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Continental Congresses

Willie Jones (1740–1801)

With his younger brother, Allen Jones, Willie Jones was one of the leaders of the early revolutionary movement in North Carolina. Both brothers aided in the overthrow of royal rule, and then worked for the institution of a democratically-elected government that moved towards statehood. He later served in the Continental Congress (1780), and was elected as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, but he declined to serve.

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Jones was born in Northampton County, North Carolina, on 24 December 1740, the son and one of three children of Robert, also known as Robin, Jones, a planter in rural North Carolina, and his wife Sarah (née Cobb) Jones. [1] Historian Colonel Cadwalader Jones wrote, “The name Jones is Welsh, and is derived from John. The Welsh had no surname until compelled in Parliament. Then they took their father’s name for their surname. Thus Robert ap John, or Robert son of John, became Robert John or Johns, and by inserting e for euphony, became Johnes or Jones.” He added, “Robert or Robin Jones and wife, Sarah Cobb, had two sons, Allen and Willie, and one daughter, Martha. While studying law in London, Robin had become known to Lord Granville, who owned large possessions in the colonies. He now sent his sons, Allen and Willie, to Eton College to be educated, and they were put under the charge of Lord Granville. These two brothers became planters, owning large estates on the Roanoke [River].” [2]

After completing his education at Eton, Willie Jones returned to North Carolina, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits, namely using his estate, known as “The Castle,” as a center for planting several crops. However, he tore this home down and built another near the town of Halifax. Historian Blackwell Pierce Robinson wrote:

Situated in an immense park of native white oaks, and surrounded by a beautiful grove of shrubbery, crepe myrtles, and mock oranges, this house is worthy of special note as one of the outstanding homes in colonial North Carolina. Built in accordance with the demands of the times in regard to hospitality and lavish entertainment, it was very large and substantial, and its construction was elaborate and ornate. Of particular interest was a large bay window—said to have been the first built in North Carolina—which formed a semi-circle with one wide center window and two small ones on each side . . . This house soon became the council hall of many important meetings and the focal point for the belles and young blades of the section—both groups of which sought Halifax as the political and social mecca of northeastern North Carolina. There are, indeed, many contemporary accounts which elaborate on the town of Halifax and its importance. A brief glance at a few of them may throw some light upon Willie Jones’s environment and thereby be of assistance in understanding his life. [3]

Although most sources on Jones’ life mark 1774 as the year that he was involved in the North Carolina political scene, we find that he was in fact elected to the General Assembly in 1770 and served into 1771. In that assembly of 1770 and 1771, historian Jo. Seawell Jones explained, “Cornelius Harnett, ‘the Samuel Adams of North Carolina,’ represented the town of Wilmington, Samuel Johnston the county of Chowan, Willie Jones the town of Halifax, Joseph Hewes the town of Edenton, Abner Nash the county of Halifax, and John Harvey the county of Perquimons.” [4]

In 1774, and again in 1776, Jones was one of the leaders in establishing the North Carolina Provincial Congress. Historian Jo. Seawell Jones added, “There were five characters of that day, whose extraordinary services in the cause of the first Provincial Congress deserve to be particularly noticed. John Harvey, William Hooper, Willie Jones, Samuel Johnston, and James Iredell, were the principal pioneers in that great and perilous undertaking. If I may judge from their letters, they were, as early as the 1st of April, 1774, contemplating the organization of a Provincial Congress or Assembly, directly from the people, and independent of the authority of the governor. The proposition to organize a Continental by the immediate agency of a Provincial Congress, was first made to our committee of correspondence by the committee of Massachusetts, about the 1st of June . . . ” [5]

In 1776, Jones served as the president of the North Carolina Committee of Safety, and, upon the declaration of statehood, he stepped in and served as the governor ex officio of the new state, until elections could be held. He served as a delegate to the first North Carolina constitutional convention, and, with elections to a state House of Commons mandated under that new constitution, he was elected and served from 1776 to 1778. [6]

