William Jones

William Jones (March 28, 1871– March 29, 1909), also called Megasiáwa (Black Eagle), was a Native American anthropologist of the Meskwaki nation. Jones was born in Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma) on March 28, 1871. After studying at Hampton Institute, he graduated from Phillips Academy and went on to receive his B.A. from Harvard. At Columbia University, he studied under Franz Boas, and in 1904, Jones became the fourth person to receive a PhD in linguistic anthropology, twelfth person to receive a PhD in anthropology, and first Native American to receive a PhD in anthropology.

Jones is known as a specialist in Algonquian languages, particularly known for his extensive collection of Algonquian texts. In 1908, while employed as an assistant curator at the Field Museum, he went to the Philippines to do fieldwork.

Early life William Jones was born to Henry Clay Jones and Sarah Penny Jones on March 28, 1871. His ethnicity is a mix of Meskwaki, Welsh, and English. Jones' mother, Sarah, died when he was an infant. From the age of one to nine, Jones lived in a wigwam where his maternal grandmother and medicine woman, Kitiqua, took care of him. When he was ten, Jones was taken to the Indian school at Newton, Kansas. Later, he was taken to White's Indiana Manual Labor Institute that was run by Quaker missionaries in Wabash, Indiana. After leaving them, he worked as a cowhand in Indian Territory.

Career At 18 years old, he went to Hampton Institute, where he was considered a prize pupil. There, he and other indigenous children joined black students for their education. After Hampton, he attended the Phillips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts, a predominantly white school. Jones, William, “The Diary of William Jones: 1907-1909, Robert F. Cummings Philippine Expedition”, Dumabato, Isabela Province, Luzon, Philippines, The Field Museum of Chicago. Overholt, T. W., Callicott, J. B., & Jones, W. "Clothed-in-fur, and other tales: an introduction to an Ojibwa world view." Washington, D.C., University Press of America, 1982.