LaSalle-Caldwell County Louisiana Archives Biographies.....Jones, Francis November 15, 1879 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Mike Miller http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00004.html#0000912 July 23, 2013, 10:16 pm Source: A History of Louisiana, v.3, pp. 18-19; 1925 Author: Henry E. Chambers Hon. FRANCIS ERNEST JONES, judge of the Thirtieth District of Louisiana, embracing the parishes of La Salle and Caldwell, is one of the ablest jurists of the state, and a man of spotless integrity and fine scholarship. He was born in Henderson County, Kentucky, November 15, 1879, a son of Hugh Allen and Frances Elizabeth (Collins) Jones. A Virginian by birth, Hugh Allen Jones early moved to Henderson County, Kentucky, where he is still residing, although a venerable man past eighty- five. For many years he was connected with the tobacco industry of his region, and his farm is a valuable property. While he was in thorough sympathy with the Southern cause, owing to a physical disability he was not acceptable to the Confederate government as a soldier and so had to render service in other ways. A stern, self-contained man, he has given much thought to public affairs, and has held the office of justice of the peace among others of local character. The Baptist Church has in him one of its most conscientious members, and he is equally zealous as a Mason. When Judge Jones was an infant of three months he lost his mother, who died at that time, leaving four sons and one daughter, namely: Clara, who is the wife of James Mudge, of Henderson County, a farmer and deputy county clerk; Claude C, who was a merchant of Pottsville, Kentucky, and died August 16, 1916; James R., who is head of an insurance company of Dayton, Ohio; Kendrick A., who is a farmer of Henderson County, Kentucky, and Judge Jones, who was the youngest child by his father’s first marriage. Subsequently Hugh A. Jones married his sister-in-law, Mary Collins, who is still living, and they have one son, Harry E., a farmer of Henderson County. Judge Jones was reared on his father’s farm; and early learned valuable lessons of frugality and industry, and the dignity of labor well performed. After attending the local schools he induced his father to assist him in beginning to secure a better education than fell to the lot of the majority of farmers’ sons of his day and locality. Therefore, at the age of nineteen years, with his father’s promise to defray his expenses for the first two years, he became a student of Bethel College, Russell, Kentucky. At the expiration of the period bargained for by his father the ambitious youth found it necessary to exert himself in order to secure the necessary funds, and he turned his hand to many occupations, and in all of them did well, for such is the character of the man. During one summer he traveled about the country selling enlarged pictures, and not only was successful in taking a large number of legitimate orders, but enjoyed the trip and made a number of warm friends by his pleasing manner and sincerity. He also was successful in writing insurance, while in the school- room he made a most enviable record for faithfulness and ability as an educator. For one year he taught a school in Kentucky, for another he taught in Mississippi and in 1906 he came to Louisiana and taught at Aimwell and Harrisonburg, Catahoula Parish, and Eden and Jena, La Salle Parish. When he entered the educational field his salary was fifty dollars per month; when he left it he was receiving one hundred dollars per month. In the meanwhile he received his degree of Bachelor of Arts from his alma mater and was reading law at night. These studies he supplemented by one year at the Louisiana State University, legal department, and in 1911, having passed the requisite examinations, was admitted to the bar. Judge Jones immediately entered upon the practice of his profession in partnership with George Ware, a son of Judge Ware, this association terminating in 1914. From the beginning of his connection with the bar of La Salle Parish his ability was recognized as well as his special fitness for the bench, but according to the law of Louisiana regulating such matters a man is not eligible as a jurist until he has had five years of practice at the bar, therefore Judge Jones’ election to the bench was delayed until he had fulfilled this requirement, but in 1916 he was chosen by the people of the parishes of La Salle and Caldwell, and is still capably discharging the responsibilities of this high office. His decisions are marked by their soundness and rigid fairness, and very few of them are reversed by the higher courts. He is a Blue Lodge and Royal Arch Mason, and he and his wife belong to the Eastern Star. In religious faith he is a Baptist and his wife is a Methodist. On July 24, 1912, Judge Jones married Miss Sallie B. Bennett, a daughter of Henry S. Bennett, a planter of Little River, Catahoula Parish. Judge and Mrs. Jones have four children: Clara Louise, Martha Katharyrn, Francis Ernest, Junior, and Sarah Elizabeth. Although in his professional position Judge Jones is forced to see the worst of human nature, he is a man who has always tried to so cultivate the spirit of liberality in all things as to be able to accord to all a charitable interpretation of motives and actions, and few men are held in higher esteem by their fellow citizens than he. Additional Comments: Hon. Francis Ernest Jones, born Henderson County, KY File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/lasalle/bios/jones198gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/lafiles/ File size: 5.9 Kb