Halifax-Wake County NcArchives News.....Willie Jones' Grave 1899
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Guy Potts http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00017.html#0004214 February 16, 2008, 4:14 pm

Charlotte Daily Observer 1899
4 Feb 1899

Grave of Willie Jones - Is Located Near Raleigh and Not in That City.

I have just read the communication of Dr. William H. Bailey, Sr., in Tuesday's 
Observer, wherein he reviews the article by Mr. William H. Harris, on the 
historic Jones family in Halifax County.

Without addressing myself to the main points discussed, there is one question 
concerning which I wish to speak. Mr. Harris is unquestionably correct in 
saying that the great revolutionary statesman, Willie Jones, was buried near 
Raleigh. I don't know how Dr. Bailey got the idea that he was buried inside of 
Raleigh on the Sanders place, unless he confused him with Chief Justice John 
Louis Taylor, who was originally buried there but whose remains were 
afterwards removed to Oakwood cemetery, where they now repose. Taylor built 
the Saunders place, which is now the home of Captain S.A. Ashe, on 
Hillsborough Street.

As to Willie Jones, he was buried in the garden of his Wake County home, a few 
hundred yards east of what is now Oakwood Cemetery. The land is at present 
owned by a negro school.

"Oh, fading honors of the dead!
Oh, high ambition lowly laid!"

It will be remembered that Mr. Jones as president of the council, was acting 
Governor of this State during the interregnum between the flight of the royal 
Governor, Josiah Martin, and the accession of Richard Caswell, our first Whig 
Governor. Jones is best remembered by the strong stand against the adoption of 
the Federal Constitution. Such was his antipathy for the general government of 
the United States that he left directions that his remains should be placed 
north and south, in order that his head might be as far as possible from the 
national capital. These instructions were faithfully carried out. There is now 
no trace of the grave left.

Thought I was born until after its destruction, old people tell me that the 
Wake County residence of Mr. Jones was of a peculiar style, the rooms being so 
high in pitch, that they were almost cube shaped. That house, too, was 
occupied by a "ghost." The most mysterious scrapings and bumpings were heard 
after nightfall, much to the terror of its occupants. Finally the place came 
into the possession of Judge Henry Seawell, one of the ablest lawyers and 
shrewdest men which this State has ever produced. Judge Seawell was not

"Born in a thicket
To be scared by a cricket,"

and had no that profound respect for ghosts which characterized some of his 
contemporaries. So he concluded to investigate the phenomenon. He noticed that 
the supposed ghost never became obstreperous until after the horses had been 
stabled. Then it developed that the dwelling and stable both rested on the 
same stratum of rock, which acted as a sounding-board and conveyed the noise 
made by the hoofs of the horses into the house, where these harmless sounds 
were mistaken for the revellings of ghosts. The eccentric North Carolina 
historian, Jo. Seawell Jones, of "Shocco," was related to Judge Seawell; and, 
on page 138 of his "Defence of North Carolina," refers to the place of Willie 
Jones. "Shocco" Jones did not belong to the Jones family of Halifax, but was 
from Warren County.

Just prior to the war between the States, a New York gentleman, Mr. Edmund 
Griffin, (who married an aunt of mine) brought the old Jones place. He finally 
sold to my father's brother, Mr. F.P. Haywood, Sr., in whose possession it 
remained until about the close of the war. Then Sherman's army turned it over 
to some negroes, to be used for dancing purposes; and, while these new-made 
citizens held their festivities within its walls, it accidentally caught fire 
and was burned to the ground. My uncle sold the land to a Dr. Smith, who 
founded the school heretofore mentioned.

Marshall DeLancey Haywood
Raleigh, Feb. 2

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