John Rice Jones

John Rice Jones (February 11, 1759 – February 1, 1824) was a Welsh-born, American politician, jurist, and military officer. He helped establish the territorial governments in Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. John Rice Jones was the father of U.S. Senator George Wallace Jones from Iowa.

Early life Jones was born in Mallwyd, Wales, the eldest of fourteen children to John Jones, an excise officer. He received his college education at Oxford University, studying both Medicine and Law. He chose Law as a career and established a practice in London, England In January, 1781 in Brecon, Wales Jones married Eliza Powell, daughter of Richard and Mary Powell. He remained in Brecon setting up as a solicitor, with chambers at Thanet Place in London.

Life in America

Frontier military officer In 1784 John Rice Jones sailed to the United States, settling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He returned to Wales within the year to bring his wife and son, Rice Jones (1781–1808), back to America, though leaving behind his infant daughter, Maria.

Lawyer and businessman In the late 1780s John Rice Jones began to invest in land, both around Vincennes and Kaskaskia, in what would become the Illinois Territory. In his job as Commissary General Jones had made several trips to the Kaskaskia area.

Indiana Territorial official In 1800 Indiana Territory was created from a portion of the old Northwest Territory. When territorial Governor (and later U.S. President) William Henry Harrison organized his administration in early 1801, he appointed Jones as the first Attorney General. The younger Jones had been involved in a heated political dispute with Shadrach Bond Jr. which led to a duel. Neither party was wounded in the affair of honor, but Bond's second, Dr. James Dunlap remained unsatisfied and allegedly arranged for the assassination of Rice Jones on a Kaskaskia street. The murderer was never apprehended.

Jones died without completing his first term on the court, on February 1, 1824.