Last week’s column detailed the life and times of the Thomas & Charlotte Jones family, Welsh emigrants who eventually landed in Black Diamond, Washington. A photo found in the 23-page birthday booklet presented to Charlotte on her 92nd birthday told the story of a secluded stretch of coal train railroad tracks called Lover’s Lane.
This week, we delve into the Jones family home that they first occupied upon arriving in Black Diamond in April 1885. Like scores of the mostly Welsh families, the Joneses followed the Black Diamond Coal Mining Company 800 miles north from Nortonville, California, to a tiny outpost in southeast King County that on December 12, 1884, gained rail service. Earlier waves opened the mines and built the houses and stores that formed the foundation of this company-owned coal mining town.
Thomas Jones worked ten years for BDCMC before making the trek north. Thomas and his wife Charlotte were likely valued by the company to be awarded this big of a home. With only two children, Lizzie and John, the Joneses rented out beds to the many single miners that populated coal mining towns. Their home was known as a boarding house. In this circa 1890s photo, Thomas Jones is standing in the gate opening with Charlotte next to him. Lizzie is at the top of the stairs, and her brother John is in the shadows behind her.
As for the rest of the men in this picture, they were likely boarders who lived in the home and ate meals there, typically on a weekly basis. The girl in an orange dress probably worked for the Jones family as a maid, cook, and cleaner for the six or so boarders. Unlike rooming houses or hotels, boarding houses not only provided a bed, but also daily meals served at a common table. The boarding home typically provided the miners with their noon meals, packed and ready each morning. The boarders likely slept in a barrack-style common room upstairs.
Boarding homes were once popular accommodations for working-class men and women during the industrial era. They served as primary housing for large segments of the population, including laborers, politicians, circuit judges, traveling salesmen, and writers. In some large cities, between a quarter and a half of the people would be living in boarding homes. Even members of Congress and Supreme Court justices lived and debated in Washington, D.C. boarding homes.
The decline of the boarding house was driven by numerous factors. Zoning regulations created single-family zones that crowded out houses that rented rooms by the week. The post-World War II housing boom allowed many to afford apartments with their own kitchens and baths. As fast food became available, the need for a landlady who provided meals diminished. By the 1960s and 70s, many of the old boarding home districts were demolished for redevelopment. In some ways, the decline of boarding homes may have contributed to homelessness in urban areas.
Shortly after moving to Black Diamond, Lizzie Jones enrolled at Washington Territorial University (now U.W.), then located in downtown Seattle. She received her teacher’s certificate in 1887 and started Black Diamond’s first school in her mother’s parlor. Lizzie also played piano and organ at public gatherings and participated in Sunday school and church activities. Her brother John gained employment with the coal company as a timekeeper.
Thomas Jones died of lung congestion in 1896, likely due to his many years of mining. His widow, Charlotte, faced a problem because only coal company employees were permitted to lease a home. Fortunately, the Black Diamond Coal Mining Company Superintendent, Morgan Morgans, looked fondly upon the family and allowed Charlotte to remain in the home and promised not to raise rent on her lot. Though Morgans required the widowed Jones to rent only to employees of the coal mining company.
Within a year of Thomas’ death, Charlotte sold her boarding home and moved to Seattle in 1897. She lived there until 1934, passing away at age 94. Lizzie Jones married William D. Gibbon, who in 1891 purchased the first store in Maple Valley. Thomas Spaight, Gibbon’s future brother-in-law, helped finance the purchase. Gibbon’s partner in the venture was Axel Hanson, who together with his father and brothers, founded the White River Lumber Company in 1897, soon becoming Enumclaw’s largest employer.
William and Lizzie had one son, Chester Gibbon, who became a newspaperman and published the Maple Valley Messenger from 1921 to 1923. He was later a feature editor at the Seattle Times. Chester Gibbon passed away in 1968 at the age of 69. His son, Gary Gibbon, lives in Cornelius, Oregon, and provided biographical details about members of his pioneer family. Colorization was undertaken by Doug ‘Boomer’ Burnham, doing business as Boomers Photography.
