My Genealogy Hound

HON. THOMAS LAURENS JONES was born in Rutherford County, N. C., on the 21st of January, 1819. His grandfather, George Jones was a native of Maryland; he was a captain in the Revolutionary war, and was at the siege of Yorktown when Lord Cornwallis surrendered. After the Revolution he moved to Orange County, Va., and subsequently the family immigrated to North Carolina. George, the second son, settled at Asheville, N. C., and there married Miss Elizabeth Mills, a daughter of Maj. William Mills, who was one of the earliest pioneers to that part of the country. Mr. Jones moved from there to South Carolina, and was a prosperous merchant in Spartanburg, where his fifth son, the subject of this sketch, was born. The early education of Thomas Laurens Jones was received at the best schools of the town, and at the District Academy of Spartanburg. In 1839 he entered the College of Nassua Hall, at Princeton, N. J., and graduated in 1840. He next went to the Harvard Law School, at Cambridge, Mass., in 1842, and graduated in 1843. After traveling nearly two years in Europe, he went to Charleston, S. C., and reviewed his law studies with the distinguished lawyer, James L. Pettigrew, and in May, 1846, he was examined and admitted to the bar at Columbia, S. C. In 1848 he was married to Miss Mary Keturah Taylor, a daughter of Col. James Taylor, and a granddaughter of Gen. James Taylor, and also of the Hon. William T. Barry of Kentucky. In 1849 Mr. Jones left South Carolina to make his permanent home in Kentucky, and settled in Campbell County, near Newport. In politics he was a Democrat, and represented the county in the Legislature in 1853 and 1854. When the civil war began he was opposed to secession. He was, however, arrested as a Southern sympathizer, and in July, 1862, was placed in prison at Newport Barracks for a short time, and was sent with many prominent citizens to Camp Chase, Ohio. He was kept a prisoner over three months, and was finally released on parole, and thus continued to the end of the war. Mr. Jones was a member of the XL, XLI and XLIV Congresses from the Sixth District of Kentucky. He was a presidential elector for the State at large in 1880, and canvassed the State for Hancock and English. He was also a delegate from the State at large to the convention at Chicago, in 1884, which nominated Grover Cleveland and Thomas A. Hendricks for President and Vice-President. In religion Mr. Jones was a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, but not prejudiced in his views. He died July 20, of this year, 1887, at his residence near Newport. His wife survives him, as do also three children. His sons are James Taylor and Laureus, and his daughter, Elizabeth Mills, is the wife of Mr. Brent Arnold, the general agent of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. [See sketch of Mrs. Gen. James Taylor.]