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JOHN RICE JONES.
RICE JONES.

.« t . • 'l V • ' •

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.. . .■ .( •«. t

.Qr.:.,..B.: B '.. . '^^^'noy^ ,..

FERGUS- HISTORICAL SERIES, No. 3 2.

JOHN RICE JONES:

A HRIFF SKETCH OF THE
I. IFF. AND PUHLIC CARKER (JF THE FIRST PRAC .SING LAWYER

IN ILLINOIS.

RICE JONES:

A BRIEF MEMOIR OF

THE LAST REPRESENTATIVE OF RANDOLPH COUNTY IN I HE

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF INDIANA TERRITORY,

AND THE

VICTI.M OF AN HLSTORICAL TRAGEDY OF EARLY ILLINOIS.

W. A. HURT JONES.

REI'RI.NIKI) KRO.M

Vol.. IV., Chicago Historical Socikty'.s Coii.kci'io.ns :
•• Karlv Chicaco A.M) Im.i.nois."

CHICAGO:

FER(;US PKINTIiVG ^(JMPANY.

18S9.

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ULISYS

I* I III! II iiai I

. - 1

U.I8YS

MIMaWMI

JOHN RICE JONES.

A HRIKK SKF.TCH OK THK I.IKE AM) I'UIM.IC CARKKk
FIRST I'RACTISINd LAWYKR IN IM.INOIS.

-K IHK

By W. A. Burt Jones of St. Paul, Minnesota.

* * "A friend to truth, of soul sinixTc,
In action faithful, and in honor clear."

JOHN RICE JONES was born in Malhvyd, .i beautiful
village on the "murmuring Dyfi," in that wildest and
most picturesque of all Welsh counties, M kionothshir .
February ii, 1759. He was one of fourteen children and
the eldest son of John Jones, Esq., a gentleman wi good
circuit 'Stances and of highly respectable social standing,
belonging as he did to an ancient and honorable family
celebrated in the history and poetry of his native country,
''fair Wales, the land of song."

John Rice Jones received a collegiate education at Ox-
ford, England, and afterward took a regular course in both
medicine and law. He then established himself in the
practice of the latter in London, where, in 1753, in St.
George's Church, Hanover Square, his parents had been
married, and where a number of relatives and friends
resided. In a deed dated in 1783, and conveying to him
certain property in Brecon, Wales, he, then a resident of
the British metropolis, is described as "John Rice Jones of
T lanet Place, in the Strand, in the Parish of St. Clement
Danes, in the County of Middlesex, gentleman," which
locates him pretty closely in the great city a hundred
years ago.

He came to America in February, 1784, and located in
Philadelphia, where he engaged in the practice of his pro-

7 99

lOO

EARLY ILLINOIS.

fession, and made the friendly acquaintance of Dr. Benja-
min Rush, Benjamin Franklin, Myers Fisher, the eminent
lawyer, and other distinguished men, to some of whom he
had letters of introduction. He remained here some two
years, when, having long heard of the wonderful Far West,
and evidently having strong confidence in the greatness
and importance it would assume in the early future, he
there decided to cast his lines, and accordingly set out on
the long and tedious journey of over eight hundred miles
to Louisville, Ky., his objective point, and then the most
important American settlement west of the Alleghany
Mountains, the trip to which was fraught with many perils
and discomforts, yet which, we are told, was in many ways
extremely interesting and enjoyable in a pleasant season
of the year.

It is not known whether he came with his family from
Philadelphia to Fort Pitt — now the city of Pittsburg, in
the centre of a vasfrly-extended civilization, but then an
isolated and lonely military post on the remote frontier —
and thence down the Ohio River by boat, or came entirely
overland by the only other route to the West, which
crossed the Blue- Ridge Mountains above the head-waters
of the Potomac, then led down between that range and
the Alleghanies to old Fort Chissel, and thence via the
Great Wilderness road, which admitted of only horseback
and foot travel, through Kentucky by way of Cumberland
Gap. He reached his destination in safety, however, as,
after his departure from Philadelphia, we next meet him at
the Falls of the Ohio, or Louisville, where, in Sept., 1786,.
he joined the army of one thousand men raised and com-
manded by Gen. George Rogers Clark, under the authority
of Virginia, for the suppression of the hostile Wabash
tribes of Indians. Gen. Clark proceeded into their coun-
try some distance above Vincennes, when it was deemed
iiiexpedient — owing to the partial loss of supplies, shipped

9 1^ I

JOHN RICK JONKS.

lOI

. Benja-
eminent
'horn he
)me two
ir West,
reatness
ture, he
t out on
ed miles
he most
ileghany
ly perils
ny ways
t season

lily from
iburg, in
then an
ontier —
entirely
which
d-waters
nge and

via the
Drseback
[iberland
rever, as,
t him at
)t., 1786,.
nd com-
uthority

Wabash
tir coun-

deemed.

shipped

after them via the Ohio, and to the discontent and deser-
tion of some of the troops — to proceed further, and the
little army, abandoning the expedition, fell back to V^in-
cennes. Owing to the exposed condition of that post at
the time, it was considered advisable to establish there a
military garrison, and the project was determined upon
and carried into execution at once by a council composed
of the field-officers of the Wabash expedition, the garri-
son, it was decided, to consist of three hundred men— two
hundred and fifty infantry, and a company of artillery
under Capt. Valentine T. Dalton. Gen. Clark assumed
the supreme direction of the corps, and levied recruits,
appointed officers, and impressed provisions for their sup-
port.* Of this garrison, John Rice Jones was appointed
commissary-general, in place of John Craig, Jr., who was
first appointed but did not act.f

At this time, negotiations were pending between the
United States and the court at Madrid relative to the con-
cession by Spain of the right to the navigation of the
Mississippi River by the Americans. This privilege had
always been vigorously denied the United States by the
Spanish government, and had become not only a bone of
diplomatic contention between the two countries, but a
fruitful cause of ill-feeling between the citizens of the one
and the subjects of the other living and intermingling on
the borders of the western possessions of the nations con-
cerned. The Spaniards there had repeatedly confi.scated
property of and committed other outrages upon Ameri-
cans, and when an unfounded but readily-credited rumor
came that congress had conceded everything to Spain, and
that in consequence the citizens of the Far West would
thenceforth have to champion their cherished cause alone
and take care of themselves and their interests generally,

* Dillon's "History of Indiana."

+ Dunn's "Indiana: A Redemption from Slavery."

^mm

102

P:ARLY ILLINOIS.

intense excitement and resentment followed and prompted
measures of summary retaliation for the depredations com-
mitted upon them in the past.

A systematic and vigorous course was adopted at Vin-
cennes by Gen. Clark, under whose direction the garrison
troops seized upon all Spanish property at the post and
the Illinois, very considerable and valuable altogether, and
turned it over to John Rice Jones, who as commissary-
general, by regular appointment of Gen. Clark, retained
a proper portion of the contraband property for garrison
uses, and disposed of the remainder at auction* for the
partial indemnification of citizens whose possessions had
been as unceremoniously appropriated by Spanish pil-
lagers. John Rice Jones was at this time only twenty-
seven years of age, and his abilities and character must
have been very marked to have secured for him in a brief
period his considerable local prominence and, above all,
the confidence and esteem, which he undoubtedly possessed,
of such a man as Gen. Clark, "the Washington of the
West, whose genius, abilities, and bravery, that elevated
him above his fellow-men," rendered his friendship an
honor to any man upon whom it was bestowed.

John Rice Jones seems to have become thoroughly im~
bued with the martial spirit of the period and country in
which he lived. First we find him as a member of Gen.
Clark's army, recruited at the Falls of the Ohio for service
against the Indians of the Wabash; next as commissary-
general of the Vincennes garrison; and after an interval of
four years — a period in Mr. Jones' military history which the
writer has no data concerning, but one in which the former
no doubt continued his connection with the garrison until
its dissolution in the summer of 1787, and from that time
with local militia organizations — we accidentally discover
him, so to speak, as one of "the effective men belonging

* Dillon's "History of Indiana, "and Dunn's "Indiana."

Mi^

ULiSYS

■ iiwniiaia

JOHN RICE JONES.

103

rompted
)ns com-

at Vin-
garrison
30st and
:her, and
missary-
retained

garrison
^ for the
ions had
nish pil-

twenty-
;ter must
in a brief
.bove all,
)ossessed,
n of the

elevated
dship an

hly im~
3untry in

of Gen.
|)r service
missary-

erval of
vhich the
e former
son until
lat time
discover
elonging

to Capt. Pierre Gamelin's company at Post Vincennes,
July 4, 1790."* This company was a militia organization
designed to serve at home or in the field against the
Indians, who throughout the spring and summer of 1790
"continued to wage irregular war against emigrating fami-
lies and settlers along the borders of the Ohio, from its
mouth to Pittsburg."

Their harassing hostilities occasioned Gen. Josiah Har-
mar's famous but fruitless expedition against them in the
fall of this year, and called forth, under Maj. John Francis
Hamtramck, the local militia, including Capt. Gamelin's
company, at the post, in addition to the regular United-
States garrison under him, which garrison was established
in July, 1787, by the then Col. Harmar, to succeed that
of Gen, Clark's creating. Hamtramck's expedition as
ordered by Gen. Harmar, who himself operated against
the Miamis, was directed against the Wabash tribes. Be-
fore the approach of this command, which is known in
history .1 the "Wabash regiment," the Indians, not stay-
ing to do battle, fled precipitately, deserting several vil-
lages and their contents, which were destroyed by the
white troops. Mr. Jones probably took part in other cam-
paigns against the Indians, but the writer has had access
to but few manuscript records, official or otherwise, which
are scattered, and has not chanced to find any published
work giving further information on the point.

In accordance with the act of congress of March 3, 1791,
John Rice Jones received from the United States govern-
ment a grant of one hundred acres of land, located near
Vincennes. Northwest Territory, for his services as militia-
man, as also did three of his brothers-in-law, the Barger
brothers, as will hereafter appear.f He had before this
probably acquired considerable real possessions, and in a

'^ Law's "Colonial History of Vincennes."

t" American State Papers — Public Lands, " Vols. I and VH.

I04

EARLY ILLINOIS.

few years became an extensive land-owner, as the early
territorial records of both Indiana and Illinois, as well as
the general government archives, abundantly attest. The
Ordinance of 1787 imposed the ownership of considerable
real estate conditional to eligibility to the higher civil
offices, as it did in a smaller measure to the right to hold
lesser ones, and even to the right of suffrage. It is likely
that in those days of scarcity of money, John Rice Jones
frequently had to take real property, or claims thereto, in
exchange for legal services, and by that means, as well as
by purchases outright, accumulated his many thousands
of acres of land. In 1808, he paid taxes on 16,400 acres
in Monroe County alone; he and Pierre Menard, Gen.
John Edgar, Robert and William Morrison, James O'Hara,
Richard Lord, and a few others, being heavy owners.

Unlike most pioneers, he did not engage in promiscuous
pursuits, as trading with the Indians, hunting and trap-
ping, cultivating the soil, merchandising, and so forth, but
devoted himself entirely to the practice of his profession,
in which he was very able, and to politics, in which he
was as accomplished as he was influential, and cut an
important figure. He very soon acquired and always con-
tinued to enjoy an extensive and lucrative law -practice,
and this professional success combined with his reputation
as a classical scholar, as a man of varied and extensive
learning, of practical knowledge of men and affairs, and
of great ambition, coupled with a mental activity and an
energy of character equally remarkable, soon placed him
among the most prominent men in a country where those
of his qualifications and qualities were the exception and
not the rule. As such a character he was found by John
Gibson, secretary of the newly-formed Indiana Territory,
on his arrival at Vincennes, in July, 1800. With Mr. Gib-
son he early formed a close personal and political friend-
ship, and similar relations immediately grew up between

£j

ULISYS

N I Man ■■••■•»«•

JOHN RICE JONES.

105

:he early
> well as
:st. The
siderable
[her civil
t to hold
is likely-
ice Jones
liereto, in
IS well as
housands
400 acres
ard, Gen.
^ O'Hara,
lers.

)miscuous
ind trap-
forth, but
rofession.
which he
d cut an
vays con-
- practice,
eputation
extensive
fairs, and
y and an
iced him
ere those
3tion and
by John
erritory,
Mr. Gib-
1 friend-
between

him and Gov. William Henry Harrison, after the arrival
of the latter, in January, 1801, to assume the administra-
tion of territorial affairs.

Gov. Harrison at once recognized his abilities, and in
the latter part of January or early in February, commis-
sioned him attorney-general of the Territory, the first civil
office ever held by Mr. Jones, so far as we are informed.
We have it on the authority of historians that John Rice
Jones not only enjoyed the political confidence of Gov.
Harrison, but that their personal relations were of a very
intimate nature, and that Mr. Jones exercised a by no
means inconsiderable influence as an adviser of the gov-
ernor up to the time of their rupture, in 1807-8. He
continued attorney-general until the date 'a his appoint-
ment as a member of the territorial legislative council, in
February or March, 1805, and therefore filled the former
otifice for a period of exactly four years.

