Changes

| occupatio=Rancher

| occupatio=Rancher

| alma_mater=Illinois Wesleyan University

| alma_mater=Illinois Wesleyan University

|spouse=Martha Walton Jones (married 1869, predeceased her husband)

|spouse=Martha Walton Jones<br>married 1869, predeceased her husband)

|children=Jessie Jones Phillips<br>

|children=William Grant Jones (1870-1882)

Olive Jones Whitmer<br>

(Two sons died in childhood.)<br>

Charles Edward Jones (1877-1887)

Olive Walton Jones Brown (1881-1961)

Jessie Irma Jones Phillips (1892-1942)<br>

'''Parents''':<br>

'''Parents''':<br>

Nicholas and Jane Munden Jones}}

Nicholas and Jane Munden Jones}}

==Background==

==Background==

Jones was born near Pekin in Tazewell County, [[Illinois]], to Noah Nicholas Jones and the former Jane Munden. His father was a farmer and election judge who once hired [[Abraham Lincoln]] as an [[attorney]]. The second oldest of twelve children, Jones was reared on a farm at Money Creek Township in McLean County, in central Illinois near Bloomington.  Jones became involved at an early age with the capture of wild animals and kept several as pets. For two years, he attended Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, but withdrew after being stricken with [[typhoid fever]]. In 1866, at the age of 22, Jones came to  Troy in Doniphan County in the northeastern corner of Kansas, to operate nursery of fruit trees.<ref name=hnetmsu>{{cite web|url=http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-shgape&month=0008&week=c&msg=4ZaC2nPza053qdx7jtInAg&user=&pw=|title=Buffalo Jones|publisher=h-net.msu.edu|accessdate=September 4, 2010; no longer on-line}}</ref> In 1869, he wed the former Martha Walton, a descendant of [[England|English]] author and naturalist Izaak Walton (c. 1593-1683). The couple had two sons, who died in childhood, and two daughters, Jessie and Olive.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://knet.asu.edu/archives/?getObject=ualib:117403|title=Charles Jesse Jones Collection|publisher=[[Arizona State University]]|accessdate=November 4, 2010; material no longer on-line}}</ref>

Jones was born near Pekin in Tazewell County, [[Illinois]], to Noah Nicholas Jones and the former Jane Munden. His father was a farmer and election judge who once hired [[Abraham Lincoln]] as an [[attorney]]. The second oldest of twelve children, Jones was reared on a farm at Money Creek Township in McLean County, in central Illinois near Bloomington.  Jones became involved at an early age with the capture of wild animals and kept several as pets. For two years, he attended Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, but withdrew after being stricken with [[typhoid fever]]. In 1866, at the age of 22, Jones came to  Troy in Doniphan County in the northeastern corner of Kansas, to operate nursery of fruit trees.<ref name=hnetmsu>{{cite web|url=http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-shgape&month=0008&week=c&msg=4ZaC2nPza053qdx7jtInAg&user=&pw=|title=Buffalo Jones|publisher=h-net.msu.edu|accessdate=September 4, 2010; no longer on-line}}</ref> In 1869, he wed the former Martha Walton, a descendant of [[England|English]] author and naturalist Izaak Walton (c. 1593-1683). The couple had six childrenb, only two of whom lived to an advanced age.<ref name=findagrave/>

Soon, Jones left the tree nursery and headed west to Osborne County in north central Kansas, where he built a sod house and began earning his livelihood by hunting bison and capturing wild [[horse]]s. These lengthy hunting trips took Jones into West Texas, where he met the famed lawman Patrick Floyd Jarvis Garrett (1850-1908), who in 1881 killed the desperado, [[Billy the Kid]]) in Fort Sumner in, [[New Mexico]] Territory. Some accounts place Jones on March 18, 1877, at the Battle of Yellow House Canyon (also called the Battle of Thompson's Canyon) near the future [[Lubbock]], [[Texas]]. His success at hunting earned him the sobriquet "Buffalo" Jones. In addition to hunting bison, he tamed buffalo calves and sold them at county fairs.<ref name=hnetmsu/>

Soon, Jones left the tree nursery and headed west to Osborne County in north central Kansas, where he built a sod house and began earning his livelihood by hunting bison and capturing wild [[horse]]s. These lengthy hunting trips took Jones into West Texas, where he met the famed lawman Patrick Floyd Jarvis Garrett (1850-1908), who in 1881 killed the desperado, [[Billy the Kid]]) in Fort Sumner in, [[New Mexico]] Territory. Some accounts place Jones on March 18, 1877, at the Battle of Yellow House Canyon (also called the Battle of Thompson's Canyon) near the future [[Lubbock]], [[Texas]]. His success at hunting earned him the sobriquet "Buffalo" Jones. In addition to hunting bison, he tamed buffalo calves and sold them at county fairs.<ref name=hnetmsu/>

Jones never fully recovered from the malaria. He spent his last years in New Mexico, [[San Antonio]], Texas, and [[Denver]], [[Colorado]]. He patented an irrigation device and sought backers for the project.<ref name=exhibit/> He also envisioned crossbreeding domestic sheep with Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep.<ref name=aprofile>{{cite web|url=http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic37-2-182.pdf|title=Arctic Profiles: Charles Jesse Jones|publisher=pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca|accessdate=March 19, 2021}}</ref>

Jones never fully recovered from the malaria. He spent his last years in New Mexico, [[San Antonio]], Texas, and [[Denver]], [[Colorado]]. He patented an irrigation device and sought backers for the project.<ref name=exhibit/> He also envisioned crossbreeding domestic sheep with Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep.<ref name=aprofile>{{cite web|url=http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic37-2-182.pdf|title=Arctic Profiles: Charles Jesse Jones|publisher=pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca|accessdate=March 19, 2021}}</ref>

Jones became ill in 1917, and died two years later of a heart attack at the home of his younger daughter, Olive J. Whitmer, in the Kansas capital city of [[Topeka]]. His other daughter was Jessie J. Phillips of [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]], Illinois. Jones was interred beside his wife and sons, all of whom predeceased him, at Valley View Cemetery in Garden City.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9402152/charles-jesse-jones|title=Charles Jesse Jones|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=March 19, 2021}}</ref>

Jones became ill in 1917, and died two years later of a heart attack at the home of his younger daughter, Olive J. Whitmer, in the Kansas capital city of [[Topeka]]. His other daughter was Jessie J. Phillips of [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]], Illinois. Jones was interred beside his wife and sons, all of whom predeceased him, at Valley View Cemetery in Garden City.<ref name=findagrave>{{cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9402152/charles-jesse-jones|title=Charles Jesse Jones|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=March 19, 2021}}</ref>

In a long obituary published in ''[[The New York Times]],'' Jones was described as having been "known throughout America as 'Buffalo Jones', famous cowboy and big game hunter and friend of the late former President Theodore Roosevelt. He and Roosevelt died less than ten months apart in 1919.<ref>''[[The New York Times]],'' October 2, 1919.</ref> There is no mention in ''The Times'' that Jones was "the first, great, and highly original preserver-user of North America’s wildlife."<ref name=aprofile/>

In a long obituary published in ''[[The New York Times]],'' Jones was described as having been "known throughout America as 'Buffalo Jones', famous cowboy and big game hunter and friend of the late former President Theodore Roosevelt. He and Roosevelt died less than ten months apart in 1919.<ref>''[[The New York Times]],'' October 2, 1919.</ref> There is no mention in ''The Times'' that Jones was "the first, great, and highly original preserver-user of North America’s wildlife."<ref name=aprofile/>