downer who organized the “Downer Guard” in 1878 to protect settlers and their livestock from marauding Utes.

I was recently re-reading one of Yvonne Halburian’s articles about Downer’s Guard and found the name of P. M.  Jones, his brother, Capt. Robert H. Jones and and the name of J. E. Nelson, who would be a brother-in-law of the “Jones boys”

Getttng back on track, John E. Nelson and Charles E. Hill founded the newspaper, “Saguache Advance” on Jan. 12, 1882. On Nov. 9, 1882, George W. Miles bought out Hill’s interest and became co-owner and publisher with Mr. Nelson until Nov. 15, 1883. In Feb. of 1884 W.E. White became the paper’s editor, replacing Mr. Nelson.  The next partnership was that of  R. H. Jones and John E. Nelson.  Following that it was owned by Nelson and Henry Mingay, who later changed the name to the “Saguache Democrat”.  On Aug. 1, 1889 the name was again changed and since then it has been “The Saguache Crescent.”

Jack Nelson has sent, copies of newspaper clippings and old pictures of the “Saguache Advance” office.  I am sure it was  the brick building on Denver Ave., just east of our present Post Office.  (In later years this was the home of Esther Salazar and her mother.)

P.S. The above mentioned George W. Miles was a brother of my grandmother, Ellen (Miles) Burch.  Therefore he was a great uncle of mine and all of my cousins on the Burch side of the family.