Jeanne Boger Jones Papers

Biographical Note

Jeanne Jones was born on November 5, 1920, to Thomas Abraham Boger, M.D., from Aurora, Ill., and Grace Camille Collins, from Waukesha, Wis. Her brother, Dr. Thomas A. Boger, Jr., was born in Milwaukee in 1918. Her father, Dr. Thomas A. Boger, graduated from Marquette University Medical School in Milwaukee in 1915. Jeanne Boger grew up in Aurora, Ill., and graduated from East Aurora High School in 1937. She was a third-generation college graduate, attending Howard University in Washington, D.C., Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. and earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1941. She received her master's of education from Northeastern Illinois University in 1970.

Jeanne married Mark E. Jones, Jr., in April 1944. Mark Jones was from Indianapolis; he graduated from Roosevelt University in Chicago and Loyola University Law School in Chicago in 1950. Jeanne and Mark had four children: Marquita, born in 1948; twins Marcus and Marvin, born in 1953, and Julie, born in 1967. Jeanne Jones worked as a medical laboratory technician and later taught elementary school in the Chicago Public Schools system for 25 years. She was director of an intensive reading program for the Chicago Public Schools.

Jeanne always had a talent for knitting, crocheting and needlepoint, but in the last 20 years she has also pursued her passion for genealogy. Jeanne produced enough research to trace one branch of her family back seven generations. Jeanne Jones has been a summer resident of Idlewild, Mich., since she was 13 years old and she recently retired to Grand Rapids, Mich., where she currently resides.

Scope and Content Note:

The Jeanne Boger Jones papers contain materials that document the history of African Americans in the Midwest, including religious, military, occupational and recreational endeavors, from the Civil War to the present. The records highlight such issues as equal opportunity in employment and housing, fair administration of veteran’s benefits, and the history of African American participation in the armed forces. Venues of activity include Chicago, Batavia (Ill.), Washington, D.C., as well as the Idlewild, Mich., resort community. Besides historical data, the collection provides guidance and examples of the research methods required to carry out genealogical and family history research.

The Jeanne Boger Jones Papers include five distinct series of materials. The first series comprises organizational documents and correspondence compiled and/or created by Ms. Jones’ late husband, Hon. Mark E. Jones, through his membership in the World War II Black Naval Veterans of Great Lakes (WW2BNVGL) during the 1980s, and also materials collected during his service on the Illinois Commission on African American Males (during the 1990s). Also included in this series is a scrapbook entitled "Judge Mark E. Jones" created by Jeanne Jones and her family after Mark E. Jones’ death. This scrapbook provides views of Judge Jones during his years in Chicago as attorney, member of the Regular Democratic Party organization, and judge, along with other individuals in these groups.

A second series of records involves the Idlewild Lot Owners Association, Inc. (ILOA), of which Ms. Jones was a member and officer through her longtime summer residence at the Idlewild lake resort community in Michigan. Besides bylaws, membership rosters, and event calendars dating from the 1990s, this series includes those records created during Ms. Jones’ chairmanship of the 75th Anniversary Planning Committee in 1995 and 1996. Also present are annual "Fashion Flair" souvenir ad books from 1990 to 2001, and a selection of articles, both scholarly and from various news media, referring to the history and significance of Idlewild. Photographs from Idlewild are located in Box 6.

The third major series of materials, "Genealogy of Abraham Thomas Hall," was created by Ms. Jones as she researched her ancestor, Abraham T. Hall, and other family members.The material contains a variety of government records (census, vital records, military records, U.S. Department of Labor files). Included are genealogical charts prepared by Ms. Hall for several Hall and Boger family ancestors, rooted mainly in their locales of Chicago and also Batavia, Illinois. The bulk of the materials relates to Abraham (or Abram) T. Hall and his life as frontier settler, abolitionist, Civil War union soldier, and founding member of Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church, the oldest African American church in Chicago. Another substantial selection of material illuminates the life of one of Abraham T. Hall’s sons, Charles E. Hall, through the latter’s illustrious career as one of the first African American administrative employees in the U.S. Census Bureau. Several articles provide historical context and additional data. Located in Box 6 are a number of photographs taken of family members, buildings, and gravesites, dating from the late 19th century to the late 20th.

The fourth series in the Jeanne Boger Jones papers contains the photographs relating to the first three series. Included are family photographs dating from the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as photos taken by Ms. Jones as she documented various family locales and gravesites.

A few miscellaneous memorabilia comprise the fifth and last series of the Boger Jones Papers.

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