Great grandparents

Sometimes I like to get out the old photos and look at them, maybe think about how much different the really old times were about than what is now before us. I have three photos of G.L. Jones - grandma Melissa's dad - from various times in his life. He lived a long and varied life, blacksmith, soldier in the Civil War, newspaper editor, father, husband, and much else that I'm not cognizant of. He lived until he was 97 and died in an old soldier's home in Washington state.

George L Jones (January 26, 1834 - April 1, 1931) taken about 1880. (I'm guessing)

George L Jones in 1919. He was 85 at the time of the photo.

George L Jones as an even older man (1930??)

I have only this picture of Jennie Jones. Her real name was Sarah, but she wrote for the newspapers as Jennie. She died in 1883 at the age of 43, mere months after the birth of her youngest daughter, Melissa Sylvia Jones, my own grandma.

Jennie Jones (March 1, 1840 - June 9, 1883).

Extra added details (10:50 Wednesday night):

This bit gets some of G.L. Jones' life up to about 1902 when he was 68.

"G. L. Jones was born in Cassville, Grant Co., Wisconsin., in 1834, and moved to Menomonie, Dunn County, in 1852. In 1858 he went to Texas with five other young men. At the breaking out of civil war his companions entered the rebel army but he made his escape to the north leaving several hundred dollars worth of property which he lost. He enlisted as a private in the union army, served three years and was mustered out an orderly sergeant. He survives eleven relatives who served in the union army. After the war he located at Bloomer, Chippewa Co., Wisconsin., and carried on a blacksmith and wagon shop until 1880 when his health failed and he engaged in newspaper work. He owned and edited newspapers in Bloomer, Chippewa Falls and Shell Lake, this state, and always retained his individuality, without bowing to party, church, rings, or bossism. It is his especial pride that during his twenty years as a newspaper man he never did any saloon advertising and never voted for saloon licenses. He sold his paper at Shell Lake over two years ago and moved onto a homestead in Burnett county. One son, John E. Jones, is not yet weaned from newspaper life. He is editor of the Washburn Times and also postmaster at that place. Another son, E. James Jones, has abandoned his trade as a printer for the delights of homesteading adjoining his father's place. A daughter, Miss Melissa, is one of the popular teachers of the county. A step-daughter, Mrs. Amy Huth, lives a few miles east of him, and with his children thus close around him he is spending the happiest days of his life. He has great faith in the future of Burnett county and is ever ready to help the home seeker secure a place to his liking. His post office address is Weblake, Burnett county, Wisconsin. He has an excellent opportunity to engage in the raising of cranberries and at the present time the spring brooks on his farm are filled with hundreds of speckled trout. The visitor who stops there for a few hours wonders how any man can live in a great city after having seen how Jones and his family enjoy the pleasures of backwoods life."

page 118. - Official Report of Burnett County Board of Immigration, Concerning the Resources of Burnett County, Wisconsin. 1902. The Journal Print, Grantsburg, Wisconsin.