Morgan-Colbert County AlArchives Biographies.....Jones, William R. 1850 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 January 10, 2012, 2:10 am

Source: See below
Author: Smith & De Land, publishers

  WILLIAM R. JONES, was born in Tuscumbia, June 1, 1850, and is a son of John
Wesley and Mary Martha (Rather) Jones. His father was also a native of Alabama,
and was born in Marshall County about 1827, reared as a farmer, and received a
common-school education. W. B. Jones, grandfather of our subject, was a soldier
in the War of 1812, and one of the first settlers of Marshall County. He was a
minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

  W. R. Jones entered one of the first printing offices in the State, at
Somerville, and worked as a printer five years. He subsequently became one of
the first merchants of Decatur, where he remained eight years. He spent four
years at Tuscumbia as Superintendent of the Huntsville & Decatur Railroad, and
upon the completion of that line was appointed its agent at Decatur, where he
remained in charge of the company's affairs until his death, in December, 1884.

  Mr. Jones entered the Confederate service in the spring of 1862, as Second
Lieutenant of Company D, Seventh Alabama, and served with his regiment until the
close of the war. He was for a while a staff officer to General Hood, and was
promoted to a captaincy. Captain Jones returned to Decatur, was an esteemed
citizen, and served as a representative to the Constitutional Convention in
1875. He was thrice elected Mayor of Decatur, and was a leading member of the
Masonic and K. of H. fraternities. He was twice married. His first wife died in
1865, leaving him seven children, of whom four are living: William R. Paul, in
the railroad business at Houston, Texas; Samuel E., in the same business at St.
Louis; Edwin T. and Mrs. Bessie East.

  His second wife was Mrs. Zelia Hartsfield, of Morgan County. She is still
living at Decatur, and has three children: Mattie M., Nettie O., and Frank D.

  W. R. Jones has made Decatur his home since his youth; he received an academic
education and began to learn railroad business with his father at the age of
sixteen. In 1876 he was appointed agent at Grand Junction, thence went to
Memphis, and subsequently to New Orleans. In April, 1887, he was appointed agent
of the M. & C. R. R., at Decatur, and is in every way worthy of, and well fitted
for, this important trust. While Gen. Albert Sydney Johnston was at Decatur,
William R. Jones served as his private messenger for four months.

  Mr. Jones was united in marriage December 12, 1871, to Miss Matilda W. Banks,
daughter of Col. L. S. Banks. One child has been born to them, Maury Wesley.

  Mr. and Mrs. Jones are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and
he is a Knight of Honor.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

Northern Alabama: Historical and Biographical
Birmingham, Ala.: Smith and De Land
1888

PART IV.
MONOGRAPHS OF THE PRINCIPAL CITIES AND TOWNS IN NORTHERN AND CENTRAL ALABAMA,
TOGETHER WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF MANY OF THEIR REPRESENTATIVE PEOPLE.


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