Charles William Jones (December 24, 1834October 11, 1897) was an American attorney and politician. 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 (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

, he served as a

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

from

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

from 1875 to 1887. Jones abandoned his seat near the end of his second term, and it remained vacant for a year until a successor was elected. Jones was later diagnosed as mentally ill, and was hospitalized at a

Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Dearborn borders Detroit to the south and west, roughly west of downtown Detroit. In the 2020 United States ...

asylum for seven years before his death.

Early life

Jones was born in

Balbriggan Balbriggan (; , ) is a suburban coastal town in Fingal, in the northern part of County Dublin, Ireland. It is approximately 34 km north of the city of Dublin, for which it is a commuter town. The 2022 census population was 24,322 for Bal ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

on December 24, 1834. His father was a British army surgeon who died when Jones was a child. In 1844, Jones and his mother immigrated to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. After attending school in New York City and

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

, Jones moved to

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

and later to

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

. He settled 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 was 188,000. The county seat is Milton, which lies in the geographic center of the county. Other major communities withi ...

in 1854, where he worked as a carpenter. After his arrival in Florida, Jones studied law, attained

admission to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in 1857, and moved to

Pensacola Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only city in Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Pensacola metropolitan area, which ha ...

. In addition to practicing law, Jones was appointed

tax assessor Tax assessment, or assessment, is the job of determining the value, and sometimes determining the use, of property, usually to calculate a property tax. This is usually done by an office called the assessor or tax assessor. Governments need to ...

for Santa Rosa and Escambia Counties. He married Mary Ada Quigley of

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...

in 1861; they were the parents of eight children, four of whom lived to adulthood. Mary Quigley Jones died in 1880, and Jones did not remarry.

Political career

, Jones was a delegate to the

1872 Democratic National Convention The 1872 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention held at Ford's Grand Opera House on East Fayette Street, between North Howard and North Eutaw Streets, in Baltimore, Maryland on July 9 and 10, 1872. It resulted ...

. Later in 1872 ran for the U.S. House of Representatives and was defeated by William Purman. 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 (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the C ...

, an election that was notable because his margin of victory was only five votes. In early 1875, the state legislature elected Jones to the U.S. Senate. He was reelected in 1881 and served from March 4, 1875, to March 3, 1887. Jones represented the conservative faction Democrats, which saw his election as "overthrowing of the Carpet-Bag rule in Florida." He soon proved his party loyalty by condemning Louisiana for its continuation of Republican-led

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 ...

. During the dispute that followed the

1876 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 7, 1876. Republican Party (United States), Republican Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio very narrowly defeated Democratic Party (United Sta ...

, he objected to counting Florida's electoral votes for Republican

Rutherford B. Hayes Rutherford Birchard Hayes (; October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was the 19th president of the United States, serving from 1877 to 1881. Hayes served as Cincinnati's city solicitor from 1858 to 1861. He was a staunch Abolitionism in the Un ...

. During his senate career, Jones served as chairman of the Joint Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds (1879–1881) and the Committee on Revolutionary Claims (1883–1887). In addition, he served on the Naval Affairs and Commerce committees.

Mental decline

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

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, including a visit with former Detroit mayor William G. Thompson, a relative by marriage. When the vacation extended into early 1886, rumors suggested that Jones was pursuing a wealthy woman named Clotilde Palms, daughter of

Francis Palms Francis Palms (1809–1886) was the largest landholder in Michigan during the mid-1850s. He had major business interests as well and was nicknamed " Croesus" because of his wealth. Life and career He was born in Antwerp, First French Empire, in ...

, and that he was refusing to leave Detroit without her. By April 1886, rumors suggested that Jones had become obsessed with Palms and had become insane. When Jones failed to appear for the 1886–1887 congressional session, senate leaders removed him from his committee assignments and appointed replacements. Although this drew vocal ire from Jones, he continued to live at a Detroit hotel. Florida newspapers began campaigning for Jones to be replaced, but

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

Edward A. Perry refused to act, citing the lack of rules or precedent regarding a senator who would not work but had not been officially declared physically or mentally impaired. Instead, Jones' seat went vacant until his term expired in March 1887.

Later life and death

After Jones' term ended in 1887, his life quickly spiraled downward. Newspapers provided coverage of his decline nationally. "Senator Jones of Florida, of whom there was so much sensational newspaper talk last year, is now a mental wreck and penniless in Detroit, and dependent upon a friend for food," said one Kentucky paper in early December 1887. By year's end, he had been evicted from his hotel room and was reportedly destitute. In the spring of 1888, Jones had reportedly been reduced to common

vagrancy Vagrancy is the condition of wandering homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants usually live in poverty and support themselves by travelling while engaging in begging, waste picker, scavenging, or petty theft. In Western ...

. Palms married a Detroit surgeon in 1889. In May 1890, Jones' son was granted permission to have him restrained and a probate court determined conclusively that he had

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: * Erotomania ( ...

. Jones was then taken into custody and brought to an asylum for the insane in

where he stayed until his death. Jones died in Dearborn on October 11, 1897. He was buried at St. Michael's Cemetery in Pensacola. In 1977, his Pensacola home, the Charles William Jones House, was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

References

External links