Index to carillons and chimes by Jones

The Jones foundry, now closed, provided bells for various chimes throughout the USA.  See the bottom of this page for additional historical notes on the origin and development of this bellfoundry and on the various names used by it.

For an explanation of what this index contains (and does NOT contain), and of the additional details on each entry, see the Bellfoundry Indexes Advice.


Jones, Troy, New York, USA

Jones & Hitchcock, 1852-1857
Jones & Co., 1857-1876-?
The Jones Troy Bell Foundry Company, ?-1884-1887
PHILADELPHIA - STST           : USA - PA     1853 C [chime]
   St.Stephen's Episcopal Church
LANCASTER - T                 : USA - PA     1853 C (chime)
   The Evangelical Lutheran Church of 
     The Holy Trinity (ELCA) 
LOWELL - STA                  : USA - MA     1857 C  chime
   St.Anne's Episcopal Church 
STORRS - STM                  : USA - CT     1860*C  chime
   St.Mark's Episcopal Chapel 
   * originally installed elsewhere
NEW HAVEN - SH                : USA - CT     1860 C [chime]
   Suburban Home School 
DETROIT - CC                  : USA - MI     1864 C  chime
   Christ Church Detroit (Episcopal) 
   (also called Old Christ Church)
HARRISBURG - Z                : USA - PA     1868 F  chime
   Zion Lutheran Church (ELCA)
HARRISBURG - Z                : USA - PA     1869 E  chime
   Zion Lutheran Church (ELCA)
BALDWINSVILLE                 : USA - NY     1870 C [chime]
   M.E. Church
CHICAGO - MA                  : USA - IL     1870 C [chime]
   Michigan Avenue Baptist Church 
HAGERSTOWN                    : USA - MD     1870? C [chime]
   Trinity Lutheran Church
ORANGE - OV                   : USA - NJ     1870 C  chime
   Love of Jesus Family Church
   (was Orange Valley Congregational Church,
     later Highland Avenue Cong.Church)
COHOES - STB                  : USA - NY     1871 C [chime]
   St.Bernard's Church
CLEVELAND --                  : USA - TN     1871*C  chime
   Lee University 
   * originally installed elsewhere
WASHINGTON - MM               : USA - DC     1871 C [chime]
   Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church
LEBANON - CC                  : USA - PA     1872 C (chime)
   Christ Church (Presbyterian/PCUSA) 
NORTH ADAMS - STF             : USA - MA     1872 C  chime
   St.Francis of Assisi Catholic Church 
ASTORIA                       : USA - NY     1873 C  chime
   Episcopal Church of the Redeemer 
EVANSVILLE                    : USA - IN     1873 C [chime]
   Catholic Trinity Church
MADISON - GC                  : USA - WI     1874 F  non-trad*
   Grace Episcopal Church 
POTTSVILLE                    : USA - PA     1874 C  chime
   Trinity Episcopal Church 
DOVER                         : USA - NH     1875 C  chime
   St.John's United Methodist Church 
WILLIAMSPORT - T              : USA - PA     1875 C  chime
   The Maynard Chime
   Trinity Episcopal Church 
JIM THORPE                    : USA - PA     1876 F  chime
   Episcopal Parish of St.Mark & St.John 
   (formerly St.Mark's Church) 
   city previously named MAUCH CHUNK
DETROIT - STPP                : USA - MI     1879 C  chime
   SS.Peter & Paul RC Church 
ALLENTOWN                     : USA - PA     1884 C  chime
   St.John's United Church of Christ (UCC)
   (was St.John's Reformed Church) 

Historical Notes:

The Jones bellfoundry was started in 1852 by Eber Jones and James Harvey Hitchcock, in the industrial city of Troy, on the eastern bank of the Hudson River in the state of New York.

Eber Jones was born in Vermont, but little is known of his life before this enterprise.

James Hitchcock had previously worked in Andrew Meneely's bellfoundry in West Troy, NY, on the western bank of the Hudson River River above the city of Albany.  Hitchcock was related by both descent and marriage to the Meneely family (see the Hanks-Meneely genealogy), and at the time of Andrew Meneely's death in 1851 he was foreman of that bellfoundry.  It seems likely that Hitchcock's move to Troy was prompted in part by an unwillingness to work for Andrew's sons, who were younger than he was.

(Hitchcock was also related by marriage to the bellfounders of the Hanks family; his brother Alexander was married to Philena Hanks Meneely's younger sister Abigail Irena.)

The foundry was initially located on the northwest corner of Adams and First Streets in Troy, but in 1854 it was relocated to the southwest corner.  It burned in the same year, but was promptly rebuilt.

This firm later claimed that the chime they made in 1853 for St.Stephen's Church, Philadelphia (see above), was the first chime made in America; they may have been unaware of other competitors for that claim.  (See Milestones in the history of chimes in North America.)

James Hitchcock retired from the business in 1857; he was replaced by H.J.King, and the name of the firm was changed to "Jones and Company, The Troy Bell Foundry."  By 1865, H.J.King had been replaced by Sylvanus Birch, and Eber's son Octavous (sometimes called Octavius) had joined the firm.

Eber Jones died unexpectedly at age 51.  This may be what prompted the further change in the name of the foundry to The Jones & Company Troy Bell Foundry, a rather curious nomenclature.  (Some bells are known that read simply "The Jones & Company"!)  Octavous Jones then took over management of the company, and was joined by his older brother Marcus R. Jones.  Marcus left the firm about 1873, moving to Baltimore and becoming involved with the McShane bellfoundry there.  The Jones foundry closed about 1887, possibly because it was unable to compete successfully with the two Meneely bellfoundries.

Sources:
1) Neil Goeppinger, article in "The Bell Tower", V60#2, Mar-Apr 2002, p.5
2) Nathaniel Bartlett Sylvester, "The Bell-Foundries of Troy," in his History of Rensselaer Co., New York, Philadelphia, Everts & Peck, 1880, p225ff.

Some individual Jones bells:


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This index page was built from the database on 30-Sep-01 and last revised on 19-Apr-20.

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