John Jones 2nd Burial Site
The official Civil War roster of Company G of the Wisconsin 12th infantry lists two men named John Jones. They are listed as John Jones 1st and John Jones 2nd.
John Jones 1st gravesite has been located in the Ivy Green Cemetery in Bremerton, Washington. He married Jane Ward in Grand Rapids (now Wisconsin Rapids) in 1860. After his service in the Civil War, the family farmed south of Plainfield until they moved west in 1879.
National Archives records show the original tombstone here was shipped to Port Edwards in 1879. Jones' death date is listed as 1865. The local G.A.R. post ordered a second tombstone in 1910 engraved to include "2nd" after John Jones name, and was set in Forest Hill Cemetery in Wisconsin Rapids. It is not known why the second stone was placed in Forest Hill. A survey of this Port Edwards site by the Ho-Chunk Nation in 1997 using ground-penetrating radar did show a burial. The Forest Hill site has not yet been surveyed to determine whether there is in fact a burial there.
It is possible that John Jones 2nd is the man mentioned in a letter from John Edwards Jr. to his father, John Edwards Sr., in which he mentions a Jones killed in an accident at the Edwards-Clinton Mill near this site.
Detailed biographical information has been found for John Jones 1st, but almost none for John Jones 2nd.
The new tombstone on this site was provided by the Veterans Administration in 2005.
Domtar Industries Inc. funded the installation of the stone and continues to maintain this historic site.
Marker can be reached from Wisconsin River Drive (State Highway 73) north of Jefferson Avenue, on the right when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
