Ethel Odell Jones

Ethel Odell Jones

Ethel Odell Jones, daughter of Benjamin Franklyn Jones and Susan Ann Palmer, was born in Georgia, most likely Walton County, on October 7, 1906. She was the second child of four—Troy C. Jones, Ethel Odell Jones, Cleo Idus Jones, and Edna Jones. Ethel would be my 3rd cousin, 1x removed. Our nearest common relatives are Henry P. Jones and Sarah Lightfoot Vickers.

On April 28, 1910, Ethel and her family lived in the Broken Arrow District of Walton County, Georgia. Her parents had been married for eight years and had two children, both of which were living. Her father was a farmer on a general farm. They lived next door to her uncle Sylvanus Jones and his wife Myrtle Estell (Whitley) Jones. Her paternal grandparents James Darlyn Jones and Josephine F. (Webb) Jones lived next door to Sylvanus.

On February 8, 1920, Ethel and her family lived at Grayson and New Hope Roads in the Bay Creek District of Gwinnett County, Georgia. Ethel could read and write. Her father was a farmer on a general farm and her brother Troy was a farm laborer on a home farm.

According to another Jones family researcher, Cleo remembers standing with Ethel near the creek in Monroe, Walton County, Georgia looking at Double Springs Church which they attended when she was 10 years old (about 1924). Ethel started crying and told Cleo she wanted to have the song “Lord, I’m Coming Home” sung at her funeral.

About 1925, Ethel married Madison (Matt) Fincher Moss, son of John William Harrison Moss and Mary Frances Shepherd. I haven’t been able to find a marriage record for Ethel and Madison but assume they were married in Walton or Gwinnett County. Together they had two children—Frances Odell Moss and William Julius Moss. Their daughter Frances was born about 1926 and son Julius was born on December 14, 1928.

Ethel Jones Moss, daughter Frances, and husband Madison Moss

Late December 1928, Ethel came down with pneumonia. She saw a doctor on December 30 but died at home in Monroe on New Year’s Day 1929. Ethel was buried on January 2 at New Hope United Methodist Church Cemetery in Between, Walton County, Georgia. The Jones family researcher that told me the story about the song Ethel wanted sung at her funeral also told me Cleo didn’t mention that conversation to family members when Ethel died. She didn’t think they would believe at child her age.

A young mother of two, one of them three weeks old, Ethel was just 23 years old at the time of her death. Ethel must have sensed that she was going to die. I’ve been told that during her brief illness, Ethel told her husband she wanted Cleo to raise her two children. Four years after her death, Madison married Ethel’s sister Cleo and they went on to have 11 children. Madison and Cleo raised Frances. Julius was raised by Ethel’s parents (his grandparents) Benjamin and Susan Jones. The census enumerator found Julius living with them in both 1930 and 1940.

The death date on Ethel’s tombstone reads December 29, 1928, not January 1, 1929 as recorded on her death certificate.

New Hope United Methodist Church Cemetery
Between, Walton County, Georgia