JONES, Caleb V. - M.D. - Putnam

Dr. Caleb V. Jones was born near Peekskill, on the Hudson river, in the State of New York, March 22,1812. During his early boyhood his parents removed to what were then the frontier settlements of central New York, and located in the town of Spencer, in Tioga county. Here he spent his youth and early manhood, surrounded by the hardships and vicissitudes of a life of toil in a new country. His opportunities for education were extremely limited, but by his application in securing the benefits so meagerly offered he attracted the attention of his schoolmaster, and through his kindly counseling he received the first impressions which excited within him the desire for a higher position in life than that of a wood-chopper. Selecting the profession of medicine, he placed himself under the tutelage of a competent practitioner, and, after several years of private study, paying his way by manual labor, he succeeded in taking a course of lectures in the then prominent medical school of Herkimer county; and, after a thorough examination in all the branches of the profession, he received a license under the laws of the State of New York to practice medicine and surgery. This was early in the year 1834, and on April 13 of the same year he was married to Phebe Watson, a farmer's daughter, of Spencer, who has been his constant and faithful companion until the present time. After a few years' practice of moderate success among the hills of the Susquehanna country, he decided to cast his lot with the tide that was flowing westward, and, leaving the home of his kindred, he came to Indiana. Locating first in Plymouth, Marshall county, he struggled with the marsh malaria, in his person and among his patrons, until after two years he selected Covington as a new location, attracted by the glowing accounts of the Wabash valley and the glittering prospects held out by the opening of the Wabash and Erie canal. Arriving here in the autumn of 1840, he at once took a leading position in his profession, and for forty years has been prominently identified with the interests of the town and of Fountain county. As a physician Dr. Jones has always commanded the respect and esteem of his professional compeers, and his practice has been very extensive. His reputation as a surgeon has been especially prominent, and his services have been required over a large territory. On the call for volunteers to serve in the war with Mexico, he enlisted in the 1st reg. Ind. Vols., and was commissioned immediately as regimental surgeon by President Polk. After one year's service on the Rio Grande he returned home on leave of absence, and finding his business and family demanding his attention, he threw up his commission and entered again into civil practice. In the spring of 1862, during the war of the rebellion, he was appointed a special surgeon to relieve the extra demand for medical assistance following the battle of Pittsburg Landing. Being assigned to the 40th reg., he remained about a month, when he returned home, carrying with him the good will and gratitude of the officers and men of the regiment. The following winter, upon the urgent request of many of the members of the 63d reg., which had been largely recruited from Fountain county, he accepted a commission as surgeon of that regiment, and served with them until the spring of 1865. At the organization of the Fountain County Medical Society, in 1867, he was unanimously chosen as the first president; and in 1876, the old society having been merged into a district organization, it became necessary to reorganize the county society to comply with the regulations adopted by the State Medical Society, and he was again chosen as president. Dr. Jones is a member of the American Medical Association, the Tri-State Medical Society, composed of physicians from Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky, also of the Indiana State Medical Society. These facts, better than any encomium, will serve to indicate his professional standing. In public life he has been active, ardent in the advancement of his ideas, and uncompromising in the maintenance of his principles. Entering political life as a democrat, he was elected to the Indiana state senate in 1843, and served until the outbreak of the Mexican war. In 1848 he acted with the freesoil party, being unable to reconcile his decided anti-slavery ideas with the support of the democratic party in that campaign. In 1854 he severed his connection with the democratic party entirely, and entered heartily into the agitation which resulted in the formation of the republican party. Purchasing a printing office, he assumed editorial charge of a political newspaper, and for two years he combined the use of the probe and lancet with the pen. In 1856 he was the candidate for elector, on the Fremont presidential ticket. In 1860 he was elected treasurer of Fountain county. Leaving the duties of this office principally in the hands of his son, he became earnestly engaged in the exciting events which followed the breaking out of the rebellion. Being on friendly and confidential relations with Gov. Morton, he was frequently called upon for special services, notably the appointment as special surgeon, before mentioned, and the subsequent appointment as commissioner of the first draft from Fountain county. Having been defeated with the party for reflection as treasurer, he went into the army as surgeon of the 63d reg., leaving six months of his unexpired term to be filled by his son. In 1864, while with his regiment in Georgia, he was the third time nominated by his party for treasurer; but the democratic party having obtained the ascendency in the county, the election was not actively contested. Soon after entering the army a vacancy occurred in the command of the regiment, and quite an energetic movement sprang up among the men and some line officers to have the surgeon appointed colonel. The movement did not succeed, and the result was the production of a bitter hostility against the doctor by some of the field officers whose promotion would have been interfered with. One of these, afterward succeeding to the command, pursued the doctor with petty annoyances until he succeeded in preferring charges for disrespectful language, and after a long, dilatory trial the court-martial agreed upon a decision dismissing Dr. Jones from the service, at the same time uniting upon a recommendation to the president to have their verdict set aside. During the progress of these proceedings the regiment had passed through East Tennessee, formed a part of Sherman's army in the advance upon Atlanta, and after the capture of that point had returned by way of northern Alabama to Nashville, pursued by the rebel army under Hood. After being actively engaged in the operations which ended in the destruction of Hood's army, the regiment was transferred, with the 23d Army Corps, to North Carolina. In all his service Dr. Jones was constantly in the field and with his regiment, looking after the welfare of the men; and when, soon after their arrival in North Carolina, the order for his dismissal readied him, the regiment gave a demonstration of their regard for him which amounted to an ovation, and, as an evidence of their confidence in him, over $10,000 of the soldiers' money was intrusted with him for distribution among their families on his return home, and not a single man asked for a receipt or any written obligation to secure himself in case the money might be lost or miscarried. Arriving at Washington, he was so fortunate as to meet Gov. Morton, and with so powerful a friend it required but a few hours to obtain an interview with the president, and he had the satisfaction of seeing the work of his persecutors fall to pieces before the quiet but powerful edict of Abraham Lincoln, by whose order all his disabilities were removed. He reached home in time to rejoice with his friends and neighbors over the downfall of Richmond, which glad intelligence was so soon followed by the painful news of the assassination of the president, who had so lately befriended him. Since the war the doctor has been continuously engaged in the practice of his profession, still keeping an eye on politics, and every important campaign has found him vigorously engaged in the work of advancing the interests of the republican party. Dr. Jones comes of Methodist stock, his maternal grandfather, John Sproson, having been a class-leader in the old John street church in the city of New York. He united with the church while a young man, and has retained a membership ever since. Most of the time since his residence in Covington he has been a member of the official board of the church. His house has always been the home of the itinerant, and most of the older members of the Northwest Indiana conference have shared his hospitality. Five sons out of a family of eleven children are all who have lived beyond the age of infancy. Dr. George S. Jones, the oldest, is living and practicing medicine in Covington, having graduated in the classical course of Indiana Asbury University, at Greencastle, in the class of 1862, and in medicine at the University of Michigan in 1867. Charles D. Jones is a resident of La Fayette, Indiana. He is a classical graduate from Asbury University of the class of 1871, studied law, and has served one term as prosecuting attorney for the circuit comprised in Tippecanoe county. Robert B. Jones resides in West Lebanon, Warren county, and is the present prosecutor for the circuit composed of Fountain, Warren and Vermilion counties. Dr. C. V. Jones Jr. graduated in the scientific course at Asbury University in 1877, and in medicine at the Indiana College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1879. He is engaged in the practice of his profession at Spokan Falls, Washington Territory. Norman L. Jones, the youngest, is a student of medicine in Rush Medical College, Chicago.