John Winston JONES, Congress, VA (1791-1848)

JONES, John Winston, a Representative from Virginia; born near Amelia Court House, Amelia County, Va., November 22, 1791; attended private schools; was graduated from the law department of the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va., in 1813; was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Chesterfield County, Va.; prosecuting attorney for the fifth Virginia circuit in 1818; member of the State constitutional convention in 1829 and 1830; elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-fourth Congress and reelected as a Democrat to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1835-March 3, 1845); chairman, Committee on Ways and Means (Twenty-sixth Congress); Speaker of the House of Representatives (Twenty-eighth Congress); declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1844; resumed the practice of law and also engaged in agricultural pursuits; member of the State house of delegates in 1846 and served as speaker; reelected in 1847 but resigned on account of ill health; died at his residence, “Dellwood,” in Chesterfield County, Virginia, January 29, 1848; interment in the family cemetery on his estate, “Dellwood,” northwest of Petersburg, Va.

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