Noble Wimberly Jones (c. 1723 – January 9, 1805) was an American physician and statesman from

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

. A leading

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

patriot A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism. Patriot may also refer to: Political and military groups United States * Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American Revolution * Patriot m ...

in the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, he served as a delegate to the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...

in 1781 and 1782.

Early years

Born in

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

, England, he immigrated to North America with his parents, who settled in Savannah in 1733, the first group of white settlers of the

Province of Georgia A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outs ...

. He was often known by his full name to distinguish him from his father,

Noble Jones Noble Jones (1702 – November 2, 1775), an English-born carpenter, was one of the first settlers of the Province of Georgia and one of its leading officials. He was born in Herefordshire. As part of Gen. James Edward Oglethorpe's 42nd (old) Regim ...

, who became one of the leading officials of the

. As a youth, Jones served in the

Georgia Militia The Georgia Militia existed from 1733 to 1879. It was originally planned by General James Oglethorpe prior to the founding of the Province of Georgia, the British colony that would become the U.S. state of Georgia. One reason for the founding of th ...

under

James Oglethorpe James Edward Oglethorpe (22 December 1696 – 30 June 1785) was a British soldier, Member of Parliament, and philanthropist, as well as the founder of the colony of Georgia in what was then British America. As a social reformer, he hoped to re ...

, helping to protect the province from Native Americans and the

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. Jones accumulated thousands of acres of land, including his estate at

Wormsloe The Wormsloe Historic Site, informally known as Wormsloe Plantation, is a state historic site near Savannah, Georgia, in the southeastern United States. The site consists of protecting part of what was once the Wormsloe Plantation, a large estate ...

, in the young colony. His ownership of rice plantations located along the

Ogeechee River The Ogeechee River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 26, 2011 blackwater river in the U.S. state of Georgia. It heads at the confluence of its North and South ...

which were cultivated by

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

contributed considerably to his income.

Profession

Like his father, Jones became a physician, although neither apparently had any formal schooling in the field. He married Sarah Davis in 1755, with whom he would have fourteen children, including son

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song "He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...

, who would become 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 Georgia. Jones practiced medicine in Savannah from 1756 to 1774.

Pre-revolutionary political career

In 1755 Jones was elected to the province's lower legislative body, the

Commons House of Assembly The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons c ...

, serving until 1775, when the

terminated the Assembly's existence. After the 1765 Stamp Act, Jones was an outspoken critic of British policy. First elected Speaker of the House in 1768, he secured the services of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

as Georgia's agent in London. Royal Governor James Wright saw Jones as a threat to royal authority, and dissolved the Assembly. In the years that followed, Jones was repeatedly elected Speaker, and each time Wright would respond by dissolving the Assembly.

American Revolution

Following the passage of the

Intolerable Acts The Intolerable Acts were a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws aimed to punish Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest of the Tea Act, a tax measure ...

by the

British Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...

, in 1775 Jones helped form Georgia's

Provincial Congress The Provincial Congresses were extra-legal legislative bodies established in ten of the Thirteen Colonies early in the American Revolution. Some were referred to as congresses while others used different terms for a similar type body. These bodies ...

. He was twice elected as a delegate to the

Second Continental Congress The Second Continental Congress was a late-18th-century meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that united in support of the American Revolutionary War. The Congress was creating a new country it first named "United Colonies" and in 1 ...

in 1775, but he did not attend due to the political turmoil in Georgia and the illness of his father, who died that year. He was a member of the

Council of Safety In the American Revolution, committees of correspondence, committees of inspection (also known as committees of observation), and committees of safety were different local committees of Patriots that became a shadow government; they took control ...

by the end of 1775. When news reached Georgia of the

Battles of Lexington and Concord The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord ...

, Jones and several others raided the colony's

gunpowder magazine A gunpowder magazine is a magazine (building) designed to store the explosive gunpowder in wooden barrels for safety. Gunpowder, until superseded, was a universal explosive used in the military and for civil engineering: both applications requ ...

. According to tradition, some of this powder was sent to New England and was used by Patriots at the

Battle of Bunker Hill The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the first stage of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts, which was peripherally involved in ...

Post-revolutionary political career

When Governor Wright was forced out of Georgia in 1776, Jones and other revolutionaries assumed control of the colony. He helped write Georgia's 1777 state constitution and was elected Speaker of the new House of Assembly. The British recaptured Savannah in 1778, however, and Jones fled to

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

. There he practiced medicine until, in 1780, the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

also captured Charleston. He was held as a prisoner in St. Augustine, Florida, until he was exchanged in 1781. His first available transportation took him to

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, where he was appointed as a delegate to Congress. In 1782 when the British occupation ended Jones returned to Savannah. He continued to practice medicine, and in 1783 was again elected as Speaker of the Georgia House. He was president of the state constitutional convention in 1795.

Death

Noble Wimberly Jones died in Savannah in 1805 and was interred in

Bonaventure Cemetery Bonaventure Cemetery is a rural cemetery located on a scenic bluff of the Wilmington River, east of Savannah, Georgia. The cemetery became famous when it was featured in the 1994 novel ''Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil'' by John Berendt, ...

Memorial

A memorial to Jones stands in Savannah's Emmet Park.Savannah Irish and Robert Emmet Park
-

Georgia Historical Society The Georgia Historical Society (GHS) is a statewide historical society in Georgia. Headquartered in Savannah, Georgia, GHS is one of the oldest historical organizations in the United States. Since 1839, the society has collected, examined, and ta ...

References

External links

*Bailey, Raymond C. "Jones, Noble Wimberly". ''

American National Biography Online The ''American National Biography'' (ANB) is a 24-volume biographical encyclopedia set that contains about 17,400 entries and 20 million words, first published in 1999 by Oxford University Press under the auspices of the American Council of Lea ...

'', 2000. *Bragg, William Harris
"Noble W. Jones".
''The New Georgia Encyclopedia'', 2002.
Noble Wimberly Jones letters and obituaryGrave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Noble 1723 births 1805 deaths Continental Congressmen from Georgia (U.S. state) 18th-century American politicians American people of Welsh descent British emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies Politicians from Savannah, Georgia People of Georgia (U.S. state) in the American Revolution American people of English descent American slave owners American Revolutionary War prisoners of war held by Great Britain Members of the Georgia House of Representatives People of Georgia (British colony) People from the London Borough of Lambeth 18th-century American physicians Burials in Georgia (U.S. state) Speakers of the Georgia House of Representatives