In December, 1802, there convened at Vincennes the
famous slavery convention of that year, which, outside of
the general assembly, was the first public body of a univer-
sally representative character to formally discuss the deli-
cate question in all its bearings, and to lay the sentiments
and wishes of the majority of the people of the entire
territory before congress. The delegates, twelve in num-
ber, were chosen by the people in a regular election, held,
pursuant to proclamation of the governor, simultaneously
in the several counties, and, of course, represented the
predominating sentiment of their respective constituen-
cies. The members "ranked among the most intelligent
and public-spirited men of the Territory," and were Gov.
Harrison, Col. Francis Vigo, Wm. Prince, Luke Decker,
Pierre Menard, Robert Reynolds, Robert Morrison, Jean
PVan^ois Perry, Shadrach Bond, Maj. John Moredock, and,
it is thought, Davis Floyd and 'Villiam Biggs. Theirs are
;now historic names, and all weic strong pro-slavists except

1 06

EARLY ILLINOiS.

< J

the last two, or whoever were the two representatives from
Clark County.

Gov. Harrison was president and John Rice Jones secre-
tary of this convention, which continued in session eight
days, and on the last day, December 28, agreed on a
memorial and petition, probably the work of the skilful,,
able, and fluent pen of their secretary, to congress. They
prayed for the suspension for ten years of the sixth article
of the Ordinance of 1787, "the Magna Charta of the West,"
which prohibited, but did not prevent, slavery in the ter-
ritory; and among many things, recommended Gov. Har-
rison for reappointment and John Rice Jones for chief-
justice of the territorial court. Only two of the requests
were granted: that for the payment of a salary to the
attorney-general — to which office, then held as from the
first by John Rice Jones, it is presumed fees had been
attached — and that for the right of preemptir i to actual
settlers on public lands.

John Rice Jones strongly favored the advance of the
territory to the second grade, or representative form, and
used his influence toward the accomplishment of that end,
which was achieved by a majority of one hundred and
thirty-eight of the freeholders of the territory at the elec-
tion held September 11, 1804, Members of the house of
representatives were chosen at the election of January 3
following, and that body convened at Vincennes on Feb-
ruary I, and, in accordance with law, nominated for coun-
cillors ten men whose names were forwarded to President
Jefferson, for him to select from them those of five men
to compose the legislative council. The president returned
five commissions with the spaces for names left blank, with
instructions to Gov. Harrison to choose out of the ten
nominees the five best fitted, in the governor's opinion, for
the responsible offices, rejecting "land-jobbers, dishonest
men, and those who, though honest, might suffer them-

:^., i

ULtSYS

JOHN RICE JONKS.

107

Ltives from

Dnes secre-
ision eight
reed on a
the skilful^
ess. They
ixth article
the West,"
in the ter-
Gov. Har-
5 for chief-
le requests
iary to the
.s from the
5 had been
' i to actual

ince of the
e form, and
)f that end,
andred and
at the elec-
le house of
January 3
les on Feb-
for coun-
o President
Df five men
nt returned
blank, with
of the ten
opinion, for
dishonest
uffer them-

selves to be warped by party prejudices." Those selected,
one for each county, were John Rice Jones, Benjamin
Chambers, Samuel Gwathmey, John Hay, and Pierre
Menard, all assuredly able men, whose superiors intellect-
ually and morally it would have been difficult to find
anywhere.

John Rice Jones was appointed from Knox County, the
seat of government of which was also the territorial capi-
tal, Vincennes, and continued its representative in the
council until October 26, 1808, when the governor, for
reasons that appeared to him sufficient, permanently dis-
solved the general assembly — an act that was premature,
in that it left no authorized body to organize the first
legislature of the new Indiana Territory, as contemplated
by law, and rendered special congressional legislation nec-
essary in the matter.

During the second and last session of the second general
assembly, which was the last held under the old organiza-
tion, ana which second session began on September 26,
1808, and continued exactly one month, John Rice Jones
was president of the legislative council, the three preced-
ing sessions of that body having been presided over by
Benjamin Chambers. Immediately after the expiration
of his service as councillor, extending over a period of
some three years and seven months, John Rice Jones
removed to Kaskaskia, the seat of government of the
newly-erected Illinois Territory, whither he had removed
from Vincennes in 1790 and where he continued to reside
till about the beginning of 1801, when he returned to
Vincennes. His son, Rice Jones, had located at Kaskas-
kia in the practice of law in 1806, and had become very
prominent politically, having in the election of July, 1808,
been chosen to represent Randolph County in the lower
house of the general assembly, which office he continued
to hold till the dissolution of the legislature in October

io8

KAKLV ILLINOIS.

following, as before mentioned. John Rice Jones contin-
ued to make his home in Kaskaskia, after his removal
thither in the fall of 1808, till his removal to St. Louis
some two years later.

In 1805, a memorial to congress in favor of domestic
slavery in a modified form and against a division of the
Territory was introduced into the general assembly, but
defeated; not on the slavery question, for both houses
were overwhelmingly pro-slavery, but because a majority
of the representatives in the lower house were friends of
division. A petition embodying the slavery part of the
memorial was afterward signed by a large majority of the
members of both houses, in a non-representative capacity,
and duly forwarded to Delegate Benjamin Parke in con-
gress. Among the signers was John Rice Jones, a consist-
ent pro-slavist, whose name, it appears, was affixed to
various memorials and petitions presented to congress at
different times in favor of the temporary abrogation of
the much-discussed sixth article of the Ordinance of 1787,
but who, so far as the writer has discovered, was neither
a fanatic on the subject nor a holder of slaves, though he
was abundantly able, as a man of wealth, to be an exten-
sive owner. [See note on page 139.]

If it was a heinous crime to advocate the legal suspen-
sion, by act of the supreme legislative body of the Nation,
of the slavery-debarring provision of the ordinance under
which the territories came into being, what was it to hold
and traffic in negro bondsmen, in direct violation of an
existing law, though that law was questionable as in itself
a violation of three antedating promises and guarantees
most solemnly made } Yet a great majority of the fore-
most men in the territories of Indiana and Illinois were
slave-holders — men equally conspicuous for their intelli-
gence, patriotism, and social respectability, as well as for
their political prominence.

-I

ULISYS

MIIWHMai

JOHN RICE JONKS.

109

les contin-

s removal

St. Louis

r domestic
ion of the
jmbly, but
>th houses
1 majority

friends of
lart of the
rity of the
e capacity,
ke in con-
, a consist-
affixed to
:ongress at
ogation of
:e of 1787,

as neither
though he

an exten-

al suspen-
le Nation,
nee under
it to hold
ion of an
as in itself

uarantees
the fore-

nois were
?ir intelli-

ell as for

Among the leading public men besides John Rice Jones
who were pronounced pro-slavists, were such characters as
Gov. Wm. Henry Harrison, Secretary John Gibson, Dele-
gate, afterward Judge, Henjamin Parke, councillors Benja-
min Chambers. Pierre Menard, Robert Reynolds, Samuel
Gwathmey, and John Hay; Col. PVancis Vigo, Judge
Jesse H. Thomas, Hon. Shadrach Bond, Gen. John Kdgar,
Gen. Washington Johnston, Judge John Johnson, and hun-
dreds of other eminent public characters, extending down
to the time of and including such men as Gov. Ninian
Edwards, Judge Nathaniel Pope, Hon. Sidney Breese,
Sccretary-of-State Elias Kent Kane, and, in short, almost
every man of public note throughout the Indiana and
Illinois territorial periods, and many for long years after
the admission of Indiana into the Union.

Such were the exalted public and private virtues of these
men that they were then good enough company for any-
body, whatever his pretensions to moral worth, intellectual
attainments, or patriotism, to be in, and however such
company might now be esteemed by a more virtuous age.
All these men went to their graves honest believers in the
perfect propriety of slavery, and while the institution as a
political establishment has since been forever abolished by
constitutional amendment and swallowed up in an ocean
of precious blood, shed in part by some of those men's
descendants, arrayed against one another in the deadly
strife of fratricidal war, it is alone the province of that
Judge before whom they have been called, as all others
must be, to pass judgment upon their *'ihiquity" as abso-
' lutely conscientious upholders of a principle and practice
':heir opponents could not possibly more honestly condemn.

Amid the discharge of his duties as councillor, his activ-
ity in politics, his attention to his profe.ssional business,
always large, and to priv.ite affairs, and his domestic con-
cerns as well, John Rice Jones still found the time to

I 10

EARLY ILLINOIS.

^f.

revise and prepare for publication — in conjunction with
Hon. John Johnson, another able lawyer and a member of
the house — the statutes of the Territory, under the follow-
ing title: "Laws of the Indiana Territory, comprising those
Acts formerly in force and as Revised by John Rice Jones
and John Johnson, and passed (after Amendments) by the
Legislature; and the Original Acts passed by the First
Session of the Second General Assembly of the said Ter-
ritory, begun and held at the Borough of Vincennes on
the 1 6th day of August, A.D. 1807." This revision had
been adopted by the general assembly with but trifling
amendment, "was a careful and thorough one," says Judge
Howe,* and was long the main substance of the statute
laws of both Indiana and Illinois.

In an act passed by the general legislature in 1807, in-
corporating the Vincennes University, now represented by
both the Vincennes University at Vincennes and the Indi-
ana State University at Bloomington, "for the instruction
of youth in the Latin, Greek, French, and English lan-
guages, mathematics, natural philosophy, ancient and
modern history, moral philosophy, logic, rhetoric, and the
law of nature and nations," John Rice Jones, who had
been one of its most zealous promoters, as would be
naturally expected from one of his broad education, was
named as one of the first board of trustees, which was
composed of William Henry Harrison, Thomas T. Davis,
John Gibson, Henry Vanderburgh, Waller Taylor, Benja-
jamin Parke, Peter Jones, James Johnson, John BadoUet,.
John Rice Jones, George Wallace, William Bullitt, Elias.
McNamee, Henry Hurst, Gen. Washington Johnston, Fran-
cis Vigo, Jacob Kuykendall, Samuel McKee, Nathaniel
Ewing, George Leach, Luke Decker, Samuel Gwathmey,
and John Johnson"!* — "rnen who had large and liberal ideas

* Howe's "The Laws and Courts of the Northwest and Indiana Territories. "
t Dillon's "History of Indiana."

-t

• !•« MM M»)

JOHN RICE JONES.

Ill

iction with

member of

the follow-

rising those

Rice Jones

mts) by the

y the First

le said Ter-

ncennes on

evision had

but trifling

says Judge

the statute

in 1807, in-
resented by
id the Indi-
i instruction
nglish lan-
.ncient and
ric, and the
who had
would be
ication, was
which was
5 T. Davis,
lor, Benja-
n BadoUet,
illitt, Eli as
ston, Fran-
Nathaniel
wathmey,
beral ideas

lia Territories. "

of education, and who reflected the true spirit of the
framers of the Ordinance of 1787."

An important piece of business to come before the
second .session of the second general assembly, begun
September 26, 1808, was the election of a successor to
J Ion. Benjamin Parke, who had resigned as delegate in
congress to accept a seat on the territorial supreme judici-
ary bench. Prominent among the prospective candidates
before the legislature was John Rice Jones, who had been
solicited by a great many friends an»; admirers to enter
the contest. Local politics had become many sided and
decidedly mixed; there were both pro-slavists and anti-
slavists who were opposed to division, and also members
of each of those factions who were in favor of that meas-
ure; and in this state of affairs the selection of a delegate
was sure to be a prolonged fight, though the divisionists'
success was assured. As an able man and an ardent friend
of division, John Rice Jones was "the favorite of the peo-
ple of the Illinois country, but the anti-slavery people
would not support him because he had long been identi-
fied with the Harrison party, and was a pronounced pro-
slavery man."*

Among other leading candidates was Speaker-of-the-
house Jesse B. Thomas, who, though no less an out-and-
out pro-slavist than divisionist, was finally compromised
on by the antagonistic elements of his party, and elected ;
but not before John Rice Jones, who as president of the
council or as a controller of other men's votes, evidently
held the balance e^ power, had, conditional to his support
of Speaker Thomas, required and extracted from him the
most solemn pledges of fidelity to his party.*t* Remaining
true to these promises, Delegate Thomas worked for and
speedily secured the division of the Territory, to the hu-

* Dunn's "Indiana."

t Dunn's " Indiana," and Ford's "History of Illinois."

