In 1860, when St. Joseph’s was built, Moses M. Jones was 30 years old, living in Schenectady. He was married, had real property valued at $1000 and personal property at $2000. Moses was born in Wales; his 28-year-old wife Catherine was from Pennsylvania. Their children were Morris M, Emma and George. His profession was given as “slater.”
Right next door to Moses? More Jones boys, all slaters. There was Morris M. Jones, 28, and his wife Angeline and son Royal. (Angeline was also from Pennsylvania, and Royal and Morris were born there, suggesting the Jones boys swept through Pennsylvania to pick up some brides on their way to the not-yet-Electric City). There was another Morris M. Jones, 19, and a David M. Jones, 16. In that household was another slater, John M. Drake, 20, who had the courtesy at least to have the proper middle initial if he was going to persist in not being a Jones. They lived in a merchant neighborhood on Yates Street, a street that runs between Union and Liberty just east of Broadway that is now little but parking lots. But in 1860, it was slaters, clergymen, tailors, and a patent rights business. In 1863, Moses registered for the Civil War draft, though his age then was given as 39.
But other than this ad, a single census entry, and a draft registration, I can’t find any evidence of Moses. He doesn’t appear in the 1870 business directory. All the Jones boys seem to disappear, except Royal, who shows up in Tacoma, Washington, in 1892. I’d love to report that he was putting up slate roofs, but he was listed as a cook.
By the way, to go by the surviving records, in 1830 Wales was producing people named Moses Jones by the bushel basket.
