James Taylor JONES, Congress, AL (1832-1895)

JONES, James Taylor, a Representative from Alabama; born in Richmond, Va., July 20, 1832; moved with his father to Marengo County, Ala., in 1834; pursued classical studies; was graduated from Princeton College in 1852 and from the law school of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1855; was admitted to the bar in 1856 and commenced practice in Demopolis, Ala.; during the Civil War enlisted in the Confederate Army as a private in the Fourth Alabama Regiment; elected captain of Company D in this regiment in 1862; appointed judge advocate in the Confederate War Department in 1864 and served until the close of the war; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1865; member of the State senate in 1872 and 1873; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1874 to the Forty-fourth Congress; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1877-March 3, 1879); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1878 to the Forty-sixth Congress; elected to the Forty-eighth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Thomas H. Herndon; reelected to the Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Congresses and served from December 3, 1883, to March 3, 1889; was not a candidate for renomination in 1888; resumed the practice of law in Demopolis, Ala.; circuit judge of the first judicial circuit of Alabama from 1890 until his death in Demopolis, Marengo County, Ala., February 15, 1895; interment in Lyon Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present