Charles "Buffalo" Jones
| Charles Jesse "Buffalo" Jones | |
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Charles Jesse "Buffalo" Jones as he appears at the Finney County Historical Museum in Garden City, Kansas
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| Member of the Kansas House of Representatives | |
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In office 1885–1886 |
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| Preceded by | First state representative from Finney County |
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In office 1889–1890 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
January 31, 1844 Tazewell County Illinois, USA |
| Died | October 1, 1919 (aged 75) Topeka Shawnee County, Kansas |
| Political party | Independent-turned-Republican in 1889 |
| Spouse(s) | Martha Walton Jones (married 1869-she predeceased her husband) |
| Children |
Jessie Jones Phillips |
| Parents | Nicholas and Jane Munden Jones |
| Alma mater | Illinois Wesleyan University |
| Occupation | Rancher; Conservationist |
Jessie Jones Phillips
Olive Jones Whitmer
Charles Jesse Jones, known as Buffalo Jones (January 31, 1844 – October 1, 1919), was an American frontiersman, farmer, rancher, hunter, and conservationist who cofounded Garden City, Kansas. He has been cited by the National Archives as one of the "preservers of the American bison".
Jones was born near Pekin in Tazewell County, Illinois, to Noah Nicholas Jones and the former Jane Munden. His father was a farmer and election judge who once hired Abraham Lincoln as an attorney. The second oldest of twelve children, Jones was reared on a farm at Money Creek in McLean County in central Illinois near Bloomington. Jones became involved at an early age with the capture of wild animals and kept several as pets. For two years, he attended Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, but withdrew after being stricken with typhoid fever. In 1866, at the age of 22, Jones came to Troy in Doniphan County in the northeastern corner of Kansas, to operate a fruit tree nursery. In 1869, he wed the former Martha Walton, a descendant of naturalist Izaak Walton. The couple had two sons, who died in childhood, and two daughters, Jessie and Olive.
Soon, Jones left the tree nursery and headed west to Osborne County in north central Kansas, where he built a sod house and began earning his livelihood by hunting bison and capturing wild horses. These lengthy hunting trips took Jones into West Texas, where he met the famed lawman Pat Garrett (who in 1881 killed the desperado, Billy the Kid) in Fort Sumner, New Mexico Territory. Some accounts place Jones on March 18, 1877, at the Battle of Yellow House Canyon (also called the Battle of Thompson's Canyon) near the future Lubbock, Texas. His success at hunting earned him the sobriquet "Buffalo" Jones. In addition to hunting bison, he tamed buffalo calves and sold them at county fairs.
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