Martha (twins),
Hiram, John R., Josiah N., Mahala and Matilda-only three of whom are
now living.
Josiah N. Jones was educated in the district schools of Carroll county,
which he attended only during the winter months, as he had to work on the
farm during the summer, his father having died when Josiah was but eight
years old. Leaving school at the age of sixteen, he went to Boston, where he
learned the trade of machinist and blacksmith-learned it very thoroughly.
as his subsequent record proved. He then went west and worked at his
trade for some time in Chicago. Having a strong desire to see the country,
he continued his pilgrimage to the Mississippi river and beyond, finally reach-
ing the Far West, where he spent some years, hunting buffalo in Kansas as
early as 1858, and traveling fromthe Rocky Mountains to the Rio Grande.
He returned home at a time of great political excitement, owing to the
approaching struggle between the Northern and Southern States. A year
before the breaking out of the war he joined the Massachusetts Volunteer
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Militia, and was therefore in readiness to go out on the first call for 75,000
troops. On April 15, 1861, he enlisted in the Sixth Regiment of Massa-
chusetts Volunteer Infantry and went out with his regiment. After serving
out a term of three months and seventeen days, he re-enlisted in the Sixth
New Hampshire Regiment, becoming first lieutenant of Company D. On
August 4, 1862, he was promoted to the captaincy of Company F and served
until the close of the war, enduring much hardship. He was mustered out
in December, 1864, having made an