Family Group Sheet
NameJesse Ruble Jones, 2C5R
Birth9 Oct 1787, Franklin Co., Virginia
Death23 Mar 1880, New Orleans, Jefferson Co., Louisiana
FatherDavid Jones (1761-1838)
MotherJane Ruble (1763-1838)
Notes for Jesse Ruble Jones
From the St. Tammany Farmer of 27 March 1880:
JUDGE J. R. JONES
On Tuesday, March 23d, Judge Jesse R. Jones passed peacefully away at his residence in New Orleans, and with him disappears one of the old—in fact the oldest landmark of our town and parish.
The deceased was born in Virginia, October 9, 1787, and removed to this town in 1810, since which time he has always claimed it as his residence, and although for many years back he has passed his winters in New Orleans, he never failed to return to us in the summer.
He accumulated a large fortune in the practice of law, and has always been a prominent and highly respected citizen.
In 1815, when our State needed brave defenders, he served as a volunteer in the battle of New Orleans. He was foreman of the first Grand Jury impaneled in this parish; our first Parish Judge, and was Judge of the District Court for more than twenty years. He also represented the parish in several Legislatures and State Conventions, and it is a remarkable fact, that although he never made a canvass of the parish, not solicited a single vote, he was always elected by large majorities.
Judge Jones was always known as a man of very even temper, great kindness of heart, and clear, penetrating judgment. Up to the last moment, his mind was as clear as at his prime, when he was regarded as one of the best Jurists in our State.
For nearly a century he has served us, as a soldier, an official and a citizen, and never, in any position, has he been found wanting. Although his character has been exposed to the glare of public life for more than an ordinary lifetime, and he has occupied many positions of trust and temptation, he escaped even the venomed shafts of envy and malice. No one knew him save to respect him.
Ripe in years, and with the recollections of a well-spent life—honored and esteemed by all who knew him—calmly and peacefully our old citizen and friend has “drifted out into that unknown sea that surrounds this world.”
====================
From a book “Sesquicentennial in St. Tammany: The early years of Covington, Madisonville, Mandeville & Abita Springs, Louisiana” by Adrian D. Schwartz, 1963, p.23:
JESSE R. JONES
Others here and elsewhere in the State have also passed the fourscore and ten mark, but there are few whose names have appeared more frequently and with such regular prominence on the records of the home town in particular and the State at large than does that of Jesse R. Jones, merchant, manufacturer, planter, jurist and statesman. All these roles were played successfully by him during the three quarters of the nineteenth century he lived in the sequestered village of Covington. Whether at his counter, in the saddle, on the bench, or during intermittent terms as legislator and constitution-writer, Judge Jones' career presents a picture of valiant and undefeated leadership in St. Tammany Parish.
He was born October 9, 1787, at Charlottesville, Virginia, from where he moved into Kentucky and Missouri, and from there by the familiar flatboat route reached New Orleans in 1807. He discovered at once where opportunities lay in the forested hills of St. Tammany. After locating in Madisonville he married Lemandee Kirkland, daughter of Obed Kirkland, a well-to-do merchant, also an early settler here. She died in 1822. Later he married Rebecca Ragan.
Where an exclusive suburb now faces the Bogue Falaya River was once the site of the Jones Brickyard, an industry which he started immediately after his arrival. The clay reached his plant on wooden rails mounted with mule-drawn cars, which was regarded as an industrial innovation of the day.
As time moved on he enlarged on his St. Tammany investments by acquiring considerable property in New Orleans, including at one time the entire end of the Old Basin Canal, which he used for landing facilities for his brick and lumber fleet. There is a hiatus in his records from December 6, 1814 to February 24, 1815. That was the time he was occupied as a volunteer under Jackson at New Orleans. During the Civil War his winter residence on Carondelet Street was sacked by Butler's troops. His public career began as foreman of the first grand jury to be impanelled in St. Tammany Parish in 1813. He was elected State Representative first in 1816 and remained continuously in office either in the Legislature or on the bench throughout the active period of his life. Twenty years of that period was put in as District Judge and he was an outstanding member in the Constitutional Convention of 1852.
On March 22, 1883, a new springtime had arrived for this patriarchal gentleman, as he sat quietly observing the proceedings of the last session of the Legislature to be held in New Orleans, but the following day a motion for eternal adjournment was rapped from an unseen gavel, as Jesse R. Jones was nearing ninety-three. He is buried in Metairie Cemetery. It has been repeatedly said he bore the distinction among his constituents of having never solicited a vote for office.
