Lake Crystal Area Chamber of Commerce

HERITAGE

    The heritage of Lake Crystal and its residents is unique and colorful

and wonderfully captured by local author, Maggie Jones, in her book:  

 Did They Think We Would Remember?

Ordinary Legends:  People from Lake Crystal, Minnesota 1900 to 1950 

Two stories from the book are featured here; we hope you enjoy them.  

Bruce Wrightson

He harvested ice.

Before there were electric freezers there was ice, and in a town with three lakes, ice was big business.  Lake Crystal’s ice crop was worth $125,000.00 annually and its ice business was passed down from father to son.  Bruce’s father, John Wesley, was the ice man before him.  v The Wrightson business employed 15 – 20 people and harvested over 4500 tons of ice annually; it was the amount needed to supply the town and several outside buyers.  Another 8000 tons were harvested by others and shipped by train to distant towns.  v   Cutting a lake into 200 pound ice cakes was hard work.  The thickness of the ice was measured with augers, then lines marked, finally cut by one man with muscular arms and a long saw with wide jagged teeth.  Horse-drawn wagons and wooden elevators moved ice off the lake.  v   The ice cakes needed to stay frozen all summer so they were packed tightly into a windowless shed, in rows and columns separated by generous layers of sawdust.  v Then the delivery route was planned and serviced.  Iceboxes around town needed new ice every two or three days or food would spoil.  Bruce and his crew filled those boxes like clockwork, one door held food, the other, ice.  They cut the ice to fit the box; an average block was sixteen inches square and two feet long.  They charged 35 cents per 100 pounds.  v  Ice was a crop that needed cold to grow and heat to increase demand.  Year after year Bruce braved winter temperatures to harvest his crop, then worked hard to shelter it from summer.  His crop thrived when none other did.  He was the ice man. 

Elizabeth Jones

She made sure mail was delivered to the correct Jones. 

For 45 years Elizabeth Jones was a dedicated postal employee who weighed packages, sold stamps and sorted mail.  She gave tours of the post office to schoolchildren and visited with people seeking their mail.  During her career, five postmasters came and went.  She stayed.  After one of them ended his duties, an article in the Tribune assured townspeople that “No changes will be made in assistant postmistress as that position will continue to be held by Miss Elizabeth Jones, whose courteous and efficient handling of her department has won her friends innumerable.”  v   Elizabeth knew everyone.  She knew their name and the name of each of their children.  It was a necessity of the job, but in Lake Crystal it was also very challenging, because in Lake Crystal most of the people had the same last name.  The Chicago Tribune on November 14, 1920 noted Lake Crystal’s special heritage.  They called it “Jonesville.”

“Lake Crystal, a community made up almost exclusively of people of Welsh descent, is the ‘Jonesville’ of Minnesota.  Wherever you go in that town of 1,055 inhabitants you are sure to encounter a Jones.  If you deposit money at the bank you give it to Cashier Jones.  Should you wish to drive in the country, Jones the liveryman will take you.  If you went there to live you would get your household goods from Jones the furniture man, and if you should happen to die there, Jones the undertaker would bury you, and the Rev. Mr. Jones might preach the funeral sermon.  Then there is Jones the baker, Jones of the general merchandise store, and Alderman Jones of the city council, besides dozens of clerks, bookkeepers, and the like and a host of farmers named Jones. 

The postmaster says there are at least 130 Jones families that get mail from the Lake Crystal post office.  He doesn’t attempt to say how many individuals that represents.  The Lake Crystal telephone directory lists 63 subscribers named Jones.  It is something of a job distinguishing the respective Joneses, especially since the assortment of ‘first names’ they have made use of is distressingly limited.  Besides two John J. Joneses, there are John F. Jones, John A. Jones, John O. Jones, John E. Jones, John B. Jones, John Colorado Jones, and dozens of John ‘something or other’ Jones. 

This seeming confusion of names, however, doesn’t seem to bother the Welsh.  By a system of nicknames, they can designate a particular John or Tom Jones as easily as if they had a complete assortment of names.  One plan of nicknaming is by locality, such as Dave of Nebraska, or Tom of North Dakota.  One family of a father and five sons has the cognomen ‘Canada’ because they sojourned in the Dominion before settling at Lake Crystal.  They are R.D. Jones Canada, Dave L. Canada, Ellis L. Canada, Ken D. Canada, Jack Canada, and John Canada.  Like wise there is Hugh Jones Michigan or Hugh of Michigan so called to distinguish him from Hugh R. Jones and Hugh A. Jones. 

John and Tom Jones, who came from Colorado, have ‘Colorado’ as a surname to distinguish them from the dozen and more Johns and Toms.  Thomas C. Jones, who moved from the Welsh settlement to Minneapolis, has since been known by the appropriate title of ‘Twin Cities Jones.’  Ellis Jones, the storekeeper, is called Ellis Jones Town to distinguish him from Ellis Jones. 

When a ‘given name’ has been repeated several times among relatives, the bearers of the name may be designated by some adjective such as ‘Big Dave’ and Little Dave,’ or ‘Old John’ and ‘Young John.’  If brothers give their sons the same name the cousin may be designated by attaching the father’s initials, as Dave Jones Hugh R. and Dave Jones Evan T.  Such names are not confined to common parlance, but are to be found in the telephone book, in the village paper and on the accounts in the banks and stores.  It is the only method of distinguishing the individuals concerned.”

v   Another way to identify a Jones was to list them by their occupation.  For example, Jack ‘Tinner’ Jones ran the tin shop at James Hardware; he built roof gutters and tin objects such as dust pans.  Or one could distinguish the Jones by the church closest to their home.  John B. ‘Jerusalem’ Jones farmed near Jerusalem Presbyterian Church in Judson Township and John B. ‘Salem’ Jones farmed near the Salem Presbyterian Church in Butternut Township.  There were also more creative ways.  Johnny ‘Jump Up’ Jones was the son of Tom ‘Michigan’ Jones.  He got his nickname because he wouldn’t sit still in school.  But regardless of the method, Elizabeth, a Jones herself, made sure everyone received the correct mail.  v  A single woman, she also loved young people and wanted to support and encourage them.  She saw the future in their faces, and she remembered every senior with a personal congratulations and gift of money when they graduated from high school.  v There are still connections between Elizabeth and community youth.  The local Jaycees created a baseball field and recreation area for children and teens on her former property.  It is named “Jones Park.” 

Reprinted with permission.  The book “Did They Think We Would Remember?” can be ordered from the Lake Crystal Area Chamber of Commerce.