Thomas C. Jones
Hon. Thomas C. Jones, whose name is enrolled as one of Delaware's most distinguished citizens, was born February 9, 1816, in the parish of Myfod, Montgomeryshire, North Wales, and was a child of six years when he accompanied his parents to America.
Early in the autumn of 1822, Robert Jones, father of Thomas C, with his brother, David, and other members of the family, reached the little frontier village of Delaware, after a long period of peril and hardship on sea and land. As early as 1820, David Jones had purchased a farm near Delaware, where other Welsh families had settled, but Robert decided to locate nine miles further eastward. Here Thomas C. Jones was reared to the age of 18 years, attending the district school as opportunity was afforded, and working in the meanwhile for his father and neighboring farmers. He then learned the carpenter's trade, at which he subsequently worked in both Cincinnati and St. Louis, but he had already decided that he would follow the example of his brother, and by diligent study, prepare himself for the profession of law. Hence, in the fall of 1836 he entered the law office of his brother Edward, but the death of the latter in 1838. disarranged his plans and placed the responsibility on him of making a trip to England to look after an estate in which his father had an entailed interest.
During Ins absence of 18 months, he successfully settled up the necessary business in England, and, wherever he had the opportunity, attended sessions of court and kept up with his law studies. In the spring of 1841 he passed an examination before the Supreme Court of Ohio then holding its sessions at Gallipolis, was licensed to practice and chose Delaware as the field of future practice. His ability was immediately recognized by one of the most noted jurists of the State, the late Judge Sherman Finch, who invited Mr. Jones to partnership and this legal connection continued for five years, much to the advantage of both partners.
In 1843, Mr. Jones moved to Circleville, Pickaway County, where he continued in active practice for 13 years, winning public approval by his able handling of many important cases of litigation, and then returned to Delaware County, where he purchased a farm and became much interested in breeding fine stock. In 1856 he entered into a law partnership with the late H. M. Carper, of Delaware, and later entered into politics more actively than formerly. In 1859, Mr. Jones was elected to the State Senate, on the Republican ticket, in which he served two terms, during this time being chairman of the Commitee on Public Works and a member of the finance and judiciary committees.
In the fall of 1861, Senator Jones was elected judge of the first sub-division of the Sixth Judicial District, and was re-elected in 1866, thus serving ten years on the bench with an efficiency seldom equaled, those being times of great public strain and stress. By this time Judge Jones had become a man of great prominence in his district and well known all over the State of Ohio, and in 1868 he was made chairman of the Ohio delegation at Chicago, which nominated the ticket of Grant and Colfax. Again, in 1876, he served in the Republican National convention and took pleasure in supporting his old friend and school-mate, Rutherford B. Hayes, for the Presidency. Although he had never since held political office, on many occasions he had been honored with appointments to those of great responsibility.
As early as 1859, Judge Jones was elected a member of the State Board of Agriculture, serving one year as president and one year as acting president. As trustee of the Ohio Agricultural College and an official member of the board, he was deeply interested in all its work and in every possible way promoted its efficiency. In 1876 he was one of the jury selected to award the honors m the cattle department of live stock, at the Centennial Exhibition, at Philadeplhia, and was chosen chairman of the same. In 1881 he was appointed on a commission under a special act of Congress to examine and report on the agricultural needs and resources of the Pacific States, in association with Professor Hilgard. of the University of California, and ex-Governor Robert Furnas, of Nebraska. As a writer he had a national reputation, on agricultural and associate topics. He was elected the first president of the Ohio Association of Breeders of Short Horn Cattle. Judge Jones became eminent in every line to which he devoted attention and maintained his hold on public interests long after many of his contemporaries in years had passed away.
In 1842, Judge Jones was married to Harriet Williams, who was a daughter of the late Judge Hosea and Charlotte Elizabeth (Avery) Williams, and four children were born of this marriage, namely: Rev. Hosea Williams, Dean of the Theological School of Kenyon College; Arthur Hamilton, residing in Upper Sandusky, who was long interested with his father in breeding and dealing in live-stock near Delaware; Charlotte Martha, who married Archibald Lybrand, residing at Delaware; and Thomas Clive, who is engaged in business at Delaware.
Judge Jones and family were always devoted members of the Protestant Episcopal Church. For many years be served as a trustee of Kenyon College and the Protestant Episcopal Seminary at Gambier. His death, which occurred August 12, 1892, removed one of the most useful and distinguished of Delaware County's adopted sons, and it will be long ere his services are forgotten by those who have the best interests of this section at heart.
