The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 77, July 1973 - April, 1974 Page: 357
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One Man's Legacy
On one such excursion the family remained in New York (because of
the unsettled condition of the country in the fall of i86o) rather than re-
turning immediately to Texas from a trip abroad. Here William Goodrich
Jones, according to his own statement, was born on November I I, i860, at
the Hotel St. Germain. He was named for William Goodrich, his father's
old friend from New Orleans, who was then established in New York.
Goodrich, who had recently lost his own infant son, became young Jones's
godfather. So strong was this family tie that a generation later Jones gave
to each of his own children, in turn, the name Goodrich. The two families
were close friends and frequent companions during the winter of I86o-
1861 as they watched the secession movement reach its climax and the
Union break up.4
With the coming of the Civil War the elder Jones became increasingly
apprehensive about his business and properties in Galveston; so he left his
wife and family in New York and hastened south. Within six months Mrs.
Jones determined to join him and, with three children and a nurse, began
the difficult and dangerous trip to Texas. They apparently journeyed by
train to the Upper Ohio, where they took a river steamer which brought
them safely to New Orleans. There the family were offered seats in a coach
to Texas but Mrs. Jones preferred to risk the hazards of the Union gunboats
and took passage in a schooner which successfully ran the blockade,
crossed the bar, and reached the safety of Galveston harbor.'
John Maxwell Jones served briefly as a captain in the Texas State Mili-
tia. As the family was constantly endangered by the Union bombardment,
however, he soon moved his wife and children to Houston and later to Aus-
tin. At the end of the War both Mrs. Jones and young Goodrich were in
poor health; so John Maxwell Jones sold his businesses in Galveston and
moved north, first to Wilmington, Delaware (where his parents still lived)
and then to New York.
In 1873 the family went to Europe for two years, spending the first year
in Dresden and the second in Paris. Goodrich studied in a German gram-
mar school (he had previously attended a German school in New York)
and in the summer went with his father on a walking tour through the
Black Forest. They talked with the managers and the villagers who made
their livings from the forest, as their ancestors had before them. Here he
the sister of the French opera composer, Jacques Offenbach. The Jones family visited with
the famed musician when they were in Paris. See "Early Days of W. Goodrich Jones."
4See "Early Days of W. Goodrich Jones."
5Ibid.357
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 77, July 1973 - April, 1974, periodical, 1973/1974; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117148/m1/407/: accessed March 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.