Another Basketball Champion

Following the path of older sister Nettie, Clarence Snoddy was a key guard for Enid High School in the 1921 & 1922 seasons. The 1921 team won the Phillips Basketball Invitation Tournament trophy, competing against 32 other Oklahoma high school teams, and winning five games in four days to claim the title.

1921 Enid HS yearbook.

1921 Enid HS yearbook.

The 1922 season was a bit tougher for the men from Enid High School. They went 4-9. Clarence earned a letter and was again an important member of the team. He was often noted for his hard work and "smashing guard" play.

1922 Enid HS yearbook.

1922 Enid HS yearbook.

Coach Bierbower

 

Ancestry. 1915 Enid HS Yearbook.

The key driver for the 1915 Enid High School Girls Basketball team was their popular coach, Altha Leah Bierbower. Coach Bierbower was born in Illinois in 1892, but moved to Oklahoma with her parents, Aaron and Laura Bierbower.

Altha later married fellow history teacher John H. Bass, who appears next to her in the 1915 Enid H.S. Yearbook. They were married on 24 August 1917. He became a lawyer for the US Federal Trade Commission.

Basketball is in the Family

 

Source: Ancestry. 1915 Enid HS Girls Basketball, OK.

At the same time my great-grandfather Edgar Lawrence Jones was helping his high school basketball team into position for an Indiana State Championship in 1915, his first cousin Nettie Snoddy was a star guard for the Enid High School Girls Basketball team in Oklahoma. Nettie is pictured above in the center of the photo from the 1915 Enid High School yearbook. As a huge fan of basketball, this was an amazingly cool find to see in the family history. Nettie was a daughter of Nancy Cornelia Jones Snoddy, sister of Thomas Robert Jones, Edgar's father.

Enid HS, 1915.

Enid HS Yearbook, 1915.

The description of Nettie is great to read. "Steady as a rock" and a veteran from the 1914 Girls Basketball team (which is not mentioned in the 1914 Enid HS Yearbook), Nettie was clearly a smart player who worked well with her teammates. She certainly had an influence on her younger brother Clarence, who starred for Enid High five years later in the 1921 & 1922 seasons. I'll have more on this basketball connection to the family in the next posts.

Nancy Cornelia

 

Nancy Cornelia Jones Snoddy.

The last of the children of Joseph and Mary Catherine Green Jones was Nancy Cornelia Jones. She was born on 24 November 1864 in Jefferson County, Tennessee. Like her siblings, she joined the family in their move to Boone County, Indiana before 1880, but returned with her parents to Tennessee. She met and married Robert Oliver Snoddy in Blount County, Tennessee on 1 October 1884.

FamilySearch, Tennessee Marriages.

Robert and Nancy had the following children:

- Maude E. Snoddy, 1886-1971

- Agnes Marie Snoddy, 1893-1954

- Nettie Myrtle Snoddy, 1897-1985

- Jessie Mae Snoddy, 1899-1973

- Roy Oliver Snoddy, 1901-1955

- Clarence Eugene Snoddy, 1904-1953

Source: S. Laird on Ancestry. Snoddy family.

The Snoddy family moved west to Oklahoma, joining the Jones and Barker families in the Oklahoma Territory. Robert filed a land patent in Garfield County, Oklahoma, near land purchased by Marion C. Jones.

In later years, Nancy operated a rooming house while her husband worked as a railroad car inspector. The family can be seen in the 1920 US Census in Enid, Oklahoma.

Ancestry. 1920 US Census, Enid, Oklahoma.

Nancy died on 7 December 1930 in Enid, Oklahoma.

The Enid Events, 11 Dec 1930.

Marion Columbus

Picking up from yesterday's post, I now turn to the fourth of five children of my 3rd-great-grandfather Joseph Jones. Marion Columbus Jones was born on 29 April 1862 in Jefferson County, Tennessee. He appears in the 1870 US Census in Jefferson County, and then moved to Boone County, Indiana before appearing in the 1880. Marion moved back to Tennessee with his parents, older sister Mollie and younger sister Nancy. He married Eva Watkins on 30 November 1884 in Blount County, Tennessee.

Marion and Eva had the following children:

- William T. Jones

- Clarence Floyd Jones

- Thomas Robert Jones (Another one! Marion's older brother was also Thomas Robert Jones, and Joseph's father was Robert Thomas Jones Sr. This name appears quite often in the family).

Eva died on 29 Dec 1892 in Blount County, Tennessee, at the age of 25. Marion packed up the family and followed several siblings to new opportunities in the Oklahoma Territory. They settled in Garfield County, Oklahoma, and Marion met & married Eva Bartlett there on 19 October 1895.

Ancestry. Oklahoma Marriages, 1895.

Marion and Eva had two children:

- Lloyd Marion Jones

- Helen Aileen Jones

The family appears in the 1900 US Census in Garfield County, living next door to the families of older sister Mattie Jones Barker, and younger sister Nancy Jones Snoddy. Marion filed a land patent in Enid, Oklahoma in June 1902 for the land in Garfield County.

BLM Land Patent, 9 June 1902.

Marion's second wife Eva Bartlett Jones died on 4 January 1907 in Garfield County.

Tonkawa News, 10 Jan 1907

After the death of his second wife, Marion and son Lloyd moved to Fresno, California, working on a fruit farm. They returned to Oklahoma, and later moved to neighboring Kansas.

By 1940, Marion was living in the household of his son Clarence in Hood County, Texas. Marion moved back to Oklahoma, where he died on 11 March 1943.