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User:Evansknight/sandbox/Elliott Priest Jones

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The Honorable
Elliott Priest Jones
Alabama State senator
In office
1851–1853
In office
1853–1855
In office
1855–1858
In office
1865–1867
Personal details
Born(1819-10-21)October 21, 1819
Moulton, Alabama
DiedApril 18, 1880(1880-04-18) (aged 60)
Fayette, Alabama
NationalityAmerican
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseLucinda Jane Page
RelationsJohn Wallace Jones (brother)
Children9
OccupationLawyer, Judge, State senator
Known forVoting against the secession of Alabama from the Union

Elliot Priest Jones ( 21 October 1819 - 18 April 1880) was an American lawyer, judge, and Democratic politician from the state of Alabama. From 1844 to 187, Jones served as the treasurer, chancery court register, postmaster, justice of the peace, and county judge of Fayette County, Alabama. Following the establishment of the Probate Court in 1850, he transitioned to serving as a State Senator from 1851 to 1858 and again from 1865 to 1867.

Early life

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Born in Lawrence County, Alabama, Elliott Priest Jones was the third of six children born to Benjamin Elliott Jones (26 March 1790 – 19 January 1863) and Viney Wallace (20 May 1792 – 29 August 1840), who both hailed from Kentucky.[1] The couple moved from Kentucky to the Alabama Territory in 1818, just before it gained statehood.[2] They initially settled in Lawrence County where they welcomed their four younger children, including Elliott. In 1837, the family moved to Fayette County, where Benjamin Jones achieved considerable success as a planter.[3] Elliott's immediate younger brother was Shreveport, Louisiana mayor and Civil War veteran John Wallace Jones.

Professional life

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Jones was a delegate to Alabama's Secession Convention in 1861, where he voted against secession, and he was one of the few who refused to sign the secession document. He also participated in the Constitutional Convention of 1865 to reorganize the state post-Civil War. His political career continued as he was elected to the Senate from the district composed of Fayette and Marion counties, serving through the sessions of 1865-66 and 1866-67. In recognition of his service, the Alabama Legislature named a county after him in 1866, although it was later renamed Sanford and eventually Lamar.

Jones was known for his liberal and generous approach to politics, maintaining warm personal relationships across party lines. He was a staunch supporter of Stephen A. Douglas in the 1860 presidential election, advocating for measures to prevent the impending calamities that would befall the South. After the Civil War, he was elected to the Convention called by Governor Parsons and subsequently to the Senate, marking the end of his public life. He returned to his legal practice until his death in 1880.


A native of Lawrence County, Alabama. Democrat. Elected Judge of the County Court of Fayette, 1847; State Senator, 1850. Reelected 1853, 1855, and 1857. Member of Alabama’s Secession Convention, voting against. In 1865, a member of the Constitutional Convention to reorganize the State. Elected in 1865 to the Senate from the District composed of Fayette and Marion counties, serving through the sessions of 1865-66, and 1866-67. Honored by the Legislature of 1866 by a county named for him, though as others came into politics, this was no longer named, the county later being called Sanford.

Jones received a common school education and began his career teaching school. During that time he read law in the office of Ligon and Walker and began his law practice in Fayette in 1844. Jones served as the Fayette County Treasurer in 1845; Register in Chancery Court, 1845-1850; Postmaster, 1845-1850; Justice of the Peace, 1847; County Court Judge, 1848-1850 (County Court was changed to Probate Court in May of 1850); and State Senator from 1851-1858 and 1865-1867. Jones along with Burr W. Wilson was elected as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1861 and 1865.


In politics, Judge Jones was a Democrat, true to his principles, but liberal and generous to the other side, in which he had hosts of warm personal friends. He was first elected Judge of the County Court, but upon the organization of the Probate system he went out. He was never beaten in a contest before the people. Judge Jones was opposed to succession, and in 1860 espoused the cause of Stephen A. Douglas for President as the surest means of averting calamities that subsequently befell the South. After the election in 1860 he was elected to the Convention called by Gov. Moore. In that body he voted against Succession, and was one of the few who refused to sign that document. – After the war he was elected to the Convention called by Gov. Parsons, and was elected to the Senate, - the last one before reconstruction. This term closed his public life. He betook himself to his profession, which he followed until a few years ago, when death called him. [1880] He was ready for the summons. His memory will long live in the hearts of his numerous friends.”

Jones and his wife Lucinda Page Jones raised ten children in Fayette. His oldest son, James Benjamin Jones had started one of the earliest Fayette newspapers, The Fayette Sentinel.

Elliot Priest Jones, lawyer, was born October 21, 1819, at Moulton, Lawrence County, and died April 18, 1880, at Fayette; son of Benjamin and Viney (Wallace) Jones, the former a captain in the Mexican War, a native of Kentucky, who lived in Moulton and Fayette. His ancestry was of Irish origin. Elliott Priest Jones received a common school education in his native county and began his career by teaching school. He read law in the office of Ligon and Walker, Moulton, and began the practice at Fayette, in 1844. He was judge of the county court, 1848-50; member State senate, 1860-60; member of the constitutional conventions of 1861 and 1866 and during the latter decade, 1863, 1866 and 1867, was again elected to the senate and served three terms. He voted against the adoption of the Secession ordinance and refused to sign it. Upon the creation of a new county, made up of territory he represented, the legislature gave it the name of Jones in his honor. Later the name was changed to Sanford and finally to Lamar. He was a Methodist; Mason; and Odd Fallow. Married In Fayette, to L. J., daughter of Mrs. Jane (Brooks) Page, native of Virginia, who located in that county. Children: 1. John W., Confederate soldier. Phoenix, Arizona; 2. J. B. Jones, merchant, m. Annie Byars, Fayette; 8. Lucius E., m. Viola Wimberly, Little Rock, Ark.; 4. Mattie O.; 6. R. S.; 6. Mary Alice; 7. Sylvester F.; 8. Frances I., m. G. F. Brown, Columbus, Miss.; 9. C. S., m. Angelo Fern, Steens, Miss. Last residence: Fayette. Source: by

  • Owen, Thomas McAdory (1921). History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography. Vol. III. Chicago: S. J. Clark Publishing Company. p. 928.

References

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  1. ^ Last will and testament of Benjamin Jones. 7 Jan. 1865.
  2. ^ "Fayette's Picturesque Personalities". The Montgomery Advertiser. Montgomery, Alabama. 19 June 1937. p. 4.
  3. ^ Benjamin Jones (Lawrence Co., AL.) homestead patent no. 16825 (https://images.findagrave.com/photos/2011/10/36346154_129479428439.jpg)
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