While working in A. D. Dunn Dry Goods store in Coleman, Edwin Maryland Jones met Mattie Eugenia Zivley, a teacher in the Coleman schools.  They were married in Lampasas in 1900.  She was born in Travis County near Austin in 1874.  Her father, Van Neiman Zivley, was born in Huntsville, Alabama, in 1851; came with his parents to Texas in 1852.  He married Octavia Dinkins in Walnut Hills, Arkansas, in 1872.  To this union eleven children were born.  In 1915, Van N. Zivley was appointed by the governor of Texas to survey and mark the old “Kings Highway” from San Augustine to the Rio Grande River.  Reverend John Henry Zivley (see R. V. Wood), grandfather of Mattie Zivley, organized Presbyterian churches in San Angelo and other West Texas towns.  In 1888 he served as supply pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Coleman at a salary of $200 for six months, more if it could be raised.  Upon returning one time to San Angelo from Coleman, the stage in which he was riding was “held up.”  (Imagine the robbers’ dismay at finding a poor minister as passenger instead of one with a purse of gold!)

In 1904, Edwin M. Jones bought several lots in Talpa and erected a building on one of them, where he opened the first Dry Goods store, which served as a bank, as well as a store, until 1905.  That year he assisted in the establishment of the Talpa State Bank.  The Talpa Independent School District was organized in 1906 and E. M. Jones was one of the trustees responsible for its success.  When farmers brought their cotton to market every fall, he was one of the first buyers.  Meanwhile Mrs. E. M. Jones had been promoting culture with the organization of Study Clubs, such as Talpa Reading Club in 1905 and Talpa Shakespeare Club in 1906.  Continuing the family tradition, she was active in the Presbyterian Church, interesting the young people through the Christian Endeavor meetings she supervised Sunday afternoons.  In 1925, they returned to Coleman.  He then entered the ranching business at Voss.  Edwin Maryland Jones died in 1942, and Mattie Eugenia Jones in 1966, both buried in Coleman.  Edwin and Mattie Jones had three daughters all of whom were educated as teachers.

(1) Octavia Hortense married Joseph Sayers Gentry of Tyler, where she was a teacher, in 1923. He was with a machinery company, later the owner of Tyler Machinery and Supply Company. They had one daughter, Joanna, who graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and married Earnest Rowland Baldwin, Jr. of Tyler in 1956. They had two children: Ellen Joanna, married Donald Gregory Graham of Amarillo in 1983, and Earnest III.  Joseph S. Gentry died in 1957 and buried in Tyler.

(2) Anna Elizabeth married Marshall S. McCrea of Cisco, where she was a teacher, in 1927.  They had two sons: Marshall Storey, Jr. and George Edwin.  Marshall, Sr. was with American Airlines from 1930 until early 1942.  At that time he joined the Air Force and attained the rank of Major during World War II.  In 1945, he entered the oil business as an independent operator and moved his family to Coleman where they lived until 1954.  Both sons graduated from Coleman High School; then attended Southern Methodist University, receiving degrees in business and law. Marshall S. Jr., married Dianne Campbell of Temple in 1956.  They had three children: Melissa Elaine, Marshall S. III, and Michael Campbell.  Melissa Elaine married Gregory Lynn Nunley of Dallas in 1981 and they have a son, Nicholas Lynn, born in October 1982; George Edwin married Jane Bagwell of Longview in 1957.  They had two children: Charleen Elizabeth and George Edwin, Jr.  Charleen Elizabeth married Stephen Ray Leyston of San Angelo in 1983.  Marshall S. McCrea, Sr. died in 1963 and buried in Coleman.

(3) Ellen Zivley, married William M. Townsend of Menard in 1943.  They had no children.  In 1946, they moved to Coleman where he was in the farm implement business.  Ellen was a teacher in the Burkett and Novice schools.  At the time of his death in 1958, William Townsend, a World War I veteran, was serving as Ray Post Commander of the American Legion in Coleman.  He is buried in Coleman.