Gabriel Jones

Gabriel Jones (May 17, 1724 – October 1806) was an 18th-century Welsh American lawyer, legislator, court clerk and civil servant in the colony (and later U.S. state) of Virginia.

Jones attended Christ's Hospital (one of England's "Bluecoat Schools"), after which he served as an indentured apprentice studying jurisprudence under a solicitor in the Court of Chancery and of Lyon's Inn in Middlesex. At the age of 21, Jones was admitted to practice law following the completion of his apprenticeship. He was persuaded by either Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, the landowner of the Northern Neck Proprietary, or his relative Hugh Mercer to return to Virginia, where he engaged in the practice of law.

Jones served as Clerk of Court for Hampshire County, Virginia (now West Virginia) for a tenure lasting 25 years (1757–1782) and represented Frederick, Hampshire, and Augusta counties as a member of the House of Burgesses of Virginia. In addition, Jones also served as the King's Attorney for Augusta County and as the coroner for Frederick County. He was elected to represent Virginia at the Continental Congress but did not attend, and was elected to represent Rockingham County in the Virginia Ratifying Convention. Jones was an uncle of American pioneer John Gabriel Jones (1752–1776), and he was a friend of both George Washington and Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron.

Early life and education

Gabriel Jones was born on May 17, 1724, approximately from Williamsburg, in York County, Colony of Virginia. He was a son of John and Elizabeth Jones, who had arrived in Virginia several years earlier from Montgomeryshire in northern Wales, Great Britain, where Jones's family was of noble descent. Jones's father was a weaver. Jones's elder sister Elizabeth was born on August 13, 1721, at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, and his younger brother John was born on June 12, 1725, at the same location as Jones. Jones attended Christ's Hospital for seven years. The county's court recommended Jones to the position, citing him "as a fit person to transact His Majesty's affairs in this county". When the first appointed justices of Augusta County assembled on December 9, 1745, the body qualified Jones to practice as an "attorney-at-law" in the county. He was the first lawyer to reside within the then-boundaries of Augusta County.

Jones was again elected to represent Frederick County in the House of Burgesses in 1752, but resigned in 1753 to serve as the county's coroner. From 1754 to 1755, Jones served alongside a Mr. Parker representing Hampshire County in the House of Burgesses. Jones and Parker were Hampshire County's first representatives in the House of Burgesses following the county's creation on May 1, 1754. Jones was on close terms with Lord Fairfax, While Archibald Wager was likely the first appointed Clerk of Court for Hampshire County, Jones was the first operational appointee to serve in the position. According to Maxwell and Swisher, Jones relied upon his deputy clerks, such as Dew, to transcribe and document court proceedings, which Jones traveled among the various counties to sign. and Hampshire County from 1758 until 1761. In 1774, Jones was elected to represent Virginia in the Continental Congress

Jones served as Clerk of Court for Hampshire County for a tenure spanning 25 years until his retirement from the position in 1782. In their History of Hampshire County, West Virginia (1897), Maxwell and Swisher theorize that Jones retired from his position due in part to Lord Fairfax's death the previous year and waning British influence in Virginia toward the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War.

Jones continued to practice law in Rockingham County until his death. The road upon which he regularly traveled between his residence Bogota and Rockingham County's seat of Harrisonburg became known as "The Lawyer's Road",

In the spring of 1887, a memorial window to Jones and his wife was installed in a new Episcopal church erected near their former Bogota residence. Jones was married on October 16, 1749, to Margaret Strother Morton (1726–1822), the widow of George Morton and the daughter of William Strother and his wife Margaret Watts of King George County.

Jones was an Anglican. He further described Jones as sporting "powdered hair", a blue coat, a white vest, a cravat, silk stockings, and silver knee and shoe buckles. Maxwell and Swisher state that Jones's remark "became a proverb in Hampshire County" and was used when someone had been driven to extremes and utilized what little resources were left at their disposal.