John P. Jones

John Percival Jones (born January 27, 1829 in Herefordshire , England , † November 12, 1912 in Los Angeles , California ) was a British- American politician of the Republican Party , who represented the state of Nevada in the US Senate from 1873 to 1903 .

Early years

John Jones was one of 13 children born to Thomas Jones and his wife Mary. The family left their British homeland in 1801 and immigrated to the United States and settled in Cleveland . There Thomas Jones acquired real estate and was involved in the marble trade.

In 1849, John Jones was lured to California by the gold rush . He lived there in Trinity County and was active in both mining and agriculture; he also acted as sheriff of that district. From 1863 to 1867 he was a member of the California Senate ; a candidacy as lieutenant governor of the state on the side of George Congdon Gorham was unsuccessful.

Jones moved to Gold Hill , Nevada , in 1868 . There he acted as head of the Crown Point silver mine, which was part of the Comstock Lode . When silver ore was discovered there in 1870 , Jones and his partner Alvinza Hayward acquired enough shares to take control of the mine.

Jones had a son with his first wife, Hannah, whom he married in 1861. After her death in 1871, he married Georgina Sillivan a second time in 1875. They had three daughters together, including tennis player Marion Jones , who won bronze medals in both singles and mixed games at the Paris Olympics in 1900 . Another daughter, Alice, married the sculptor and painter Frederick William MacMonnies .

US Senator

The Nevada Legislature elected Jones a US Senator in November 1872, where he succeeded James W. Nye on March 4, 1873 . After being re-elected several times, he was able to spend five terms there until March 4, 1903. During this time he was chairman of the Committee on Auditing the Contingent Expenses from 1877 to 1881 and from 1883 to 1893 . Between 1893 and 1903 he also chaired the Committee on Infectious Diseases.

Jones was instrumental in introducing the 20 cent silver coin, which was in circulation between 1875 and 1876. Like many Western Republicans, he turned his back on his party because of its stance on bimetallism in 1896 and joined the Silver Republican Party . He later went back to the Republicans, but did not stand for re-election in 1902.

Business activities

Together with his co-senator from Nevada, William M. Stewart , Jones invested in the Panamint silver mines near Independence , California in 1874 . He planned to establish a rail link from the mines to the Pacific near Santa Monica ; In 1877, however, the silver of the Panamint mines had already been completely mined, whereupon the plant was closed.

Together with Robert Symington Baker, Jones founded the Town of Santa Monica in 1875 . The year before, he had bought a ranch from Baker in what would become the town. Jones also founded the first railroad leading from Los Angeles to Santa Monica, the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad , which he had to sell to the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1877 due to financial problems .

After his tenure in Congress ended , Jones retired to his Miramar estate in Santa Monica, but continued to oversee his business activities. Shortly before his death, he sold his house to King Camp Gillette . In 1921 he in turn sold it to a hotelier who turned it into the “Hotel Miramar”. The Fairmont Miramar Hotel is still there today - after several renovations and changes of ownership .

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Gertrude Van Rensselaer Wickham: The Pioneer Families of Cleveland 1796-1840 . Evangelical Publishing House, 1914.
^ Mitchell Charles Harrison, (1902), Prominent and progressive Americans New York Tribune
^ Harry M. Gorham: My Memories of the Comstock . Gold Hill Publishing Co., 1939.
^ Grant Horace Smith, Joseph V. Tingley: The history of the Comstock lode, 1850-1997 1998.
^ Russell R. Elliott: History of Nevada . University of Nebraska Press, 1987, ISBN 978-0-8032-6715-2 .
↑ US Senate: Senators Who Changed Parties During Senate Service
^ Nevada's Doctrinaire Senator: John P. Jones and the Politics of Silver in the Golden Age. Nevada Historical Society Quarterly 36 (Winter 1993): 246-62.
^ Richard E. Lingenfelter: Death Valley and the Amargosa . University of California Press, 1988, ISBN 978-0-520-06356-3 .
^ Neill Compton Wilson: Silver Stampede: The career of Death Valley's hell-camp, old Panamint . Books for Libraries Press, 1937, ISBN 9780836959697 .
^ Luther A Ingersoll: Ingersoll's Century History, Santa Monica Bay Cities - Prefaced with a Brief History of the State of California, a Condensed History of Los Angeles County, 1542-1908; Supplemented with an Encyclopedia of Local Biography 2008, ISBN 9781408623671 .

personal data
SURNAME	Jones, John P.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Jones, John Percival (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British-American politician
DATE OF BIRTH	January 27, 1829
PLACE OF BIRTH	Herefordshire , England
DATE OF DEATH	November 12, 1912
Place of death	Los Angeles , California

[1] Gertrude Van Rensselaer Wickham: The Pioneer Families of Cleveland 1796-1840 . Evangelical Publishing House, 1914.

[2] Mitchell Charles Harrison, (1902), Prominent and progressive Americans New York Tribune

[3] Harry M. Gorham: My Memories of the Comstock . Gold Hill Publishing Co., 1939.

[4] Grant Horace Smith, Joseph V. Tingley: The history of the Comstock lode, 1850-1997 1998.

[5] Russell R. Elliott: History of Nevada . University of Nebraska Press, 1987, ISBN 978-0-8032-6715-2 .

[6] US Senate: Senators Who Changed Parties During Senate Service

[7] Nevada's Doctrinaire Senator: John P. Jones and the Politics of Silver in the Golden Age. Nevada Historical Society Quarterly 36 (Winter 1993): 246-62.

[8] Richard E. Lingenfelter: Death Valley and the Amargosa . University of California Press, 1988, ISBN 978-0-520-06356-3 .

[9] Neill Compton Wilson: Silver Stampede: The career of Death Valley's hell-camp, old Panamint . Books for Libraries Press, 1937, ISBN 9780836959697 .

[10] Luther A Ingersoll: Ingersoll's Century History, Santa Monica Bay Cities - Prefaced with a Brief History of the State of California, a Condensed History of Los Angeles County, 1542-1908; Supplemented with an Encyclopedia of Local Biography 2008, ISBN 9781408623671 .