Jones Family Story
Israel Lafayette Jones was a black child born in 1858 Raleigh, North Carolina and more likely than not born to slaves. It is assured he grew up a farmhand before moving to the port city of Wilmington in 1892. He found work loading and unloading ships. The position led to transport aboard a vessel bound for Florida the following year.
After arriving in Florida, Jones worked in an Orlando area orange grove. When a freeze destroyed the crops, he ventured first to Tampa, next to Key West, and finally to the Biscayne Bay area where, in the burgeoning community of Coconut Grove, Jones began working as a handyman at the Peacock Inn. Mainland South Florida’s first hotel, the Peacock Inn was originally named Bayview House when it opened circa 1883.
Jones also worked as a caretaker for Walter S. Davis II, owner of 500 acres on Key Biscayne. When he accepted the job, Jones cleared livable space on the island and built a two-story home for the Davis family. Impressed by his work, both Commodore Munroe and Dr. John Clayton Gifford hired Jones to oversee their properties. In 1893, Frank T. Budge, owner of Miami’s first hardware store and first brick building, hired Jones as foreman for his Totten Key pineapple farm.