I 12

KAKLV ILMXOIS.

miliiition of the Harrisonians, whose chagrin and rancor
led at Vincennes to the hanging in effigy of the offending
delegate. At Kaskaskia the feeling was equally bad, and
produced among other serious incidents the passing of a
challenge between Hon. Shadrach liond, afterward gov-
ernor of Illinois, and Rice Jones, ex-representative in the
territorial legislature of Indiana, and a son of ex-councillor
John Rice Jones, and finally ended in the deplorable assas-
sination of Rice Jones by a dastardly partisan, who by
instant flight from the country undoubtedly saved himself
from summary punishment at the hands of an enraged
community.*

Reference having been made heretofore to the rupture
between VVm. Henry Harrison and John Rice Jones, and
several historians deeming it a subject of sufficient interest
to the public of today to call for more or less extended
observations on their part, a few words on the subject will
not be inappropriate in this sketch. One writer, whose
strong prejudices, if not malicious motives, are evident,
predicating a theory upon what later and obviously 'uore
just and careful historians consider imaginary grounds, for
they declare that there is no documentary evidence as to
what the real cause of the falling -out was, refers the
"important event," as a judicious vvriter*f terms it, to dis-
appointment on the part of John Rice Jones, growing out
of his failure to secure the bestowal of greater patronage
of Gov. Harrison ; and then in the same spirit this amiable
writer proceeds to say that John Rice Jones made it appear
that the ostensible reason for his disagreement with and
consequent opposition to Harrison was a difference of
opinion as to the expediency of the advance of the Ter-
ritory to the second grade of government as early as that
step was consummated.

* Reynolds' "Pioneer History of Illinois."
t JJunn, in his "Indiana."

^.ISYS

lollN RICK lONES.

I I ^

and rancor
e offend in<;
ly bad, and
assing of a
rward gov-
itive in the
<-councillor
rable assas-
an, who by
ved himself
an enraged

the rupture
; Jones, and
ient interest
5S extended
subject will
Titer, whose
are evident,
iously more
grounds, for
dence as to
refers the
IS it, to dis-
rowing out
r patronage
his amiable
Ide it appear
t with and
ifference of
of the Ter-
,rly as that

This statement is palpably false, inasmuch as all accounts
agree that John Rice Jones was conspicuous as an active
and zealous promoter of the second-grade cause; and if
further refutation of the infamous charges,-- direct and
indirect, ot the writer in question were needed, it would be
only necessary to state the notorious fact that for years
after the Territory had entered the secondary form of
government, its executive and the subject of this sketch
were on terms of close personal and political friendship, as
reputable historians declare, and as is incontrovertibly
proven by Gov. Harrison's appointment of John Rice
Jones to high office in those later years,i- as also by the
testimony to their cordial relations up to a date so late as
1807-8, by other writers on Indiana history wko have
anything to say on the subject. :J:

To the writer of these pages, the most simple, reason-
able, and natural explanation of the rupture between Gov.
Harrison and Councillor Jones was the question of the

* To asperse and misrepresent a living man on the anonymous charges ami
msinuations made against him by a partisan foe during the excitement of a
heated political period, or by a personal enemy at any time, is bad cnovigh ;
but to assault the character and violate the memory of a man long dead
through the mediumship of just such irresponsible and infamous attacks, is
infinitely worse, is the part of neither an honorable man nor a gentleman, but
rather that of a vile traducer, and should be far beneath the dignity of anyone
making pretensions to the claim of being an historian. In reference to such
slanders, a man's friends may pointedly ask, in the words of Hon. Kdward
Kverett, in a speech once delivered by him in the national house of represen-
tatives, "can any gentleman tell me how long it is since an anonymous mis-
creant, in the papers, accused Thomas Jefferson of having pillaged thirteen
hundred dollars, I think it was, from the public chest? Mas any gentleman
forgotten that pathetic complaint of George Washington, that he had been
assailed in language fit only * for a pick-pocket — for a common defaulter ? ' "
Verily, " Be thou chaste as ice, as pure as snow,

Thou shalt not escape calumny. "

t The second grade of government was entered upon September 1 1, 1S04,
and four months later Harrison appointed John Rice Jones a member of the
council — a favor he would hardly have bestowed upon a political and personal
enemy. * Dunn, in his "Indiana," page 361, for instance.

114

EARLY ILLINOIS.

division of the Indiana Territory. This question, as is
well known, divided the people latterly into violently an-
tagonistic factions, whose clashing sentiments on this one
subject caused the severing of personal attachments be-
tween many individuals whose political opinions on other
measures were either in perfect harmony or temporarily
adjustable, but who were uncompromising on this; engen-
dered wide-spread and all-pervading excitement and par-
tisan feeling; produced in connection with the indirectly-
involved slavery question, pro and con, strange combina-
tions and associations of men and sentiments, and charac-
terized the campaign preceding an election of two repre-
sentatives to the general assembly, which chanced to
become necessary at "the time, as the most animated and
bitter one that ever occurred in the Territory, before or
afterward, or in that of Illinois. The successful candidates
for the legislature in the el-^ction in question were Rice
Jones in Randolph County and John Messinger in St. Clair
County, both of whom were zealous divisionists."^

As has been intimated, the defeat of the Harrisonians
or anti-divisionists was a crushing disappointment to them,
for the results of the election placed the balance of legis-
lative power, by a slight majority, in the hands of the sep-
arationists, and the loss of the election drove the rabid
partisans among those who were opposed to division to
extravagant expressions, actions, and acts, among the last
the disgraceful proceeding at Vincennes, indicative of their
despair and fury. John Rice Jones, who then lived at
Vincennes, the seat of the territorial government, and in
the county of Knox, the governor's favorite county and
the stronghold of the Harrisonians, was as a pronounced
divisionist and a distinguished character, douoly conspicu-
ous as an object of dislike and abuse on the part of

* Edwards' "Illinois," p. 30; Address of Welcome by Citizens of Randolph
County to Gov, Ninian Edwards, June, 1809.

I-*

I ^'W.

ULISYS

■ IMIIIIHIMIIMI

JOHN RICE JONES.

115

ion, as IS
lently an-
1 this one
ments be-
5 on other
;mporarily
is; engen-
t and par-
indirectly-
combina-
nd charac-
two repre-
lianced to
nated and
, before or
candidates
were Rice
in St. Clair

•X-

arrisonians
it to them,
:e of legis-
f the sep-
the rabid
ivision to
cr the last
e of their
lived at
nt, and in
lunty and
Ironounced
conspicu-
|e part of

of Randolph

many of those of opposing sentiments. Under the pecu-
liar circumstances prevailing, no two men could be friends
who openly avowed and publicly advocated conflicting
views on the burning division question, and therefore John
Rice Jones necessarily experienced a rupture with Gov.
Harrisc, who was, as is equally a matter of record, a
radical anti-divisionist, using all his personal and official
influence to defeat the friends of the Illinois-Territory
project, as it was to his selfish interest to do.

From the date of their first acquaintance, early in
1 80 1, up to the time that the question of the separation
from Indiana of the Illinois country and its erection into
an independent territory assumed importance in the public
mind and began to be seriously agitated among the peo-
ple, which was probably early in 1807, John Rice Jones
and Gov. Harrison were personally and politically inti-
mate, and they continued to be friends until probably
about the middle of 1808, when their split upon the rock
of territorial division became complete, and very naturally
their relations afterward were not amicable; John Rice
Jones, as he had the inalienable right to do, opposing, and
that ably, and not alone but with thousands of his fellow-
citizens, the policy and plans of the Harrison party, whose
speedy overthrow in the latter part of 1808 may reasona-
bly be accepted as a proof of the weakness and injustice
of their cause.

John Rice Jones had not only been a personal friend of
Harrison's, but also an able and valued counsellor of the
administration, as well as a man of very considerable per-
sonal influence with the people Consequently, as a recent
careful writer* observes, "he was no small loss t^> the Har-
rison party. He was at that time a councillor, with more
than two years to serve; he had a full knowledge of the
inside workings of past political movements; he had the

* Dunn, in his " Indiana ; A Redemption from Slavery. "

ii6

EARLY ILLINOIS.

ability to use his knowledge to the best advantage; and
he was absolutely tireless in his political work." We thus
see that he was qualified to make a powerful opponent of
the Harrisonians, and indeed it is a matter of record that
he and other leaders of the opposition "goaded their ene-
mies almost to madness," and also gathered the people in
such numbers to their support as to defeat the Harrison
party in the memorable election of July 25, 1808, which
gained for the victors their coveted object of territorial
division, on February 3, 1809, by congressional enactment.

From an early day to the time of his removal, in 18 10,
to Louisiana, afterward Missouri, Territory, John Rice
Jones enjoyed an extensive and lucrative practice at law,
his eminent professional ability being universally recog-
nized and in frequent demand. His practice extended
from Cahokia to Louisville, embracing besides those places
Kaskaskia, Prairie du Rocher, Vincennes, Shawneetown,
and Clarksville, and also trans-Mississippi points, as St.
Louis and Ste. Genevieve, especially after the cession of
that country to the United States, in 1803, by France.*
No writer in speaking of him has failed to pay the highest
tribute to his jurisprudential learning and ability, all agree-
ing with one who has declared him "a scientific and pro-
found jurist, and through life a sound and enlightened
expounder of the law;" and his contemporary political
and personal enemies, like his post-mortem defamer, all
conceded his preeminent talents and legal attainments.
He was the first English-speaking lawyer in Indiana, and
the first to practise his profession in Illinois, locating at
Kaskaskia in 1790, and frequently attending court there
and at other extreme western points after his return to
Vincennes, some ten years later, to reside.

His knowledge of various national laws was remarkably
extensive, embracing not only a familiarity with American

* Reynolds, Dillon, Dunn, d al.

^_ jij**

ULISYS

N lINi n NM mm w »» mi m wii <■

JOHN RICE JONES.

117

ntage; and
' We thus
)pponent of
record that
i their ene-
le people in
le Harrison
1808, which
if territorial
[ enactment,
val, in 1 8 10,
John Rice
ctice at law,
sally recog-
;e extended
those places
lawneetown,
oints, as St.
e cession of
by France.*
the highest
y, all agree-
|fic and pro-
enlightened
,ry political
defamer, all
lattainments.
ndiana, and
|, locating at
court there
lis return to

remarkably
Ih American

principles and procedure, but also a thorough acquaintance
with Spanish and French laws, particularly concerning the
intricate subjects of land-grants and titles in the West;
while as a consequence of his legal education and practice
in England and Wales, he had a clear and full understand-
ing of the principles and rules of law and courts of those
countries, as references in some of his opinions as a justice
of the supreme court of Missouri in a measure bear witness.*
In addition to his legal erudition, he was deeply versed
in mathematics, "which he preferred to any other science,"
and was also an accomplished linguist, thoroughly grounded
in Greek and Latin, and perfectly conversant with French
and Spanish, as well as Welsh — his mother-tongue — and
English, learned early in life. His knowledge of French
and Spanish enabled him to transact business with great
facility with the large portion of the inhabitants of the
far-western country who understood only those tongues,
and who did not often find a competent interpreter in their
dealings with the English-speaking authorities and Ameri-
cans in general. His intimate and correct knowledge of
the latter two languages was not only of very great advan-
tage to him in his law practice and private business affairs,
but caused his services to be often sought as an expert
translator of old documents and interpreter in courts for
non-English speaking people. He was for some time
official interpreter and translator of the PVench, by regular
appointment, to the board of commissioners at Kaskaskia,
appointed under act of congress of March 26, 1804, for
the adjustment of land titles and claims in that district.-f-
All historians also agree that he was a brilliant speaker, |
and in oral debate and controversy, as also with the pen,

* See "Missouri Reports," 1820-24.

t "Annals of Congress," 15th cony., 2d sess. , Vols. I and II; also "United
.States Statutes at Large — Private Laws, 1789 1845."

i Reynolds, Williams, McOonoiigh, Dunn, e( a/.

ii8

EARLY ILLINOIS.

"a perfect master of satire and invective." One who knew
him personally declares that while ''his friendships were
ardent and sincere, his hatred and anger were excessively
scathing for the moment," and that "when his feelings of
ire were excited, his words burnt his victims like drops of
molten lead on the naked skin." "

In December, 1808, occurred that melancholy event here-
tofore alluded to, the assassination of Rice Jones, the
talented son of John Rice Jones, at Kaskaskia. This
lamentable tragedy, abput which we shall have more to
say in a sketch of its victim, was a terrible blow to his
father, as may be easily understood, and its associations in
Illinois were of such a sickening nature as to render a
continued residence there objectionable. At this time, the
upper Louisiana Territory, rapidly developing under the
quickening influence of the United States government,
but a few years previously extended over it, was attracting
very considerable attention and emigration from the older
settled sections eastward; and in the summer of 18 10, in
response to the earnest recommendation and urgent invi-
tation of personal friends, Mr. Jones removed thither with
his family, first locating at Ste. Genevieve, thence in a
short time going to St. Louis, and after a brief residence
there, removing to and settling at Mine a Breton, subse-
quently incorporated as Potosi, and which became the seat
of Washington County on its organization in 18 13.

Here he at once became largely interested and system-
atically engaged in the mining and smelting of lead ore.
first in company with the celebrated Moses Austin and
subsequently in connection with his sons. With Mr. Aus-
tin he erected the first cupola or rcverberatory furnace
ever constructed in the United States,* which was grcatl\
superior to the primitive furnace that had been in use in
the mines since the time they were first opened, about

* Reynolds' "Pioneer History of Illinois."

rfMlk

flt-^

■ I mi II Mi i

I ir: IN Mill*

JOHN RICE TONES.

