Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/498

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
462
JONES
JONES

1863. He was graduated in medicine in Philadel- phia, and began practice in Mississippi, where he became interested in the culture of cotton, and made several improvements in the cotton-gin, which were subsequently adopted throughout the south. In 1840 the East India company offered Dr. Jones $5,000 a year and his expenses to go to India and develop the production of cotton in that country, and, although he declined the offer for patriotic reasons after reaching London, he gave evidence before a British parliamentary committee on the cultivation of cotton in the United States. On his return from England he became a resident of New York city, where he was a correspondent of several English and American newspapers, and wrote for the " Journal of Commerce " over the signature of " Sandy Hook." In 1850 he became the agent of the Associated press, and invented a comprehensive system of ciphers, which was the first used by the association. Soon afterward he became commercial reporter of the " New York Herald," which place he retained till his death. Besides the inventions already mentioned, Dr. Jones de- vised a street-sweeping machine. He took great interest in the history and progress of the Welsh people, from whom he was descended, and was an active member of St. David's society. He is the author of " Cuba in 1851 " (New York, 1851); "Historical Sketch of the Electric Tele- graph" (1852); and "The Cymri of Seventy-Six, or the Welshmen of the American Revolution and their Descendants " (1855).


JONES, Alexander H., member of congress, b. in Asheville, Buncombe co., N. C, 21 July, 1822. He was well educated, was a farmer during the early part of his life, subsequently a merchant at Asheville, and was for a time an editor. He adhered to the National government in the civil war, early in the summer of 1863 fled into the Union lines, and was commissioned by Gren. Burn- side to raise a regiment of loyal North Carolinians. While so employed he was captured in East Ten- nessee by Confederate troops, imprisoned at Ashe- ville, at Camp Vance, Camp Holmes, and in Libby Erison, and was drafted into the Confederate army, ut made his escape in November, 1864, without performing any service. After the surrender of Gen. Lee he returned, was elected to the State constitutional convention in 1865, and afterward to congress as a Republican ; but there being no established civil government in the state, he was not received. He was elected to the two ensuing congresses, and served from 20 July, 1868, till 3 March, 1871. He was a candidate for the 42d congress, but was defeated.


JONES, Alfred, engraver, b. in Liverpool, Eng- land, in 1819. He came to the United States when young, and received the first prize at the National academy of design in New York, in 1839, for a drawing that he had made from Thorwaldsen's " Mercury." He first came into public notice by his engravings of " The Proposal," by Asher B. Durand, and " The Parmer's Nooning," after Will- iam S. Mount, and his work was in request for il- lustrated publications. He went to Europe in 1846, and, after studying in life-schools there, was elected a member of the National academy, New York, in 1851. He is regarded as one of the best engravers in the United States. He has for many years been connected with the American bank-note company, New York, as an engraver. Among his steel plates are " The Image-Breaker," after Leutze, portraits of Adoniram Judson, by Chester Hard- ing, and William Cullen Bryant ; and " The Cap- ture of Major Andre," after Durand ; " Sparking," by Edmonds ; " The New Scholar " ; " Mexican News " ; and various portraits.


JONES, Alfred Gilpin, Canadian statesman, b. in Weymouth, Nova Scotia, in September, 1824. His grandfather, Stephen, a graduate of Harvard, was an officer in the king's American dragoons, and at the close of the Revolutionary war settled in Nova Scotia, where he died in 1830. Alfred was educated at Weymouth and at Yarmouth acade- my, became a merchant, and represented Halifax in the Dominion parliament from 1867 till 1872, when he was defeated. He was re-elected in 1874, but resigned in January, 1878, in consequence of an alleged breach of the independence of parlia- ment act. He became a member of the privy coun- cil, and held the portfolio of minister of militia from January till September, 1878. He was an un- successful candidate at the general elections of 1878 and 1882, but was re-elected in 1887 for the Dominion parliament. He is governor of Dalhousie college, and was for several years lieutenant-colo- nel of the 1st Halifax brigade garrison artillery.


JONES, Allen, patriot, b. in Halifax county, N. C, in 1739 ; d. in Northampton county, N. C, 10 Nov., 1798. His father, Robin, was the agent and attorney of Lord Grenville, who was one of the lord proprietors of North Carolina. Allen was educated at Eton, England, and, returning to North Carolina, became known as a patriot and an effi- cient military leader. He was a delegate to the state conventions that met at New Berne, 25 Aug., 1775, and at Halifax, 4 April, 1776, was appointed brigadier-general by the legislature in May of the latter year, was a member of the Continental con- gress that met in Philadelphia in 1779-'80, and from 1784 till 1787 represented Northampton coun- ty in the North Carolina senate. The next year he was a member of the Constitutional convention that assembled at Hillsborough, and advocated a strong Federal government in opposition to his brother Willie, who was of the state-rights party. — His brother, Willie, patriot, b. in Halifax, N. C, in 1731 ; d. near Raleigh, N. C., in 1801, was also edu- cated at Eton, became early attached to the patriot cause, was president of the North Carolina com- mittee of safety in 1775, and as such was virtually the governor of the state. He was a member of the first State constitutional convention in 1776, was in the house of commons of North Carolina in 1776-'8, and succeeded his brother Allen as mem- ber of the Continental congress in 1780. He was elected to the Constitutional convention of 1787, but declined to serve, was a member of the Consti- tutional convention that met at Hillsborough in the next year, and was largely instrumental in its rejection of the Federal constitution. — His wife, Mary Montford, was the daughter of Col. Joseph Montford, of North Carolina, and many anecdotes are related of her wit and beauty. When the Brit- ish army was on its way to Virginia in 1781, the officers were for several days quartered among the families residing on Roanoke river. Col. Tarle- ton, who had been severely cut by the sabre of Will- iam Washington, was a resident of Mrs. Jones's family, and when he made to her some slighting remarks about Washington, saying among other things that he was an illiterate fellow, hardly able to write his name, Mrs. Jones replied : " Ah, colonel, you ought to know, for you bear on your person the proof that he at least knows very well how to make his mark." It is said that it was in affection- ate admiration of this lady that John Paul Jones, whose real name was John Paul, added Jones to his name, and under it, by the recommendation of Willie Jones, offered his services to congress.