Family Roots Run Deep in the Valley
It’s like the house you’ve always imagined growing up in as a kid, where
nothing is off limits and the possibility of finding treasure from a backyard
dig yields more than a fist full of dirt, a place where even as an adult, your
childhood fancy is tickled by the various odds & ends hanging on the walls,
a place where history runs deep down to the very core of its foundation, which
has been passed down from one generation of Joneses to the next for more than a
century.
To know its secrets just
walk past the antique drill and the garden boxes of blooming strawberries, up a
few steps, to the front porch and swing the chimes. And when one of the Joneses
answers the door, simply say “I’ve heard your family’s been here a real long
time.”
A real-long time is probably
an understatement considering the little red house on
“It feels really nice to
have roots here in the Valley,” says Robert Jones. “It just makes me love the
Valley even more.”
His daughter Kara Twist
Jones shares her dad’s sentiment.
“There’s a surprising sense
of pride and sentimental sense of entitlement you get from having roots here,”
Kara says.
Robert and Kara’s roots as
they call it, go way back to Robert’s grandfather, Clarence “Pops” Meade, who
moved to the Valley sometime in the early part of the 1900’s with his wife
Magdalena Costa Jones.
“We don’t know exactly when
he moved up to Santa Ynez,” says Robert’s wife Karen Jones. “But his family
came to
Pop’s kept all his journals
dating back to the turn of the century, even the ones that outlined his travels
in
As Karen and Kara open
wooden boxes and shift through old black and white photographs, one thing’s
clear; Pops’ family tree only began with him.
“Here’s a good picture of
Pops,” Kara says while handing the picture to her mom.
“He only had one eye,”
Karen says. “He lost it when he was a kid. A hot poker got stuck in it.”
As the family tells the
story of
“Momma Jones had her
children when she was in her forties,” Karen says. “Yep, she had Bud, Uncle Tip
and Mildred.”
Breaking down the family
tree, Karen explains that Pops was Bud’s father and Bud was Robert’s father.
As oral tradition and
storytelling would have it, Karen then explains in an all encompassing way that
Robert was born in
“We met under a water tower
in
Robert and Karen got
married in 1982. After moving back to the Valley in 1995 the Jones family
settled in and made the little recycled wooden house home, while starting up
its own tradition - Jones Fest.
“It first started when I
invited some friends from
Titled by Alex, Jones Fest
is an open musical jamming session that takes place at the Jones’ house right
after the Old Santa Ynez Day Parade in June.
“Because Grandma Jones,
used to jam with the Henning’s and other local women, I would say it’s more or
less undergone a revival,” Karen says. “But every year it gets bigger and
bigger.”
12 to 16 bands play at the
Jones Fest every year, and the family has hosted names like Mike Griffin, the
Nitty Gritty Dirty Band and even Kenny Loggins.
Though Karen married into the Jones family, she fills her shoes as family
ambassador fittingly. Her love of socializing and getting to know other
people’s history is something that drives her.
“I love asking people about themselves and getting to know everyone’s
history,” she says. “You never know what may come out when you start kicking
the crap bucket.”
Like her husband’s family, she has also become a permanent fixture in the
Valley.
“I wasn’t born here but I’m going to die here,” she says, with a grin
larger than life. “So I’m really excited about that.”
Jones Fest is scheduled as always, sometime around
The Jones family welcomes all.