119

2 who knew
iships were
excessively
i feelings of
ike drops of

r event here-
Jones, the
askia. This
ave more to
blow to his
isociations in
to render a
this time, the
ig under the
government,
/as attracting
rom the older
;r of 1 8 10, in
urgent invi-
thither with
thence in a
lief residence
keton, subse-
came the seat

1813.

and system -
g of lead ore,
s Austin antl
V\t\\ Mr. Aus-
atory furnace

1 was greatl)"
been in use in
Dpened, about

1765, by Francis Breton, as well as throughout all the
lead-mining districts in the country. He probably brought
with him from Wales, in a large part of which mining of
different kinds was then as now an important industry,
some practical ideas on the subject.

The learned Henry R. Schoolcraft visited the Potosi
mines in 18 19, and in an interesting work* published
shortly afterward, in describing the more important mines
operated by "persons of intelligence and capital," says:
"John Rice Jones, Esq., is engaged in penetrating the rock
in search of ore, with the most flattering prospects, and is
determined, as he informs me, to sink through the upper
stratum of limestone and to ascertain the character of the
succeeding formations. It is highly probable, reasoning
from geognostic relations, that the lower formations will
prove metalliferous, yielding both lead and copper, and
such a discovery would form a new era in the history of
these mines. The present mode of promiscuous digging
on the surface would then be abandoned, and people made
to see and to realize the advantages of the only system
of mining which can be permanently, uniformly, and suc-
cessfully pursued, vh.: by penetrating the bowels of the
earth," The success of the experiments of Mr. Jones and
Mr. Austin, each then operating independently and being
the first to so experiment, had the effect of making deep
mining popular, as predicted by Mr. Schoolcraft, and more-
over rendered the entire mineral region a profitable field
for operations for many succeeding years.

John Rice Jones' intimate and critical knowledge of the
lead-mines of the district, including their output, state,
value, characteristics, and the subject of the industry in
all its aspects and stages, from the crude ore in the mines
to the commercial article of pig-lead, with the items of
cost of manufacture, transportation to foreign markets,

* "A View of the Lead-Mines of Missouri," etc. ; New York, 1819.

120

EARLY ILLINOIS.

etc., of the Ir'ter, etc., etc., is shown by a lengthy and
exhaustive report made by him under date of "Mine a
Burton, 6th Nov., 1816," to Hon. Frederick Bates, St. Louis,
recorder of land-titles in Missouri, at the latter's request,
and which Mr. Bates forwarded bodily to the commissioner
of the general land-office, Washington, as his own report
on the subject, which had been called for by the commis-
sioner; Mr. Bates' report proper being a brief communica-
tion opening thus: "Sir: — While I was preparing to trans-
mit to you my own opinions in answer to your inquiries
of the 3d of July last [18 16], I received a letter from John
Rice Jones, Esq., who is a man of extensive and accurate
observation, joint claimant with Mr. Austin in the Mine a
Burton tract, and conversant, as I am told, with all the
economy of mineral operations. After so minute and
comprehensive a statement as he has given, nothing re-
mains for me except a more special reply to your third
inquiry." This third inquiry related to the "state of the
land-titles generally," which Mr. Jones forebore to answer,
"as it would be indecorous for an individual, even were he
both competent to the task and possessed of the necessary
information, to attempt to enter into a particular investi-
gation of any land-titles," as he states in his letter to
Mr. Bates.*

John Rice Jones became largely interested in mineral
lands and other landed property while residing at Mine a
Burton. By a legal instrument dated at "Mine a Burton,
District of Ste. Genevieve, Territory of Louisiana, Nov. 8,
1 8 10," it appears that he and Moses Austin were then
joint owners of "the Mine a Breton tract" of land, "three
miles square" (nine square miles, or five thousand seven
hundred and sixty acres of rich mineral lands), for an
interest in which and certain lots in the town of Hercula-
neum they had been offered $150,000, a large sum of

* "American State Papers— Public Lands," Vol. Ill, pp. 700-3.

ULIJJys

■ IWIIIMll

JOHN RICE JONES.

121

engthy and
of "Mine a
;s, St. Louis,
er's request,
ommissioner
own report
the commis-
communica-
ing to trans-
Dur inquiries
2r from John
ind accurate
1 the Mine a
with all the
minute and
, nothing re-
o your third
'state of the
re to answer,
even were he
le necessarj-
ular investi-
lis letter to

d in mineral

ig at Mine a

ne a Burton,

iana, Nov. 8,

n were then

land, "three
)usand seven
inds), for an

of Hercula-
arge sum of

700-3.

money in those days, and for the purpose of engaging in
the extensive mining and smelting business on which they
at that time were about to consummate the formation of
a powerful chartered corporation — the legal document
named constituting an important preliminary step to that
end. Mr, Jones died leaving a claim before congress for
a tract of several thousand acres of valuable land in Illi-
nois, on an appeal from the arbitrary ruling of the Kas-
kaskia commissioners, which claim was allowed his legal
representatives so late as 1854.

John Rice Jones, who soon became distinguished in
Missouri for his legal acquirements, his intelligence, his
sound judgment, and his force of character, was, as one of
the three representatives from Washington County and
one of the forty-one that composed the body, "a wise and
<jfficient member" of the convention that framed the first
constitution of the State of Missouri. The convention met
in St. Louis on June 12, 1820, and completed its labors
July 19 following. After its temporary organization, he
was one of a committee of five appointed "to draft and
report rules and regulations for the order and government
of the convention." He was one of four candidates before
the convention for its permanent president, and, though
defeated, he received a complimentary vote for the posi-
tion. "The constitution was a model of perspicuity and
statesmanship, and withstood all efforts to supplant or
materially amend it until the celebrated 'Drake conven-
tion' of 186$"^ and as Gov. McNair declared in his first
message to the first general assembly under the new form
of government, was "a statesmanlike instrument that did
honor to its framers and to the infant State for which it
had been framed."

This first general assembly met in St. Louis in Septem-
ber, 1820, and among its first and most important duties

* Switzlei's "History of Missouri."

_Jr».-

miasuii.!!

SBSSraSiWMpMB

mmmm

I 22

EARLY ILLINOIS.

was the election of two United- States senators. Hon.
David Barton, a great and good man, was chosen on the
first ballot, but the filling of the remaining senatorship
was not so easily nor in the end unanimously accomplished.
For that honor there were five aspirants, namely: John
Rice Jones, Col. Thomas H. Benton, Judge John B. C.
Lucas, and Messrs. Henry Elliot and Nathaniel Cook,
John Rice Jones received a handsome vote, as also did
Messrs. Cook and Elliot; but it becoming evident that the
contest would inevitably narrow down to a struggle be-
tween Judge Lucas and Col. Benton, who were mortal
enemies, the latter having a few years previously slain in
a duel a gifted son of the former, the other three candi-
dates withdrew, and according to their sentiments joined
the Lucas or the Benton party. Though Col. Benton was
finally chosen over his able and noble adversary, by very
considerable manoeuvring and by a slim majority of one
vote, the contest for the prize was prolonged, spirited,
bitter, and in some of its phases intensely dramatic, and
forms one of the most remarkable and interesting episodes
of the kind in the political history of the West. "The
balloting continued through several days without success,
and the excitement that prevailed has not been excelled
by any senatorial election which has since occurred in this
or any other state," says one historian.*

Of the two votes that elected Col. Benton, one was that
of a Frenchman, Hon. Marie P. LeDuc, who had repeatedly
declared that he would suffer the loss of his right arm
rather than vote for Col. Benton, and who only changed
his mind after subjection for a prolonged period to inces-
sant argument, persuasion, and entreaty by a powerful
combination of personal and political friends; the other
vote, that gave the bare majority of one, was cast by Hon-
Daniel Ralls, who, unable from illness to attend the joint

* Switzler, in his "History of Missouri."

w.- I

ULISYS

■ IMHWIMIMIK

JOHN RICE JONES.

123

rs. Hon.
en on the
^natorship
)mplished.
ely: John
ohn B. C.
liel Cook.
3 also did
It that the
ruggle be-
ire mortal
;ly slain in
iree candi-
:nts joined
5enton was
ry, by very
rity of one
d, spirited,
matic, and
ig episodes
elt. "The
ut success,
m excelled
rred in this

le was that
repeatedly
right arm
y changed
d to inces-
powerful
the other
st by Hon-
the joint

session of the legislature, was finally carried on his death-
bed, by four large negroes, from his room to the legislative
hall, both in the same building, and was just able to vote,
dying a short time after being returned to his chamber.*

At the same session of the general assembly, John Rice
Jones was appointed one of the three justices of the
supreme court of the new State, Mathias McGirk and
John D. Cook being the other two; and after four years
of service, alike creditable to himself, the bench, and Mis-
souri, in this exalted position, he died while in office,
February i, 1824, at St. Louis, within ten days of the
completion of his sixty-fifth year, at which age the consti-
tution excluded persons from the supreme bench, and
deeply lamented not only by the bench, bar, and general
public of Missouri, but by a wide circle of personal friends
throughout the country, among them many prominent
men of the day. Conspicuous among those whose distin-
guished friendship he had enjoyed, were Hon. Henry Clay,
Col. Richard M. Johnson, Hon. Pierre Menard, Hon. David
Barton, Judge Alex. Buckner, Judges Mathias McGirk and
John D. Cook — his associates on the supreme bench, Col.
Henry Dodge, Hon. Edward Bates, Col. Thos. H. Benton,
Hon.Wm. T. Barry, Judges Jas. Haggins and Jesse Bledsoe,
Judge James H. Peck, Hon. Henry S. Geyer, Hon. John
F. Darby, Hon. George F. Strother, Gen. Wm. H. Ashley,
Hon. John Scott, Judge Nathaniel Pope, Judge Samuel
McRoberts, Gov. John Reynolds, Hon. Ninian Edwards,
the distinguished Morrison and Parker families of Kaskas-
kia and Lexington, respectively, and a great many more,
whose friendship and esteem would have honored any
man on earth.-f-

Having sketched Judge Jones' public career, as well as

" Darby's "Personal Recollections."

t Letter from ex-U.-S. Senator George Wallace Jones, who personally
knew all the gentlemen named, and to whom they often spoke of his father^
Judge John Rice Jones, in terms of respect and admiration.

V-?.

124

EARLY ILLINOIS.

!•

our imperfect data would admit, it now remains to briefly
consider his character and more personal traits, from the
stand-point of those who knew him well in life, and who,
therefore, may be considered competent authorities on the
subject. Perhaps no fuller and more reliable description
of him is available than that given by ex-Gov. John Reyn-
olds of Illinois, in his valuable "Pioneer History." The
author of that work knew Judge Jones personally and also
was well acquainted with many men who knew him inti-
mately— Hon. Robert Reynolds, the governor's father, and
an old pioneer, among them — and as an unquestionably
honest, truthful man, a close observer of excellent judg-
ment, an industrious gleaner of facts, and a conscientious,
careful historian, his statements are entitled to the fullest
credit. This work of Gov. Reynolds has been largely
drawn on by all subsequent western historians for bio-
graphical and other data preserved nowhere else, and his
descriptions of many prominent men of early days if not
all that is knowable about them are, at least, the founda-
tion of all biographies of them.

This authority states that Judge Jones "possessed a
strong and active mind, was rather restless, and excessively
energetic. * * He always employed his time in some
honorable business, and never permitted himself to be idle
or engaged in light or frivolous amusements. Like most
of his countrymen, he possessed strong passions, and at
times, although he possessed a strong mind, his passions
swept over his reason like a tornado. When his feelings
of ire were excited, his words burnt his victims like drops
of molten lead on the naked skin. He was mild and
amiable until some injury or insult, as he supposed, was
offered him, when he burst asunder all restraints and stood
out the fearless champion of his rights, bidding defiance
to all opposition. He possessed a great degree of personal

The death of Judge Jones was regretted

courage.

* *

ULISYS

■ IMNWIMHMII

JOHN RICE JONES.

125

; to briefly
s, from the
s, and who,
ities on the
description
ohn Reyn-
ory." The
ly and also
w him inti-
father, and
uestionably
illent judg-
nscientious,
) the fullest
een largely
ns for bio-
Ise, and his
days if not
the founda-

ossessed a
excessively
hie in some
to be idle
Like most
Dns, and at
is passions
lis feelings
like drops
mild and
)posed, was
3 and stood
ig defiance
of personal
regretted

by a wide circle of friends and the public generally. His
integrity, honor, and honesty were always above doubt or
suspicion. He was exemplary in his moral habits, and
lived a temperate and orderly man in all things. * * He
was perfectly resigned to his fate, and died with that calm
composure that always attends the exit of the noblest
work of God, an honest man. * * The person of Judge
Jones was small, but erect and active. His complexion
was dark, and his hair and eyes very black. His eye when
excited was severe and piercing."

We thus have a graphic moral and character portrayal
and a life-like physical portrait of Judge Jones that must
be gratifying to everyone interested in the dis'tinguished
subject of this sketch. The just eulogistic utterances of
Gov. Reynolds could not be enhanced by the most ardent
of friends and admirers, while to the personal description
nothing is to be added of particular historical interest
except, perhaps, that Judge Jones was very dignified in
his manners, refined in his tastes, scrupulously neat in his
person, and very particular in his dress, a part of which
was the old-time knee-breeches, so closely associated in the
modern mind with the antique cue, in which style he
alwa}-s wore his hair; and that besides being erect and
active, as age advanced he developed that style of portli-
ness that adds so much to the dignity of presence and
manners.

