08/10/2026
BROTHER AND SISTER, SIDE BY SIDE 🐑
On April 15, 1912, 27-year-old Charles Edward Jones III and his wife, 26-year-old Margaret May Rook Jones, welcomed their second child and second daughter— Bernice Frances Jones. When Bernice was born, she had an older sister, 2-year-old Margaret. Bernice had been born the exact same day the Titanic sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
At 7AM on the morning of January 22, 1913, just three months shy of her first birthday, baby Bernice died of bronchial pneumonia. Her home and place of death was listed as 5714 S. 4th Street in St. Joseph, Missouri. The Jones family residence sat directly north of the present-day Benton High School and has since been demolished.
9-month-old Bernice Francis Jones was buried in Mount Mora Cemetery and received a small headstone with a lamb on it.
🪦 findagrave.com/memorial/86218711/bernice_francis-jones
Almost a year later, on January 11, 1914, 29-year-old Charles and 28-year-old Margaret Jones welcomed their third child and first son— Charles Sherman Jones.
A year and a half later, baby Charles died of “cholera infantum” on June 29, 1915.
The St. Joseph News-Press reported, “Word was received today of the death early this morning of Charles Sherman, eighteen-month-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Jones, former South St. Joseph residents, at the family home near King, City, Mo., of cholera infantum. The body was to arrive here this afternoon and be taken to the home of Mr. Jones’ parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Jones, 6003 Gordon avenue, where funeral services will be held Wednesday afternoon at 2 o’clock, with burial at Mount Mora.” (June 29, 1915) The St. Joseph home where the funeral took place, and where the paternal grandparents of the Jones children lived, still stands today at the intersection of Gordon and Virginia in the South End.
1-year-old Charles Sherman Jones was buried in Mount Mora Cemetery next to his older sister, Bernice, who had died a year before he was born. Charles was given a replica of the same lamb-adorned headstone Bernice had received.
🪦 findagrave.com/memorial/86218858/charles_sherman-jones
After the deaths of both Bernice and Charles, the parents, Charles and Margaret, welcomed several other children all near the King City area. Eventually, the Jones family uprooted and moved south to Springfield, Missouri where they are all buried at White Chapel Memorial Gardens.
Today, Bernice and Charles, brother and sister, sleep quietly next to each other in a hillside of Mount Mora all alone. In their shared lonesome, they face the east and have watched every sunrise together for over a century.
NOTE: I am by no means a professional. I'm just a girl with a camera and a search bar. This grave was photographed and researched so others can remember a life lived and virtually honor their resting place. There are no living immediate family members for me to contact to get their blessing to publish this post. It is by no means my intention to exploit the deceased. As always, any corrections and more information about Bernice Francis Jones and Charles Sherman Jones are welcome. To contact me, you can email me at [email protected].
