Peyton Smith Jones

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Peyton Smith Jones

Birth
Cannon County, Tennessee, USA
Death
29 Mar 1913 (aged 83)
Las Animas, Bent County, Colorado, USA
Burial
Las Animas, Bent County, Colorado, USA Add to Map
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Peyton Smith Jones was born at or near Saunders Fort, Cannon County, Tennessee to Erasmus Jones II and Christiana Bond, and moved with his family to Red River County, Texas in about 1852. About 1858 the family moved to Parker County, Texas. He joined the Confederate Army. After Stephen Fuqua scouted the grasslands on the open range in south eastern Colorado (near the current town of Los Animas), James Columbus, Peyton Smith, and Stephen Fuqua, a sister, Amanda Smith Jones Wood, and other members of the Jones family drove 4200 head of cattle, moved with covered wagon, and founded and headquartered the JJ Ranch on the Purgatorie River (currently on the northeast corner of the Purgatorie River and Colorado Highway 109) near Higbee. They lived in dugouts the first winter they were there. In 1882 they sold the ranch to the Prairie Cattle Company for $625,000.

He experimented with cross breeding and improving his herds. After the sale of the JJ Ranch was signed, he moved to Council Grove, Kansas where he farmed and raised stock for eight years and ran a loan and real estate business. In 1890 he moved back to Colorado where he began cattle ranching along the Purgatorie River and lived in La Junta where he owned some buildings and was involved in banking with his brother James Columbus. He died in 1913 in the Jones Block Building after being ill for four months.

Summarized by grand-grand-grand niece Margaret Lancaster from The JJ Ranch on the Purgatory River by Frances Bollacker Keck, Otero Press, La Junta, Colorado, First Printing 2001.
Peyton Smith Jones was born at or near Saunders Fort, Cannon County, Tennessee to Erasmus Jones II and Christiana Bond, and moved with his family to Red River County, Texas in about 1852. About 1858 the family moved to Parker County, Texas. He joined the Confederate Army. After Stephen Fuqua scouted the grasslands on the open range in south eastern Colorado (near the current town of Los Animas), James Columbus, Peyton Smith, and Stephen Fuqua, a sister, Amanda Smith Jones Wood, and other members of the Jones family drove 4200 head of cattle, moved with covered wagon, and founded and headquartered the JJ Ranch on the Purgatorie River (currently on the northeast corner of the Purgatorie River and Colorado Highway 109) near Higbee. They lived in dugouts the first winter they were there. In 1882 they sold the ranch to the Prairie Cattle Company for $625,000.

He experimented with cross breeding and improving his herds. After the sale of the JJ Ranch was signed, he moved to Council Grove, Kansas where he farmed and raised stock for eight years and ran a loan and real estate business. In 1890 he moved back to Colorado where he began cattle ranching along the Purgatorie River and lived in La Junta where he owned some buildings and was involved in banking with his brother James Columbus. He died in 1913 in the Jones Block Building after being ill for four months.

Summarized by grand-grand-grand niece Margaret Lancaster from The JJ Ranch on the Purgatory River by Frances Bollacker Keck, Otero Press, La Junta, Colorado, First Printing 2001.

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