John Rice Jones was twice married. His first wife was
Eliza, daughter of Richard and Mary Powell, a native
of London, born May 24, 1759, and married in St. Mary's
Chapel — Church of England, to which both families be-
longed— in Brecon, Wales, January 8, 1781. Of this union
there was the following issue:

Rice, born at Brecon, Brecknockshire, Wales, September
28, 1 78 1.

John, born at Brecon, Feb. 10, 1783, and died in infancy.

uf^

?«»>**■

126

EARLY ILLINOIS.

I
i,

Maria, born at Brecon, March 21, 1784.

Myers Fisher, born at Vincennes, Northwest Territory,
U.S.A., March 1 1, 1787, and died at an early age.

The mother of these children was an accomplished and
refined woman of gentle birth, and died at Vincennes, now
in Indiana, March 1 1, 1787, deeply mourned by her devoted
husband and children. A biographical sketch of Rice
Jones, the eldest child by this marriage, follows in this
volume.

Maria, the only daughter, who was at the time of the
removal of the family to America, in 1784, too delicate, as
declared by a medical adviser, to bear the fatigue of the
long ocean voyage, was left with friends in Wales. It was
the father's intention to return for her when older and
stronger, but the early location of the family in the remote
West, and the death there of her mother a short time
afterward, precluded the execution of this cherished pur-
pose while she remained a child, and when she was old
enough to make the journey alone, she had become .so
beloved and loving a member of the most estimable family
with whom she made her home as to induce her to con-
tinue a member of that household, though .she subse-
quently paid several protracted visits to her relatives in
America, between whom and herself there ever subsisted
the tenderest attachment. In 1834, her half-brother Wil-
liam Powell Jones, U. S. N., viiiied her in Wales, subse-
quently accompanied her on a tour in France, and thence
conducted her to the United States. Her deep and fer-
vent piety and genuine Christian spirit, combined with a
charming sweetness of disposition, great nobility of char-
acter, and cultivated intellect, secured her many devoted
and undying friendships wherever she was known. She
never married, and died among relatives and friends in
London at an advanced age.

The second wife of Judge Jones was Mary, eldest

.1 'MW'

ULiSYS

■ I M H M MMB Ml ■« w.i ■•■ •

JOHN KICK JONKS.

12;

Territory,

lishcd and
^nnes, now
er devoted
h of Rice
»\vs in this

ime of the
delicate, as
igue of the
les. It was
older and
the remote
short time
:rished pur-
fhe was old
become so
lable family
her to con-
she subse-
relatives in
r subsisted
rother Wil-
ales, subse-
and thence
ep and fer-
ined with a
ity of char-
ny devoted
nown. She
friends in

lary,

eldest

daughter of George and Margaret liarger, whom he mar-
ried at V'incennes, Northwest Territory, February 11, 1791,
four years after the death of his first wife. She was a
woman of many virtues and of those sterling qualities of
character that were developed in all women subjected to
the refining and strengthening ordeal of the peculiar vicis-
situdes and conditions of life and society in the earl}-
West, whither her father with his wife and a large family
of children emigrated from Pennsylvania and settled in
the country northwest of the Ohio at a very early day.
The I^argers were of German ancestry, whose language
they all spoke as well as the English and French. It is
likely that the German was the first learned and for years
the household language of the family, as the children of
Mary (Barger) Jones relate that she always, even in age,
said her prayers, learned at her pious mother's knee in
childhood, in that tongue, though she was thoroughly con-
versant with both English and French, which she com-
monly spoke. Her father, George Barger, with other
members of the family, were among those who had their
claims under French or English grants confirmed by Gov.
St. Clair of the Northwest Territory, under tue resolves of
congress of June and August, 1788,* and later by the
U.-S. commissioners, appointed for the purpose of adjust-
ing the old colonial claims; and her brothers Frederick,
i Peter, and George Barger, together with her husband,
John Rice Jones, were members of Capt. Pierre Game-
lin's company of militia at Vincennes, in lygo,-^ and as
such took part in Col. Hamtramck's campaign against the
Wabash tribes in the fall of that year;:): and for these,
if not for other services against the Indians, they each
received from the general government donations of one

* "American State Papers — rublic Lands," Vol. 1, pp. 509-10.
+ Law's "The Colonial History of Vincennes."
: Dillon's " History of Indiana. "

128

EARLY ILLINOIS.

hundred acres of land, conformably to the act of congress
of March 3, 1791, as "militiamen duly enrolled in the
militia at Vincennes on August i, 1790, and who had done
militia duty."*

It is a fact sufficiently curious and interesting to merit
mention in this connection that no two of the four sisters
married men of the same nationality or blood — Mary
marrying a Welshman, John Rice Jones ; Christina a Span-
iard, Diego Rodrigues; Elizabeth a Frenchman, Baptiste
La Chapelle, a descendant of that Bazyl La Chapelle who
settled in Kaskaskia about 17 10; and Susan, the youngest,
an Irishman, William Shannon, a merchant and banker
and highly- esteemed citizen of Ste. Genevieve, and the
early friend and patron of the late U.-S. Senator Lewis
V. Bogy of Missouri.

Mary (Barger) Jones was rather small and slight in form,
and had regular features and very black hair and eyes.
She was of a very gentle nature, and highly regarded by
all who knew her. She was born in Pennsylvania, May
17, 1767, and died at Potosi, Missouri, at her home with
her son. Gen. Augustus Jones, on Jan. 6, 1839, having lived
to a good old age and survived her husband some fifteen
years. Following is a list of the children of John Rice
and Mary (Barger) Jones, with dates and places of birth:

John Rice, born Jan. 8, 1792, at Kaskaskia, N.-W. Ty.

Eliza, borp Jan. 10, 1794, at Kaskaskia, Northwest Ty.

Augustus, born Feb. 18, 1796, at Kaskaskia, N.-W. Ty.

Harriet, born Oct. 16, 1798, at Kaskaskia, Northwest Ty.

Myers Fisher, born Oct. 19, 1800, at Kaskaskia, Indiana
Territory.

George Wallace, born April 12, 1804, at Vincennes, In-
diana Territory.

Nancy, born June 17, 1806, at Vincennes, Indiana Ter-
ritory; died young.

» "American State Papers— Public Lands," Vols. I and VII,

JOHN RICE JONES.

129

' congress
2d in the
had done

T to merit
3ur sisters
3d — Mary
la a Span-
1, Baptiste
apelle who
; youngest,
nd banker
-, and the
itor Lewis

^ht in form,
and eyes,
jgarded by
vania, May
home with
laving Uved
ome fifteen
John Rice
3 of birth :
S\-W. Ty.
hwest Ty.
, N.-W. Ty
rthwest Ty.
da, Indiana

icennes, In-

idiana Ter-

WilHam Powell, born May 13, 18 10, at Kaskaskia, Illi-
nois Territory.

Of the above children, the following are brief biographi-
cal notices that may not be without interest in this con-
nection:

Gen. John Rice Jones, the eldest son, served under
Capt. Henry Dodge in the war of 18 12, and removing to
Texas, then a Mexican state, as early as 183 1, became iden-
tified with its struggles for independence; which gained, he
became postmaster-general under the three forms of the
Republic, provisional, ad interim, and constitutional —
proof enough of his ability and fidelity — in the cabinets
of as many of its executives, namely, Gov. Henry Smith
and Presidents David G. Burnet and Mirabeau B. Lamar,
respectively, and was a personal friend of and fellow-
patriot with those men and their compeers, Hon. Stephen
F. Austin, "the father of Texas," and his dearest of friends;
Gen. Sam. Houston, Col. VVm. B. Travis, Col. James Bowie,
Col. David Crockett, Col. Benjamin R. Milam, and the
many others whose memories are justly dear to the people

>of Texas, and whose names are as "familiar in their
mouths as household words." Gen. Jones was one of the
two executors of the will of the heroic Col. Travis, the
other being ex-Gov. Henry Smith.

Locating in 183 1 at San P^lipe de Austin, he was one
of the first settlers of that place, which, as Austin, is now
the capital of the great Lone-Star State, and for years
was one of its prosperous merchants. He died in Fayette
County, Tex., on his plantation, "Fairland Farm," in that
eventful year in which the Republic he loved so well and
Ihad so long and faithfully served ceased to exist on be-
Icoming a state of the American Union — 1845 ; and having
married a daughter of Maj. James Hawkins in Missouri,

:^4n 18 18, he left a large and respectable family of children

*%■..

130

EARLY ILLINOIS.

to cherish the memory and contemplate with just pride
the record of a devoted father and a noble man.

Gen. Augustus Jones, the second son, was a private
soldier in the second war with Great Britain, entering the
service at the age of sixteen, and belonging, with his elder
brother, to Capt, Dodge's company. For many years he
was largely interested in mining, milling, and mercantile
operations, and became a wealthy slave-owner and landed
proprietor in Missouri, and later in Texas. He was a per-
sonal friend of Gen. Jackson, and during both terms of the
latter as president served as United -States marshal of
Missouri, during which period his valuable services, involv-
ing the performance of many daring deeds, evoked the
formal acknowledgments of congress. He was for years
major-general of the Missouri state militia; by a small
majority was defeated on the Calhoun, or anti- Benton,
democratic ticket for congress in his district, in Missouri,
in 1844; commanded a company of volunteer cavalry in
the Mexican war, during which he was for a time military-
governor of Santa Fe, and in his younger days partici-
pated, as principal or second, in a number of duels. One
of these was the fatal affair between Lionel Brown of Potosi,
of whom Gen. Jones was second, and the noted Col. John
Smith T.* Mr. Brown was a lawyer and a nephew of the
famous Col. Aaron Burr, the slayer of Hon. Alexander
Hamilton. The duel took place on the Illinois shore of
the Mississippi River, at a point opposite Herculaneuni,
Mo., and resulted in the death of Mr. Brown, who at the
first fire received a bullet in the centre of his forehead.

Gen. Jones died in February, 1887, at the age of nearly

* John Smith T was the odd name of Col. Smith. To distinguish himself
from the many of the name, and also to indicate that he was from Tennessee,
he had the "T" affixed to his name as a regular part thereof, by legislatixc
enactment, in accordance with the laws of Missouri, lie is said to have
killed thirteen men in duels, and never to have missed his mark.

ULIbVb

miMiiuui

JOHN RICE JONES.

131

just pride

a private
tering the
ti his elder
r years he
mercantile
nd landed
was a per-
rms of the
narshal of
:es, involv-
ivoked the
5 for years
)y a small
iti- Benton,
n Missouri,
cavalry in
e military-
ys partici-
uels. One

1 of Potosi,
Col. John

hew of the
Alexander
is shore of
rculaneuni,
who at the
rehead.

2 of nearly

nguish himself
)m Tennesset;,
by legislative
said to have

ninety-one, at Columbus, Texas, whither he removed in
185 1. He was a freemason of high rank for nearly seventy
years. He was thrice married, and left numerous descend-
ants of great respectability. Among the sons was Augus-
tus Dodge Jones, an able editorial writer and the talented
author of the ingenious pamphlet "The True Method of
Electing the President and Vice-President of the United
States," which attracted considerable attention some years
ago. He removed to California in 1850, where he resided
some twenty years, and held various positions of trust, and
edited aad published a number of newspapers there and
in Nevada and old Mexico, as also later in Arkansas. For
some time he was deputy-surveyor of the port of San
Francisco, and for many years was grand worthy patriarch
of the order of Good Templars of the State of California.
He died in St. Louis, Mo., in December, 1885.

Another son, William Ashley Jones, is well remem-
bered as an early Iowa and Minnesota journalist and poli-
tician, and as a principal projector and executive officer
of the first Minnesota railroad, the Winona and St. Peter
— an enterprise in which he lost a large fortune. He was
for years — in the '50's — a deputy U.-S. land-surveyor, as
such subdividing extensive portions of Minnesota and Wis-
consin; was one of two U.-S. commissioners appointed in
^855 by President Pierce to adjudicate the claims of the
mixed-bloods of the Sioux nation of Indians to the great
Lake- Pepin reservation, in Minnesota Territory; has held
a number of honorable elective public offices, and at pres-
ent is president of the Yankton, Okobojo & Fort Buford
Railroad Company, a late project which has its head-
quarters at Pierre, South Dakota. A daughter became the
wife of Dr. Stephen D. Mullowney, an able physician, a
lieutenant in the Mexican war, and at the time of his
death, in 1856, U.-S. consul at Monterey, Mexico. An-
, other daughter married John V. Dunklin, a nephew of Gov.
Daniel Dunklin of Mi.ssouri. o

m..

mmm

132

EARLY ILLINOIS.

