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Below is a family biography included in The History of Cannon County, Tennessee published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1887.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Hon. James A. Jones, of the firm of Jones & Houston, Woodbury, Tenn., is a native of Alabama, born in 1838. His parents were Joseph and E. A. Jones, the former a native of North Carolina, a dentist, a planter and a very successful business man, dying in December, 1857; the later born in Butler County; Ala., in 1818, and dying in 1853. The subject of this sketch completed his literary education at the Brownwood Institute, La Grange, Ga., in 1858, and shortly afterward began the study of law with Judge John K Henry, of Greenville, Ala., where he remained until April, 1861, when he enlisted, in the Confederate Army, becoming sergeant of Company A, Eighteenth Tennessee Infantry, under Capt. M. P. Rushing. He served as sergeant about four months, and was then transferred to the Twenty-third Tennessee Infantry, and elected captain of the company just before the battle of Shiloh, after which he returned home. He then served as quartermaster in the fourth Tennessee Cavalry, and at the close of the war was on the coast defenses in Florida, as lieutenant of his company. After the close of the war he returned to Alabama, and, was engaged in the real estate business until about 1870, and in 1871 he moved to Woodbury, where he has since been engaged in the practice of the law. In 1874 he was elected to the State Senate from Cannon, Warren, Coffee and DeKalb Counties, and was in the Legislature that elected ex-President Johnson to the United States Senate. In 1859 he was married to Miss Harriett Morton, of Warren County, by whom he has nine children. Mr. Jones has always been an active mam, and was for some time engaged in the newspaper business. He is a Democrat in politics, is widely known and as a lawyer stands very high. He is an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and both a Mason and an Odd Fellow.

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This family biography is one of 9 biographies included in The History of Cannon County, Tennessee published in 1887.  The History of Cannon County was included within The History of Cannon, Coffee, DeKalb, Warren & White Counties of Tennessee. For the complete description, click here: History of Cannon, Coffee, DeKalb, Warren, White Counties of Tennessee

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