The Herald reported on Sept. 9, 1880 – “Col. Allen Jones has withdrawn from the firm of J.M. Ivy and Company which will continue in business.”
The Rock Hill Herald reported on Jan. 6, 1887 – “Mr. E.B. Mobley has moved from the Waxhaws to Rock Hill and his family now occupies the residence on Main Street recently vacated by Mr. D.H. Stevenson.”
The Rock Hill Herald announced on May 19, 1887 – “Capt. Allen Jones has been selected by the 3 C’s railroad to obtain the rights of way from Ebenezer to the Catawba River.”
The Herald reported on Dec. 15, 1887 – “Capt. Allen Jones has decided to move to Columbia. He was one of the first citizens of Rock Hill, coming from Raleigh, N.C. in the autumn of 1867 to work at London and Zimmerman, the first dry goods store in town. In 1868 he organized Ivy, Broach and Jones. Then in 1870 the firm of London and Jones. In 1871 he entered the firm of J.M. Ivy and Company and then in 1880 organized Jones and Robertson. He goes to Columbia to take charge of the offices there. Capt. Jones is a long term leader in Rock Hill including being a fire fighter. He has purchased the Sloan Mansion in Colombia.”
City Directories and History: 1908 – G. H. Greene (Gilbert and Aline Mobley Greene), 1917 – G.H. Green, 1922/23 – G.H. Greene, 1933 – Gilbert Greene, 1946 – Gilbert H. Greene, 1963 – NA
“….the imposing Capt. Edward Biggers Mobley house. Mrs. Mobley was Corrie Massey before marriage. This was a two-story house with very large columns. The roof was steep and was covered with slate shingles. This house was built as a simpler, less formal house; but the Mobleys remodeled the house completely in preparation for the wedding of their daughter to Mr. George White. It is said that the contractor only finished putting up the columns the day before the wedding. The Mobleys had two sons and two daughters. Mr. Mobley had large farming interests in Lancaster County, just across the Catawba River. He was also a cotton merchant in Rock Hill. He was a veteran of the C.S.A. This house was originally built by Capt. Allen Jones.” [Robbins – White Tour Booklet]
R&R Note: The Herald of Feb. 10, 1900 stated, Mr. E.B. Mobley is quiet sick at his home on Hampton Street.”
Captain Allen Jones (the son of Mr. and Mrs. Cadwallader Jones III – Mt. Gallant), was born 1846 in Hillsborough, Orange Co, N.C., the 5th of 10 known surviving children (6 boys/4 girls) born to Col. Cadwallader Jones, CSA and his wife Annie Isabella Iredell, Governor of North Carolina (1827-1828).
He removed with his family to South Carolina in 1857, receiving his earlier schooling from the common schools at Ebenezer, York County, until the war came. In 1861 he volunteered with the State Guards for the defense of Charleston in April, 1863; and was promoted to second-lieutenant. In January, 1864, he joined the Twelfth Regiment, Army of Northern Virginia and was wounded in front of Richmond, and paroled after the surrender of Appomattox.
Returning home after the war, he went into business at Rock Hill after the war, and served one term as mayor of that town. Later he became Treasurer of the Saxe-Gotha Mills, Lexington Manufacturing Company, Middleburg Mills, in Lexington County; and president of the Palmetto Mills, Columbia, South Carolina; and was considered one of the foremost cotton-mill owners of the State.
He married Augusta Henrietta Porcher, of Winnsboro, South Carolina, October 15, 1874 and they were parents to at least 9 known children:
* Marion Porcher Jones (1875)
* Annie Iredell Jones (1877)
* Helen Iredell Jones (1878)
* Jane DuBose Jones (1880)
* Cadwallader Jones (1882)
* Augusta Porcher Jones (1885)
* Allen Jones, Jr.(1887 – 1975)
* Robin Jones (1889)
* Theodore Marion Jones (1895 – 1959)
Capt. Jones died in 1916 at age 69, paralyzed, presumably from a stroke. His wife of 42 years survived him another 23 years, passing in 1939 at age 86. Information courtesy of Find A Grave.
Also see additional information on other Rock Hillians who made a difference under the picture column – the MORE INFORMATION / PDF link.
The Herald reported on July 12, 1902 – “Architect H.E. White has drawn plans for the complete remodeling of the already handsome home of Capt. E.B. Mobley. The style will be colonial and it will have eight main rooms. A new slate roof will be put on a frame two feet above the old shingle roof.”
The Journal reported on July 15, 1902 that plans for improvements to Capt. E.B. Mobley’s house on Johnston Street are being drawn by Mr. H.E. White.”
Historically this home was the showplace of local farmer, Colonel Edward Biggers Mobley of Rock Hill who constructed the home in circa 1860 and had it heavily remodeled for the wedding on his daughter in about 1903. The Herald reported on July 12, 1902 – “That architect H.E. White has drawn plans for the complete remodeling of the already handsome home of Capt. E.B. Mobley. Its style will be Colonial, and it will have eight main rooms. The present roof will not be removed, but a slate roof will cover the whole, the latter being put on a frame two ft., above the shingle roof. The building will be a very pretty one and according to the plans, one of the most attractive in the city.”
Notes: The Mobley house was built by Capt Allen Jones, who sold the property to E. B. Mobley when he and his family moved to Columbia about the time when the DuBose family left Rock Hill. Courtesy of the YCGHS—June 1998
R&R Note: Mr.Rash, a local farmer, often helped demolish houses in downtown Rock Hill during he urban redevelopment era of the 1970s. One of the houses he dismantled was the Mobley house. The slate roof was saved at his farm south of Rock Hill and years later given to Dr. F.S. Fairey for his use on renovations on the old Robertson House which he had moved to Fishing Creek for restoration.
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