The extensive business interests of Quanah and Hardeman county place Nathan L. Jones among the leaders in industrial circles, and he has achieved that success which is the logical result of enterprise, systematic effort, resolute purpose and straight-forward methods. There are no other qualities absolutely essential to development, and upon the ladder of his own building he has climbed to prominence and prosperity. Arkansas claims him as her native son, for his birth there occurred in Howard county in December, 1856, his parents being Samuel and Paulina (Chesire) Jones. The father was called upon to lay down his life on the altar of his country during the Civil war, in which he served as a member of the Confederate army, and during his business career he was a farmer and cotton planter. His widow still resides in Arkansas.
On the old home farm in Arkansas Nathan L. Jones spent the days of his boyhood and youth, and throughout the greater part of his life he has been connected with the cotton industry. In 1886 he came to Texas, and is numbered among the old pioneers of Hardeman county. On his arrival here his possessions consisted of but a yoke of oxen, journeying here from Erath county, Texas, in search of a favorable location in the northwest, which was then just beginning to attract attention through the impending completion of the Fort Worth & Denver Railroad. Deciding to locate in Hardeman county, he erected a small house on the present site of Quanah, which place had been started that year, and secured school section No. 292 at Gypsum. For several years thereafter he was successfully engaged in farming and stock-raising, and in addition thereto was for three years a contractor and builder in Quanah during the boom days here, during which time he erected several buildings and dwellings. In 1899 he sold his ranching interests to embark in the cotton ginning business. Previous to coming to this state he had been six years in that industry in Arkansas, and here his interests have grown in a gratifying manner. It is only within recent years that cotton ginning has been attempted extensively as far northwest as Harden county, but it is now an important industry, and Mr. Jones is serving as president of the Quanah Gin & Feed Mill Company, which operates gins at Quanah, Chillicothe and Paducah, the last named in Cottle county. Besides these owned by the company Mr. Jones has individually tow gins in Greer county, Oklahoma. In 1891 he suffered the terrible misfortune of having both legs cut off below the knee by a railroad train at Vernon, but resolution, faithfulness and capability triump[e]d over this affliction, and to-day he stands facing the future undaunted as a leader in the business, political and social circles of the community.
He was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Ann White, and they have thirteen children. In 1894 he was elected to the office of county treasurer, to which position he has been reappointed at each succeeding election, and at that present time is a candidate for the position. He is a prominent and worthy member of the Christian church, in which he has long served as a deacon.
Source: B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), Vol. II, pp. 452-453.