Eugene Frank Bones was born in April 1875 in Crab Orchard Precinct to Thomas and Martha Bones. At the age of 14 years he commenced writing for newspapers, his first work having been for Marion and Creal Springs papers, and at the age of 18 was a contributor to the Detroit Free Press.
Having chosen newspaper work for his occupation at an early age, he gave special attention to the school branches which were calculated to fit him for the work, and the manner in which he handled news showed that he learned well that which he early anticipated would be required to make him a capable newspaper man.
He became a regular writer for the Egyptian Press at Marion in 1894, and in 1899 became a member of the firm Casey & Bones, editors and publishers of the Press.
On September 17, 1896 he was married to Miss Mabel Tate, a member of one of the best families of Thompsonville, Illinois in Franklin County. Their son Percy Bones was born in Marion in January 1898.
In 1900 he went west and spent four years in editorial work on metropolitan papers, which greatly broadened his knowledge of the business. The 1900 census located Eugene living as a boarder and working as a printer for the Railway Journal in El Paso, Texas and later, in 1903, for the Labor Journal.
While in El Paso, Bones was an active member of the Knights of Maccabee, serving as their Chaplain. He also served as Vice President of the Newspaper Writers Union.
On November 30, 1903, his wife, Mabel, passed away in Los Angeles. Cal., while he was working in El Paso, Texas, causing him to return to Marion to find a haven for his three sons, Percy, Theodore and Frank.
In January 1904, Samuel Casey, due to health, resigned all active participation in the affairs of the Egyptian Press and leased his interest to Eugene F. Bones, N. Van Linder and James H. Felts, who now run it under the name and style of The Felts & Linder Publishing Co. Mr. Bones becomes editor in chief of both the Press and Post. The Marion Evening Post was said to have shown great improvement under his management.
On April 5, 1905, Bones remarried to Essie Lena Taylor in Pope County, who appears to have gone by the name of Esther.
A 1907 Marion city Directory indicated that E.F. Bones, editor of the Marion Evening Herald, and his wife, Esther, were living at 509 E. Main Street in Marion.
By the 1910 census, Eugene, 35, and Esther, 23, were living in Paris City, Texas where he worked as a city editor/publisher. It was noted on the census that this was her first marriage and that she had had one child who was living, but the child was not on the census record with them.
He was described in the 1905 Historical Souvenir as, “an all-round newspaper man, being an able editorial writer, a capable news gatherer and compositor, an art printer and a successful solicitor.”
Eugene F. Bones died in 1913 at the age of 38, I suspect while still working in Texas. His body, however, was returned to Marion and is buried in Old Rose Hill Cemetery alongside his parents and first wife, Mabel.
(Extracted from the 1905 Souvenir History of Williamson County; Federal Census Records; Carbondale Free Press; El Paso Herald; Marion City Directories; compiled by Sam Lattuca on 01/06/2014)