Hon. Myers Fisher Jones, the third son, named for
one of his father's distinguished Philadelphia friends, was a
man of excellent mind and heart, and in the'20's and '30's
prominently engaged in iron-smelting, milling, stock-deal-
ing, and farming — with his slaves — in Washington County,
Mo., which county he for a period represented in the state
legislature. As an enterprising business man and citizen,
he was selected as one of the representatives of his county
in each of the two great internal-improvement conventions
that met in St. Louis in April, 1835, and June, 1836, re-
spectively, and which were composed of delegates, many
in number and conspicuous in character, from every county
in the State. They were the first important public meet-
ings to discuss the railroad question in Missouri, and by
projecting several lines of railway, "foreshadowed the
system of roads now existing in the State and inaugurated
the net-work of intercommunication which at this day
encompasses the whole State." He was a member of the
important committee appointed by the last convention "to
raise means for a complete reconnoissance and survey of
the routes of the two proposed roads, to secure the ser-
vices of skilful and competent engineers, and to cause the
work to be done with as little delay as possible" — duties
which the committee duly performed.

Mr. Jones removed to Texas in 1839, where he became
extensively engaged in farming and stock-raising on an
eight-thousand-acre tract of land he had purchased, and
also became locally conspicuous in defending frontier set-
tlements against the frequent pillaging incursions of Ind-
ians or Mexicans, or both, he with his company at one
time being absent from home three months in pursuing
and punishing a desperate band of raiders, many of whom
were killed and taken prisoners. He died in Texas in
1846. Twice married, he left numerous descendants of
worth and most respectable character. One of his sons,

^jj^OK

— ^W"-<-<^-Sv ■v'-.-t;-

.v>» •-*■*•*>*/

W I MM II Ml NMH in im MH ■•••••■> ■•

JOHN RICE JONES.

133

lamed for
nds, was a
5 and '30's
tock-deal-
n County,
1 the state
ad citizen,
his county
Dnventions
;, 1836, re-
ates, many
ery county
iblic meet-
iri, and by
dovved the
naugurated
t this day
iber of the
mention "to
i survey of
re the ser-
o cause the
le"— duties

he became
sing on an
lased, and
rontier set-
ons of Ind-
any at one
n pursuing
y of whom
Texas in
:endants of
Df his sons,

Oscar Peery Jones, served three years in the Mexican
war, and another, Andrew Thompson Jones, was a young

j officer in the confederate army and twice made a prisoner-

* of-war.

W Gen. George Wallace Jones, the fourth son, named
for another esteemed friend of his father's, George Wallace,
'i son-in-law of Hon. John Gibson, secretary of the Indiana
Territory, was educated at Transylvania University, Lex-
; ington, Ky., whence he graduated on July 13, 1825. He
was bred to the bar, but ill-health prevented him from
practising. He was clerk of the U.-S. district court for
Ste. Genevieve County in 1826; served as aidc-dc-canip to
Gen. Henry Dodge in the Black- Hawk war, in several
engagements in which he took a prominent part, in one
having his horse shot from under him; was chosen colonel
of militia in 1832, and subsequently major-general; also
as judge of the county court, by appointment of Gov.
George B. Porter of Michigan, at the unanimous petition
of the bar.

In 1835, he was elected delegate to congress from the
territory of Michigan, and served two years as such, and
two years as delegate from Wisconsin Territory. In 1839,.
was appointed by President VanBuren as surveyor-general
of the Northwest; was removed in 1841 for his politics,
' but reappointed by President Polk, and remained in office
until 1849. I" 1848, was elected United-States senator
from Iowa for six years, and reelected on Dec. 20, 1852,
%,, for six years more, officiating as chairman of the comniit-
, tee on pensions and enrolled bills and on the committee
on territories. At the conclusion of his last term, he was
appointed by President Buchanan as minister to New Gra-
nada, now United States of Colombia, South America.
"Recalled by President Lincoln in 1861, he was on his
• arrival in Washington most kindly received by that great

wmmmm

134

EARLY ILLINOIS.

man, and feted and feasted by the powers that were, in-
cluding Secretary-of-state Seward, who subsequently issued
an order for ex-Minister Jones' arrest after the latter had
departed for his home at Dubuque, Iowa, and had him
imprisoned, for reasons never made known, in Fort Lafay-
ette, where he remained, for sixty -four days, until the
accession of Secretary Stanton, who caused him to be
immediately released.

Gen. Jones was the second of the lamented Hon. Jona-
than Cilley, M. C. from Maine, in his fatal duel, in 1838,
"on the Marlboro road to Baltimore from Washington
City," with Representative William J. Graves from Ken-
tucky. In au irticle on "Senate Eras," in T/ie Dubuque
Times s'»m . .' ago, Gen. M. M. Trumbull, a graphic
writer, thus reters to the subject of this sketch:

"Gen. J-: !!€;> ts today the most historic aHd perhaps the
most remarkable chir?cte; in the West. He sat in the
senate with Clay and Webster and Calhoun, with Silas
Wright, Benton, Crittenden, and Jefferson Davis, with Sum-
ner, Seward, Chase, and Douglass. In the early part of
the century, when Gen. Jackson was president, he sat in
the house of representatives with Henry A. Wise and
John Quincy Adams. His district included all of Michi-
gan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota. It now has over
thirty representatives in congress. He left the senate, not
because of personal defeat, but because his party had gone
out of power in Iowa. The intimate and trusted friend of
Andrew Jackson, the partner of Daniel Webster, he re-
members Jefferson. On terms of personal acquaintance
with nearly all of our celebrated warriors and statesmen,
he numbered among his friends and enemies the mighty
red kings, Black Hawk, Keokuk, and Poweshiek. A
drummer-boy in the war of 18 12, Gen. Jones is a young
man yet. He walks erect without a cane, with a light and
springy step, and claims none of the indulgence and im-

EOnSTT

1 1 lilt U I

I uu Mm tm» •>

JOHN RICE JONES.

135

were, in-
itly issued
latter had

had him
Drt Lafay-

until the
lim to be

ion. Jona-
1, in 1838,
/ashington
from Ken-
c Dubuque
a graphic

lerhaps the
sat in the
with Silas
with Sum-
rly part of
he sat in
Wise and
of Michi-
has over
senate, not
y had gone
d friend of
ter, he rc-
quaintance
statesmen,
the mighty
:shiek. A
s a young
a Hght and
:e and im-

munities of old age." The distinguished gentleman is still
in the possession of full mental and physical vigor at his
home in Dubuque, and bids fair to enj'oy life for many
years to come.

Of Gen. George Wallace Jones' sons, George Rice Gra-
tiot Jones was a captain of artillery in the confederate
army, and as such taken prisoner at the surrender of Fort
Henry and sent as the latter to the Union prison on John-
son's Island, in Lake Erie; another, Charles Scott Dodge
Jones, also served in the Southern army, as an aide-de-
camp on the staflf of Maj.-Gen. Bushrod R. Johnson, until
the former's capture in battle as a prisoner-of-war by the
federals, who confined him in Fort Delaware for many
months; while the other son, William Augustus Bodley
Jones, being opposed to secession, early entered and served
in the Union army. The first two were graduates of the
Western Military Institute at Nashville, Tenn., in which
Hon. James G. Blaine was at the time a professor, and the
third named was partially educated there. Prof. Blaine
was there introduced to Gen. Jones by Hon. Henry Clay,
in 1 8 50- 1, as Mr. Blaine some years ago in Washington
reminded Gen. Jones,

William Powell Jones, the fifth and youngest son,
at the date of his untimely death, in July, 1834, from
cholera, which he took when crossing the Mississippi River
in a canoe at Dubuque, then in Michigan Territory, and
died of shortly after reaching the western shore, was a
[passed-midshipman in the United States navy, and very
[shortly would have been commissioned a lieutenant, in
[which capacity he had acted in regular service at sea.
He had just returned from a prolonged tour on the Conti-
nent and in England and Wales, for which he had obtained
[leave of absence for a year, ano \*^as visiting his relatives in
Ithe West before again reporting for auty at his post. Of a

136

EARLY ILLINOIS.

bright mind, high-toned, and very ambitious, as well as of
most engaging manners, he was a very promising young
officer, as existing testimonials of his superiors in rank
declare, and, if spared, in all probability would have in
time attained an enviable rank and name in the history of
the naval service of his country.

Eliza Jones, the eldest daughter of Judge John Rice
Jones, was married, in Missouri, to Hon. Andrew Scott,
who was a native of Virgiuia, where he fitted himself for
the law. He removed to Missouri at an early day, and
was elected clerk of the house of representatives of the
first territorial general assembly, and acted in the same
capacity for that body at several succeeding sessions. In
1820, he was appointed, by President Monroe, U.-S. judge
for Arkansas Territory, and as such officer organized that
territory at "the Post of Arkansas." He was a man of
much legal and juridical ability, and of the highest char-
acter, and throughout a long life a universally-respected
citizen of Arkansas,

One of the historical incidents in his life in Arkansas
was his killing of Gen. Hogan* in a personal rencontre at
Little Rock, in 1827. Gen. Hogan, who was a large and
powerful man, while Judge Scott was only of medium
size, attacked the latter, and knocking him down with
a tremendous blow of the fist, killed him it was thought
by the by-standers. Recovering in a moment, however,
he sprang to his feet, and drawing the blade of his sword-
cane, then commonly carried, quickly advanced upon Gen,
Ho.;an and drove the long, slender, keen weapon entirely
through the latter's body. Gen. Hogan received a mortal
wound, from which he a minute or two later dropped dead
at his antagonist's feet, but not before he, Hogan, had
desperately drawn th^. reeking blade from his body and

* It is believed by the writer tliat this was his name.

IIIMtllllSIl

JOHN RICE JONES.

137

well as of
ng young
s in rank
i have in
history of

[ohn Rice
ew Scott,
imself for
' day, and
/es of the
the same
sions. In
L-S. judge
lized that
a man of
;hest char-
-respected

Arkansas

mcontrc at
arge and
medium

own with
thought
however,

lis sword -
pon Gen.

n entirely
a mortal
ped dead
gan, had
3ody and

-with it made a frantic lunge at Judge Scott, which would
have instantly killed him by piercing him through the
neck had not the innumerable folds of si u ■. Italian silk
cravat, worn by Judge Scott, eflfectually tarned aside the
deadly weapon from its fatal course. Judge Scott imme-
diately surrendered himself, and on his trial was acquitted
by the jury without leaving their box in the court-room.

Among many descendants of Judge Scott are his chil-
dren: Hon. John R. Homer Scott of Russellville, Ark., an
ex-state senator and a captain in the confederate army;
Mrs. J. Russell Jones, wife of the U.-S. minister to Belgium
under his warm personal friend, President Grant; and the
late Mrs. Benjamin Campbell, wife of the ex-U.-S. marshal
for the northern district of Illinois,* both of which latter
gentlemen reside in Chicago.

Harriet Jones, the second daughter of Judge Jones,
Avas twice married. Her first husband was Thomas Brady,
who for many years was a prominent merchant and busi-
ness man of St. Louis, as a member of the old and wealthy
firm of McKnight & Brady."f* He never held any public
ofiice; was born in Ireland, March 17, 1781; married to
Miss Jones in Missouri in 18 14; and died near St. Louis,
October 11, 1821. This union was blessed with five chil-
dren, one of whom became the wife of Col. George W.
Campbell, deceased, late of Chicago; one the wife of Dr.
Jacob Wyeth, a native of Cambridge, Mass.; and another
the wife of Mr. Ferdinand Rozier of Ste. Genevieve.

* Mr. and Mrs. Campbell are the parents of Mrs. Cien. O. E. Habcock,
widow of one of Gen. Grant's staff-officers.

t The members of this firm were John McKnight and Thomas Urady, and
are not to be confused with their respective brothers, Thomas McKnifjht and
James Brady, who under the style of Brady & McKnight were a later-formed
firm than the preceding, though latterly contemporaneous with it. Says
Darby: "The early records of deeds still show the imnie.n.se amount of real
estate owned by these firms in St. Louis city and county, and other counties
of the State. In their day and lime they also did the largest mercantile
business in the City of St. Louis. "

138

EARLY ILLINOIS.

!|:)

Some years after the death of Mr. Brady, his widow-
became the wife of the celebrated Hon. John Scott of Ste.
Genevieve, an eminent lawyer and a successful politician,
who figured prominently in the early history of Missouri
as territorial councillor, delegate in congress for four
years, a member of the first State constitutional con-
vention, and representative in congress from 1822 to 1826.
He was a native, as was also his brother Judge Andrew
Scott, of Hanover County, Virginia, and a graduate of
Princeton College. Says a recent historian:* "John
Scott, a great lawyer, would have been noticeable any-
where, with his long white cue of hair hanging grace-
fully down his shoulders, or else clubbed and tucked up
with a comb. A man whose conversation would interest
you even in a fit of the toothache — a suave, courteous,,
peppery gentleman of the old school, who bowed and com-
plimented and swore, as might be expected from the son
of a planter of 'the slashes of Hanover,' who always car-
ried dirk and pistol on his person, and was always ready
to give and receive a challenge." He died at Ste. Gene-
vieve in 1861. His descendants are numerous and highly
respectable, among them the wife of Hon. Samuel Mont-
ford Wilson, the eminent lawyer of California, who for a
time was influentially recommended for the position of
secretary of the interior in President Cleveland's cabinet.

