LIVING HISTORY
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wife raised their five children there. He retired from the railroad
to grow pineapples and sell real estate, and eventually
became the third sheriff of St. Lucie County.
FAMILY TRAGEDIES
According to the Dourneys’ research, the house’s association
with tragedy began on a night in May 1913. Jones’
son, Fred, then 17, and his best friend, Raymond Saunders,
decided to go for a moonlight motorcycle ride. On the back of
Fred’s motorcycle was his fiancée, Ada Daniels. Ada’s sister,
Nola, was on Raymond’s motorcycle. The couples left Cresthaven
and somehow ended up colliding with each other in a
deadly accident. Nola died at the scene, and the other three
were seriously injured. Fred and Ada never married.
Five years later, while Jones was serving his first year as
sheriff, his youngest son, Clifford, about 9 years old, was
playing in the parlor with his friend, William Fee. With his
father’s gun, Clifford accidentally shot Fee, who was also 9
years old. Fee died shortly after.
Many members of the Jones family met untimely deaths.
One son died after a motorcycle accident. A daughter died of
a heart attack, and Fred, of the ill-fated motorcycle ride, committed
suicide in 1957.
THE BOSTON HOUSE
The most unlikely occupant of the home was its next
resident, a retired schoolteacher and spinster from Massachusetts.
During the Depression, Jones had fallen deeply into
debt. He borrowed money from a friend, Irving C. Whitney,
using the house as collateral. According to Dourney, Whitney
either died or was incapacitated from a heart attack, and his >>
The Boston House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1985.