Gen. George Wallace Jones 1804 – 1896 - 2nd Obit

JONES

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 2/12/2021 at 12:44:32

Source: Decorah Republican July 30, 1896 P 3 C 4, 5

DEATH OF GEN. GEO. W. JONES
The veteran Geo. W. Jones died at Dubuque on Wednesday evening last week, aged 92 years, 3 months and 9 days. The story of his life is a romance in itself. It spanned a period from Jefferson to Cleveland, and for a half-century he was in public life, and a very prominent character. Told in the briefest manner his career was as follows:—
George Wallace Jones was born at Vincennes, Ind., April 12, 1804. He was a drummer boy in the war of 1812, and won distinction in the Black Hawk war. He was the last delegate in congress from the territory of Michigan, the first delegate from Wisconsin and the first United States senator from the state of Iowa, and he selected the names of Wisconsin and Iowa. He has known every president since Monroe, was in the escort of Lafayette, was a business partner of Daniel Webster, was the colleague in congress of Thos. H, Benton. Charles Sumner, Stephen A. Douglas, William H, Seward and James Buchanan, was the intimate friend of John C. Calhoun. Martin Van Buren. Henry Clay. John C. Fremont, Jefferson Davis and Franklin Pierce, was a minister to South America before the war, was a party to seven "affairs of honor,” caught the dying victim of the Gilley-Graves duel in his arms, was imprisoned by Seward on suspicion of being in collusion with Jefferson Davis, was the Chesterfield of Washington society nearly fifty years ago, was once the richest man in Iowa, but in his latter years has had little income except a pension of $20 a month; granted eighty years after his service as a drummer boy. To these must be added many minor distinctions.
Gen. Jones is the son of John Rice Jones, mentioned in history as the friend of Benjamin Franklin. The father was for years the chief justice of the supreme court of Missouri. The family lived at St. Genevieve. Mo., in 1814 and when Capt. Linn was commissioned to raise a company of soldiers young Jones was the drummer boy who marched about the streets in that service. He graduated from Transylvania university at Lexington, Ky., in 1825. Henry Clay was his college guardian. In 1823, he was sergeant of the bodyguard of Andrew Jackson on his way to Washington to take his seat as United States senator. When Lafayette revisited America the young student was selected by congress as a member of a reception committee and escorted the young patriot through Kentucky.
After graduation young Jones lived three years at St. Genevieve, studied law and was clerk of the United States district court for Missouri. His health gave out and his physician ordered him into the woods to recuperate. Accompanied by a dozen slaves and a number of hired men, he went to Sinsinawa Mound, then in Michigan Territory, but now in Wisconsin, not far from Dubuque. He engaged in mining, smelting, farming, and merchandising, living a simple, rough life, and he boasted freedom from sickness for nearly seventy years thereafter.
When the Black Hawk war broke out in 1832 he enlisted as aid-de-camp to Gen. Henry Dodge, father of his colleague as United States senator from Iowa. After the war the pioneers of Michigan Territory chose him colonel of militia without his knowledge, although a son of Alexander Hamilton was a candidate. Later he became a major general. While organizing a company of soldiers at what is now Mineral Point, Wis., he was chosen county judge, though he had not sought the place.
In 1935 he was elected delegate to congress from the Territory of Michigan, which then embraced all the country from Lake Huron to the Pacific, the largest district ever represented by one man in congress. One of his first acts was to introduce a bill for the formation of Wisconsin Territory, which comprised most of the country West of Lake Michigan. He took the name from the Ouisconsin river, so named by Marquette, and secured the passage of his bill before the bill admitting Michigan to statehood was passed. He was elected delegate from Wisconsin while still holding that position from Michigan. He introduced and secured the passage of the bill creating the Territory of Iowa.
President Van Buren appointed him surveyor general of the Northwest territory and he became a resident of Dubuque, President William Henry Harrison removed him, but he was reappointed by President Polk. He was chosen first United States senator from Iowa in 1943, a position to which he was re-elected.
In 1859 he was appointed minister to the country now known as Columbia. While there he wrote a letter to Jefferson Davis, who had been a lieutenant with him in the Black Hawk war. Jones did not know of the beginning of the war, and the terms of his letter to his old friend put him under suspicion when it fell into the hands of Secretary Seward, Gen. Jones was recalled and imprisoned in Fort Lafayette for sixty-four days. President Lincoln became convinced of his innocence and ordered his release. A year or two later Gen. Jones retired from public life.
At one time he and Daniel Webster were partners in the town site of Madison. Wis. and Sioux City, Iowa. He acted as second for Jonathan Gilley in the fatal duel with William J. Graves in 1833. In 1892 congress voted him a pension for services in the war of 1812 and the Black Hawk war. It also reimbursed him for services while in South America.

Transcriber’s Note: Find a Grave shows he is buried in the Mt. Olivet Cemetery.