JONES – John Jones, escaped from slavery in Virginia. Yesterday and Today: Ex-Slave Kept Records At Prison Camp by Shirley Donnelly, Post-Herald/Raleigh Register, Beckley, W.Va., 07 June 1975, Page 4. Mr. Jones kept records for a prison camp for Confederate soldiers at Elmira, N.Y. He kept such meticulous records of each Confederate burial that in 1907 the government was able to place a marker at each grave. From Woodlawn National Cemetery site: He "had charge of the burial of every Confederate soldier. He transcribed every record which appeared on the coffin lids into a book he kept for that purpose. The largest number of burials in a day was 48. Mr. Jones saw that the burials were properly and reverently conducted. He received from the government a fee of $2.50 for each body buried."
