JONES, John Welch, M. D., South Carolina, then E. Feliciana Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller
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Louisiana:  Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and
Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), pp. 210-211.  Edited by Alcée
Fortier, Lit.D.  Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.

Jones, John Welch, M. D., was born in South Carolina, Oct. 18, 1826.  He is a
descendant of revolutionary ancestors, both of his grand-fathers having fought
under Gen. Francis Marion.  He came to Louisiana in 1848, and was graduated in
medicine from the Tulane university of Louisiana, New Orleans, in 1852.  He
quickly established a large and lucrative practice in the parishes of East
Feliciana and East Baton Rouge and engaged actively in the yellow fever
epidemics of 1853, 1855 and 1857.  At the beginning of the Civil war he raised
a company (the plains cavalry) of 115 men, who elected him captain.  He was in
actual service as such until after the battle of Baton Rouge.  In 1865 he was
one of the victims of a steamboat boiler explosion on the Tombigbee river and
of 39 men he alone escaped instant death, but received injuries from which he
did not recover for more than 2 years.  The close of the war found him reduced
in fortune and broken in health; a failure in eyesight caused by the boiler
explosion barred him from the active practice of medicine, but with unshaken
fortitude he embarked in the drug business.  In 1869 he resumed the practice
of his profession and was continuously engaged therein until 1874 when he was
elected superintendent of the Insane Asylum of Louisiana.  At his official
inception he found that institution in a sad state of demoralization and want. 
The attendants had not been paid for many months; no funds were found in the
treasury; the patients were without clothing and the necessities of life, and
none would credit the asylum for $1.  It was here that the character and
energy of this remarkable man shone forth brilliantly. He at once bought
supplies and absolutely furnished the asylum for 3 months out of his own
pocket with no certainty of being remunerated.  His next step was to organize
the strongest of the patients into farm hands for the purpose of raising
vegetable and field products, which was an abundant success.  Having relieved
the institution from its pressing necessities, his energetic mind conceived
the idea of making brick on the grounds of the asylum with the view of
expanding its capacity, for even in those trying days Dr. Jones dreamed of a
time when Louisiana would be in a position to care for every insane man and
woman in the state instead of leaving them in jails to parch from summer's
heat and freeze from bitter cold.  After purchasing a cheap brick machine he
engaged in this enterprise with characteristic vigor soon had 3,000,000 bricks
of excellent quality.  This put him in a position to virtually force the
legislature to appropriate sufficient funds for the construction of a
magnificent building which was rapidly followed by the construction of 4 other
line buildings, thus increasing the capacity of the State Insane Asylum from
166 to over 600.  Having now fairly launched this institution on its career of
pride and usefulness he admitted all applicants, receiving 130 from New
Orleans in one day and thereby closing the doors of that notorious bedlam
known as the Marine hospital.  After having devoted 14 years to the care and
welfare of these sorrow-laden wards of the state, he resigned his position in
1888 and retired to the management of his estate.  Dr. Jones now resides at
Jackson, La.  Though nearly 88 years of age he is still engaged in the
management of his plantation and takes an active interest in everything that
makes for progress and the common welfare.  Dr. Jones is a Master Mason.  Dr.
Jones married Amaryntha Huff, a native of Mississippi, whose parents had also
come from South Carolina, with one of the earliest Mississippi colonies and
settled in Wilkinson county.  Of this union 10 children were born.  Those
surviving are:  Dr. Philip Huff Jones, of Baton Rouge,  Dr. George Hilton
Jones, of Lutcher,  Mrs. George Keller, of Jackson,  Miss Lily Jones, of
Jackson, and  W. Carruth Jones, of Baton Rouge.