Robert McDonald Jones

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert McDonald Jones (born October 1, 1808 in Mississippi , † February 22, 1872 ) was an American Choctaw leader, plantation owner , entrepreneur and politician .

Career

Robert McDonald Jones ran large plantations and transportation businesses in Indian Territory . At the height of his success, he maintained 28 stores, six plantations along the border of Arkansas and Texas as well as a sugar plantation in Louisiana . The two largest plantations were Lake West, with approximately five thousand acres near Oberlin ( Allen Parish ), and Rocky Comfort, with approximately ten thousand acres. Jones was the largest slave owner in Indian Territory and had about 225 slaves. He owned two steamships that regularly called New Orleans .

His greatest service to the Choctaw tribe was to obtain compensation payments from the federal government after a long process. These are payments to the tribe for the land and developments in Mississippi and Alabama when the tribe was forced to relocate to Indian territory in the 1830s. The Choctaw and the Creek elected Jones President of the United Nations of the Indian Territory. During the civil war he was one of the most ardent secessionists in the region. He was more influential than the common delegates of the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations in Konföderiertenkongress in Richmond ( Virginia ).

Jones negotiated the post-war treaty between the Choctaw tribe and the federal government, which included final compensation payments. He was able to regain his prewar fortune by keeping his property and business and selling 4,500 bales of cotton that he had previously stored in New Orleans.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Jones, Robert McDonald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American Choctaw leader, plantation owner, entrepreneur, and politician
DATE OF BIRTH October 1, 1808
PLACE OF BIRTH Mississippi
DATE OF DEATH February 22, 1872