On 30 April 1780, the state House of Commons elected Jones to serve as a delegate to the Continental Congress, where his brother was already serving. He only attended sessions of 22 June to 13 December 1780 [7]; the sole piece of printed correspondence from this period is in a letter to Governor Abner Nash of North Carolina, dated 1 October 1780, in which he wrote:

Mr. [Whitmell] Hill and myself flattered ourselves that we should have received, ere this, an account of the proceedings of our late Assembly, and their Sentiments, as well as your private Opinion, respecting the Conduct of Genl. Gates. From the Circumstances of his Conduct, particularly his rapid Retreat, and the Length of it, and some Hints in one of his Letters, and Strictures in others, it appears to us that Genl. Gates can no longer continue in that Command with Satisfaction to himself, or with a prospect of rendering essential Service to the United States. We hope your next favour [sic] will throw some Light on this Subject . . . Congress has recommended to the several States to make provision for the support of their Delegates, so that they may not draw out of the Continental Treasury. The Reasons are the exhausted state of the Treasury, and the obvious Impropriety of allowing Delegates to draw at Will. You will be pleased to mention this Circumstance to our Assembly, at their next meeting, that some provision may be made; otherwise their Delegation may possibly be defeated[?], or at least involved in distressing and shameful Circumstances. [8]

Seven years later, in 1787, a newspaper reported on Willie Jones, “His Excellency Richard Caswell, and the Honourable Alexander Martin, Willie Jones, Richard Dobbs Spaight, and William Richardson Davie, Esquires, have been lately appointed Deputies from the state of North-Carolina, to the Convention to be held at Philadelphia, on the first Day of May next.” [9] The following year, Jones was elected as a member of the state constitutional convention, called to ratify the US Constitution signed in Philadelphia the previous summer. After this last service, Jones retired to his home near Raleigh.

Willie Jones died at his summer home near Raleigh, North Carolina, on 18 June 1801 at the age of 60. The National Intelligencer said, “It may be held unnecessary to speak of a life and character so generally known and respected as Mr. Jones’s. With regard to in, who will long continue to live in the hearts and affections of his country, it is undoubtedly unnecessary, and of no moment to do Sons of Liberty but with respect to those who survive him, it may have its use; inasmuch as it may lead to an imitation of those virtues, and of that conduct, which so deservedly raised the established him in the estimation of all.” [10] A Deist, Jones was buried without a marked grave, believed to be on the site of what is St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh.

See also: Allen Jones

[1] [1] Jones family tree, online at http://www.geni.com/people/Colonial-Gov-Willie-Jones/6000000001793120109.

[2] [2] Jones, Colonel Cadwallader, “A Genealogical History” (Columbia, SC: Ye Bryan Printing Company, 1900), 1-2, 5.

[3] [3] Robinson, Blackwell Pierce, “Willie Jones of Halifax,” The North Carolina Historical Review, XVIII:1 (January 1941), 3-4.

[4] [4] Jones, Jo. Seawell, “A Defence of the Revolutionary History of the State of North Carolina, From the Aspersions of Mr. Jefferson” (Boston: Published by Charles Bowen, 1834), 70.

[5] [5] Ibid., 123-24.

[6] [6] Willie Jones official congressional biography, online at http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=J000262.

[7] [7] Edmund Cody Burnett, ed., “Letters of Members of the Continental Congress” (Washington, DC: Published by the Carnegie Institution of Washington; eight volumes, 1921-36), V:lxi.

[8] [8] Willie Jones to Abner Nash, 1 October 1780, in ibid., V:394.

[9] [9] The Maryland Journal, 9 February 1787, 2. See also The Newport Mercury [Rhode Island], 5 March 1787, 3.

[10] [10] The National Intelligencer and Washington Advertiser [Washington, DC], 3 July 1801, 2.

Citation Types

MLA 9th
"Willie Jones (1740–1801)." Continental Congresses, edited by Mark Grossman, Salem Press, 2016. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Cong_0232.
APA 7th
Willie Jones (1740–1801). Continental Congresses, In M. Grossman (Ed.), Salem Press, 2016. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Cong_0232.
CMOS 17th
"Willie Jones (1740–1801)." Continental Congresses, Edited by Mark Grossman. Salem Press, 2016. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Cong_0232.