From 20th Century History of Delaware County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, Edited and compiled by James R. Lytle, Delaware, Ohio, Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908
Judge Thomas C. Jones was born in the parish of Myfod. Montgomeryshire, North Wales, February 9, 1816, and died at Delaware, Ohio, August 13, 1892. His father, Robert Jones, was a farmer in his native country of Wales, and the family immigrated to America in the year 1822 and settled on a farm near Delaware. Ohio. At the early age of thirteen years the subject of this sketch earned his own living by working on farms for the neighbors in the spring and summer and fall and attending school in winters. In this way be obtained a sufficient education to teach. In the year 1837, he began the study of law with his brother Edward, who had just previously opened an office in Delaware. The brother died in the year 1838 and Thomas taught a district school in the winter of 1839, and in April of that year he started to Wales to settle his father's estate. He traveled from Delaware to Philadelphia on horseback, where he sold his horse and sailed for his former home. He studied law in England for about eighteen months, and as a student attended the sessions of the English courts with great benefit to himself. In the spring of the year 1841 he returned to America and was admitted to the Bar before the Supreme Court of Ohio, which was then being held at Gallipolis. Ohio, Justices Peter Hitchcock, Thomas A. Grimke and S. F. Vinton, examiners. He immediately opened an office in Delaware, Ohio, with good prospects. In a short time he entered into a partnership for the practice of his profession with Judge Sherman Finch, which partnership continued for only a short time. In the year 1843, Mr. Jones removed to Circleville, Pickaway County, Ohio, where he continued in the practice of his profession for thirteen years. In the year 1856 he returned to Delaware County, where he formed a partnership for the practice of law with H. M. Carper, the style of the firm being Jones & Carper, which partnership continued until Mr. Jones was elected to the Common Pleas bench. In the year 1859. he was elected State senator from the Sixteenth Senatorial district, at that time composed of Delaware and Licking Counties, as a Republican, though the district was largely Democratic. Mr. Jones was elected by a handsome majority. In January, 1850, Mr. Jones was elected a member of the State Board of Agriculture, which office he held for eight years. being president of the board for two years.
In the autumn of the year 1861, Mr. Jones was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the First Subdivision of the Sixth Judicial District, composed of Delaware. Knox and Licking Counties. He was reelected in the autumn of 1866, serving for the term of ten years with general satisfaction to the public and to the Bar.
He was a delegate to the National Republican Convention held at Chicago in the year 1868, which nominated Grant and Colfax for president and vice-president, respectively, of the United States and was chairman of the delegation. He was also a member of the National Republican Convention which nominated R. B. Hayes for president in the year 1876, and he was one of President Hayes' strongest supporters, having known him from childhood, they having been school boys together. After the expiration of Judge Jones' second term on the bench, he engaged in agriculture and the breeding of thoroughbred short-horned cattle, Southdown sheep and other fine stock, for which he always had a taste, no doubt inherited through many generations from his ancestors. He was appointed trustee of the Ohio Agricultural College, located at Columbus, Ohio, was made chairman of the Executive Committee, and was largely responsible for the design and erection of the college buildings as well as the selection of the first professors and the character of the course of study. In the year 1876 he was one of the jury selected to award the honors in the cattle department of live stock at the Centennial at Philadelphia and he was made chairman of that body.
In the year 1880 he visited Great Britain, including his native Wales, taking with him his wife, and with the aid of a letter from President Hayes, his old school fellow, he made extensive observations with reference to our live stock trade with that country and the effect of its restrictions upon our exports. The result of his observations was made known to the president in a letter by Mr. Jones, which letter he caused to be published for distribution among breeders and others interested in this most important branch of our export trade. In the year 1881 he was appointed on a commission by a special act of Congress to examine and report upon the agricultural needs and resources of the Pacific States. In the government's earnest endeavor to solve and settle the Indian question the wisdom of Judge Junes was recognized by His appointment to several commissions.
Judge Jones was at one time an official visitor to the Naval Academy at Annapolis. As a writer on agricultural subjects and especially in the department of stock-breeding, he had a national reputation.
Judge Jones was chosen as the first president of the Ohio Association of Breeders of short-horn cattle and was really the leading spirit in its organization. The judge was a man of sincere and earnest convictions, liberal and public spirited, of a genial temperament and was interested in his fellow citizens and his company was sought after in the social circle.
Religiously, he was a positive character. He was a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, had clear views on the subject of religion and he believed in a God as taught by his church and the Bible. He had no patience with non-believers or with the doctrines of the rationalists. He was for many years a trustee of the Theological Seminary and of Kenyon College, which was established by his church at Gambier, and his eldest son is a professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Polity in Kenyon College.
From 20th Century History of Delaware County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, Edited and compiled by James R. Lytle, Delaware, Ohio, Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908