John Everett Jones
John Everett Jones will receive the Elial T. Foote Local History Award during a special presentation on Thursday, Aug. 15, at The Lawson Center in Bemus Point.
The program, which begins at 7 p.m., is open to the public.
The Foote Award is presented by the Chautauqua County Historical Society to an individual who has made a significant contribution to our understanding of local history through scholarly research and the dissemination of that research. Previous award recipients include Douglas Shepard and Lois and Norwood Barris.
Jones, a Chautauqua County native, is an architect currently living outside of Philadelphia. He graduated from Cornell University with a degree in agriculture focusing on poverty and economic development.
Jones earned a graduate degree in architecture at the University of Buffalo which included study at Arkitektskolen in Aarhus, Denmark, and a concentration in historic preservation. His career developed in Philadelphia and included several years working for Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour at Venturi, Scott Brown, and Associates.
Marriage and parenthood led Jones to Valencia, Spain, for a decade. Although he was not permitted to practice as an architect in Spain, he worked as a stay-at-home father and designed and built minor construction projects. Jones also began using the internet for historical research and developed a blog about early Swedish settlers in the Jamestown area. His research was used as part of an article he co-wrote with Donald Sandy documenting events surrounding the arrival of Swedish immigrants in Chautauqua County.
Jones’s research about the county’s early Swedish population also led to an article about the origins of the Danish settlement in our region. Another article, published in Italian Americana in 2023, was based on his extensive research, with Paolo Semenza of Ferrara, Italy, into the origin of the name for the town of Busti. Paul Busti (1769-1824), born in Italy, served as an agent general for the Holland Land Company.
Jones is a licensed architect in New York state and specializes in net-zero residential projects. He is a member of the Fenton History Center board of trustees and organizes lectures presented at Jamestown’s Scandinavian Folk Festival. He is writing a book about the county’s early Swedish settlers.
The Chautauqua County Historical Society archives at McClurg Museum in Westfield contain Elial T. Foote’s collection of materials about early settlers, events, businesses, and organizations. Foote, a physician, judge, and historian in the county during the 1800s, advocated for local history preservation. The Foote Papers can be accessed at www.cchsmcclurg.org/elial-foote.
For more information, contact the historical society at 716.326.2977 or info@cchsmcclurg.org.