John Coffin Jones Sr. (1749 – October 25, 1829) was a businessman who served as the

Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives This is a list of speakers of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. The Speaker (politics), Speaker of the House presides over the Massachusetts House of Representatives, House of Representatives. The Speaker is elected by the majority par ...

from 1802 to 1803.

Early life

Jones was born in 1749. He was the son of Ichabod Jones (d. 1790). John attended and graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

Career

In 1790, Jones wrote to

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

upon his return from France as the U.S. Minister regarding " whalefishery," which Jones considered it to "ever been the most important branch of business to this State, by furnishing its most valuable Staple export, creating a great consumption of the Produce of the Country; and thereby giving employment to a vast number of husbandmen and mechanics, whilst it proved a most extensive nursery of expert and hardy seamen." Jones was a businessman who became a member of the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into ...

. From 1802 to 1803, he served as the

Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hung ...

succeeding

Edward Robbins Edward Hutchinson Robbins (February 9, 1758 – 1829) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the sixth lieutenant governor of Massachusetts from 1802 to 1806. Early life Robbins was born on February 9, 1758, in Milton, Province ...

. Jones was succeeded by Harrison Gray Otis, who later served as the

Mayor of Boston The mayor of Boston is the head of the municipal government in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Boston has a mayor–council government. Boston's mayoral elections are nonpartisan (as are all municipal elections in Boston), and elect a m ...

and a

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

from Massachusetts. In 1814, Jones was elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...

.American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
americanantiquarian.org; accessed 6 September 2015.

Personal life

Jones was married three times. Among his wives were Mary Lee. Together, they were the parents of: * Thomas Jones. His second wife was Abigail C. Jones, and Jones' third wife was Elizabeth (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Champlin) (1770–1837) the sister of

from Rhode Island Christopher G. Champlin and grandson of Christopher Champlin, a merchant, ship owner and financier of

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...

. Together, they were the parents of: * Margaret Champlin Jones (1792–1848), who married Benjamin Underhill Coles in 1817. After his death, she married Hon. Benjamin Gorham in 1829. * Martha Ellery Jones (b. 1794), who married Isaac Underill Coles, the brother of her elder sister's first husband, Benjamin Underhill Coles, in 1823. * Mary Jones (1795–1837), who died unmarried. * John Coffin Jones Jr. (1796–1861), who was the first United States

Consular Agent A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

to the

Kingdom of Hawaii The Hawaiian Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian:

ɛ ɐwˈpuni həˈvɐjʔi Latin epsilon or open E (majuscule: Ɛ, minuscule: ɛ) is a letter of the extended Latin alphabet, based on the lowercase of the Greek letter epsilon (ε). It was introduced in the 16th century by Gian Giorgio Trissino to represent the pronunc ...

, was an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country from 1795 to 1893, which eventually encompassed all of the inhabited Hawaii ...

. * Christopher Champlin Jones (b. 1798) * Anna Powel Jones (b. 1803) Jones died on October 25, 1829, in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and was buried at

King's Chapel Burying Ground King's Chapel Burying Ground is a historic graveyard on Tremont Street, near its intersection with School Street, in Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1630, it is the oldest graveyard in the city and is a site on the Freedom Trail. Despite ...

in Boston.

Descendants

Through his daughter Martha, he was the grandfather of Mary Lee Coles (–1922), who married

Harry Coster Henry Arnold Coster ( – November 2, 1917) was an American clubman who was prominent in New York Society during the Gilded Age. Early life Coster was the son of Daniel Joachim Coster and Julia (née DeLancey) Coster (1806–1890), who married ...

, who were both prominent in New York society during the

Gilded Age In History of the United States, United States history, the Gilded Age is the period from about the late 1870s to the late 1890s, which occurred between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was named by 1920s historians after Mar ...

References

External links

*
John Coffin Jones papers
at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, John Coffin Sr. 1749 births 1829 deaths Harvard College alumni Speakers of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Massachusetts Federalists 19th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court