Dan P. Jones was an American politician from Arizona. He served a single term in the

Arizona State Senate The Arizona State Senate is part of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the US state of Arizona. The Senate consists of 30 members each representing an average of 219,859 constituents (2009 figure ...

during the

8th Arizona State Legislature The 8th Arizona State Legislature, consisting of the Arizona State Senate and the Arizona House of Representatives, was constituted from January 1, 1927, to December 31, 1928, during the first and second years of George W. P. Hunt's sixth ten ...

, holding one of the two seats from

Maricopa County Maricopa County () is a county in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census the population was 4,420,568, or about 62% of the state's total, making it the fourth-most populous county in the United States and ...

. Prior to that he had served three terms in the

Arizona House of Representatives The Arizona House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. The upper house is the Arizona Senate, Senate. The House convenes in the le ...

, during the

1st First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

5th Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth Avenue * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a cont ...

, and

6th Arizona State Legislature The 6th Arizona State Legislature, consisting of the Arizona State Senate and the Arizona House of Representatives, was constituted from January 1, 1923, to December 31, 1924, during the last two years of George W. P. Hunt's fourth tenure as G ...

s. During the 6th Legislature, he was elected Speaker of the House. He was also very involved in the education system in Mesa, serving as its board president, as well as in the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian restorationist Christian denomination and the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. Founded durin ...

(LDS Church).

Biography

Jones was born on April 1, 1856, in

Fairview, Utah Fairview is a city in northern Sanpete County, Utah, United States. The population was 1,203 at the 2020 census. History Located at the confluence of the San Pitch River and Cottonwood Creek, Fairview is the largest city in the northeast en ...

, son of Daniel W. and Harriet Colton Jones. The family moved to Arizona from Utah, settling in Lehi in 1877. While there, he served as bishop to the Indian mission there. Jones was among the first

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

settlers who came to Arizona in 1877 and helped create

Mesa, Arizona Mesa ( ) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. The population was 504,258 at the 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Arizona, third-most populous city in Arizona, after Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, T ...

. In 1878, after his arrival in Mesa, he married Mary E. Merrill, and the couple had twelve children. He remained active in the LDS Church, and served on the board of governors of the Maricopa Stake for 44 years, until 1926. He was a farmer by vocation, and served as chairman of the Salt River Valley Water Users' Association, part of the

Salt River Project The Salt River Project (SRP) encompasses two separate entities: the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District, an agency of the state of Arizona that serves as an electrical utility for the Phoenix metropolitan area, and the ...

, for seventeen years. In 1901 he was elected justice of the peace in Lehi, and continued in that capacity until 1926. In 1911, he was elected as one of six representatives to the

for the 1st Arizona State Legislature. In July 1914 he resigned from the House, due to his obtaining a position as the assistant superintendent of irrigation in the state's reclamation department. He was also active in education in Mesa, at one point serving as the president of its board of education. In 1920, he ran again for the State House of Representatives. He won the Democrat primary by a slim margin, and was unopposed in November's general election. He ran for re-election in 1922, again with a close race in the Democrat primary. He then easily beat his Republican opponent, Robert Bowen, in the general election in November. During the 6th Legislature, he was elected Speaker of the House. In 1924 he did not run for the House again, instead attempting to become a State Senator. He was one of seven candidates in the Democrat primary, running for two slots. He was not in the top two. He attempted to run for the State Senate again in 1926, and this time was elected. He did not run for re-election again in 1928, instead serving as chaplain in the Senate in the 9th Arizona State Legislature, a role he continued during the next two legislatures. In April 1935 he suffered a massive heart attack which left him partially paralyzed and confined to bed. He died due to complications of the heart attack on July 6, 1935, at his home in Mesa. After his death, his body lay in state in the

Arizona State Capitol The Arizona Territorial - Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, was the last home for Arizona's territorial government until Arizona became a state in 1912. Initially, all three branches of the new state government occupied ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Dan P. Democratic Party Arizona state senators Arizona pioneers Latter Day Saint leaders 1856 births 1935 deaths People from Sanpete County, Utah People from Mesa, Arizona 20th-century members of the Arizona State Legislature