 (From Old Corral collection) | On the trail of Buck Jones and family Last updated: December 18, 2020 |
| 1984 photo of Larry Imber and Dell Jones, Buck's widow, at her California home ... decorated with all the photos and paintings of Buck. Buck and Odille Dorothy Osborne were married August 11, 1915 in Lima, Ohio. Dell Jones passed away on April 16, 1996 at the age of 95. |  (Courtesy of Larry Imber) |
His birth date - we'll never know for sure. But probably December 12, 1891. |
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Why no luck in finding some official birth paperwork on Buck Jones? Lots of reasons. Indiana didn't start registering births at the state level until 1907. Birth records prior to that were left to local government entities to record ... or not. He could have been birthed at home, rather than a hospital. Ancestry.com had the 1888 and 1898 city directories for Vincennes, Indiana - no luck finding Buck's father in either. Not unexpected as the family may have lived outside the Vincennes, Indiana city/town limits.
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| Buck Jones - census, military, draft registrations, daughter Maxine, more ... and surname variations of Gebhart, Gebhard, Gebbard, Gebbart, and Gebhardt. |
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More newspaper clippings on Buck's death and funeral. Initial plans were for his cremains to be interred in Vincennes, Indiana. That didn't happen: |
Buck's sister Ada (1889 - 1980) lived most of her life in Indianapolis. |
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| Buck's mother was Eva R. Showers (1874 - 1954). She remarried and became Eva McCammon. Some family trees on Ancestry.com have her full name as Evelyn Retta Showers. |
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| Charles F. Gebhart and Odille 'Dell' Osborne were married August 11, 1915 in Lima, Ohio and both were performers with the Julia Allen Wild West Show. In December, 2007, Denny Linser came to the rescue - he obtained copies of the marriage documents for Buck Jones and Dell Osborne, and those are scanned below. Thanks Denny! |
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 (Document courtesy of Denny Linser) Below is a slightly larger version of Buck's info from the Application above. It shows his name as Charles F. Gebhart, his father as Fred Gebhart, and his mother's maiden name as Eva Showers. It lists Indianapolis, Indiana as his place of birth and his occupation is "Rider" (as Buck and Dell were both working at the time for the Julia Allen Wild West Show). It also shows that Buck was "23 years of age on the 12th day of December 1914.". The duration between December 12, 1891 and December 12, 1914 is 23 years. That confirms Jones' date of birth as December 12, 1891.  Below is the Marriage Record noting that they tied the knot on August 11, 1915 in Lima, Ohio (notation in the bottom right showing "at Lima, O.")  (Document courtesy of Denny Linser) Marriage Certificate noting the Lima, Ohio location and signed by the Justice of the Peace.
 (Document courtesy of Denny Linser) The only confusion ye Old Corral webmeister has with the above three documents is with the spelling of Dell Jones' maiden name. Is it Osborn or Osborne as both spellings are shown in these documents. But check the signature section in the top Application for Marriage License, and it confirms that Dell signed as Osborne (with an "e" at the end). Newspaper clipping on their wedding: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/65530109/the-lima-gazette-and-the-lima-republican/ |
| "Buck Jones Wild West and Round Up Days" circus ... his 1930 bankruptcy ... his 1939 lawsuit against Republic Pictures and the Lone Ranger ... 1937 legal name change ... Buck and Dell's large home in Sherman Oaks, California |
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The Circus Historical Society used to have many of their Bandwagon magazine articles online. But their updated website does not have the articles. However, the Wayback Machine at the Internet Archive does have the November, 1965 article by circus expert Fred D. Pfening Jr. on the short-lived "Buck Jones Wild West and Round Up Days": https://web.archive.org/web/20150415121736/http://www.circushistory.org/Bandwagon/bw-1965Nov.htm
The William P. Hall farm in Lancaster, Missouri, became a "boneyard" of old circus wagons and railroad cars. Newspapers at the Library of Congress have more on the boneyard including a large photo of railroad sleeping cars from the short-lived "Buck Jones' Wild West Shows and Round Up Days":
Newspaper clippings on Buck's 1939 lawsuit against Republic Pictures and their LONE RANGER serial. His lawsuit was thrown out: 1937 newspaper clipping on Buck's legal name change from Charles Frederick Gebhard to Charles Buck Jones: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/65001854/the-los-angeles-times/ Alan Simon has created a website about the Mar-Ken School in Sherman Oaks, California. For a time, the school was located at 14050 Magnolia Boulevard in Sherman Oaks, the former home of Buck and Dell Jones. The main house, a barn and an out-building were demolished in March, 1980 to make way for the enormous apartment (condo) complex. There's photos and lots of details on Buck Jones' house, some facts about Buck and Dell, and a history of the school at: http://www.mar-ken.org/history/joneshouse.html The Los Angeles Public Library Digital Collections has a photo of Buck Jones' Spanish style home at 14050 Magnolia Avenue, on the southeast corner at Hazeltine Avenue, in Sherman Oaks, California. The home was demolished in 1980: https://tessa.lapl.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/photos/id/2268/rec/2 |
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