From Records of Members of the Grand Army of the Republic, with a Complete Account of the Twentieth National Encampment, by William H Ward (1886), p. 529, on googlebooks: "LEON E JONES Was born in 1841 in Platte City, Mo; has been a merchant, contractor, and farmer. Enlisted July 12, 1862, in the 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry and served as private, sergeant, 2d lieutenant, and 1st lieutenant; commissions dating June 24, 1864 and January 11, 1865; was attached to the Army of West Virginia; took part in the battles of South Mountain, Boonesboro, Antietam, Winchester, Gettysburg, and Kernstown; was wounded at Kernstown; carried the dispatches from Grant to Sheridan while the latter was at Harrisburg, Va, bringing him down the valley on his famous ride; rode 110 miles in fifteen hours in carrying those dispatches; was honorably discharged in March, 1865. Comrade Jones joined Phil Sheridan Post GAR of San Jose, Cal, of which he was adjutant; was transferred to George H Thomas Post of San Francisco; is a resident of Santa Cruz, Cal."
Leon was sent with his brother Worth in the 1850s to live with the Wightmans in Crawford County PA; Grace Wightman was the sister of Frances Jones. Leon may be the Willie Wightman listed in the 1860 census. In 1870 Leon E Jones 28 b. OH, stock raiser, lived in San Jose, Santa Clara, CA with Mary J 20 b. IN; they were m. in March, 1870. Next-door lived James M Cutler, wife Emily, and niece Nellie, who would eventually become Leon's second wife. In 1873, in Santa Clara County, he sold land to Pedro de Saisset. In 1880 Leon E Jones 38 b. MO (parents b. MO), deputy sheriff, lived in San Francisco with Mary J 30 b. IN (parents b. IN), Mabel E 8 b. CA, and Henry C 7 b. CA. In 1888 he was appointed to the Commission of Municipal Improvement in Santa Cruz. In 1889 he was manager of Capitola, an amusement park in Santa Cruz. In 1892 he was a member of the Assembly of the California Legislature from San Francisco. In 1900 H E Montague b. 9/1866 NY, machinist, lived at 3649 19th St in San Francisco with wife Mabel b. 8/1870 CA (parents b. PA & CA), railroad clerk, father-in-law M E Jones b. 8/1840 PA (parents b. PA), railroad guard, and mother-in-law Mary Jones b. 6/1849 CA (parents b. CA). The Jones had been m. 30 y and the Montagues 7. In 1910 Leon E Jones 68 b. MO (parents b. MO), coiner in the US Mint, lived in Redwood Twp, Los Gatos, Santa Clara, CA with Nellie L 52 b. CA (parents b. IN & NY); 2nd marriage for both. In 1920 J C Curtiss 59 b. MO (parents b. NY) [this must mean Mrs J E Curtiss], no occup, lived on Willow St in Willow Glen, San Jose Twp, Santa Clara, CA with her uncle Lean E Janes [sic] 78 b. MO (parents b. OH & CT), widower and retired.
Voter registrations: 1900, San Francisco, Leon Erskine Jones, 59, 3649 19th, 2nd floor. 1908: Los Gatos, Leon E Jones, pressman, Repub. 1914: Los Gatos, Leon E Jones, Repub, mint employee, Nellie L Jones, Prog. 1916: Los Gatos, Leon E Jones, retired, Repub, Nellie L, Repub. 1918: Leon E Jones (no Nellie), retired, Repub. 1920: Los Gatos, retired. 1922-24: Los Gatos, retired. 1926: not there. CA Death Index: Leon E Jones, spouse N L, 81, Santa Clara County, 10-14-22.
From the San Jose Mercury News (publ. as San Jose Mercury Herald, 10-15-1922, v. CIII, issue 107, p. 3): "Pioneer Dies. The many friends and comrades of Leon E Jones, a member of Los Gatos Post GAR, will be saddened to learn of his death early Saturday morning. He passed away peacefully after an illness extending over many months. Mr. Jones, who was born in Platt City Mo. in 1841, crossed the plains with his parents at the age of nine, riding a horse all the way to California on the nine months trip. At the outbreak of the Civil War he returned east where he enlisted as a private in the Pennsylvania volunteers. When the war was over he again returned to California, making this his home ever since. While living at the family home on Johnson Avenue in 1917, his wife Mrs Nellie L Jones died. Since this time he has never regained his normal spirits mourning for her. The deceased as been making his home with his niece Mrs Frances Puckett at Abbey Inn since last January. He is survived by his son Henry of Lemon Cove Cal. The remains are at the Melvin Funeral parlors. Funeral arrangements will be announced later, interment taking place beside his wife in Santa Cruz." Records of Santa Cruz Memorial Park: Leon Erskine Jones, d. 10-16-1922, 81y, b. MO, d. Los Gatos.
A 1951 article on Frances D Puckett says that she married Mr Puckett, after which they set up a rest home in Hollywood. When they returned to Los Gatos, she cared for her uncle Leon Jones, who was ill. After his death, she started another inn.
John E Curtiss died in 1919. His second wife, Lucy Antoinette Laing Keith Curtiss, must have been the person in whose home Leon lived in 1920, at which time he was listed as an uncle. In a 1917 San Jose newspaper article [within a Jones Line document sent by Richard and Margaret Wiebusch] she had a party for Leon and was listed as his cousin. Angeline Moore Keith, Mary Jane Jones, and Emily M Cutler were sisters (see their notes), so Sidney Monroe Keith was a first cousin of the first wife of Leon, and related to the second wife of Leon. Lucy was the wife of Sidney M Keith.
Death certificate: Died 10-14-1922 at 55 Santa Clara in Los Gatos, b. 10-20-1841 in Platte City MO, wife Nellie L Jones, father Isaac Newton Jones b. PA, mother Frances Andrus, b. PA, cause of death chronic interstitial nephritis, arteriosclerosis, mitral disease of heart, burial Santa Cruz 10-16-1922, informant Frances Dorothy Puckett of Los Gatos.103