JOHN JONES, one of the old settlers of Sauk Rapids, is a native of Ross county, Ohio, born on the 13th of August, 1822. His parents died when he was six years old, and he was raised in Scioto county until eighteen years of age, when he went to Indiana and was engaged in farming two years. He then returned to Ohio, and in May, 1846, enlisted in Company D, of the Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served in the Mexican war one year. Returning to his native State, he spent several years there, and in Iowa and Illinois, and came to Sauk Rapids in the fall of 1856. After remaining a couple of years, he settled in St. Cloud, Stearns county, and at the breaking out of the civil war, returned to Illinois and enlisted in Company F, of the Twenty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served in that and other regiments until May, 1865, when he was mustered out at Indianapolis, Indiana, In May of the same year, he took a homestead in Glendorado township, Benton county, where he lived until the fall of 1876, and moved to his present residence at Sauk Rapids, giving the farm to his son. Mr. Jones was one of the organizers of Glendorado township; was the first town treasurer, and also held the offices of Assessor and Clerk, while living there. He was married in 1851, to Christiana Littlefield, of Illinois, who died in the fall of 1857, leaving one son, named Willis, who is still living. Mr. Jones was again married in 1867, to Rebecca A. Bonham, of Illinois.

History of the Upper Mississippi Valley (1881) p. 348 [Sauk Rapids]