John Welch Jones

John Welch Jones (1826–1916) was a medical doctor, Civil War cavalry officer, superintendent of the Insane Asylum of Louisiana, and planter. Jones led the reform of the care of mentally ill people in late nineteenth century Louisiana.

Early life

John Welch Jones was born in Lancaster County, South Carolina (now Kershaw County) on October 17, 1826, to William Welch Jones and Edith Hilton. He was the fourth born of eight children. Jones' father, William Welch Jones (1799–1871), born in Lancaster County, was the son of Samuel Jones, who fought with General Francis Marion ("The Swamp Fox") in the Revolutionary War. He either remained in Alabama, coming to Louisiana only near the end of his life,

Medical practice

Jones came to Louisiana in 1848 and enrolled at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, from which he graduated in 1852. and located 11 miles south of Jackson, Louisiana.) into a cavalry unit called the Plains Guards, which he led as captain. ), which was located near Jackson . who fought with General Francis Marion in South Carolina and removed to Amite County, Mississippi in 1805. Dr. Jones was a Mason and a member of the United Confederate Veterans.

Of the marriage, ten children were born of which five died in early childhood. The five surviving children were:

Philip Huff Jones, M. D. (1855–1946), who married Annabelle Smith, daughter of John Scott Smith and Tullia (Richardson) Smith in 1882, and practiced medicine at Baton Rouge, Louisiana where he was president of the City Board of Health. Dr. and Mrs. George Hilton Jones are buried in the Keller family cemetery on China Berry Plantation in East Feliciana Parish about two miles east of Jackson. Pearl Jones (1871-1946), who married Mr. George Keller, a planter who lived in Jackson, Louisiana. Lily Jones (Dec 19, 1873 – July 11, 1944), who resided with her sister in Jackson, until her final years when she resided with her brother, Carruth, in Baton Rouge. Judge William Carruth Jones (1876–1943), who married pianist Elizabeth Fly Kirkpatrick, eldest daughter of pharmacist James Roger Kirkpatrick and Ida Fly of Natchez, Mississippi, and practiced law in Baton Rouge, Louisiana until he was elected to the bench.