John W. Jones (June 21, 1817 – December 26, 1900), was born on a plantation in Leesburg, Virginia, he was enslaved by the Ellzey family.

On June 3, 1844, he left with his two half-brothers, George and Charles, along with Jefferson Brown and John Smith, who were enslaved people at a nearby estate.

While fleeing, Jones and his companions fought off slave hunters in Maryland and made their way into the free state of Pennsylvania.

They continued heading north and took refuge in New York in a barn on South Creek Farm owned by Dr. Nathaniel Smith.

Elmira's participation in the Underground Railroad was significant due to its location between Philadelphia and St. Catharines, Ontario; the final destination for many escaping slavery.

The new railway allowed people who were escaping slavery to hide in baggage cars, making their journey quicker and easier.

Jones made an arrangement with Northern Central employees and hid the fugitives in the 4 o'clock "Freedom Baggage Car," directly to Niagara Falls via Watkins Glen and Canandaigua.

Some of his early jobs in Elmira included chopping wood, working in a candle shop, and cleaning as a janitor for Miss Clara Thurston's school for young ladies on Main Street.

Jones kept such precise records that on December 7, 1877, the federal government declared the burial site a national cemetery.

[3] When the son of the Ellzeys' overseer, John R. Rollins, died at the prison camp, Jones arranged to send the body back to the family.

This money eventually enabled him to buy his College Avenue farm and to be rated as the wealthiest Black man in this part of the state.