Bio: Jones, Granville Duane (No dates given)

Contact: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Jones, Allen, Silverthorn, Hurley, Ryan, Hart, Wright, Anderson, Alexander, Brown, Kiefer, Collie

----Source: History of Marathon County Wisconsin and Representative Citizens, by Louis Marchetti, 1913.

Jones, Granville Duane (No dates given)

Like most men who achieve success in early manhood, G. D. Jones was not born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth, nor was he bedded on roses in his childhood days. He had to work for his education, earn it by hard work on the farm. After passing through the vocation of teacher, and being admitted to the bar, and having practiced his profession for some years, it was then that his real work of an organizer of business enterprises began. His practice took him over nearly the whole of the northern part of the state, brought him in contact with people of all sorts, lumbermen, merchants, and settlers on homesteads, and being gifted with a keen observation, he acquired a thorough knowledge of the resources of the country, and the bright future for the uncultivated region of central and northern Wisconsin, which only awaited the hand of development to bring forth a rich harvest. His reputation for honesty and application to work stood him in hand when he first undertook to persuade men of means to interest themselves with him with a view of developing the resources of this region. To work in concert, to raise capital and entrust it to the management of others, as must of necessity be done by corporations, was entirely a new idea. Up to this time each man conducted his business independent of any other, so far as his means would permit but to put their means together and work in concert had not occurred to any one. Indeed there was too much jealousy, especially among the old group of lumbermen, to work together. It is to the credit of G. D. Jones that he overcame that jealousy ? that distrust of one against the other ? and that he succeeded in combining many of the business men and capitalists of Wausau and in other cities, and inducing them to invest together in new and profitable enterprises. That is the so-called "Wausau Spirit;" the working together for common benefits, and G. D. Jones is probably the first man in the Wisconsin Valley who succeeded in giving expression to and awakening this spirit. It must not be believed that there was unlimited capital at his disposal: on the contrary, there was not. But by the coming and working together, with many men, each with some capital, great results were accomplished, as witness the many business enterprises in which he is interested with many others. One of his first business organizations is the G. D. Jones Land Company, which owned over 30,000 acres of rich farm lands in Marathon County and sells them on easy terms to actual settlers. Many men have profited by the inducements held out by this company to become independent and wealthy by honest labor just as the pioneers of old have done, and they have bright prospects before them. Not only is this company dealing in absolute good faith with purchasers, but assists settlers by helping them to good roads and schools and in every way. In making municipal improvements, he has been in the front ranks, assisting every movement by personal effort and his spirit of generosity is never appealed to in vain for any good cause.

His appointment and reappointment as regent of the university was a deserved tribute to one of the public-spirited citizens of northern Wisconsin, who in spite of his business activity has given much of his time and best thoughts to education. In the following is a list of the enterprises in which he is a director, in nearly all of which he was connected since their founding and who owe its existence in a large measure to his own talent and persuasion for organization.

G. D. Jones is a member of the law firm of Hurley & Jones, at Wausau. He was born at Harrisburg, Lewis County, New York, and is a son of Marcus S. and Orpha (Allen) Jones. He is of New England descent, none of his ancestors having immigrated to the American colonies later than 1700. His father died of typhoid fever in 1871, aged forty-five years, and his mother died in 1860, aged thirty years. In the spring of 1872 Mr. Jones came to the town of Byron, Fond Du Lac County, Wis., and hade his home with his uncle, Daniel D. Jones, who was a farmer in that town. He attended the country schools, and taught in the Fond du Lac district schools two winters, and entered the University of Wisconsin as a special student in the fall of 1878. He took the scientific course at the university and graduated there with the class of 1882, after which for two years he was principal of the Grand Rapids, Wisconsin, high school. He came to Wausau in June, 1884, and entered the office of Silverthorn, Hurley & Ryan as a law student. He was admitted to the bar in July 1886, and at once entered the law firm of Silverthorn. Hurley, Ryan & Jones, and continued in the active practice of law with that firm until 1897, when Mr. Silverthorn became circuit judge. Mr. Ryan retired from the firm in 1902 and the firm of Hurley & Jones has since continued the business. Mr. Jones is a member of the county, state and American bar associations. For several years Mr. Jones' personal business interests and those of his firm have precluded his active practice of his profession. He has been largely interested in timber and lands, is secretary and treasurer of the G. D. Jones Land Company, the Jones-Hart Land Company, the Wright Land Company, Jones Anderson Timber Company and the Wisconsin Valley Improvement Company and all of its subsidiary companies. He is secretary of the Walter Alexander Timber Company and the Neal Brown Land Company, and is a director of  the First National Bank of Wausau, the Wausau Street Railroad Company, the Wausau Telephone Company, the Wausau Sulphate Fiber Company, the Watab Pulp & Paper Company, the Virginia & Rainy Lake Company of Minnesota, Peth Candy Company, the John Kiefer Furniture Company, Wausau Fixture & Furniture Company, Great Northern Life Insurance Company, and the Employers' Mutual Liability Insurance Company.

Mr. Jones has taken a large interest in public matters and for nearly twenty consecutive years has been a member of the Board of Education, and for the last seventeen years has been president of the board. He is and for about twelve years last past has been a member of the Fire and Police Commission.

In July, 1887, Mr. Jones was married to Miss Evelyn A. Jones, of Fond Du Lac, Wis., and they have four daughters: Orpha E., now Mrs. Ralph W. Collie, who is a graduate of Vassar College; Phoebe E. and Ellen M., both of whom are now students at Vassar College, and Hester M., who is a student of Milwaukee-Downer College. The family attends the Baptist Church. Since February, 1909, Mr. Jones has been a member of the Board of Regents of the Wisconsin State University. He is a thirty-second degree Mason and is also a member of the Elks and of the Equitable Fraternal Union. He belongs to the University Club at Madison, to the Wausau City Club and the Wausau Country Club. Mrs. Jones is a conspicuous member of the Civic Improvement League, of the Ladies' Literary Club and several of the benevolent societies of Wausau.