A. L. Jones, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of A. L. Jones
A. L. JONES.
The career of a lawyer is a succession of contests, and the successes made in the legal field are probably more than in any other calling in life examples of the "survival of the fittest." To become distinguished at the bar requires not only capacity, but also sound judgment and persevering industry, and these qualifications are admirably combined in A. L. Jones. This gentleman came originally from the Buckeye State, born in Holmes County, Ohio, August 10, 1835, and is a son of William W. and Belinda (Jones) Jones, natives of Shenandoah Valley, Virginia and Pennsylvania. The Jones family is of Welsh origin, and the early members who came to this country settled in the Old Dominion. The maternal grandfather, Richard W. A. Jones, was born in the Keystone State, but moved from there to Ohio, and thence to Porter County, Indiana, where he died in 1852 when ninety-one years of age. The paternal grandfather, Joseph Jones, died in Virginia. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. The father of our subject removed with his mother from Virginia to Holmes County, Ohio. In 1836 he removed to Fulton County, Ohio, and there remained until 1847, when he came to Porter County, Indiana, and located on "Horse Prairie," where he purchased a farm and resided until the spring of 1849. In the fall of the previous year he was elected Clerk of the Porter Circuit Court and moved to Valparaiso in 1849. His term of office expired in November, 1855, and in April, 1856, his death occurred. The mother died in Kansas in the spring of 1893, aged eighty-seven years. They were the parents of ten children, and not a death has occurred in the family except the father and mother. There are seven sons and three daughters, as follows: Hannah, wife of John Hughes of Kansas; A. L., subject; Margaret, wife of William Norris of Kansas; Samuel H., of Kansas; Lewis R., of Story County, Iowa; Thomas F., of Iowa; William A., of Arizona; Giles A., of Kansas; Elias A., of Arizona, and Mary, wife of Charles L. Loux, of Kansas. The original of this notice was about twelve years of age when he came to Porter County, and up to that time he had been educated in the common schools and the old county seminary. Later he entered Indiana State University, and was graduated from that institution in 1855. Previous to this he had read law for some time, and after graduating, he became Deputy Circuit Clerk, a position he held for little over four years, or until the spring of 1860. In the meantime he had read law, and was admitted to the bar in February, 1857. In 1860 he began practicing his profession and in March, 1862, he entered the army as a citizen clerk in the quartermaster's department, and served in the south, and was at Winchester when Milroy was driven out in May, 1863. Until the middle of May, 1863, he was in the quartermaster department, and he then returned home and enlisted in Company A, Seventh Indiana Cavalry, assisting in recruiting the company. He became quartermaster of his regiment, and this position he filled until mustered out in March, 1866. From July, 1864, until the close of the war, he was on detached duty, and when the army was mustered out, he was assistant quartermaster on Custer's Staff at Austin, Texas. After the cessation of hostilities he returned home, and resumed the practice of law in which he has since been diligently engaged. In the fall of 1866 he was appointed Assistant Assessor of Internal Revenue, and this position he held until 1870. He was also a member of the Common Council from 1869 to 1873. Mr. Jones has never sought office, but has attended strictly to his legal affairs, and is one of the able attorneys of the State. He is a member of the G. A. R. On the 6th of October, 1857, he was married to Miss Jennie Baugh, a native of Bloomington, Indiana, and they have two children: Frank P., the present Mayor of Valparaiso, and Miss Grace, a teacher in the High Schools. Mr. Jones is a Democrat in politics. In 1889 he became connected with the Valparaiso Law School as one of the instructors, in which connection he is still identified. His practice is confined to LaPorte, Porter, Lake and Starke Counties, and in the Supreme and Appellate Courts of the State.
Source: Goodspeed Brothers. 1894. Pictorial and Biographical Record of La Porte, Porter, Lake and Starke Counties, Indiana. Chicago, Illinois: Goodspeed Brothers. 569 p.
Page(s) in Source: 436-437
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook