HENRY C. JONES

HENRY C. JONES, a prominent citizen of Florence, and solicitor for the eighth judicial district of Alabama, was born in Franklin county, January 23, 1821. He is a son of William s. and Ann (Coy) Jones, both natives of Virginia, and of English descent. Thomas Jones, grandfather of Henry C., was a colonel in the Revolutionary war, and William Jones, father of Henry C., came to Alabama in 1813, locating in Madison county, and removing thence to Franklin county, in 1819, where he died in 1874, at the age of seventy-six. Henry C. Jones was educated primarily at the county schools, and then attended LaGrange college, graduating in 1840. He next read law under Prof. Tutwiler of La Grange college, and with Hon. Daniel Coleman of Athens, was admitted to the Franklin county bar in 1841. During the same year he was elected probate judge of Franklin county, and held the office for eighteen months. Being then elected to the legislature, he resigned his judgeship and served in the legislature with distinction, both in the lower house and in the senate. His work in both branches of the legislature gained him prominence all over the state. In 1856, Judge Jones settled in Florence, and continued the practice of his profession In 1860 he was a Douglas elector, and was a member of the state convention called up on the election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency. In that convention he vigorously opposed secession, yet when the state had seceded, notwithstanding his vigorous opposition, to a secessional policy, he was elected to the Confederate provisional congress, in which body he served one year. During he was he was engaged in the manufacture of cottons and woolens in Mississippi, under a contract for the Confederate government. After the war he returned to Florence, and resumed the practice of law, taking rank with the leading members of the bar. Judge Jones has always taken an active part in politics, and has given his services freely to the party in time of need. During the period of reconstruction he was for five years chairman of the democratic central committee. In 1876, he was the Tilden elector for his district, and made speeches throughout northern Alabama. In 1874, Judge Jones was elected, by the legislature, solicitor for the eighth district, and he has been re-elected to that position at each election since. He is now serving his third term, which expires in 1892, and intends to retire with its expiration. Judge Jones was married in Athens to Martha L. Keyes, who died in Florence, May 6, 1887. [Memorial Record of Alabama. Vol. II. Brant & Fuller. Madison, Wis., 1893. pp. 358-359]