Dr. Edmund Adam Jones
by Matthew A. Camm
Dr. E. A. Jones was born in Rockville, MA on February 11, 1842 near the present town of Medway, MA. He was the son of local teachers and farmers. In 1860 at the age of 18 he entered Amherst College to study for his Bachelor’s Degree. Upon the completion of his sophomore year at Amherst College he enlisted in the 42nd Massachusetts Volunteers Company B, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Steadman, in the fall of 1862. He was immediately promoted, that is elected by his fellow countrymen, to the rank of corporal, and soon after regimental transfers had occurred he was raised to the rank of sergeant, before the regiment left Massachusetts. He served courageously in his regiment and was wounded in the shoulder on June 23, 1863 at the Battle of Bayou Lafourge, Louisiana. His regiment was part of the Battle of the Gulf serving in battles in Galveston, TX and surrounding area of New Orleans, LA. On June 23rd, 1863, his unit surrendered to the overwhelming confederate forces, and he was soon exchanged back into the Union lines. After being mustered out on August 20, 1863 at camp Readville, MA, Sergeant Jones returned to his studies at Amherst College, where he completed his Bachelor’s degree in 1865 and his Master’s degree in 1868. He served for approximately the next forty years as superintendent of Massillon and Marietta Schools here in Ohio and then was elected as Superintendent of Common Schools of the State of Ohio. In 1904 he was given an honorary Doctorate from Ohio University. In 1911 he came to Otterbein College as Professor of Bible and History and was to serve in that position until his retirement at the age of eighty four in 1926. He died on December 23, 1926. He was a most well respected and well-liked man by all who knew him.
Bibliography
Bosson, Charles P. History
of the Forty – Second Regiment: Massachusetts Volunteers,
Boston: Mills, Knight & Co., 1886.
Chicago Daily News, Sunday, December 26, 1926.
Dedham Gazette, November 22, 1862, p. 2, col. 1.
E. A. Jones Papers, Otterbein College Library Archives.
