Charles William Jones (December 24, 1834October 11, 1897) was a

United States Senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

from

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. He abandoned the seat after an apparent onset of mental illness.

Early life, travel and career

Jones was born in

Balbriggan Balbriggan (; , IPA: �bˠalʲəˈbʲɾʲɪɟiːnʲ is a coastal town in Fingal, in the northern part of County Dublin, Ireland, approximately 34 km from Dublin City. The 2016 census population was 21,722 for Balbriggan and its environs. ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. His father was a British army surgeon who died when he was a child. In 1844, Jones and his mother immigrated to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. After attending school in New York City and

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

, Jones moved to

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

(in 1848) and

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

before settling in

Santa Rosa County, Florida Santa Rosa County is a county located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2020, the population is 188,000. The county seat is Milton, which lies in the geographic center of the county. Other major communities within ...

in 1854. Jones was admitted to the

Florida Bar The Florida Bar is the integrated bar association for the state of Florida. It is the third largest such bar in the United States. Its duties include the regulation and discipline of attorneys. The Florida Bar is also responsible for the governi ...

in 1857, moved to

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ...

and was appointed

tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

assessor for Santa Rosa and Escambia Counties. He married Mary Ada Quigley in 1861 and they had four children before her death in 1880.

Politics

In 1872, Jones decided to try his hand at

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

but was defeated by William Purman in a bid to become a

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

. In 1874, Jones won a seat on the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted ...

, winning by only five votes. After gaining

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

support, Jones made a second attempt at federal office and, this time, was successful. He began his first Senate term in 1875 and was hailed as an early success and an example of resurgence for the Democratic party in the

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

era. Although criticized for his speaking style, Jones was elected to a second term in 1881.

Permanent vacation

In the spring of 1885, Jones announced he was taking a vacation in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

. When the Detroit vacation extended into early 1886, questions started to be asked and gossip ensued. The most popular story was that Jones was pursuing - or even stalking - a wealthy younger woman named Clothilde Palms and was refusing to leave Detroit without her. By April 1886, the speculation was that Jones had become insane. Around that time, the Senate leadership started replacing him on various committees. Although that move drew vocal ire from Jones, he continued to live in Detroit. Florida newspapers were campaigning for Jones to be replaced but Florida's

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Edward A. Perry Edward Aylesworth Perry (March 15, 1831October 15, 1889) was a general under Robert E. Lee during the American Civil War and the 14th Governor of Florida. Early life He was a descendant of Arthur Perry, one of the earliest settlers of New Engl ...

refused to take any action, citing, among other things, the lack of concrete rules regarding a senator who would not work but had not been officially declared physically or mentally impaired. Instead, Jones' seat went unfilled until his term expired in March 1887.

Later life and death

After Jones' term – and salary – ended in 1887, his life quickly spiraled downward. By year's end, he had been evicted from his room in Detroit and reportedly became destitute. Doctors informed one of his sons that they would sign a certificate of insanity for legal purposes. In spring of 1888, Jones had reportedly been reduced to common

vagrancy Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...

. In May 1890, Jones' son was granted permission to have him restrained and a probate court was told that he conclusively suffered from

monomania In 19th-century psychiatry, monomania (from Greek , one, and , meaning "madness" or "frenzy") was a form of partial insanity conceived as single psychological obsession in an otherwise sound mind. Types Monomania may refer to: * De Clerambaul ...

. Shortly thereafter, Senator Jones was taken into custody and brought to an asylum for the insane in

Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 109,976. Dearborn is the seventh most-populated city in Michigan and is home to the largest Muslim population in the United States pe ...

where he stayed until his death over seven years later. Despite rampant gossip and speculation about both his mental state and Clothilde Palms, Jones himself never spoke publicly about either subject. The cause of his sudden decline remains a mystery. Clothilde Palms married a Detroit surgeon in 1889 shortly before Jones was committed. Charles W. Jones is interred in Pensacola, Florida.

References

External links