Owen Jones (December 29, 1819 – December 25, 1878) was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Democratic member of the

U.S. House of Representatives 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 ...

for

Pennsylvania's 5th congressional district Pennsylvania's fifth congressional district encompasses all of Delaware County, an exclave of Chester County, a small portion of southern Montgomery County and a section of southern Philadelphia. Democrat Mary Gay Scanlon represents the distri ...

for one term from 1857 to 1859. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

he raised a troop of cavalry that would become Company B of the 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment and served as colonel.

Early life and education

Owen Jones was born on December 29, 1819, near

Ardmore, Pennsylvania Ardmore is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) spanning the border between Delaware and Montgomery counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The population was 12,455 at the 2010 census and had risen to 13,566 in the ...

, to Jonathan and Mary (nee McClenaghan) Jones. He attended the public schools and graduated from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. He studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

in Philadelphia under William M. Meredith. He was admitted to the bar of

Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Montgomery County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the List of counties in Pennsylvania, third-most populous county in Pennsylvania and the List of the most populous cou ...

, in 1842, and commenced practice in Ardmore. He also was active in agriculture and raised animals and worked on the improvement of farming techniques. In 1845, he purchased a former estate in West Philadelphia and realized a huge gain in value. He served as a county commissioner.

Political career

Jones was elected 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 ...

to the Thirty-fifth Congress. While in Congress, he served as chairman of the

United States House Committee on Expenditures in the Department of State The Committee on Oversight and Reform is the main investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee's broad jurisdiction and legislative authority make it one of the most influential and powerful panels in the ...

. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in

1858 Events January–March * January – ** Benito Juárez (1806–1872) becomes Liberal President of Mexico. At the same time, conservatives install Félix María Zuloaga (1813–1898) as president. ** William I of Prussia becomes regen ...

. He served as a delegate from Pennsylvania for the

1860 Democratic National Conventions The 1860 Democratic National Conventions were a series of presidential nominating conventions held to nominate the Democratic Party's candidates for president and vice president in the 1860 election. The first convention, held from April 23 to ...

Military career

During the

, Jones raised a company of cavalry known as the Lower Merion Troop that would become Company B of the 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment. Jones fought at Dranesville, Battle of Cross Keys,

Battle of Cedar Mountain The Battle of Cedar Mountain, also known as Slaughter's Mountain or Cedar Run, took place on August 9, 1862, in Culpeper County, Virginia, as part of the American Civil War. Union forces under Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks attacked Confederate ...

, Second Battle of Bull Run and at Fredericksburg. Jones also took part in the failed offensive attempt to capture Richmond, Virginia known as the Mud March. This was the last engagement that Jones took part in during the Civil War. Jones entered service as a captain, was promoted to major on August 5, 1861, to lieutenant colonel on January 3, 1862, and to colonel on May 5, 1862. He resigned his commission in October 1863 and returned home to practice law near Ardmore.

Personal life and death

Jones married Mary Roberts and together they had two children. Jones lived in a mansion built in 1803 that he named Wynne Wood in honor of the link between the Wynne and Jones families. The mansion burned down in 1858 and was rebuilt. The name Wynnewood is used for the surrounding community of

Wynnewood, Pennsylvania Wynnewood is a suburban unincorporated community, located west of Philadelphia, straddling Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and Haverford Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The community was named in 1691 for Dr. ...

and Wynnewood railroad station. The former estate is now part of the

Merion Cricket Club Merion Cricket Club is a private club in Haverford, Pennsylvania, founded in 1865. The current clubhouse is its sixth, the last four having been designed by Philadelphia architect Frank Furness and his partner, Allen Evans, who was also a founder ...

. He died on December 25, 1879. He was found dead while walking to his neighbor's house for a social engagement. The reported cause of death was

apoplexy Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...

. He was interred in

Laurel Hill Cemetery Laurel Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia. Founded in 1836, it was the second major rural cemetery in the United States after Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts. The cemetery is ...

in Philadelphia.

Citations

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Owen 1819 births 1878 deaths 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century American legislators American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law American people of Welsh descent Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia) Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania Farmers from Pennsylvania Montgomery County Commissioners (Pennsylvania) Pennsylvania lawyers People from Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania People of Pennsylvania in the American Civil War Union Army colonels University of Pennsylvania alumni