Biographical sketch extracted from:

Biographical and historical record of Adams and Wells counties, Indiana. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1887. pp. 952-953.

OLIVER P. JONES, one of the old and respected settlers of Wells County, residing on section 10, Jackson Township, was born in Clinton County, Ohio, February 27, 1821, a son of John and Eliza (Hendrickson) Jones. His parents were natives of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and were married in Clinton County, Ohio, December 27, 1819, the father having been brought to that county when a boy of eleven years. He was a son of John Jones, who was a soldier during the Revolutionary war. The latter was born August 10, 1754, and was a son of Daniel Jones, the great-grandfather of our subject, who was born in 1715. Of his father's brothers, Isaac, Oliver P., Daniel and Samuel were soldiers in the war of 1812. Samuel Jones was the first white settler on the Salamonie River between the mouth of that river and the Godfrey reservation, and the town of Warren was laid out by him. Oliver P., our subject, grew to manhood in his native county, remaining there until February, 1845, when he came to Jackson Township, Wells County, Indiana, to make improvements on a farm which his father had previously bought. This land consisted of 365 acres of heavy timber, and was entirely unimproved. He rafted logs down the river to Warren, where he had them sawed at the mill, and with the lumber be built a house. He then boarded with a family which had come with him from Ohio, and that season they cleared and planted ten acres. The same fall he went back to Ohio, returning in November with his father's family, they arriving at their new home in Indiana December 4, 1845. Game was very plentiful in those days, and Mr. Jones has shot deer while standing by his own house. Wolves were very troublesome, and would frequently kill their sheep. Mr. Jones made his home with his parents until their death. The mother died August 21, 1863, the father surviving until September 6, 1883, dying at the advanced age of eighty six years. They were the parents of two children—Oliver P. and a daughter, Elizabeth. Two years after coming to Wells County Oliver P. Jones returned to Ohio, where he was married November 25, 1847, to Miss Nancy Smithson, a native of Clinton County, Ohio, and daughter of Campbell and Sarah (Tyrell) Smithson, who were both born in the State of Virginia. Both of her grand fathers fought in the Revolutionary war. Her parents were married in their native State, and subsequently moved to Ohio and lived in Clinton and Highland counties, that State. They died in Clinton County, the mother in August, 1866, and the father in September, 1867. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have provided a comfortable home for no less than fifteen children, and of these the most of them they have reared from childhood. They are worthy members of Pleasant Hill Christian Church, and among the highly esteemed citizens of Jackson Township. In politics Mr. Jones is a Democrat as was also his father. Mr. Jones was one of the original stockholders in the Fort Wayne & Muncie Railroad, and in every enterprise for the advancement of his township or county he takes an active interest.