Born: April 4, 1827; Hillsborough, New Hampshire
Death: November 7, 1878; Chico, California
George Foster Jones was born in 1828 in Millsboro, New Hampshire (birthplace of President Franklin Pierce). He came to California around Cape Horn during the Clipper Ship Days, arriving in San Francisco in July of 1849. He hurried to the mines of Georgetown in El Dorado County, where gold had been discovered about the same time as in the Sierra Nevada foothills. The hub of an immensely rich gold mining area, Georgetown had a population of about three thousand in 1854-56. As a gold rush camp, the community outlasted many other towns because the gold found nearby was solid primary deposits, as opposed to placer deposits. Gold production continued until after the turn of the 20th century.
Jones spent two years in Georgetown and succeeded well. He then moved to Shasta County and became the proprietor of a hotel “near the old road from Redding to Shasta”. He met Sydnia Ann McIntosh, who he married in 1853. With her family, Sydnia had left Centerville, Kentucky in May of 1852, traveling via Independence, Missouri by covered wagon over the emigrant road through the Carson Valley, arriving in Sacramento in the fall of 1852. The McIntosh family settled in what was then Colusi (now Glenn) County and created the Lone Tree Ranch, near what is Corning today. The Jones lived for three years at Lone Tree Ranch, and then moved to Chico where Jones bought out E. B. Pond at First and Main Streets, becoming very successful at shipping goods up and down the Sacramento River. In 1865, he bought property in Chico and erected a building which still stands today, used as a Masonic Hall. He at one time served as Sheriff of Colusa County. Mr. and Mrs. Jones had eight children, and most of his descendants are still in California today. He passed away at the age of 50 in 1878.