Samuel Messer Jones Junior
Samuel Messer Jones Junior was born more than 133 years ago on January 4th, 1886 in Worcester, Massachusetts to his Father Samuel Messer Jones and Mother Lillie V. Cummings....
** Interesting events that occurred around the World during Samuel's birth year of 1886 included.
• On January 29th, 1886 Karl Benz patents the "Benz Patent-Motorwagen" in Karlsruhe, Germany. It is the World's 1st automobile with a burning motor.
• On February 14th, 1886 the first train load of oranges leaves Los Angeles via the United States Rranscontinental railroad.
• On April 25th, 1886 Sigmund Freud opens his psychology practice in Vienna.
• On May 8th, 1886 American pharmacist Dr. John Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage that will be named 'Coca-Cola'.
• On October 28th, 1886 in the New York Harbor, United States President Grover Cleveland dedicates the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France.
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Samuel was the only Son of three children born to his Mother and Father in their home state of Massachusetts.
As a young man, Samuel supports himself in the field of woodworking. According to his military registration card from September of 1918 he is employed as a woodworker at the Springfield, Massachusetts aircraft corporation. After his enlistment on October 16th, Samuel is sent to the Dorr Field Military Airfield near Arcadia, Florida. Upon his arrival to the Sunshine State, he attends "flying school" and joins the Detachment Air Service during the First World War...
Dorr Field was named after Flying Cadet Stephen H. Dorr Jr., who was killed in an August 17th 1917 midair collision. Dorr enlisted in the summer of 1917 and was sent to Toronto, Ontario, Canada for training with the British Royal Flying Corps.
In 1917 the Army announced its intention of establishing a series of camps to train prospective pilots after the United States entry the First World War. An Army survey crew was sent to Southwest Florida looking for suitable sites to build airfields. One selected was a site about 13 miles to the Southwest of Arcadia, Florida. An agreement to lease the land for the Army was concluded, and the construction of some 46 buildings began on March 15th, 1918. It covered over 700 acres which included fourteen hangars that housed four to eight planes each, a hospital, and six barracks that held 175 men each.
Although official records indicate that Samuel's service to his Country ended on April 2nd, 1919 the Federal census of 1920 shows that he still works as "Chief Guard" at Door Field in Arcadia, Florida.
On February 6th, 1922 Samuel Messer marries Effie Dora Hancock in Hardee, Florida. Together the couple will have a single Daughter in 1928 and name her Kay !!
The tight-knit family would relocate to Tampa, Florida where Samuel makes a lifelong career as a salesman with the Seybold baking company !!
( 1935 Tampa City directory showing Samuel and Effie in comments below )
** I found an interesting Shriner's Club photograph that includes Mr. and Mrs. Jones from 1930. The title is confusing because it states that the Shriners of Cuba arrive for a visit in Tampa... ( Image in comments below )
Samuel would passed away suddenly in the Jones South Tampa home on Saturday February 21st, 1942...
Samuel Messer Jones... Beloved Husband, Father, and pioneer Air Service Veteran of the First World War...