Genevieve Estelle Jones

Genevieve Estelle Jones (May 13, 1847 – August 17, 1879) was an American amateur naturalist and artist, known as "the other Audubon". Jones was inspired by the work of John James Audubon to illustrate a book identifying nests and eggs of the 130 species of birds that nested in Ohio. She died having completed only five illustrations, and the book, Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio, was published posthumously.

Personal life and education Jones was born on May 13, 1847, in Circleville, Ohio to parents Dr. Nelson E. Jones and Virginia Smith Jones. She had one younger brother, Howard. Jones was home-schooled by her mother until she reached high-school age, when she attended high school in Circleville. She excelled in mathematics, science, languages (French, Greek, and German), music (piano and flute), sewing, and dancing. She graduated from high school in 1865. Following graduation, she continued independent studies of language, music, chemistry, algebra, and calculus. One tutor "considered her the most adept scholar he had ever taught." On one nest-collecting excursion, Genevieve discovered a nest that neither Nelson nor Howard could identify, and learned that there were no existing resources on nests and eggs of North American birds.

Following her broken engagement, Jones traveled to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. There, she was impressed by John James Audubon's paintings from The Birds of America on display, although she noted that the paintings focused on birds and rarely pictured their corresponding nests and eggs.

Related media A biography, America's other Audubon, by Joy M. Kiser, was published in 2012.