The daughters of Judge Jones were high-spirited women
of marked intellectuality and character, and, like their
brothers, were "a credit to the stock from which they
sprung." In concluding this imperfect memoir, we repro-
duce the following observations, made by a well-known
writer.f last above quoted, who in speaking of Judge Jones'

* Scharf, in his " History of St. Louis City and County. "

+ Franc B. Wilkie— "Poliuto**— the talented and versatile author and
journalist, in a biographical sketch of Gen. George Wallace Jones, in TAe
Chicago Times of February 20, l886.

■iiiiitaUiitt.

widow
of Ste.
litician^
Missouri
3r four
al con-
to 1826,
Andrew
luate of
" John
)le any-
r grace-
:ked up
interest
mrteouSy
nd com-
i the son
;ays car-
ers ready
te. Gene-
d highly
il Mont-
ho for a
sition of
:abinet.

d women
ike their
lich they
ive repro-
U-known
[ge Jones'

JOHN RICE JONE.^.

139

children, says: "It is rare in the history of families that
so many sons have been born who were so even in their
developments, and of whom each was characterized by a
high order of ability both from nature and acquirement.
Each of them rose far above the average level of men,
and each played a conspicuous part in the drama of life."

Note to be read after second paragraph on page 108:
Since writing the above, the author has learned from a reliable source that
John Rice Jones owned slaves at Vincennes, Kaskaskia, Ste. Genevieve, and
Potosi, or during the entire period dating from shortly after his coming to the
Northwest Territory, in 1786, if not before, to the time of his death, in.
Missouri, in 1824. All of his children were likewise slave-owners.

author and
ones, in The

RICE JONES.

h %

A BRIEF MEMOIR OF THE LAST REPRESENTATIVE OF RANDOLPH
COUNTY IN THE INDIANA TERRITORIAL GENERAL ASSEM-
BLY, AND THE VICTIM OF AN HISTORICAL
TRAGEDY OF EARLY ILLINOIS.

By W. A. Burt Jones of St. Paul, Minnesota.

* * * "Oft and well
Remembrance shall his story tell,
Affection of his virtues speak,
With beaming eye and burning cheek."

RICE JONES, the gifted son and eldest child of John
Rice Jones, by his first marriage, was born at Brecon,
Brecknockshire, Wales, Sept. 28, 1781. In the autumn of
1784, he accompanied his parents to Philadelphia, whither
the husband and father had preceded the wife and son in
the foregoing spring to first satisfy himself as to the advis-
ability of locating his family in the United States, and a
few years later removed with the family to Vincennes.
At an early age he was matriculated at Transylvania
University, Lexington, Kentucky, the a/j^a mater of so
many eminent public men, and in due time graduated
therefrom in letters and with much distinction. He sub-
sequently took his degree in the medical department of
the great University of Pennsylvania; but forming a dis-
like for the medical profession after a brief practice, he
abandoned it and entered the celebrated law-school at
Litchfield, Conn., at that time "the first institution of the
kind in the United States,"* and which he quitted with
increased honor after a period of intense application to

* American reprint of " Chambers' Encyclopadia. "

140

RICE JONKS.

141

^DOLPH

)f John
Brecon,
umn of
whither

son in
e advis-

and a
^cennes.
ylvania

of so
iduated
rie sub-
nent of

a dis-
tice, he
lool at

of the
ed with
ition to

study.* Returning to the West, he opened an office at
Kaskaskia toward the close of 1806, and began the prac-
tice of law.

The career that opened before this extraordinary young
man, intellectually brilliant, broadly educated, thoroughly
equipped for his chosen profession and a life of usefulness
and honor, and filled with the noblest aspirations, was
iideed most promising, and moreover one that would un-
doubtedly have been realized in all respects but for his
unfortunate active engagement in local politics, which then
and for some four or five years later gave rise, in the west-
ern counties particularly, to party spirit of an intensely
rancorous nature, and which raged with an unrestrained
and almost incredible violence. Bitter partisanship on
both sides characterized all the prominent politicians, con-
spicuous among whom was Rice Jones, who, though still
very young, had risen by force of talents, zeal, ar d energy
to the leadership of his party.*

It is not absolutely clear just what all the political
aififerences between the parties were, but it is sure that the
Indiana- Illinois territorial division question was a leading
issue, coupled with the long- prominent slavery question,
and equally certain that in time a great deal of personal
jealousy and animosity aggravated, if it did not quite
supercede, the political feeling. The long-continued ex-
citement reached its greatest height in and immediately
succeeding the memorable election of July 25, 1808, in
Randolph and St. Clair counties, which was recognized as
a life-and-death struggle between the pro-divisionists and
their opponents throughout the territory of Indiana, and
in which, as has been stated in the biographical sketch of
John Rice Jones, victory perched upon the banner of the
divisionists or anti-Harrisonians in both counties. In
Randolph County, Rice Jones was triumphantly elected

* Reynolds' " Pioneer History of Illinois. "

142

EARLY ILLINOIS.

representative in the lower house of the general assembly,
and John Messinger, a member of the State constitutional
convention of 18 18 and otherwise prominent, was chosen
to represent St. Clair County in the same body.

It was a self-evident fact, in view of the then composi-
tion of the legislature, that the triumph of the Illinois
party would result in the final overthrow of the Harrison-
ians, hence the bitter fight and feeling; and this was con-
summated by the election, at the next session of the
general assembly, as delegate in congress of Hon. Jesse
B. Thomas, speaker of the house, afterward president of
the first State constitutional convention, and a judge of
the first territorial court of Illinois, who speedily secured
the separation of Illinois from Indiana Territory and its
erection into independent autonomy. This fidelity to
principle, and also to his plighted word and written bond
— for John Rice Jones, then a councillor, to make assur-
ance doubly sure, is said to have required both from him
before agreeing to his election* — brought upon his devoted
head the execration of the anti-division party throughout
the Territory, who, while they justly recognized him as
the final agent in their defeat, very unreasonably and irra-
tionally charged him, a notoriously avowed and foresworn
divisionist, with perfidy, and in one community, Vincennes,
carried their malevolence to such an excess as to hang
him in effigy.

At Kaskaskia, the Harrisonians' chagrin and keen dis-
appointment, both personal and political, at defeat in the
county election and that of Delegate Thomas, assumed
the character of deep-seated hate in some whose rage
could scarcely be contained, and personal conflicts between
gentlemen on either side were constantly imminent. This
state of afifairs continued to grow from bad to worse, until
it culminated in the assassination of Rice Jones, a leading

* Dunn's "Indiana," and Ford's "History of Illinois."

mmm

RICE TONES.

143

lembly,
utional
chosen

)mposi-
Illinois
arrison-
as con-
of the
n. Jesse
dent of
Lidge of
secured
and its
ility to
;n bond
e assur-
om him
devoted
ughout
him as
nd irra-
Iresworn
cennes,
o hang

:en dis-
It in the
Issumed
\e rage
>etween
This
ie, until
[leading

member of one of the parties, which in a measure satisfied
the mahgnity of the one side, warned the other as to what
they might reasonably expect from their unscrupulous
enemies if the antagonistic conditions between them were
maintained, and "quitted the party feuds for a time," if
not practically permanently.

In order to review all the circumstances immediately
connected with the killing of Rice Jones, we must turn
back to an hour in the past period of the heated political
canvass preceding the election named, in which a challenge
to mortal combat under the rules of the cocfe duello passed
between Rice Jones and the Hon. Shadrach Bond, an ex-
representative in the territorial legislature, afterward a
delegate in congress from Illinois Territory, and the first
governor of the State of Illinois. Rice Jones accepted
the challenge, named pistols as the weapons, and at the
appointed time the principals, with their attendants, Wm.
Morrison as Jones' second and Dr. James Dunlap as Bond's
second, and their surgeons, met on an island in the Missis-
sippi River between Kaskaskia and vSte. Genevieve.

In those days, pistols and guns were provided with the
now obsolete hair-trigger, which, as defined by Webster,
was "so constructed as to discharge a fire-arm by a very
slight pressure, as by the touch of a hair," and when the
parties had taken their respective positions and were pre-
paring to be in readiness for the word "fire," Rice Jones
inadvertently touched the sensitive trigger of his weapon,
which instantly exploded. The fact that the bullet from
the exploded pistol entered the ground a few feet from
Rice Jones and not in the direction of Mr. Bond, perfectly
satisfied the latter that the shot was totally accidental,
and, high-toned gcntlemai' that he was, he so unhesitat-
ingly declared it when his second, the infamous Dr. James
Dunlap, exclaimed that the accidental explosion was Jones'
fire, and that Bond might and should fire at his adversary

.---rffiPW!'

144

EARLY ILLINOIS.

^'l

;|l

in return. The contemptible proposition was scorned by
Mr. Bond, and the difficulty between the principals was
settled on the spot on terms equally honorable to both.

The difficulty between them had been entirely of a
political nature, or at least not resultant from a deep-
seated personal enmity, and therefore was susceptible of
comparatively easy adjustment; but such was not true
with regard to the ill-feeling which had long existed be-
tween Rice Jones and Dr. Dunlap, and which became more
intense as a result of the latter's unmanly position on the
subject of the unfortunate accident on the duelling ground.
There ensued between them a bitter controversy, which
was taken up by their respective friends, and that extended
to an angry newspaper contention, in which the scathing
and acrimonious pen of Rice Jones, particularly as em-
ployed in the composition of a certain satirical poem,
drove his adversaries to a pitch of fury closely bordering
on mania, and evoked from them dire threats of personal
violence upon the object of their rancor.

The ill-feeling of older standing, above referred to, had
its origin in the arbitrary official conduct of Michael Jones*
and Elijah Backus, land-commissioners at Kaskaskia, to
which they were appointed in 1804; conduct which was
deliberately pursued with the purpose to militate, as it did
greatly, against the interests of not only Rice Jones and
his father, but many of the people of the district, large
numbers of whom, as their personal and political enemies
the commissioners, especially Jones, taking advantage of
their official position to wreck vengeance upon the objects
of their dislike, years subsequently "branded vjxih perjury
and forgery to an alarming extent — many of the best citi-
zens in the county being stigmatized with those crimes,
without cause, and when they had neither means nor man-
ner of defending themselves "f against the infamous and

* Xo relation of Rice Jones.

+ Reynolds' "Pioneer History of Illinois," pp. 297-8.

RICE JONES.

145

ed by

IS was
.th.

r of a
deep-
ible of
»t true
ed be-
e more
on the
rround.
, which
:tended
cathing
as em-
poem,
)rdering
Dcrsonal

unfounded charges. Such men as Michael Jones* and
EHjah Backus were the friends of Dr. Dunlap and other
mortal enemies of Rice Jones.

The arbitrary conduct first referred to was justly strongly*
resented by many, among them John Rice Jones and his
son Rice, who were not the men to tamely submit to the
gross impositions of the commissioners or any one else,
and who in consequence were thereafter made the special
victims of the official despotism of the commissioners in
question, so far as it was possible for them to exercise it ;
and the later political popularity and triumph, in July,
1808, of Rice Jones tended still more to make him the
particular object of the dislike of his political and per-
sonal enemies, prominently among whom were the above-
named Michael Jones and Elijah Backus, who, as is a
matter of record, deliberately "urged Dr. Dunlap and
others to persecute Rice Jones in every way imaginable."i-
A part of this persecution was a newspaper attack by
them upon him, who, as has been stated, got the better
of them in his replies and retorts. Their threats then
made against his life became, in November, 1808, so
open and loud, and rumors of the existence of a plot
to kill him so definite, as to no longer be endured with
the silence with which they had up to that time been
treated. John Rice Jones, who had just removed with his
family from Vincennes to Kaskaskia, accordingly addressed
the following note to Elijah Backus:

"Kaskaskia, 25th Nov., 180S.
"Sir: — I have just heard of your threats of yesterday,
that if my son did not go out of the country he should in

* It should be noted that Michael Jones was the Harrisonian candidate for
delegate to congress, in October, 1808, and that his defeat only tended to
more greatly incense him against his political opponents and those who were
so unfortunate as to fall under t4ie ban of his vicious displeasure.

+ McDonough's "History of Randolph County," p. 105.

146

EARLY ILLINOIS.

a few days be put out of existence — *// will be done, it
shall be done' I now inform you that he will remain here,
and if he should be murdered, either by you or through
•your instigation, I shall know where to apply. I must,
however, confess that the threats of poltroons can be con-
sidered in no other light than as those of assassins.

"Yours, John Rice Jones."

It is not known what immediate effect this communica-
tion had upon the conspirators, but it did not prevent them
from carrying into execution to the letter their diabolical
plot, for on December 7, following, Rice Jones was shot
down in cold blood in a public thoroughfare of Kaskaskia,
by James Dunlap, the cat's-paw of his co-conspirators,
none of whom had the nerve to assume the responsibility
of the enactment of the bloody deed they, were capable
of conceiving in the wickedness of their hearts.

