JESSAMINE L. JONES

It seems like when I am researching a specific topic, I always come across two or three other things that catch my attention that could serve as future stories.  Such is the case with Jessamine Jones.  I had never heard of her before.  The article that I read suggested that she was a gifted author and with a first name like Jessamine, I just had to find out more about this girl. 

THE BEGINNING

Jessamine Lynn Jones was born June 1, 1868 in Jesup, Iowa, where her father operated a grain business.  Her father, John R. Jones, moved to Algona in 1870 and opened a farm implement store known as “The Wigwam.”  Jessamine, her brother, Wilfrid, and her mother, Flora, came in the spring of 1871 to join him. 

Although her physical condition was delicate and frail from childhood, Jessamine was a very intelligent child.  She loved learning and became a profound student rising through the grades and graduating from Algona High School.  With a goal of becoming a teacher in mind, she attended the State Normal School at Cedar Falls for a short time and then came back to teach in Kossuth County for a year.  Her desire for education was so great that she spent the next year at Ladies’ Wesleyan College in the east studying music, painting and languages.  Jessamine would go on to complete her education at the State University of Iowa in Iowa City where she graduated in 1893 third in her class and first among the female students.

She was chosen to write the class poem and read it at the commencement.  Here is her ode:

Kind Father Time, as we thy children leave

To face life’s battles now our Alma Mater dear

Be kind to us, we dare not say be just

For in that world in which we now must bear our part,

All things are just to him who serves thee well.

Young minds go forth to meet yet other minds

Young hearts become a part of that,

This mighty heart which throbs thro’ all,

Into the realm of love and hate, of joy and pain.

Enter our hearts full citizens.

And Father Time,

Be not too kind, for ‘tis the heart that aches

Which comes in touch with other aching hearts,

And there will always be full many hearts that ache

In this world so full of weakness and of sin.

We must now leave behind us what our hearts hold dear;

Our Alma Mater, friends and pleasures great,

But college days are now all past; their joys

Will gleam adown the future with a light,

Transforming all the future holds.

We know the truth, that in the universe of mind

One mind is small, and yet

The units make the whole;

All souls the common soul, which dwells

In all, the flower to heart and man.

A power which in perfection we adore,

And call it God.

And Father Time, thou ask’st us not to leave

A shining mark upon the walls

But in the fabric which thou weav’st,

Thou would’st that each should make

One honest strand, which by its strength

Makes others strong.

                A strand

Which will not shrink nor pull awry

The fabric all, but which

By its perfection does its part,

To make a perfect whole.

And now, Kind Father, we upon thy mercy rest

With many others leaving now

Their college walls.  Teach us

To know those who honor us and bring

Upon our Alma Mater nought

But fairest fame.

TEACHING

Coming back to Algona, Jessamine became the painting and drawing instructor in the local schools.  Two schools were in use in Algona in 1894—the Central School which had been built in 1886 and the Normal School which was a wooden edifice that had been built many years before to be used as a college.  It is not clear in which school Jessamine was assigned to teach, but due to lack of available space, some of her classes were conducted in a damp basement which was not conducive with her delicate constitution.  The illness she contracted there would cause further deterioration of her condition.  She resigned her position at the end of the year and the following fall began teaching in the Britt school system where it was said that not only did she have superior working conditions, but was better compensated as well.

Jessamine was very active in the local community.  She was a gifted pianist who performed at many area functions including the Merchant’s Carnival each year, the Call Opera House, funerals and other gatherings.  Many local organizations sought her out to read her poems and papers on various topics at their local meetings.  She was a member of the Women’s Library Aid Society, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and the Social Union Club.  Always ready to promote the rights of women, Miss Jones was the first lady to cast a ballot from the second ward in Algona. 

HER WRITING CAREER

Unfortunately, Jessamine's health continued to fail.  After her year in Britt she moved to Los Angeles in an attempt to regain her vigor.  She found the weather to be of help and while there, she began writing for the dailies which she found to her liking.  Returning to Algona briefly after a two year stay in LA, the young woman soon moved to Chicago.  She graduated from a post-graduate course at Chicago University and while there, began submitting her own stories to the Record-Herald and the Times.  The publication of those pieces gave her the incentive to submit articles to other magazines and soon her writing was beginning to achieve some national exposure.

The August 7, 1901 edition of the Algona Republican reported that Designer magazine had published her story of a newly married couple in a railway station on the plains and the night of terror they experience when a fight for existence breaks out between two neighborhood gangs.  The newspaper reported that “Miss Jones writes a good story.”

Algona Advance
December 6, 1906

Although Jessamine loved Chicago, her health was once again put in jeopardy due to the harsh winter weather.  She moved with her mother to see if the California climate would help her a second time.  She continued to write, publishing numerous articles including one in the Western magazine entitled, “Bell of the Plaza Church” which was a story about how an American man fell for a Spanish girl who lived in San Diego and how through the unlikeliest of odds managed to make her his bride.

Her story “Little Johnny’s Emancipation” was published in the McClure magazine and the publisher sent a personal letter requesting that Jessamine send all of her articles and stories.  At the same time The New York Era printed another of her articles entitled, “Timmie’s Breakfast Food.”

"One Less at Home"

Not finding much improvement in her health Jessamine came back to Algona.  In the fall of 1908 she traveled to Buffalo, New York, in search of relief.  During her travels she contracted a severe cold which soon led to pneumonia.  Jessamine Lynn Jones passed from this life on October 12, 1908, in Buffalo, New York, at the age of 40 years. Her body was returned to Algona, accompanied by her father and brother, and she was laid to rest in Riverview Cemetery.

Carolyn Ingham wrote an appreciation of Jessamine published with her obituary in the October 14, 1908 edition of the Upper Des Moines Republican which included the following verse:

“One less at home!

The charmed circle broken; a dear face

Missed day by day from its accustomed place,

But cleansed and perfected and saved by grace

One more in heaven.

One more in heaven?

Another thought to brighten cloudy days,

Another theme for thankfulness and praise,

Another link on high our souls to raise,

To home and heaven.”

Until next time,

Jean, a/k/a Kossuth County History Buff

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