Charles W. Jones, MSA SC 5496-51546

Charles W. Jones (b.1825 - d.1892)
MSA SC 5496-51546

Joshua Chapel Trustee, Free Black Property Owner
Kennedyville, Kent County, Maryland

Charles Wesley Jones was a free black property holder, farmer, and trustee to Joshua Chapel in the late 1860s.¹ Charles was the first trustee to sign the 1869 mortgage for Joshua Chapel and the only trustee who signed his name, as opposed to marking their signature with an “x,” suggesting that he could write. The 1880 U.S Federal Census also reports Charles as able to read and write.² Born in 1825 in Kent County, Charles was the oldest of five children. His parents Amos and Eliza Hanson, had three daughters: Mary, Elizabeth, Mary F and two sons: Charles W. and Amos John.³

On November 26, 1856, Charles married Elizabeth Posey, also a free black from Kent County, about six years his younger by Reverend Wilson.⁴ Together they had three sons: Amos Jones, Charles W. Jr., and Eben P. and three daughters: Mary J., Ann E., and Hannah.⁵ In 1857, Charles applied for a certificate of freedom, which described him as five feet and seven and a half inches tall with light complexion and a scare on his right cheek.⁶

In 1870, Charles was recorded as a laborer and a U.S citizen and then in 1880 as a farmer, with $300 of real estate and $125 in personal estate.⁷ His personal property sales indicate that he had, among other household items, a cultivator, a wagon and a top wagon, a scythe, two sets of carriage harnesses and a feed chest, indicating that he not only was growing crops on his land, but also had horses, a valuable possession at the time.⁸

^{1. Kent County
Circuit Court (Land Records), Charles W. Jones et al. to the Church Extension Society, MSA CE 57-14, JKH Liber 8, Folio 281.}

^{2. U.S.
Census Bureau (Census Record, MD), Charles W. Jones, 1880, p4, Kent, 2nd
Election District, SCM 4748-1, MSA SM61-323.}

^{3. U.S.
Census Bureau (Census Record, MD), Amos Jones, 1860, p12, Kent, 2nd Election
District, SCM 7222-2, MSA SM61-212.}

^{4. Kent County
Circuit Court (Marriage Licenses), 1856-1860, C1082, Charles W. Jones, November
26, 1856, Maryland
State Archives.}

^{5. U.S.
Census Bureau (Census Record, MD), Charles W Jones, 1880, p.4, Kent, 2nd
Election District, SCM 4748-1, MSA SM 61-323.}

^{6. Kent
County Circuit Court (Certificates of Freedom), 1852-1864, CM1165, Charles
Wesley Jones, p36.}

^{7. U.S.
Census Bureau (Census Record, MD), Charles Jones, 1870, p70, Kent, 2nd
Election District, SCM 7255, MSA SM61-274 ; U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record,
MD), Charles W. Jones, 1880, p4, Kent, 2nd Election District, SCM
4748-1, MSA SM61-323.}

^{8. Kent County Register
of Wills (Estate Papers), 1749-1940, T4834, Box 33, Charles W. Jones, Inventory of
Goods, Chattels, and Personal Estate, Baltimore City Archives.}

^{9. Kent County Register
of Wills (Estate Papers), 1749-1940, T4834, Box 33, Charles W. Jones, Renunciation of
Hiers, Baltimore City Archives.}