First experiment in blogging about Ellis Oliver Jones Sr.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Upton Sinclair's Helicon Hall
Upton Sinclair used the income from The Jungle to found a socialist utopian colony known as Helicon Hall in Englewood, New Jersey. Ellis O. Jones was a Trustee of the venture.
On Sunday, March 7, 1907 Helicon Hall burned to the ground. The New York Times covered the story ten days later.
Some decades ago, I came into possession of a box of files: typscripts, clippings, notes, letters. So far as I know there are the only remaining collected literary remains of my great- grandfather Ellis Oliver Jones. I think they are partly the remains of his own files and partly the files of his son, my grandfather, Ellis Oliver Jones, Jr.
He was an interesting and by all accounts difficult man. At various times he was a socialist, journalist, essayist, playwright, editor, peace activist, isolationist, and fascist. In these pages I'll try to make some sense of his papers, and whatever I can discover about his life.
I acknowledge and thank my brothers and my father for not (yet) objecting to this experiment.
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