The following particulars of the deplorable event are
taken from a detailed account of the murder and circum-
stances attending it, contained in a book found some years
ago in the old mansion of Judge John Morrison, in Water-
loo, Monroe County, Illinois, when that structure was being
demolished to make room for other improvements. Ex-
tracts from "Judge Morrison's old musty record of the
killing" were published in The Belleville News-Democrat
of February 18, 1887, and are here reproduced. This
singularly-preserved, detailed, and authentic account, evi-
dently made not a great while after the assassination, and
in the place of its occurrence, from oral accounts of eye-
witnesses of the tragedy, and by a man minutely informed
on the subject, possecses a great historic value and sheds
new light upon the sad occurrence. It testifies that:

"Rice Jones was shot down by Dunlap about six yards
above the old elm tree. Dunlap came out of E. Backus'
house about ten minutes beforv, he shot Jones. He (Dunlap)

"ULISIS

■ I IN* II Ml I

RICE JONES.

147

was there in company with Backus. John Menard was
at Dunlap's when he came galloping home from killing
Jones, and told his wife, m the presence of John Menard,
that he had 'killed the rascal Jones.' John Clino, living
with James Gilbreath, and Robert Morrison saw Dunlap
shoot Jones. McCall was talking at the picket fence of
James Gilbreath's yard, McCall on the inside and Dunlap
on the outside of the pickets, when Rice Jones passed out
of Robert Morrison's yard, going down to J. Edgar's, when,
after he had passed Dunlap and McCall down the further
side of the street, Dunlap jumped off his horse and hitched
his bridle on the pickets where he and McCall were talk-
ing, and started after Jones, who was walking down the
street, when he crossed the street up behind him, a dis-
tance of one yard, and Dunlap told him to stop. Jones
immediately turned around, and Dunlap said: 'I am going
to revenge myself,' and instantly fired his pistol, about
three feet from the body of Jones. The ball entered his
body on the right side, just below the collar-bone, and
came out behind, about five inches below the top of his
shoulder, close by the backbone. William Morrison and
McCall ran to Jones, and several persons asked him what
was the matter, and he replied: 'That rascal, Dunlap, has
shot me.' And Morrison asked him for what reason, and
Jones answered: 'I don't know;' and said: 'I am gone,'
and expired in about five minutes.

"The moment Dunlap shot Jones, he ran back to his
horse where McCall had stood, jumped on him, and gal-
loped off as fast as possible to his house, where he told his
wife, in presence of John Menard, that he had 'shot that
rascal Jones,' and immediately loaded his pistols and started
off down the road toward the Point, in company with R.
Porter, and has never been seen since."

Here the account goes on to say:

"It is well known that Backus, Robinson, Gilbreath,
10

148

EARLY ILLINOIS.

Finney, Michael Jones, and Langlois were in Cahises
holding counsel to kill this man Rice Jones. The day
Dunlap sent a challenge to William Morrison, Backus,
Robinson, and Gilbreath were at Dunlap's, with T. Smith
holding the door fast, while Capt. Bilderback stood at the
door a long time and could not get in, although his daugh-
ter was at the point of death. At last Dunlap opened the
door, and said 'the men were in council for that purpose^
intimating the killing of young Jones, and Gilbreath an-
swered Bilderback and said his daughter would not die
for one hour. J. Edgar saw these men go down to Dun-
lap's that day and remain nearly two hours, and from the
movements of these men back and forward from Dunlap's
house for some time before that day and on the very day
Jones was shot, [there was no doubt] that these men were
accessories to the death of Rice Jones."

If there were lacking anything to thoroughly convince
the world that the persons who compassed the death of
Rice Jones were actuated by the most virulent passions,
the measure of proof would be filled to overflowing by
the following blasphemous and altogether unparalleled
utterances, quoted from the Morrison record, of one of
them, whose spirit may be presumed to have characterized
all of the conspirators: "James Finney* said in Folk's
'that if he met Jesus Christ in the street he would give
his hand in preference to Dunlap, and if Dunlap went to
hell he would go to hell also in preference to going to
heaven ; and if Dunlap was to go to heaven, he would get
a higher seat in heaven than Jesus Christ, and be set at ,
the right hand of God for killing Rice Jones.' " §

The friends of Dr. Dunlap farcically pretended to claim |

* This James Finney is presumed to be the one of that name who from |

^795 to 1803 was one of the twelve men who constituted the Randolph ?

County court of common pleas, other prominent members of which were ;

Justices John Edgar, Pierre Menard, and Robert Reynolds. ;>

ULISYS
■IMHMiaHMiNimwMiiM

RICE JONES.

149

Zahises
he day-
Backus,
. Smith
at the
daugh-
ned the
*)itrpose'
ath an-
not die
o Dun-
rom the
)unlap's
ery day-
en were

onvince
eath of
assions,
/ing by
ralleled

one of
cterized

Folk's
Id give
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that he did the killing in self-defence, but eye-witnesses
declared it, as do all historians, a deliberate and cold-
blooded murder, by the law of both God and man — a fact
of which Dunlap was perfectly well aware and knew would
be easily proven, as is evidenced by his immediate aban-
donment of wife and children and flight to far-off Texas,
as was subsequently learned, whence he never returned to
answer for his crime in the temporal courts of Illinois.
It was no doubt a part of the prearranged plan for Dunlap
to flee the country, that he could not be brought to trial,
in which his evidence would have hopelessly implicated
his companions in crime as immediate accessories to the
assassination. The case was brought to the attention of
the grand jury, which, after bringing in an indictment
against Dunlap for murder, also indicted Michael Jones,
because "he did, on the 6th day of December, 1808, incite,
move, aid, and abet, feloneously and with malice afore-
thought, the said James Dunlap to commit the crime of
murder."

When the case of The United States versus Michael
Jones was reached on the calendar of the territorial circuit
court, in September, 1809, Judges Alexander Stuart, Oba-
diah Jones, and Jesse B. Thomas presiding, the prosecut-
ing-attorney, B. H. Doyle, presenting an affidavit of Archi-
bald McKnabb, "an important witness," to the effect that
he was too sick to attend court, asked for a continuance
of the trial, which being granted, Michael Jones was ad-
mitted to bail in the sum of $3000, his sureties being John
McFerron, Shadrach Bond, jr., Thomas Leavens, Henry
Leavens, Henry Connor, and Samuel Cochran. The post-
poned case came up for trial on April 10, 18 10, before a
jury consisting of Wm. Rector, Paul Harralson, Thomas
Wideman, Wm. McBride, John Anderson, George Frank-
lin, David Anderson, John McFerron, Henry Connor, Geo.
Creath, Jacob Funk, and James Fulton, who brought in a

ISO

EARLY ILLINOIS.

verdict of acquittal. As "there were probable grounds for
preferring the indictment," the court "exonerated the prose-
cutor— John Rice Jones } — from paying the costs!"*

The fact that among the jurors were two of the accused
man's bondsmen and sympathetic personal friends, and
other peculiar circumstances of the conduct of the case
and trial, may not have any significance ; but it is fair to
infer that men who would be so far influenced by "hate
that sins" and rank envy as to coolly plot the deliberate
murder of a fellowman, would not scruple to avail them-
selves of any foul means that could be employed toward
the acquittal of one on trial for complicity in a crime to
the committing of which they all contributed and in the
perpetration of which they gloried — the death of one whose
brilliancy, virtues, personal popularity with the people,
and promise of great political and professional success,
filled his enemies with a jealousy which, with the disap-
pointment of political defeat and the pruriency of personal
enmity, simply made the matter of his removal impera-
tively necessary to their peace of mind. These are the
conclusions that force themselves upon the mind when the
facts and circumstances preceding and attending the mur-
der are studied in their true relations.

While it is a matter of historical record that "the whole
community mourned the death of this fine young man,
cut off in his prime by an assassin," it is equally certain
that the finding of the jury was not in accord with the
popular verdict ; for familiar as they must have been, from
the notoriously open threats and malevolent actions of
the enemies of the murdered man, with the circumstances
leading up to the killing, the people knew, however a jury
might decide, that James Dunlap was guilty of murder in
the first degreo, and that Michael Jones, Elijah Backus,
James Gilbreath, James Finney, and their worthy confrhes

* McDonough's " History of Randolph County, 111. "

ULISYS

■ I mill Ml ■•«■•■•

i*M »m*i *••

RICE JONES.

151

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I^B'^M**''

were immediate accessories to the atrocious crime; and as
such they will go down in history — gloriously to them, in
their own estimation, be it said, if they died entertaining
the shocking sentiments heretofore quoted as expressed
by the blasphemous Finney, one of the immortal band.

Of the abilities and qualities of Rice Jones, it is here
and now unnecessary to speak at length, as all writers
concede his extraordinary capacity, his brilliant talents,
and his varied mental attainments; while his noble per-
sonal characteristics were such as to greatly endear him
to the mass of the people, whose hearts were not of that
unhappy kind that beat in the breasts of his implacable
enemies. However preeminent a man may be intellectu-
ally, if detestable traits and odious conduct distinguish
him, "the entire community" in which he dwells never
grieves for him, as did the people of Kaskaskia and the
county of Randolph for Rice Jones. While they abhorred
his slayers and their bloody deed, they mourned his death
and his tragic fate, because

" His life was noble, and the elements
So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, This was a man."

Ex-Gov. Reynolds of Illinois, who knew him personally
and was intimate with many public men and others who
knew him well, writing so late as<, 1852, declares that
"judging from the character he acquired at school and
from what was known of him at Kaskaskia, it is not
improbable that his superior was not in the country before
or after his death. '"* * He possessed a strong intellect
and was also endowed with an excessive ambition, together
with an ardent and impetuous disposition that showed the
Welsh temperament more than his father," and that, alto-
gether, "he was a young man of exceedingly great prom-
ise." Another historian, in concluding a notice of him.

516621

152

EARLY ILLINOIS.

declares that in his untimely death "the bar of Illinois
was deprived of one of its most promising members and
politics of a bright particular star;" and all writers who
have occasion to speak of him, without exception, express
similar glowing opinions of him.

One of his classmates at the Transylvania University,
who afterward became nationally eminent as a U.-S. sena-
tor from Kentucky and as vice-president of the United
States, the learned and brilliant Col. Richard Mentor John-
son, often spoke of him to Gen. Geo. Wallace Jones, who sat
with Johnson in the national senate and was a half-brother
of Rice Jones, and declared him, the latter, one of the most
gifted men he had ever known. Such having been the
case, who can help but think that had he not fallen a
victim to the deadly hatred of assassins he would have
become one of the most distinguished sons of his adopted
State, and left a name that she would have proudly cher-
ished forever among those of the illustrious men who have
made her history so glorious. Yet she will not forget him
whose able and zealous advocacy of her claims to recogni-
tion as a territory was largely instrumental in defeating
the machinations of her enemies and speedily placing her
on the way to early admission and that proud place among
the sisterhood of states which she soon achieved, has ever
maintained, and will continue to grace.*

* The address of welcome of the citizens of Randolph County to Gov.
Ninian Edwards on his arrival in Kaskaskia in June, 1809, opens thus: "Pre-
suming that you may be in some degree unacquainted with the feelings and
sentiments of the citizens at this important crisis, we can not forbear to
express our hopes that you will take into consideration that the majority,
whose incessant exertions eflfectuated a division of the territory, have a claim
on your excellency for the calumnies, indignities, and other enormities which
those who opposed that measure never ceased to heap upon the friends and
advocates of the present system of our government. In announcing these
truths, while we deplore that the gentleman (Jesse B. Thomas] who was
elected to congress and ultimately succeeded in obtaining justice for us, was
hung in effigy at Vincennes, by the opposers of the division, and that one

RICE JONES.

153

Still he died neither unwept nor unsung, and chroniclers
of early Illinois history will continue to pay that just
tribute to his talents, his character, and his patriotic ser-
vices first contained in the writings of that impartial histo-
rian and nobleman, the late ex-Gov. John Reynolds. Well
may each one who has honorably figured in the history
of his country, his state, or his community,

"Wish no other herald,
No other speaker of his living actions,
To keep his honor from corruption,
Than such an honest chronicler."

To this day, the spot near "the old elm tree," where
Rice Jones fell mortally wounded and a moment afterward
expired, on that memorable December day, full four score
years ago, is pointed out to visitors by the people of Kas-
kaskia, where

" The soft memory of his virtues yet
Lingers, like twilight hues when the bright sun is set."

of the warmest friends and ablest advocates of the measure [Rice Jones] was
assassinated at Kaskaskia, in consequence of their machinations, we derive
great consolation from a firm belief that your excellency will gratify the virtu-
ous majority, to whose patriotic exertions the citizens are indebted for the
government of their choice, and your excellency your high station, with that
honorable indemnity which is in your gift, and which would be considered by
them as a remuneration for all those indignities, and a pledge of their future
support to your administration." — Edwards' " History of Illinois," pp. 29-30.

FERGUS' HISTORICAL SERIES, No. 32.

fERQUS PRINTINa COMPANY, OHIOAQO.

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