Jones Charles Caldwell Joslin
(November 24, 1852 to December 22, 1935)
Jones Charles (J.C.) Caldwell Joslin, the 5th of the 7 children of parents William Joslin and Jane Ux, was born in Panola County, Mississippi, just a few years after his family moved to Mississippi from Tennessee. At the time of the move, several of his uncles moved to Texas, instead, beginning the family’s partial migration to that state.
J.C.’s mother died when he was only about 7 years old and his father died while he was still a teenager. Kay has not yet managed to find out exactly when he moved to Texas, but the 1880 census lists J.C. as living in Lamar County, Texas, with a wife and 9 month old daughter, Annie. As J.C.’s marriage license to Hettie Hindman shows up in 1887, and later records show that he had a son born in 1886, William Manfred(Mannie), one can suppose that J.C. became a widower at the time of (or soon after) Mannie’s birth. The family stayed in contact with Mannie throughout his life, but for some reason, few current members of J.C.’s family even knew of the existence of Annie. She is shown as still living with the family in 1900, as of the census date, but no mention of her is found thereafter. Kay would like to find out if she married, died, or whatever.
While living in Lamar/Delta County, in or near Cooper, Texas, where his son Elmo (Kay’s grandfather) was born, J.C. is listed in census records as a ‘farmer’. By the 1910 census, the Joslins are counted as living in Amarillo (Potter County), owning their home free and clear and showing J.C.’s occupation as ‘farmer’. Word of mouth stories gleaned from J.C.’s grandchildren, say that he had a ‘ranch’ out of town, but that Hettie and the children always lived in town, to be near school. In the 1920 census, J.C. is listed as a ‘carpenter’; and indeed, this is what Xelpho, Kay’s mother always claimed. However, none of the grandchildren Kay talked to thought he did this for much of his life.
The Joslin Family has been pretty thoroughly researched back to John Joslin (born about 1789 in Davidson County, Tennessee - died May 1, 1850 in Lafayette County, Mississippi). There seems to be some disagreement, however, about John's father. John married Rebecca Hendricks about 1790 in South Carolina. John and Rebecca, had 14 children, one of whom was William Joslin (1815-1866), who was the father of Jones Charles. Researchers in Mississippi, particularly, have written articles about the Joslins, and they are mentioned in historical books about the area. From emails Kay has exchanged with distant Joslin cousins, it is said that Joslins settled in Van Zandt County, Buerlson County, Robertson County and several other Texas counties. As records show Kay’s branch living in Delta and Potter counties, it seems they were really scattered all around Texas.