JUDGE J. R. JONES
On Tuesday, March 23d, Judge Jesse R. Jones passed peacefully away at his residence in New Orleans, and with him disappears one of the old—in fact the oldest landmark of our town and parish.
The deceased was born in Virginia, October 9, 1787, and removed to this town in 1810, since which time he has always claimed it as his residence, and although for many years back he has passed his winters in New Orleans, he never failed to return to us in the summer.
He accumulated a large fortune in the practice of law, and has always been a prominent and highly respected citizen.
In 1815, when our State needed brave defenders, he served as a volunteer in the battle of New Orleans. He was foreman of the first Grand Jury impaneled in this parish; our first Parish Judge, and was Judge of the District Court for more than twenty years. He also represented the parish in several Legislatures and State Conventions, and it is a remarkable fact, that although he never made a canvass of the parish, not solicited a single vote, he was always elected by large majorities.
Judge Jones was always known as a man of very even temper, great kindness of heart, and clear, penetrating judgment. Up to the last moment, his mind was as clear as at his prime, when he was regarded as one of the best Jurists in our State.
For nearly a century he has served us, as a soldier, an official and a citizen, and never, in any position, has he been found wanting. Although his character has been exposed to the glare of public life for more than an ordinary lifetime, and he has occupied many positions of trust and temptation, he escaped even the venomed shafts of envy and malice. No one knew him save to respect him.
Ripe in years, and with the recollections of a well-spent life—honored and esteemed by all who knew him—calmly and peacefully our old citizen and friend has “drifted out into that unknown sea that surrounds this world.”
====================
From a book “Sesquicentennial in St. Tammany: The early years of Covington, Madisonville, Mandeville & Abita Springs, Louisiana” by Adrian D. Schwartz, 1963, p.23:
JESSE R. JONES
Others here and elsewhere in the State have also passed the fourscore and ten mark, but there are few whose names have appeared more frequently and with such regular prominence on the records of the home town in particular and the State at large than does that of Jesse R. Jones, merchant, manufacturer, planter, jurist and statesman. All these roles were played successfully by him during the three quarters of the nineteenth century he lived in the sequestered village of Covington. Whether at his counter, in the saddle, on the bench, or during intermittent terms as legislator and constitution-writer, Judge Jones' career presents a picture of valiant and undefeated leadership in St. Tammany Parish.
He was born October 9, 1787, at Charlottesville, Virginia, from where he moved into Kentucky and Missouri, and from there by the familiar flatboat route reached New Orleans in 1807. He discovered at once where opportunities lay in the forested hills of St. Tammany. After locating in Madisonville he married Lemandee Kirkland, daughter of Obed Kirkland, a well-to-do merchant, also an early settler here. She died in 1822. Later he married Rebecca Ragan.
Where an exclusive suburb now faces the Bogue Falaya River was once the site of the Jones Brickyard, an industry which he started immediately after his arrival. The clay reached his plant on wooden rails mounted with mule-drawn cars, which was regarded as an industrial innovation of the day.
As time moved on he enlarged on his St. Tammany investments by acquiring considerable property in New Orleans, including at one time the entire end of the Old Basin Canal, which he used for landing facilities for his brick and lumber fleet. There is a hiatus in his records from December 6, 1814 to February 24, 1815. That was the time he was occupied as a volunteer under Jackson at New Orleans. During the Civil War his winter residence on Carondelet Street was sacked by Butler's troops. His public career began as foreman of the first grand jury to be impanelled in St. Tammany Parish in 1813. He was elected State Representative first in 1816 and remained continuously in office either in the Legislature or on the bench throughout the active period of his life. Twenty years of that period was put in as District Judge and he was an outstanding member in the Constitutional Convention of 1852.
On March 22, 1883, a new springtime had arrived for this patriarchal gentleman, as he sat quietly observing the proceedings of the last session of the Legislature to be held in New Orleans, but the following day a motion for eternal adjournment was rapped from an unseen gavel, as Jesse R. Jones was nearing ninety-three. He is buried in Metairie Cemetery. It has been repeatedly said he bore the distinction among his constituents of having never solicited a vote for office.
